Measurement and Evaluation: Indicators of Engagement

Professor Ronnie Munck (DCU) & Dr Rhonda Wynne (UCD)

Today

Current discussion on indicators Developing indicators: challenges and

approaches Moving on: Campus Engage Indicators

Introductions

Who you are… What civic engagement indicators

are talked about in your institution?

What activities or initiatives are included?

Work to date…

Working Group on Metrics and Evaluation Charter for Irish Higher Education Civic and

Community Engagement Supplementary document on Indicators of

Engagement

Challenges What are the wider benefits to

the community ? How to prove value? Why bother? What to include? How to account for activities that

are not easily monetised? How to demonstrate

commitment to civic and community engagement?

Qualitative Approach

• Mission• Identity• Commitment

• Plans, budgets, staff• Institutional infrastructure• Recruitment, promotion• Data gathering, tracking• Teaching and Learning• Scholarship• Outreach and partnership

Quantitative Approach

DCU VALUE PROJECT

PARALLEL PRICE

A Market-equivalent fee (a ‘parallel price’) was used to impute a value for the full time FUTSAL programme. To determine a ‘market-equivalent fee’ we reviewed a range of courses (including FE Colleges) offering similar types of coaching and training activity.

OPPORTUNITY COST

For volunteering work , we applied the ‘opportunity cost’ of an hour of volunteer delivery time at minimum wage rates.

PARTICIPANT TIME-COST

The remainder of the activities delivered were priced using participant time-cost (with a rate derived from CSO sources.) The time-cost approach is frequently used in for evaluation of transport initiatives ie set by government rather than freely in the market

Shadow Pricing

Shadow Pricing Economic Value Socially Modified

Economic Value

FUTSAL €149,773 €284,569

VOLUNTEERING €5450 €5450

OTHER ACTIVITIES €62663 €113,418

TOTAL €217,886 €403,437

Social Weighting• Around 90% of all general DCU in the community are participants are from low

income ‘priority groups.’ The appropriate weighting (1.9) can be applied to the economic value result (reflecting the greater social value being delivered). This would have the effect of giving a Socially modified Economic Value of €113,418 for the activities measured.

• Taking all of the elements together, the overall value generated by a single year’s

outputs from (2012) DCU in the Community was considerable.

• DCU in the community students range in age from 18 to 75 years of age. Approximately 60% of students come from Ballymun. There are significantly more women attending with the male to female ratio being 3 : 7 Over 90% are unemployed and receiving welfare benefits while the remaining 10% work part time. In addition to their lack of financial assistance, many are returning adults who are balancing the demands of family while enrolled in college courses.

Regional Impact: Proactive1. Business innovation which is closely linked, although not exclusively, to the research function of the university, 2. Human capital development linked to the teaching function 3. Community development linked to the public service role of universities. 4. Contribution to the institutional capacity of the region through engagement of its management and members in local civil society.

Self –assessment Tool

• embrace the contribution of research to business innovation

• teaching and learning to human capital development

• and university engagement with community and place development

• and the degree of interconnection between all three strands of activity

Self –assessment Tool

• It should identify progress along the spectrum from transactional to transformational interventions. This will need to take account of the extent to which the university is connected to public institutions and the private sector.

• In evaluating place of HE in the region it will be necessary for all of the partners to address the issues and identify steps that could be taken to draw each sector together in order to move towards the connected region where universities are key players.

Campus Engage Indicators

• Suggested activities of an engaged institution…• Balance between ‘parsimony and precision’• Decisions about what is important and

meaningful• Will vary between institutions• Evolving as work develops

Moving on

Consider the CE indicators

What can you progress in your institution?

Aims • to build capacity and increase the number of Community-based

Learning (CBL) and Community-based Research (CBR) practitioners and champions on campuses

• to facilitate the development of skills to implement and embed CBL and CBR in HEIs

• to communicate the benefits of CBL and CBR to educators and learners Implementation• Regional one day Kick Start Sessions in September 2014 to support

you in developing a CBL / CBR project proposal • Subsequent mentor support and a summer forum to share learningTo join the mailing list for updates, sign up at the registration desk or at the afternoon workshops

Launch of Campus Engage CBL & CBR Mentoring Programme for Academic Staff