Notes Profiling a Program w/ Available Data

Profiling a Program with Available Data
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Profiling a Program
(or Dept.) with
Available Data
Session
• Today’s session explores ways to profile a program or department
or bureaucratic unit, so that that data is available when it comes
time to write a grant proposal, write a grant report, or use
documented information for other programmatic purposes. So
much is known by insiders to a program, and so much is at their
fingertips, but it can be difficult to acquire the needed information
for the necessary work. This session suggests that some initial
and continuing effort to document a program or department
would be beneficial. This is an exercise in“know thyself”as a
bureaucratic unit.
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Self Intros
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Warm-up Activity
Think about your bureaucratic unit. How well do you know it? Ready to put
your knowledge to the test? 
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Quick Refresher
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Source Features
Quantitative
• Datasets, data tables
• Data analytics
• Data visualizations
• Data over time (and
longitudinal data) can provide
a sense of trends…and
trendlines.
Qualitative
• Text files
• Documents, reports,
slideshows
• Photos, slides, illustrations,
visuals
• Handbooks, newsletters,
publications, books
• Posters, trifolds, table tents
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Where from?
Internal Sources
• Artifacts from the program:
brochures, reports, etc. (both
print and digital)
• Institutional memory (staff,
current and prior)
• Trace data from LMSes, CMSes,
training systems, social media,
and others
• Data (raw) and information
(processed)
• Hard drives
External Sources
• Third-party sources
• Professional partners
• Community members
• Grant funders
• Colleague institutions
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What Data and Information Would
You Consider Salient to Profile an
Academic Program? Why?
Where would you look for it? Why?
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Program History
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What history?
• When did the program start?
• How long has it been part of HutchCC?
• How has the program evolved over time?
• Are there important events of the past? Important“pivot”points?
• Has the program melded with other programs?
• Important experiments?
• Colorful personalities? Notable peoples?
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What history?(cont.)
• What are some of the highlights of the program’s past?
• Notable achievements?
• Notable physical buildings?
• Notable technologies?
• Time overlaps with important events?
• Honorable mentions?
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Why history?
• History adds context.
• Stories are memorable. Anecdotes are memorable.
• Prior personages add human interest.
• History adds “color.” It makes documented grant applications and
reports more interesting.
• History helps people today see the program as a continuum…and
helps people think of what the future may include.
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Prior Achievements
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What prior achievements?
• How has the program contributed to the community?
• How has the program contributed to the discipline?
• How has the program contributed to the research? To the
research literature? Publishing?
• Are there novel innovations?
• Prior funding streams? Grant funding?
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Current State of the Program /
Dept. / Bureaucratic Unit
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Current state
• Staffing, roles; full-time and part-time; org chart
• Numbers of students, in what programs, in pursuit of what areas
of study post-HutchCC
• Degree tracks, certificate tracks
• Fees, tuition
• Budget, funding sources
• Initiatives
• Partnerships, ties to industry, collaborations
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Current state(cont.)
• Authorizing documents, mission statements, values statements (if
used)
• Branding, wordmarks, logos, taglines
• Building, physical infrastructure
• Equipment
• Technologies
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Steps to Program Profiling
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Steps to program profiling
1. Take stock. See what is data and information are available.
2. Collect what is available, and assess.
3. Record what is known. Record what is not known (but would be
helpful to know).
4. Set up ways to collect available information from people. Set up
ways to collect information from technical systems.
5. Digitize what is knowable.
6. Archive the information in an easy-to-access space, and ensure
that is a backup copy, too.
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Learning from Usages of Program
Data
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Learning in real time
• Pay attention to what is needed for various (grant) applications
and reports. Whatever data or information is collected for those
contexts should be noted for mainline program knowledge.
• Add to the store of program / dept. / bureaucratic unit information.
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Updating the Holdings
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Update transient data and information
• Make sure to update data and information.
• When new semesters come around, update.
• When new equipment is switched in or out, update.
• When staffing changes occur, update.
• Etc.
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Beyond Available Data
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Beyond available data…
• It is possible to set up new ways of collecting information through
online surveys and other systems.
• It is possible to elicit information in fresh ways, such as focus
groups and interviews.
• Events at the college may enable the collection of usable data and
insights.
• There are ways to create “knowledge”from current data, with new
analytics.
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Beyond available data… (cont.)
• Data collection should be a tool in the toolkit.
• [There are professional and ethical rules for any human subjects
research…and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) may have to
get involved…]
• [There are constraints on how data and information may be used.]
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Usability
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Usability
• For the information to be usable, it has to be accurate. Control
against mistakes in the collecting and recording.
• For it to be useful, it has to be coherent. It has to make sense to
those who receive the information.
• For the program information to be usable, it has to be in a readily
available form. A basic folder with some writeups and data tables
may be one way to ensure usability. Or perhaps a Microsoft Word
file with all the basic relevant text and data tables could work.
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Gentle Reminder
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Some notes…
• Contemporaneous information is more relevant than historical
information, ceteris paribus.
---
• Human memory is limited. It is fallible. It is inaccurate, without
documentary supports.
• What is not recorded…is misremembered. It is forgotten.
• What is not recorded…loses its value. Ephemera cannot be
referred to in any compelling way.
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Conclusion
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In conclusion
• There are benefits to having a program / dept. / bureaucratic unit
profile ready to use…for grant applications, grant reports, and
other uses.
• There is a lot of internal self-knowledge among staff…and
capturing and archiving that can be highly beneficial to grant- and
other academic- work.
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Other Ideas?
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Contact
• Dr. Shalin Hai-Jew
• Grant Writer
• HaijewSh@hutchcc.edu
• 620-694-2453
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Notes Profiling a Program w/ Available Data

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