DePaul Organizational Modeling Final Project

FINAL PROJECT

IS 435, Organizational ModelingWinter Quarter, 2009

Th 5:45PM - 9:00PM Section 801 Class# 22687Section 810, Online Learning Class# 22688

Roy Hoppe“Hey! I got this idea for a new …”or“What module are we on?”

Final Project. Roy HoppeIS 435, Organizational Modeling

EXECUTIVESUMMARY

Executive SummaryDePaul University’s School of Computing and Digital Media has a current process that focuses on the steps it takes to create a new course. Although the procedure for doing this is quite evident to instructors that have been at DePaul for a while, new instructors are unclear on how to approach this process. Even after a new course is created, how does the original instructor transfer his knowledge to another instructor who has to teach the course for the first time? The purpose of this project is to establish written procedures and guidelines to aide instructors in creating new courses and transferring course knowledge to new instructors.

INTRODUCTION

About the organization

DePaul University – With more than 24, 300 students, DePaul University is the only one of the nation’s 10 largest private universities where the faculty priority is teaching. Founded on the Vincentian principle of access for everyone, DePaul remains committed to providing a quality education through personal attention to students from a wide range of backgrounds.

At the school of CDM, they are the College of Computing and Digital Media - and much more. As one of the largest schools of technology and digital media in the Midwest, DePaul CDM offers 27 undergraduate and graduate programs in a wide and diverse range of fields within computing, cinema and interactive arts.

About me

My name is Roy Hoppe and I am a returning adult student in the Bachelor of Science Information Systems Combined Degree. I am currently in my senior year, as an undergraduate with ambitions of finishing in July 2009. My career goal is to become a Business Analyst.

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Final Project. Roy HoppeIS 435, Organizational Modeling

CURRENT PROCESS

Current Process Description

A single instructor or a group of instructors come up with an idea for a class. They initiate the process by doing research on the idea and then they create syllabi from scratch or use existing syllabi from another accredited university. Then they generate a written proposal that includes the course title, course description, course objectives, syllabus and any prerequisites that might be required. Then the proposal is submitted to the appropriate Program Committee that the proposed course falls under. The Program Committee is comprised of volunteer professors, who teach courses in that particular program. The Program Committee reviews all the necessary information, makes suggestions and then forwards it to the Curriculum Committee. Once the instructor(s) makes the necessary changes the proposal is presented to the Curriculum Committee. The Curriculum Committee reviews the proposal and determines if the course is worthy of adding it to the current curriculum. Once approved, the new course will be added to the current list of active courses and scheduled to be included in a future quarter.

Duration Analysis Results

See recording for discussion – The time commitment for this whole process varies due to several factors which includes but is not limited to time management skills of the instructor(s) in regards to research, knowledge of the requirements, satisfying the suggestions of the Program Committee and Curriculum Committee. The average time it takes to complete the process of creating a new course is 10-15 weeks and to transfer course knowledge is 5-7 days.

Information Gathering

How you did it, what you learned, whom you interviewed (anonymous, no names but titles ok), include notes as an appendix where appropriate.

I interviewed several faculty members who provided valuable insight into how the current process operates. The faculty members that I had the privilege of interviewing were Dr. Dettori, Dr. Steinbach, Dr.

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Final Project. Roy HoppeIS 435, Organizational Modeling

Mittleman, Dr. Settle, Dr. Sutcliffe, Dr. Furst and Dr. Burns. I initially had a series of seven questions for them to answer and then try to expound on the answers that they gave me that I thought could produce further insight. When I was aware that the instructors were involved in a committee, I presented further questions to gain insight from the committee perspective.

Leverage PointsI have identified three leverage points for this process. The first leverage point is process workflow design (actors, steps and flow). For creating a new course, it is the step where the instructor does the research. If there were standardized forms to use and a list of suggested research references, this would definitely reduce the amount of time it takes to perform research. The second leverage point is application of information technology (databases). This leverage point involves creating the written proposal that is submitted to the committees for approval. If you had a template for the written proposal, it would standardize the instructors approach to gathering the appropriate information and the forms required for submission to make the process run smoother. If the instructor knows what information is needed, the required format and a direction to start in, the time management piece would become streamlined and efficient. The third leverage point is when the teacher creates modules for the course. Currently it is usually done by one instructor and you might get a marrow approach to the course material. If you had a pool of instructors, creating modules for the course, your modules will be more dynamic and inspirational for the students. The students will get the best from every instructor and make the course exciting and the students will naturally respond favorably.

Process Disablers for current

The process disablers for either the current create a new course process or the transfer of course knowledge to a new instructor is how long it takes to gather information process workflow design (actors, steps and flow) and put it into a standardized format application of information technology (databases). One other process disabler is the reliance of one instructor to create the course material because then the material will become stagnant and, eventually, the students will stop taking the course.

Process Enablers

The answer to this is presented as a threefold solution. The first is to supply a list of preformatted forms that instructors can use to process their new course proposal. The second is to supply a list of useful

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Final Project. Roy HoppeIS 435, Organizational Modeling

research resources that an instructor can use to launch their research. The third is to incorporate a pool of instructors input, for the course material, and then to submit it to the Teaching Learning and Excellence committee for course material review and suggestions.

METRICS & OTHER INFO

Metrics With the current process of creating a new course proposal, if the instructor(s) are unaware of the process in regards to what research resources are most beneficial, what items need to be included in the proposal, the proper format of the proposal then time is wasted on how and what I need to submit as opposed to spending time on research and generating the proposal package. This can be summed up in the metric title of time management. Instructors are people, just like everyone else, with a personal life as well as an academic life. They have to balance the two so as to prevent one from overtaking the other. If they get bogged down with just the preliminary information of how and what of the proposal process then they might not feel that they have enough time for proposing a new course and may scrape the idea for future consideration.

So, if instructors had a document explaining how the process works, what material is needed for the process, how to format the material and possible or suggested research resources then process would have a more controlled time management tool that the instructors would view as tolerable. This would help them to balance their current class load, personal life and new course proposal process easier.

In regards to replicating course material, if the responsibility of creating course modules is placed on one instructor, then you are adding to the already delicate balance that the instructor has to maintain (personal, academic...) and the modules will contain material from only one source and quite possibly be outdated. This would effect the learning environment and prevent the students from experiencing modules that are fresh and innovative. If the instructor had a pool of instructors to work with, in conjunction with the input from the Teaching Learning and Excellence committee, the course modules would be more dynamic and pertinent that the students would thoroughly benefit from this experience and this would reflect in their knowledge gained, grade and course and module evaluations.

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Final Project. Roy HoppeIS 435, Organizational Modeling

WHAT’S NEXT

Anticipated Implementation Barriers

And what you can do to overcome them? I believe that the implementation barriers might come from the fact that you have a vast numbers of instructors employed at DePaul that range in personality and work ethic. One of the first barriers is if they are willing to share their research resources with other instructors. They might feel that their research resources might be considered a private matter and would be unwilling to share any information. To further this thought, office politics might come into play when asked to share their personal research resources. This may occur because of varying personalities that they might not appreciate another instructor as well as others do. So the sharing of knowledge may hinge on affiliations or clichés.

To overcome the barrier, you might want to approach certain individuals with the aspect of making their life easier if they were exposed to wider range of research resources and teaching modules. This would help them to transform their teaching style into a more receptive toll and the fruits of their efforts would be reflected in improved course evaluations and possible pay increases.

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APPENDIX A Swimlane Diagram(s) for As Is Process.

Level 1 Deliver New Course As Is

Level 2 Propose New Course As Is

Level 2 Prepare Course Materials As Is

Final Project. Roy HoppeIS 435, Organizational Modeling

Level 2 Replicate Course Delivery As Is

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Final Project. Roy HoppeIS 435, Organizational Modeling

APPENDIX B Swimlane Diagram(s) for Proposed Process.

Level 1 Deliver New Course To Be

Level 2 Propose New Course To Be

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Final Project. Roy HoppeIS 435, Organizational Modeling

Level 2 Prepare Course Materials To Be

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Final Project. Roy HoppeIS 435, Organizational Modeling

Level 2 Replicate Course Delivery To Be

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Final Project. Roy HoppeIS 435, Organizational Modeling

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Final Project. Roy HoppeIS 435, Organizational Modeling

APPENDIX C

Project Description from ProfessorThe major component of your grade is a Business Process Modeling project. This is an individual project. A group of two will be entertained under certain conditions. This is a quarter-long project and the primary vehicle for learning. Below is a preliminary schedule of milestones:

Week Project milestone 1 2 Proposal 3 Interview design 4 5 Interview results 6 Preliminary process models 7 Validated as-is process model 8 Idea generation for improvement 9 Preliminary to-be process model

10 Validated to-be process model 11 Final writeup

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