Critical Resources for Financial Impacts of Change

Click to download a PDF version of the Critical Resources for Financial Impacts of Change (Acrobat (PDF) 85kB Sep8 20).

Intended Audience

Higher education administrators, faculty involved in campus-based change efforts; change agents on a campus; directors of centers for teaching/STEM/etc.

Overview

Have you ever felt as if you were faced with an impossible decision regarding allocation of funding or resources? In higher education we are often called upon to improve educational outcomes with scarce institutional resources. We are asked to make difficult fiscal decisions without the tools we need to determine the possible fiscal and moral implications of supporting new initiatives and projects. If you have wondered whether it is possible to make modest changes that have a great impact, while also saving money and resources, the answer is yes.

The ASCN Financial Alignment with Inclusive Teaching Effectiveness Critical Resources (FAITE) Working Group created this resource list to share tools and examples that can help with evidence-based fiscal decision making. These resources demonstrate that it is possible to invest scarce institutional resources wisely to advance your priorities. They were gathered to address questions and issues you might be facing at your institution, such as:

  • Increasing learning outcomes for all students;
  • Adopting instructional practices to improve retention, increased enrollment, persistence, etc.;
  • Articulating and communicating the benefits of institutional change to potentially skeptical decision-makers both inside and outside the university;
  • Quantifying both the cost and return on investment of implementing instructional change during transitions and over the long-term;
  • Determining how to best implement institutional change into institutional budgeting, planning, and decision-making.
We think you will find the resources particularly helpful if you are working to address these kinds of questions:

  • What are some of the cost categories associated with implementing instructional change during transitions and long-term?
  • Have the costs of instructional change initiatives been documented and has the return on investment been measured?
  • Is there guidance about how to undertake such measurement at my institution?
  • Are there any strategies in place for embedding considerations of potential benefits and associated costs into institutional budgeting, planning, and decision-making? What are some of these strategies?
  • How can we make explicit increased learning outcomes for all students associated with instructional change?
  • Other than typical benefits like improved learning outcomes and more satisfying teaching experiences, what other kinds of benefits are envisioned from improving instructional practices at the department, college or university level (e.g., retention, increased enrollment, persistence, etc.)?
  • What are some ways of articulating and communicating various types of benefits to potentially skeptical decision-makers inside and outside the university?


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Results 1 - 10 of 22 matches

A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas
National Research Council

Change Topics (Working Groups): Costs and Benefits
Target Audience: Institution Administration, College/University Staff
Resource Type: Report
Program Components: Outreach:Outreach to K12 Teachers and Students, Institutional Systems:Strategic Planning

Benefit–Cost Analysis of Undergraduate Education Programs: An Example Analysis of the Freshman Research Initiative
Rebecca L. Walcott; Phaedra S. Corso; Stacia E. Rodenbusch; and Erin L. Dolan
The authors comprehensively describe how to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of an undergraduate education program, using a detailed real-life example to illustrate the process. Principal conclusion: the university's investment in Freshman Research Initiative generates a positive return for students in the form of increased future earning potential (p. 1).

Change Topics (Working Groups): Costs and Benefits
Target Audience: Institution Administration, College/University Staff
Resource Type: Journal Article
Program Components: Professional Development:Course Evaluation, Institutional Systems:Evaluating Teaching, Strategic Planning

Instructional quality, student outcomes, and institutional finances
Jessie Brown; Martin Kurzweil
A report from the American Council on Education exploring the question of whether improving instructional quality can increase an institution's revenue. Principal Conclusions (p.22): As the cost of college grows and sources of funding of decline, college and university leaders face mounting pressure to find effective and efficient ways to improve their core business: educating and graduating students. Numerous studies show that research-based pedagogical practices and participation in faculty development can help institutions achieve these goals by increasing student learning, engagement, persistence, and degree completion. There is also evidence that improvements in retention increase revenue and have a positive return on investment. Other interventions—including remedial course redesign, increased course-taking in the first year, and more comprehensive first-year curricular and co-curricular reforms—have been shown to improve cost per degree.

Change Topics (Working Groups): Costs and Benefits, Policy
Target Audience: College/University Staff, Institution Administration, Non-tenure Track Faculty, Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty
Resource Type: Report
Program Components: Institutional Systems:Strategic Planning, Evaluating Teaching

Institutional commitment to teaching excellence: Assessing the impacts and outcomes of faculty development
Catherine Haras; Steven C. Taylor; Mary Deane Sorcinelli; Linda von Hoene

Change Topics (Working Groups): Costs and Benefits
Target Audience: Institution Administration
Resource Type: Report
Program Components: Institutional Systems:Strategic Planning

Benefits and costs of transnational collaborative partnerships in higher education
Daniela Craciun; Kata Orosz

Change Topics (Working Groups): Costs and Benefits
Target Audience: Institution Administration
Resource Type: Report
Program Components: Institutional Systems:Strategic Planning

Whether and How Money Matters in K-12 Education
Margaret L. Plecki; Tino A. Castańeda
The authors review the research on the allocation of resources to support improvement of student learning in public K-12 education, including policies, methodological issues, and availability of data.

Change Topics (Working Groups): Costs and Benefits
Resource Type: Journal Article
Program Components: Outreach:Outreach to K12 Teachers and Students, Institutional Systems:Strategic Planning

Active learning narrows achievement gaps for underrepresented students in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math
Elli J. Theobald; Mariah J. Hill; Elisa Tran; Sweta Agrawal; E. Nicole Arroyo; Shawn Behling; Nyasha Chambwe; Dianne Laboy Cintrón; Jacob D. Cooper; Gideon Dunster; Jared A. Grummer; Kelly Hennessey; Jennifer Hsiao; Nicole Iranon; Leonard Jones II; Hannah Jordt; Marlowe Keller; Melissa E. Lacey; Caitlin E. Littlefield; Alexander Lowe; Shannon Newman; Vera Okolo; Savannah Olroyd; Brandon R. Peecook; Sarah B. Pickett; David L. Slager; Itzue W. Caviedes-Solis; Kathryn E. Stanchak; Vasudha Sundaravardan; Camila Valdebenito; Claire R. Williams; Kaitlin Zinsli; and Scott Freeman
This study is a comprehensive meta-analysis of research on the influence of active and traditional learning approaches on STEM course outcomes (exam scores and course failure rates) for underrepresented students. Time-intensive active learning experiences contributed to reduced achievement gaps in exam scores and pass rates. Researchers concluded that deliberate active-learning course designs and inclusive teaching contribute to increasing equity in STEM. Although this study does not discuss cost-benefits, it affirms the value of investing in pedagogical enhancements to increase student retention and success. In this case, the benefits are continuous tuition revenue through student retention and the moral imperative of reducing equity gaps.

Change Topics (Working Groups): Costs and Benefits
Resource Type: Journal Article
Program Components: Professional Development:Diversity/Inclusion, Institutional Systems:Strategic Planning, Supporting Students:Student Engagement, Professional Development:Curriculum Development

Estimating the Return on Investment (ROI) for Instructional Improvement Efforts
Daniel Rossman; Rayane Alamuddin; Martin Kurzweil
A Tool for Estimating ROI

Change Topics (Working Groups): Costs and Benefits
Target Audience: Institution Administration
Resource Type: Report
Program Components: Institutional Systems:Strategic Planning

Estimating the Return on Investment (ROI) for Instructional Improvement Efforts Step-By-Step Tool Walk-Through
Daniel Rossman; Rayane Alamuddin; Martin Kurzweil
Step-By-Step Tool Walk-Through of the ROI Tool

Change Topics (Working Groups): Costs and Benefits
Target Audience: College/University Staff, Institution Administration
Resource Type: Report, Toolkit
Program Components: Institutional Systems:Strategic Planning

Evaluating the Return on Investment in Higher Education: An Assessment of Individual- and State-Level Returns
Kristin Blagg; Erica Blom

Change Topics (Working Groups): Costs and Benefits
Target Audience: Institution Administration
Resource Type: Report
Program Components: Institutional Systems:Strategic Planning