OMD/MPII/MP Paper II Project Numbers

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Randy Fisher's Masters Project II

MA, Organization Management and Development, Fielding Graduate University, California (April 2009)


Randy Fisher aka Wikirandy

Project Numbers

Media:WE_Project_Numbers_V2.0.ods

Project Numbers

Course development (including significant course revision) varies significantly among institutions: whether it is a credit or continuing education course; a bachelor’s level or graduate level course; the extent to which it incorporates pedagogy, media and participatory learning approaches; the knowledge and subject matter expertise of the course writer; the quality and standard of the educational institution.

As Derek Chirnside of the University of Canterbury, in Christchurch, NZ. Puts it: “How long is a piece of string?”

Assumptions

  • The linear ADDIE Model of course development: 
    • Needs Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation
  • Full course development - Master’s level course of 120 credit hours (12 weeks).
  • A good set of learner outcomes
  • Depends on the preparedness of the lecturer, and whether s/he has access to  educational materials and/or resources
  • Additional Requirements:
    • Educational design, course structure, pedagogy
    • Technical support – creating web pages, cropping images, etc.
    • Typing
    • Writing / editing / proofing
Other
  • In general, 10-20% of courses are revised annually; some institutions will do up to 60% (Source: Derek Chirnside, University of Canterbury, NZ)
  • 5% of courses get completely redeveloped due to a change in curriculum, etc.

Course Development - Traditional Production Model

Fixed Costs

  • Buildings, computers, furnishings and other amortized costs
  • Administrative and support staff costs.
  • Computing equipment, software, security and Internet costs
  • Debt-servicing

Variable Costs (Labour)

Model 1 - Consultant

  • Average cost of course development - $25K, time 2-3 months
  • Average cost of course revision for - $10K, time  1 month

Model 2 – College/University Employee

Not including Benefits



Role
Annual Salary (not including Benefits)
Hourly Salary (1760 hours per year)
     
Lecturer/Subject Matter Expert
$75K
$42.61
Educational Designer
$65K
$36.93
Typist
$55K
$31.25
Writer/Editor, Proofreader
$45K
$25.57
Casual Staff
$35K
$19.89

 

Bundled Time for One (1) Course Development

(for College/University Employee)


Role
No. of Hours
Times (X)
Hourly Salary (not including benefits
 
         
Lecturer/Subject Matter Expert
80
X
$42.61
$3409.09
Educational Designer
10
X
$36.93
$369.32
Typist
15
X
$31.25
$468.75
Writer/Editor, Proofreader
30
X
$25.57
$767.05
Casual Staff
20
X
$19.88
$397.73
 
 
 
 
 
Total
155
 
 
$5411.93

Course Development: Wiki Production Model

Savings via Collaborative Peer Production

  • Estimated 30 per cent increase in performance. Based in interviews with folks who have used WikiEd as a peer production platform, the 30% increase in performance was discussed, and the original time estimates. Thus, 30% of time was deducted from the original time amounts Randy Fisher 18:49, 21 March 2009 (UTC)


Role
Original No. of Hours
No. of Hours
Times (X)
Hourly Salary (not including benefits
 
   
(less 30%)
     
Lecturer/Subject Matter Expert
80
56
X
$42.61
$2,386.36
Educational Designer
10
7
X
$36.93
$258.52
Typist
15
10.50
X
$31.25
$328.13
Writer/Editor, Proofreader
30
21.00
X
$25.57
$536.93
Casual Staff
20
14.00
X
$19.89
$278.41
 
 
 
 
 
Total
155
108.50
 
 
$3,788.35

Difference Between Traditional Model vs. Collaborative Model

Type
Amount
     
Traditional Model
$5,411.93
Peer (Wiki) Model
$3,788.35
DIFFERENCE
$1623.58

Total # of Lecturers @ Institution

700

Total # of Courses @ Institution

1200-1600 courses (depending on definition of course)


  • Assuming, conservatively 10% of courses need significant course development / revision per year: 1200 /1.10 = 120
  • Number of courses needing development /revision X traditional course production= 120 x $5,411.93 = $649,431.82
  • Assuming 10% of total staff of 700 pursue (70 employees) wiki skills training at $50 per employee = 70 X $50=$3,500
    • Notes:
  1. Actual time-to-train staff not factored in for assignment. A 5-day course = 45 min. per day. Some people do it on personal time, in gaps between work activities.
  1. There is actually no cost for training outlay, as it is covered in the Hewlett grant. However, an individual institution may wish to have specialized onsite training for its people, and there is a cost to that.
  2. Another element, is the use of a community facilitator, to design/build and facilitate the community of practice around the project.

Savings from wiki course production

  • Number of courses needing development /revision X peer (wiki) production= 120 x $3,788.35 = $454,602.27

Net Savings per year (10% of courses, conservative estimate)

  • $649,431.82-$454,602.27 = $194,829.55 annually - training costs ($10,500) = $184,329.55

Return-on-Investment

  • 28 per cent, per annum.


In developing these Project Numbers, I interviewed several educators who have used the wiki, with the questions(s):

  • Have you used the wiki for content development?
  • To what extent, in terms of percentages, has using the wiki increased your productivity?

All of the people I spoke to, said that their productivity increase was >30%. Derek Chirnside, at the University of Canterbury in NZ, said:

  • once specific techniques - such as bucketing (i.e., placing content in specific buckets that correspond to other course development activities) are mastered, the number could much higher, up to 50%.
  • higher gains could be realized if a development team with a critical mass of five (5) people were involved in a wiki production project.
  • this content repurposed and reused for: http://www.wikieducator.org/Value_Proposition

References

Light in the Shadows: The Dilemma of Addie. Retrieved February 2, 2009 from http://lits.gen.nz/category/learning-design/.

Derek Chirnside, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, NZ February 2, 2009. Private correspondence

WikiEducator Statistics. (2008). Retrieved December 5, 2008, from http://www.wikieducator.org/Special:Statistics

WikiEducator Statistics Reports (Tables & Charts). (2008). Retrieved December 5, 2008, from http://wikieducator.org/stats/reports/

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