Frontiers in Education 1999

Data Warehousing: A Tool for Facilitating Assessment

Polytechnic University, New YorkGateway Coalition

Dr. Joanne InghamDirector of Institutional Assessment & Retention Office of Academic Affairs

jingham@poly.edu

Data Warehouse

Legacy System(Mainframe or other typesof edit oriented system)

Relational Database Management Systems(departmental data)

External Data statistics, state and federal reports

On-Line Processing

Requests Analyzed Data,Reports

Data Mining, Collection, Processing and Integration

Warehouse Flexibility and Responsiveness

Benefits: Easy access to data & fast response rate Manageable - work only with data you need Processing does not disturb main system OLAP - Online Analytical Processing

Drawbacks: Constant electronic update Must design and maintain new system

Recognition and Support For Centralized Assessment Process and Longitudinal Tracking

•Hired personnel: Director and Project Leader•Purchased equipment and software: workstation,

scanner, visual tools, NT, RDBMS, VB, C++•Data collected: ten years of institutional data•Piloted new techniques: web, client/server, scanning

August 1997

September 1998

•Purchased: server and a workstation •Expanded assessment process: based on pilot results

• Reports•State Reports (HEGIS), •Freshman Survey (CIRP)•Departmental Year-End Reports

Data Collection - Identify Available Data

• Other Database Systems•Special Services Office - custom•HEOP - excel•Career Services - custom•Alumni Office - outside provider

• University Legacy System - Mainframe

Data Collection Issues: Need for a University Catalog Statement on Assessment

Data Collection Issues:

• Departmental confidentiality concerns - release letter prepared by the Dean

• Meet with Directors to determine:– which data exist – format of the data– relative purity of that data

Data Incorporated into Warehouse

– Official census data files (for each academic session)

• 21 day count

– Registrar files• registration

• end of semester grades

– Freshman cohort files– Official graduation files– Alumni files

Data Integration - A Critical Step

•Migrating data from existing Legacy System

•Extracting and transferring data from other systems - UNIX, Windows, DOS based databases and spreadsheets

•Checking for data quality

•Eliminating duplicates and dead data

•Checking for data consistency by cross referencing data from different sources

Aug97 || Nov97 || Feb98 || May98 || Aug98

Office Established and Director and Project Leader Hired

Equipment and the Software Purchased (NT Workstation, VB, Interdev, Access, SQL)

Initial data Collection and Data Transfer (Data Warehouse is established)

Data Collection and Maintenance (Ongoing Process)

Data Integration

Program Piloting and Testing

Development of a Web-Based Assessment Process

Benefits:• Easy to distribute - access 24 hours• Easy to analyze data• Saves time, human and office resources• Easier to work with electronic data - on a routine basis• Computer can check for integrity of data - validate

Drawbacks:• Response rate sometimes lower• Involves more preparation time upfront• Possible technical difficulties if system is down

Develop and Pilot Test Instruments and Methods

Faculty Survey- Paper based, overall 60% response rate, 85% rate from target faculty, data

entered manually. Freshman Design Course - Web-based survey,

60% response rate, data collected and analyzed automatically.

Alumni Survey - Web-based and paper (later to be scanned). Using both approaches for

better response rate with alumni population. Course-Level Assessment - Web-based pilot,

spring 1999. Full implementation, fall 1999.

Ease of administration, data collection and analysis. Ease of student access to evaluation forms.

Warehouse as a Faculty & Department Resource

Access to timely and thorough statistical data: graduation & persistence rates, grades, registration.

Support assessment activities for accreditation Alumni Surveys Course-Level Assessment Assessment Activities for Grants Longitudinal Tracking of Students Performance Linked to ABET competencies Retention and Persistence Changing Majors within University Transfers Math Performance as a Retention Issue