08:00 to 08:55 – Registration and Early-morning tea/coffee

Venue: DUT conference centre, Block E&V, Ritson Campus, Durban University of Technology, Winterton Walk

Facilitator: Dr John Choonoo, Director Office of Institutional Research and Program Assessment, City University of New York

This workshop provides a method for assessment of administrative student services that include programs and interventions developed by various administrative areas such as academic counselling and advisement, admissions, registrar, student government, food services, residence life, tutoring services, career development, teaching and learning centre, athletics, student clubs, financial support services, and community-based projects.  A Logic Model is a simple but useful framework for assessment of programs, interventions and student support services developed by various administrative areas to improve student learning outcomes. This framework relates mission, activities/processes and, operations to intended outcomes through words, pictures, flowcharts, and/or maps. Arrows are used to match activities/processes and operations to specific outcomes.

Learning Objectives

• Know what a logic model is and how to use it to assess your program operations, services, and interventions
• Be able to identify key components of a logic model by addressing the following questions — What is the situation, What we invest in (resources), What we do (activities), Who we reach (participants), What we produce (operational/service outcomes), What do participants know and are able to do (Learning Outcomes).
• Generate a clear and shared understanding of how your program works to produce change
• Support program planning and improvement

Planned Activities

• Participants will be provided with a set of templates to model a specific, programme, operation or intervention of interest to them
• Participants will be convened into small groups to collaborate on development of their logic models
• Participant groups will present their work to the entire group

Target Audience

• Administrators involved in student affairs and various other units involved in programme operations, programme planning, and programmatic interventions

Requirement

• Participants to bring their own laptops

08:00 to 08:55 – Registration and Early-morning tea/coffee

Venue: DUT conference centre, Block E&V, Ritson Campus, Durban University of Technology, Winterton Walk

Facilitator: Angel Calderon, Principal Advisor Planning and Research at RMIT University, Australia

This workshop is designed to provide participants with the essentials for an effective practice of institutional research and planning (IRP) in a rapidly changing higher education landscape. Participants will be guided through the fundamentals of IRP, what it  means to be a professional in this field as well as discussing best practices. Central to the workshop is the critical role IRP professionals play in decision making, how their contributions align to the institution strategic directions and how their input can be catalyst for institutional change.

Objectives:

• Provide context to decision making in higher education: Settings, processes and practice
• Empower practitioners with the fundamentals of the role of institutional research and planning (IRP) in decision making
• Empower practitioners with the fundamentals to develop and implement an effective professional practice
• Facilitate discussion on method, tools and sustainable practice for supporting decision making

Target audience:  Early career professional staff from institutional planning, strategy, information management and related areas

08:00 to 08:55 – Registration and Early-morning tea/coffee

Venue: DUT conference centre, Block E&V, Ritson Campus, Durban University of Technology, Winterton Walk

Facilitator: Dr Jan Lyddon, Achieve the Dream/Siyaphumelela Data Coach

IR professionals are often focused on providing the data, giving some assistance with interpretation, and that’s the end of it. Or is it? Taking a look at data in different ways and shining a bright spotlight on critical trends can – and has – served as a significant disruptive force. The most prominent example is looking at student success rates through the full spectrum of the students’ life cycles in postsecondary education. Before 2004 in the US, this was given scant attention except for sending a mandatory graduation rate survey (GRS) to the federal government. Since 2004, however, more and more higher education institutions are relying on their institutional researchers to help them understand and make use of student success data. Initially these data were easy for institutional leaders to overlook, or even actively ignore. Through persistent reminders of the implications, IR personnel helped top leadership shift their attention from access to both access and success.

IIE as a disruptor for IR: But there is more. Bringing coherence to many parts of the institution is a new role that many are stepping up to. Described as integrated institutional effectiveness (IIE), this chief coherence officer role is plowing new ground in bringing forth and making use of a variety of forms of evidence to help institutions live out their missions and roles. It challenges us to bring together under one umbrella functions such as planning, learning outcomes measures, continuous improvement (program review), stakeholder communications/compliance, and various forms of IR. This disrupter aspect of work opens up new challenges to improve our skills and perspectives, but also contributes greater benefits to institutions.

Learning outcomes:

• Navigating the bringing of uncomfortable news
• Understanding role of IIE/chief coherence officer

Target audience: Institutional researchers

• The workshop will be limited to 20 participants