Learning Resources

Abstract: This article focuses on the future physical layout of the university in view of the profound social and cultural changes of our time that are affecting the structure of higher education in general and universities in particular. We suggest that the basic architectural prototypes of university design should be re-examined in view of these changes. The main issues related to the characteristics of contemporary (current) society are identified, and their implications on the institutional and spatial structure of the university are analyzed. The article concludes with a methodological generation of alternative scenarios for the physical structure of the university of the future.

Abstract: This article proposes a framework that can help institutions break down and analyze the costs of online learning so they can make decisions about how to improve the cost-efficiencies of online education. The framework involves looking at costs across elements (which include the two stages of development and delivery plus administration of the enterprise) and seven factors: students, faculty, other staff, course design, content, infrastructure, and policy. The elements and factors may combine and interact, thereby improving (or not improving) cost-efficiencies. Where possible, current research results are included and areas where research is needed are identified.

Abstract: Today, the amount of space devoted to research at research universities exceeds that of classrooms and class laboratories. This research space portfolio presents important policy and management challenges. As stewards of this portfolio, universities must address issues of funding the construction of research facilities, equipping and maintaining them, allocating and accounting for space used for research, and managing, in broadest terms, the physical and administrative infrastructure in which research is conducted. As this article illustrates, managing the balance between the growing demand for and the supply of research space is complicated. To address the issues of research space, universities have developed a variety of space management methods to fit their unique research missions, priorities, and operational culture. This article provides important insights into this little studied aspect of higher education space planning. The article is an overview of research space management across the U. S. on general campuses and in health science centers. It is based on interviews with senior administrators in selected research universities conducted specifically for this study, information about research space management available on university documents on the Internet, and on the work of Ira Fink and Associates, Inc. in programming research facilities on a multitude of campuses nationwide.

Abstract: This article provides a survey of innovative approaches to campus transportation in the United States. The high costs of parking expansion have propelled many institutions toward a transportation demand management strategy, using parking pricing, transit passes for students and employees, and investment in bicycle infrastructure to shift many trips from single-occupant automobiles to other modes of travel. These institutions have experienced multiple benefits, including lower transportation costs, lower environmental impacts, and improved community relations.

Abstract: A program cost study was conducted at a large midwestern university to determine department level expenses and revenues associated with the mission-critical activites of instruction, research, and service. The analysis is patterned after a controversial study conducted at the University of Rhode Island (Swonger and Mead, 1996: Cordes, 1996, Roush, 1996) but includes significant improvements based in the availability of well-developed models for allocating costs (Responsibility-Centered Management, or RCM) and attributing faculty effort to these mission-critical activites (Instructional Effort Report/Capacity Model). Rcm has been used for nearly a decade to allocate all campus revenue and expenses to academic units. The IER/Capacity Model has developed over the course of the ten years from a system for illustrating faculty teaching loeads to one concerned with total faculty workloads. The results of the cost study ere promulgated through a series of reports and meetings with university administrators. The reports provide to them a wealth of cost information to supplement exisiting evaluation mechaisms assesing program process and quality and were incorporataed into the annual planning and budget proceses across all campus units.