A University at the Crossroads: Rethinking the Weave Between Distance and Brick-and-Mortar

Education Maggi Murdock1, Alan Greenberg2, and Scott

Seville1

1 University of Wyoming Outreach School2Wainhouse Research

How many of you…(Polleverywhere.com)

• Have inherited an organization designed for distance education as it was practiced in 1990?

• Believe you have the best organization possible for delivering distance education?

• Are experiencing 10% to 20% growth student enrollment over past 3-5 years?

• See increased demand from partners, constituents, students?• Are struggling with sustainable financial models and

processes?

The University of Wyoming Outreach School 2010

• 10-20% annual distance education enrollment increases• Pressure from within and without for new courses and

programs• Staff and budget limitations• Systems and processes developed over years that were

not all connected to mainline University systems • Inconsistent and unsustainable financial agreements with

units and faculty

What to do?• External review to identify system, process,

and financial issues as well as constituent perceptions of Outreach School.

• Initially looked within the institution (outside Outreach School) for consultant.

• Turned to external consultant for strategic reasons.

Wainhouse Research Methodology

Phase

I

•Onsite Interviews

•Review of Documents

Phase II

•Identification of Comparator Institutions

•Interviews with Comparators

Phase III

•Assimilation of Phase I and II data

•Development of Recommendations

•Final Report

What Works – Outreach School• Fulfilling its mission– Students served– Faculty engaged

• Perceptions of Outreach School– Responsive and flexible– Leading with technology– Strong marketing– Additive

• Outreach School embedded in fabric of UW

High Touch U• “Students are well served, and remote learners feel

that they are part of the university. Ask our students: they may not feel part of Laramie but feel they are part of UW.” (Department head)

• “Outreach doesn’t just help with the technical side, but also with the human side” (Admin/Dean)

Polleverywhere.com- Does your organization wrestle with balancing human touch with scalability?

Issues and Challenges

• Reimbursement models / financial structure• Budgetary transparency / reporting• Program creation• Mixed messages

Reimbursement Model Elements

Reimbursement Model over Time

Insufficient Budgetary Transparency

• General lack of understanding of cost structure / revenues from OS

• Lack of reports / regular reporting

Receive funding?

Know how much you receive?

Yes 9 6No 7 3Unsure 2

Program Creation• Programs appear to be created on an ad hoc

basis. Are there metrics for assessing need?

• Central Position Management (CPM) model vs. OS agreements: the crux?

• Creation seems to be based on champions and high touch from Outreach School. This may not be bad, but stifles innovation and results in hodge podge of new program creation, without clear cut support defined (market need, marketing involvement, technical support).

Mixed messages• Delivery van?• School of knowledge/expertise?• Professional services organization?

Comparator Institution Interviews

• Identification of Institutions• Methodology of Interviews• Areas of Interest:– Demographics and Institutional Structure– Faculty Participation in Distance Education Programs– Development of New Programs– Distance Education Student Experience– Finance Structures / Revenue Flows – Distance Education Organization Behaviors

DemographicsStudent FTE Distance education

Student FTEFTE F/T Faculty or DE FTE Faculty

Adjunct Faculty

UW 13,000 3,000 730 FTE Instructors / 135 DE (subset)

86

U # 1 66,000 7000 50 – DE ONLY 50

U # 2 34,000 300-400 334 DE ONLY X

U # 3 11,240 6,260 630 FT, 332 DE ONLY

600

U # 4 25,000 3,000 1,200 ALL X

U # 5 14,000 12K credit hours 800 ALL Yes

U # 6 30,000 13,000 750 DE ONLY 2250

U # 7 22,000 22,000 500 ALL X

U # 8 24,000 4,100 3,500 ALL X

U # 9 63,000 2,500 50 DE N/A

Institutional StructureCentralized / De-centralized / Other Comments Growth Rate /

ScalabilityUW Centralized + distributed 11 outreach centers, OCP, OTS, UW/CC Medium

U # 1 Central admin, courses de-centralized 2 “shops” – semester-based & 9-month enrollment

Slow

U # 2 Shared: DE through provost’s office and academic departments

Distance education part of academic mission

Strong

U # 3 De-centralized; strong in individual depts. Mix of delivery methods. Strong

U # 4 Centralized 7,000 credit hours per semester DE StrongU # 5 Very de-centralized; DE organization handles

logistics but courses through academic depts. 12,000 credit hrs through extended U Slow

U # 6 Centralized within CE 50% of degree programs must be face-to-face

Slow

U # 7 Centralized Accelerated degrees StrongU # 8 Centralized 200 undergraduate degrees, 80 graduate Medium

U # 9 Infrastructure / registration central / courses de-centralized

4 regional campuses; 50 distance education courses

Slow

The Four Stages of Distance Education

Phase 1 Decentralized structure, experimental distance education in departments

Phase 2 Decentralized / Centralized, some central control but wildcatters drive

Phase 3 Centralized structure, central group providing support to departments

Phase 4 Centralized / Decentralized –Greater autonomy given to departments while central organization provides leadership and coordination

Where is your institution?(Polleverywhere.com)

• Phase 1• Phase 2• Phase 3• Phase 4

Is your institution facing integration challenges?(Polleverywhere.com)

• Yes• No

Primary Success Factors

Constant renewal

Marketing

Leadership

Clear and consistent

funding modelsPartnerships

Transparency

Market research

RECOMMENDATIONS

Transparency

Consistency

Scalability

A more integrated future for outreach at UW

• “A very significant portion of the entire university student population is taking distance education courses. That’s the part that’s growing. It seems like we should move beyond the point that it’s an add-on program; why would we treat revenue generation any differently? This is a fundamental way of delivering college education in this state. Don’t treat it as something ‘extraneous.’” – Administration representative

Consistent, Transparent Processes Related to $

• Eliminate variable revenue sharing models• Centralize tuition distribution management• Establish processes for routine reporting• Enhance Outreach School accounting

beginning with audit of technologies and best practices

Scalability• Reboot course development processes• Improve internal guidance provided by

Outreach School• Review approaches to registration,

drop/add, and payments• Eliminate summer school differential pay• Revise faculty participation policy• Provide growth incentives

Wainhouse Implementation

• All recommendations accepted by OS– OS prioritized recommendations– determined actions required to implement each

recommendation– developed timeline and assigned working groups

for follow through– presented recommendations to Academic Affairs

and academic deans

Implementation Today

• #1 Priority- New Financial Model-1. Academic Affairs2. Deans Council3. UW Executive Council4. Negotiations

Questions

• Dr. Maggi Murdock, University of Wyoming, Murdock@uwyo.edu

• Dr. R. Scott Seville, University of Wyoming, SSeville@uwyo.edu

• Alan Greenberg, Wainhouse Research, agreenberg@wainhouse.com