2008-2009 Educational Technology Fee Expenditure Report
College of Veterinary Medicine
Prepared by: Dr. David Bristol
1.
2.
Categorized ETF Expenditure Summary
Category
Amount
Personnel- Professional Support Staff
$68,972.61
IT Infrastructure, Equipment, Services
$75,539.75
Non-IT infrastructure, equipment
$64,884.34
Other/Miscellaneous
$7,554.82
Student educational fees taken by the state
$10,843.48
Total
$227,795.00
Note: Conduit, other electrical supplies and mounting hardware for IT projects is
included in IT infrastructure. Other/Miscellaneous includes equipment maintenance, lab
service agreements, shipping, printing, veterinary care and hospital payments.
Justification/Purpose of Expenditures
a. New and transformative initiatives
i. The library commons project discussed in last year’s report is well underway,
with construction scheduled to be complete before students return for the fall
2009 semester. Most of the technology (additional computers, flat screen
monitors, etc.) to support student learning in the library was purchased with ETF
funds in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. All of the construction and new furniture
was paid for from non-ETF sources.
ii. Centralization of all veterinary course web sites (begun in 2007-2008 and
completed in 2008-2009): The Director of Web-based education is the only
individual paid, in part, from ETF sources. This individual is responsible for
assisting faculty with development of course web sites, and making access to
sites easy for students. The CVM needed to establish a different model for
course web sites than what is used on the rest of campus. One goal was that all
DVM students should be able to access all CVM course web sites, whether or
not they were registered in that course in a given year. Another was that
students would access course materials through a common portal. A third goal
was that all courses would use a similar format for web sites so that students
would not have to learn different methods to access course content. A fourth
was that all course web sites would be available throughout the year, not just
when courses were being taught. This was accomplished through a DVM
course portal at dvm.ncsu.edu. Note that in the upcoming year we plan to
transition a number of these course sites to the Moodle format.
iii. Meeting new accreditation standards: The Council on Education of the
American Veterinary Medical Association established a new accreditation
standard that required verification of technical skill capabilities for EACH
student. The college is meeting the requirement through use of skills booklets
that each student carries with them throughout the four year curriculum. The
students must demonstrate the required skills and have the individual skill
“signed-off” by faculty members. In order to assist students, web based videos
were developed (2007-2009) for many of the skills. While the salary of the
individual involved in this project is partially paid for by ETF, a grant from a
pharmaceutical company was obtained to develop the skill-training streaming
videos. In the 2008-2009 cycle, the individual with partial ETF support also
developed a web based skill assessment log. This allows each student to log-in
when they have had an essential skill evaluated by a faculty member, so they
and their faculty mentor can track their progress. It also allows administrative
tracking of summarized class progress in obtaining the required skills.
iv. A couple of years ago, ETF funds were used to purchase “Virtual Microscopy”,
a software program that allows students to study histology (microscopic tissue
sections) using computers, either at the college or from home. While this
expenditure predates the expenditures for the current report, it is being included
here because the faculty member overseeing the initiative, Dr. Jennifer Neel,
has had a publication and several presentations resulting from that educational
initiative. The most recent accepted presentation, for the 2009 American
College of Veterinary Pathologists meeting follows:
STUDENT USE OF VIRTUAL MICROSCOPY IN LEARNING
CYTOPATHOLOGY, J.A. Neel, C.B. Grindem, Department of Health
and Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina
State University, Raleigh, NC.
This is an indication that the initiative was seen as “transformative” when
reviewed by peers from other universities.
b.
Actions taken to improve efficiency
i. ETF funds are insufficient to meet the many teaching needs, including projects
such as the library commons sited above. Therefore they are commonly
matched with funds from other sources. For instance, the library commons
project is expected to cost approximately $700,000, of which less than $100,000
will be from ETF. (ETF is being used for the technology students will use in the
new learning commons).
ii. ETF is insufficient to meet the supply costs of the laboratories in the veterinary
medical curriculum. These additional costs are met though other state funds and
contract income. For instance, unlike human medical students, veterinary
students must be competent surgeons the day they graduate. Surgical
laboratories are expensive endeavors. In the past year, $51,678 of ETF support
went to two surgical laboratory courses that are part of our core curriculum.
However, these labs alone would not adequately prepare our students for the
surgical procedures they will be expected to from when they graduate.
Therefore, we have partnered with the Wake County Animal Care, Control and
Adoption Center (WCACCAC). The college pays the salary of a faculty
member and veterinary technician at the WCACCAC (non-ETF funds) and in
return the WCACCAC has renovated facilities for a veterinary surgical unit.
Our students perform the spays and neuters at the shelter. This provides the
county with a service and our students with surgical experience.
c.
Unmet ETF needs
i. ETF only meets a small percentage of course associated laboratory supply costs
in the CVM. In 2008-2009, ETF was used for $51,677.87 of surgical laboratory
costs. Over $154,600 was allocated from other sources for courses with
significant laboratory components. In addition, many of our food animal
clinical rotations require transporting students to farms for training. Those
transport costs are built into the course budgets rather than being included in the
Field Trip/Professional Development portion of the ETF budget. Stated another
way, ETF covered a small percentage of eligible laboratory costs.
ii. The CVM maintains an on-site farm, the Teaching Animal Unit, to aid with
student instruction in farm species. Herds of horses, dairy cattle, beef cattle,
sheep, goats, pigs and flocks of poultry are all managed in typical agricultural
production methods. It is critical that our increasingly urban/suburban student
population have access to these herds/flocks so they can be competent veterinary
graduates. The recent rapid increase in fuel and feed prices have had led to a
dramatic increase in costs of maintaining this facility. Feed prices have
increased due to a number of factors including increase fuel prices to transport
feed and decreased national production of animal feeds (hay, certain grains) in
favor of producing corn for biofuel production). None of the laboratory costs
associated with courses in the teaching animal unit are supported by ETF.
3.
iii. Library Commons Project: Most of this project, which is meant to bring current
information technology to the CVM library for student use, is being funded from
non-ETF sources.
d. Assessment: We do not conduct a separate assessment of effectiveness of ETF
expenditures. These expenditures are often mixed with expenditures from other sources
to accomplish college educational goals. The Library Learning Commons Project is a
good example of this. Similarly, upgrades to laboratories (anatomy, multipurpose
microscopy lab) are made using a variety of sources. For traditional laboratory supplies,
we do not separately assess supplies purchased from ETF sources from those purchased
with non-ETF funds. All courses, whether funded from ETF or non-ETF sources, are
evaluated on a regular cycle. The individual whose salary is partially supported by ETF
is reviewed annually as part of the normal employee evaluation process.
e. Planning and review process: Distribution of ETF funds within the CVM is done by the
Associate Dean and Director of Academic Affairs. The associate dean meets with class
leaders (presidents and vice presidents of each class, plus the president and vice president
of the student chapter of the AVMA) approximately 6 times per year to discuss a variety
of student issues including use of ETF. Student feedback on special projects (one-time
funds) are sought at these meetings. In addition, applications for “one-time” funding are
discussed and prioritized with the Faculty Committee on Curriculum and Course
Evaluation. This committee is composed of faculty from each department in the college
and students from each class. Planning for the Library Learning Commons project
involved a team of faculty, staff, and students from each veterinary class.
Summarized list of expenditures:
Category
511xx EPA Non-teaching Salaries
518xx Staff Benefits
519xx Contracted Services
52xxx Supplies and Materials
53xxx Current Services
54xxx Fixed Charges
55xxx Capital Outlays
Student fees taken by the state
Total CVM
Amount
56,477.21
12,495.40
1,274.38
106,151.86
5,331.65
3,169.02
32,052.00
10,843.48
227,795.00
Note that a number of tablet computers were ordered for distribution to selected students to test our
hospital and classroom systems in preparation for a college wide tablet computer initiative, scheduled
for fall, 2010. Payment for these was refused by the state during the end of year budget freeze. Return
of the items was refused by the vendor.