As of lately, I have really had the opportunity to get hands on with the Institutional Effectiveness office. Lately I have been working with Histagram reports for various departments. Looking at these reports has increased my knowledge of institutional organization as well as expectations of each department. As tedious as the office of institutional research may sound, it is just that, TEDIOUS, however the knowledge that one can gain from understanding the importance of such an office is priceless. Although working in adobe professional, converting word documents to pdf's, or merging pdf files, is not something I feel I would want to make into a career, it allows me to complete many of my learning objectives that were in my contract, one of which is to understand the role of the OIRE.
The work load of the OIRE is massive. No matter what day of the week, or what time of the year, there is a constant need for improvement. The strange thing, is that it will only get worse before it gets better. Last year, we were around mid-200's for the number of units on campus we worked with. This year we are well over 300 units, and it can be estimated this number will increase next year as well. Although, many individuals and departments on campus would like to think they are running a smooth and near perfect office, our job at the OIRE is to convey to these individuals the idea, you can always improve on something. During our help sessions the first order of business is to get the individual to buy-in to the idea of improvement. Using their annual report from the year before, we expand on their current ideas, plug the information gathered from the annual report in the 4-column matrix, show the individuals what other departments at similar universities are doing to improve, and SOLD. We have them bought-in.
I have several meeting scheduled for the next few weeks and I look forward to interviewing with everyone within the Institutional effectiveness department, as well as the research department as well.
#Team Practicum.
Jeremy.
Jeremy,
ReplyDeleteYou hit on something that most of us don't or would rather not discuss -- the assessment, learning outcomes, research part of our job. Although this isn't the "fun," "what gets in the newspaper," "where the rubber meets the road" kind of stuff it is just as vital that we not only understand how but also that we USE these materials to illustrate our value to whatever institution in which we may work. I am glad you have decided to try something new. I know you will continue to learn a great deal!
Dr. H