At What Cost Classrooms? The Experience of One Institution… Rick Peterson Director of Information Technology College of Arts & Sciences Chair, Classroom Design & Advisory Committee UNC-Chapel Hill

Goals for this session Provide UNC-CH classroom specific background and share our particular experiences (esp. related to costs to support multimedia classrooms) (30 minutes) –Overview of UNC-CH classroom environment –Broad classroom metrics –Specific “costs” for building/supporting classrooms –Challenges / next steps for UNC-CH –Resources Discuss broader implications, challenge assumptions, learn from your experience(s) – (60 minutes) FOR MORE INFO... Presentation available on-line at

UNC-CH General Info Only public university to award degrees in the 18 th century. –(…we have some OLD buildings) Composed of 16 Schools & Colleges –Academic Affairs (A&S, Journalism, Business, Law, Education, Info & Library Science, Social Work, etc…) –Health Affairs (Medicine, Public Health, Nursing, Pharmacy, Dentistry, etc…) –(…we are in general HIGHLY DECENTRALIZED)

UNC-CH General Info (cont.) Approx. 26,000 students, 16,000 undergraduates –(…we are pretty big) Health Affairs and professional Academic Affairs schools (predominantly) schedule their own classrooms –professional schools mostly “do their own thing” re: classrooms

UNC-CH General Info (cont.) Only (?) large, research intensive public university with undergraduate student laptop requirement –all 4 undergraduate classes will have laptops this coming Fall State Bond $$ providing approx. $500 million in capital funding through 2009/10 –$36M allocated where needed to whole building renovations –$14M allocated where needed to individual classroom renovations

UNC-CH Classroom Environment 191 “general purpose” classrooms (centrally scheduled by Registrar) in 28 buildings predominantly in the “poorer” Academic Affairs schools 92 “non-general purpose” classrooms (dept./school scheduled, 37 geographically remote) in Academic Affairs (62 in Health Affairs) Fiscal, Technical & Administrative “ownership” of classrooms an “issue”

Provost’s Classroom Committee Classroom Design and Advisory Committee (CDAC) formed in Fall 2000 at the Provost level to: –“…oversee classroom design and assure that active learning needs are considered and incorporated into the construction of new classrooms and the renovation of old ones.” FOR MORE INFO...

What the CDAC has done Contracted out and facilitated classroom/lab utilization and ‘mix’ analyses Brought everyone together “in one room” twice a month to discuss Built nascent website to coalesce distributed information Advocated for classrooms

Metrics we have found useful Eva Klein & Associates’ “Space Factor” –Assignable Square Footage (ASF) Target: 18 ASF per station –Weekly Room Hours (WRH) Target: 35 hours/week –Student Station Occupancy (SSO) Target: 65% FOR MORE INFO... Follow the ‘UNC Story’ link at

Determining Classroom Productivity Space Factor = ASF / (WRH * SSO) Using targets: –Target Space Factor = 18 / (35 *.65) –Target Space Factor =.79, or just.8 Lower is Better (more productive classrooms) You can try this at home, if you have the data/time/need

Our “standard” ASF targets ASF for traditional classrooms, lowering to 15 ASF for large fixed seat lecture halls ASF for computer classrooms NOTE: We are now adding 20% to the first target above to accommodate larger desks/tables for student laptops

Classroom Costs Will Focus on: –Traditional (non multimedia capable) classrooms (chalkboard and overhead/slide projector) –Multimedia capable classrooms (LCD projection device, touch panel control system, appropriate lighting, VCR, DVD, laptop connection, ring-down phone, wireless capability, etc. –NOTE: Computer and Teleconference classroom costs NOT represented in these numbers – some costs of course overlap.

Classroom “Costs” Capital (One-time) –Construction –“A/V” equipment – lighting, multimedia technology, control systems –Overbuilding? Operating (Ongoing) –Traditional Classrooms –Multimedia Classrooms – two components Maintenance Equipment Lifecycling Human –Personnel –Learning (soft? costs)

Capital Costs Full Building Renovation –Two ‘identical’ buildings (4 floors, 27K gross sq. ft., 17K ASF, built ). $6.7 million (16 multimedia classrooms) $4.5 million (5 multimedia classrooms) Classroom “A/V” budgets – lighting, multimedia, controls –$15,000 to $180,000 based on level of technology and seat count –Facilities “ballpark” of $1,000/seat (does NOT include furniture, or per seat hard Internet connections/power)

Capital Costs (cont.) Cost of OVERBUILDING classrooms –$250/sq. foot * 950 sq. feet (50 station tablet arm chair classroom) = $237,500 + “A/V” costs. –Can go a long way towards funding other needs (laboratories, office space, e.g.)

Capital Costs (cont.) Question: Can we use capital funding to “just” significantly upgrade existing classrooms (assumes building infrastructure not in need of significant upgrade)? $50K per 50 seat classroom in this case gets us a ‘fresh” classroom – new paint, furniture, MINIMUM multimedia.

Operating Costs – Traditional Classrooms Traditional (not multimedia capable) classrooms maintenance costs –Chalk/markers, clock batteries, erasers, overhead/slide projector bulbs, cleaning, depreciation. –Example: $8/bulb * 20/year = $160/year –Cost/yr/classroom = $150/yr - $300/yr

Operating Costs – Multimedia Classrooms - Maintenance Maintenance Costs –Bulbs (LCD projector, document camera, overhead, slide), “hotline” phone, Chalk/markers, batteries, cleaning, depreciation –Example: $400/LCD bulb * 2/year = $800/year

Operating Costs – Multimedia Classrooms - Maintenance (cont.) Overall: 5% of initial room system cost/year –A $50K room will have approx. $2,500 in yearly maintenance costs –We are averaging 4% per year per classroom

Operating Costs – Multimedia Classrooms – Equipment Lifecycling Equipment Lifecycling Cost Estimates –25% of equipment replaced every 3 years –25% of equipment replaced every 5 years –50% of equipment replaced every 10 years

Operating Costs – Multimedia Classrooms – Equipment Lifecycling A $50K room will have approx. $9,150 in yearly lifecycle costs Overall: 18% of initial room cost / year –We project UNC-CH costs varying year to year from 9%-14% per year per classroom

Human Costs Personnel to support traditional classrooms –Roughly 1 FTE checks each of 100 classrooms for 25 minutes each week (.01 FTE/classroom)

Human Costs Multimedia Classrooms –Roughly 1 FTE checks each of 20 multimedia classrooms for 2 hours each week (.05 FTE/classroom) Niemayer* recommends.15 FTE/classroom,.5 FTE/computer classroom * Hard Facts on Classroom Design, The ScareCrow Press, 2003, Daniel Niemeyer

Add ‘em all UP and you get… Method 1 (top-down): –Multiply your initial classroom costs by the percentages given for maintenance and lifecycling and personnel and you get a yearly cost/classroom Method 2 (bottom up): –Take the per item costs for maintenance and lifecycling and personnel by type of multimedia room and get a yearly total to maintain a particular type of classroom

UNC-CH’s numbers using Method /0202/0303/0404/05 Total Multimedia Classrooms Total Traditional Classrooms Lifecycle All Classrooms$466,940$550,254$698,367$789,688$862,614 Maintenance All Classrooms$185,943$221,610$270,034$305,358$333,686 Perm. Personnel Costs$119,026$199,780$269,668$351,034$421,727 Temp. Personnel Costs$163,490$175,324$187,566$199,967$211,217 Total Classroom Support Budget$935,399$1,146,968$1,425,635$1,646,047$1,829,244

UNC-CH’s numbers using Method 2 04/0505/0606/0707/0808/09 Total Multimedia Classrooms Total Traditional Classrooms Lifecycle All Classrooms$862,614$918,187$966,909$1,012,488$1,017,045 Maintenance All Classrooms$333,686$356,003$372,397$390,870$392,717 Perm. Personnel Costs$421,727$485,067$535,497$599,237$632,437 Temp. Personnel Costs$211,217$221,688$230,998$241,283$249,116 Total Classroom Support Budget$1,829,244$1,980,945$2,105,801$2,243,878$2,291,315

A More Readable Summary Fiscal Year 00/01 Projected Budget –$935,399 for 52 multimedia classrooms Fiscal Year 04/05 Projected Budget –$1,829,244 for 132 multimedia classrooms

A More Readable Summary Fiscal Year 08/09 Projected Budget –$2,291,315 for 162 multimedia classrooms Approx..56% of Provost Office’s State Funding $1,355,916 in NEW operating funding would support 110 new multimedia capable classrooms Approx..33% of Provost Office’s State Funding

UNC-CH Challenges / Next Steps Budgeting: How do we identify new operating funding to support bond capital spending, esp. in hard fiscal times? Oversight: How can the CDAC effectively oversee the creation of great classrooms? Collaboration / Coordination: How can central IT, Facilities, and faculty work together more effectively?

UNC Challenges / Next Steps We are losing 10%-30% of our seat count when renovating old classroom space due to infrastructure and laptop support issues We are continuing to make every classroom we renovate or create multimedia capable Recently completed a Faculty Classroom Survey to gauge interest/support

Resources/Links Ways to inform yourself about classrooms –Hard Facts on Smart Classroom Design, Daniel Niemeyer, ISBN # – – (shows exact equipment in UNC-CH classrooms) –“Make Yourself Uncomfortable,” 3/7/03 Chronicle of Higher Ed cover story

Some Questions for Discussion? Are the added costs required to support multimedia capable classrooms “worth it?” (45% of our faculty say that they can’t COUNT on getting a multimedia classroom – their #1 constraint in using classroom technology) Should institutions, if large, designate a staff person to oversee classrooms? Should all classrooms be “multimedia capable?”

Questions (cont.) Why do we need overhead projectors and slide projectors when we have document cameras and digital libraries? Who “owns” the classrooms? Do we overbuild classrooms to accommodate more “prime time” sections?

Questions (cont.) How do we project the impact (e.g., quality of learning environment) of renovating old buildings, making classrooms laptop friendly, aiming for lower class sizes, and increasing enrollment? Oh, by the way, how can we design multimedia classrooms to better support active learning? (we just designed a new flexible, ADA-compliant, podium standard)

Thank You! Presentation Available on-line at: