Institutional Implementation: The Penn State Journey Nicola Kiver Executive Assistant to the Dean College of the Liberal Arts Cheryl Seybold Director of Solutions, Services, and Support Information 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 ( ) FacilitiesAcreagesNumber of Buildings –University Park 7, –Other 23 Locations 15, –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 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?