Institutional Implementation: The Penn State Journey

Nicola KiverExecutive Assistant to the Dean College of the Liberal Arts

Cheryl SeyboldDirector of Solutions, Services, and SupportInformation Technology Services

The Pennsylvania State University

– About The Pennsylvania State University– Why Digital Measures and Activity Insights?– Early Implementation– Lessons Learned – Today and Moving Forward– Challenges You May Face

Overview

We Are … Penn State !!• 24 Campus Locations

• ~90,000 Students

• 24,703 Full-Time Employees

• 8,675 Part-Time Employees

• Over 3/4 Million Degrees Conferred

• $4.4B Total Operating Budget (2013-14)

• Facilities Acreages Number of Buildings– University Park 7,343 932– Other 23 Locations 15,196 778– Total 22,539 1,710

Background• 2007

– Contract for service signed– Initiated and funded by the Office of the Provost – Managed initially by one individual

• 2009– Piloted in the University Libraries– Customized and tested screens and reports– Provided training and created FAQs

• 2011– Expanded to other units – Oversight Committee created– Four member Management Team created– Stakeholders Group created

• 2013– Contract Renewal

Management Team

Manager – Information Tech Services (Administrative Information Services)University Administrator – Information Tech Services

(Administrative Information Services)Senior Planning and Research Associate

(Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment)Representative for Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

(Office of the President)

Oversight Committee

Cross-functional team – currently 16 members – representing:– Academic Affairs (Office of the Vice Provost)– Administrative Information Services– Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment– Colleges

• 19 Commonwealth Campuses• Business• Education • Information Sciences and Technology• Liberal Arts• Libraries• Nursing

Oversight Committee Activities

• Bi-monthly meetings• List-serve for exchanging opinions and gaining consensus• Reviewing higher-level requests and ensuring that

system is attaining desired level of customer satisfaction• Responsible for strategic/long-range planning• Managing data uploads including:

– Courses taught– Student evaluations– Research funding

• Managing University-wide ‘University Dossier’ report

Stakeholder Group

• Email group created• Forum for regular users to voice concerns and

share methods• Meets once per year• Currently 34 members

Ideas for successful implementation

• Support from Vice Provost • Support from Faculty Senate• Mandate by Deans • Department heads review and test• Two or three faculty to pilot• Provide training and support for staff• Hands-on training for faculty• Compile frequently asked questions

Staggered Rollout Suggestions

• Only new untenured faculty (no backfilling data)• Only annual performance reviews (one year of data

required)• Only first P&T reviews (i.e. 2 year reviews)• Divide large units (i.e. 9 out of 18 departments in yr

1, rest in yr 2)• Hand-pick small group of faculty within a large unit

for yr 1

Unit level responsibilities

• Customize screens• Maintain access rights and security• Manage unit specific web pages/online access

points• Manage/customize unit specific reports

including:• Annual Performance Reviews• Vitas• Faculty web profiles• NIH and NSF Biographical Sketches

Challenges faced

• Locating individual entries – sort/search feature, keyword searches

• Accurate application of APA, Chicago, MLA styles

• WYSIWYG editor• Usable Vita reports• Enable local administrators to update values

within drop-down menus

Successes achieved

• Implementation by more than 50% of Penn State’s faculty across 29 units

• 4783 active accounts (9081 total)• Client use survey• Support website - activityinsight.psu.edu - features

include:• Overview of project• Contact information for support staff• Central location for all FAQs organized generally and by unit• Timeline of use throughout the year, including data uploads• Project roadmap

• Screen

Goals for future implementation

• Improve reports to increase functionality for users• Improve support by addressing long standing feature

requests including:– Connection with researchers doing similar work– Sort/search feature for locating individual entries

• Increase number of units as well as number of individual users

• Continue to create sense of community and support for users

• Campus website profiles from faculty data

Questions?