At What Cost Classrooms?
The Experience of One Institution…
Rick Peterson
Director of Information Technology
College of Arts & Sciences
Chair, Classroom Design & Advisory Committee
UNC-Chapel Hill
rick_peterson@unc.edu
Goals for this session

Provide UNC-CH classroom specific background and share
our particular experiences (esp. related to costs to support
multimedia classrooms) (30 minutes)
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
Overview of UNC-CH classroom environment
Broad classroom metrics
Specific “costs” for building/supporting classrooms
Challenges / next steps for UNC-CH
Resources
Discuss broader implications, challenge assumptions, learn
from your experience(s)
– (60 minutes)
FOR MORE INFO...
Presentation available on-line at
http://cdac.unc.edu/docs/classroomcosts.ppt
UNC-CH General Info

Only public university to award degrees in
the 18th century.
– (…we have some OLD buildings)

Composed of 16 Schools & Colleges
– Academic Affairs (A&S, Journalism, Business, Law,
Education, Info & Library Science, Social Work, etc…)
– Health Affairs (Medicine, Public Health, Nursing,
Pharmacy, Dentistry, etc…)
– (…we are in general HIGHLY DECENTRALIZED)
UNC-CH General Info (cont.)

Approx. 26,000 students, 16,000
undergraduates
– (…we are pretty big)

Health Affairs and professional Academic
Affairs schools (predominantly) schedule
their own classrooms
– professional schools mostly “do their own
thing” re: classrooms
UNC-CH General Info (cont.)

Only (?) large, research intensive public
university with undergraduate student
laptop requirement
– all 4 undergraduate classes will have laptops this coming Fall

State Bond $$ providing approx. $500
million in capital funding through 2009/10
– $36M allocated where needed to whole building
renovations
– $14M allocated where needed to individual classroom
renovations
UNC-CH Classroom Environment

191 “general purpose” classrooms (centrally
scheduled by Registrar) in 28 buildings
predominantly in the “poorer” Academic Affairs
schools

92 “non-general purpose” classrooms
(dept./school scheduled, 37 geographically
remote) in Academic Affairs
(62 in Health Affairs)

Fiscal, Technical & Administrative “ownership” of
classrooms an “issue”
Provost’s Classroom Committee

Classroom Design and Advisory
Committee (CDAC) formed in Fall 2000 at
the Provost level to:
– “…oversee classroom design and assure that
active learning needs are considered and
incorporated into the construction of new
classrooms and the renovation of old ones.”
FOR MORE INFO...
http://cdac.unc.edu
What the CDAC has done
Contracted out and facilitated
classroom/lab utilization and ‘mix’
analyses
 Brought everyone together “in one
room” twice a month to discuss
 Built nascent website to coalesce
distributed information
 Advocated for classrooms

Metrics we have found useful

Eva Klein & Associates’ “Space Factor”
– Assignable Square Footage (ASF)
• Target: 18 ASF per station
– Weekly Room Hours (WRH)
• Target: 35 hours/week
– Student Station Occupancy (SSO)
• Target: 65%
FOR MORE INFO...
Follow the ‘UNC Story’ link at
http://www.evakleinassociates.com/
Determining Classroom Productivity
Space Factor = ASF / (WRH * SSO)
 Using targets:

– Target Space Factor = 18 / (35 * .65)
– Target Space Factor = .79, or just .8
Lower is Better (more productive
classrooms)
 You can try this at home, if you have
the data/time/need

Our “standard” ASF targets
17-20 ASF for traditional classrooms,
lowering to 15 ASF for large fixed
seat lecture halls
 30-35 ASF for computer classrooms
 NOTE: We are now adding 20% to the
first target above to accommodate
larger desks/tables for student
laptops

Classroom Costs

Will Focus on:
– Traditional (non multimedia capable)
classrooms (chalkboard and overhead/slide
projector)
– Multimedia capable classrooms (LCD
projection device, touch panel control system,
appropriate lighting, VCR, DVD, laptop
connection, ring-down phone, wireless
capability, etc.
– NOTE: Computer and Teleconference
classroom costs NOT represented in these
numbers – some costs of course overlap.
Classroom “Costs”

Capital (One-time)
– Construction
– “A/V” equipment – lighting, multimedia technology, control
systems
– Overbuilding?

Operating (Ongoing)
– Traditional Classrooms
– Multimedia Classrooms – two components
• Maintenance
• Equipment Lifecycling

Human
– Personnel
– Learning (soft? costs)
Capital Costs

Full Building Renovation
– Two ‘identical’ buildings (4 floors, 27K gross
sq. ft., 17K ASF, built 1922-1924).
• $6.7 million (16 multimedia classrooms)
• $4.5 million (5 multimedia classrooms)

Classroom “A/V” budgets – lighting,
multimedia, controls
– $15,000 to $180,000 based on level of
technology and seat count
– Facilities “ballpark” of $1,000/seat
• (does NOT include furniture, or per seat hard Internet
connections/power)
Capital Costs (cont.)

Cost of OVERBUILDING classrooms
– $250/sq. foot * 950 sq. feet (50 station
tablet arm chair classroom) = $237,500
+ “A/V” costs.
– Can go a long way towards funding
other needs (laboratories, office space,
e.g.)
Capital Costs (cont.)

Question: Can we use capital funding to
“just” significantly upgrade existing
classrooms (assumes building
infrastructure not in need of significant
upgrade)?
 $50K per 50 seat classroom in this case
gets us a ‘fresh” classroom – new paint,
furniture, MINIMUM multimedia.
Operating Costs – Traditional
Classrooms

Traditional (not multimedia capable)
classrooms maintenance costs
– Chalk/markers, clock batteries, erasers,
overhead/slide projector bulbs,
cleaning, depreciation.
– Example: $8/bulb * 20/year = $160/year
– Cost/yr/classroom = $150/yr - $300/yr
Operating Costs – Multimedia
Classrooms - Maintenance

Maintenance Costs
– Bulbs (LCD projector, document
camera, overhead, slide), “hotline”
phone, Chalk/markers, batteries,
cleaning, depreciation
– Example: $400/LCD bulb * 2/year =
$800/year
Operating Costs – Multimedia
Classrooms - Maintenance (cont.)

Overall: 5% of initial room system
cost/year
– A $50K room will have approx. $2,500 in
yearly maintenance costs
– We are averaging 4% per year per
classroom
Operating Costs – Multimedia
Classrooms – Equipment Lifecycling

Equipment Lifecycling Cost
Estimates
– 25% of equipment replaced every 3
years
– 25% of equipment replaced every 5
years
– 50% of equipment replaced every 10
years
Operating Costs – Multimedia
Classrooms – Equipment Lifecycling
A $50K room will have approx. $9,150
in yearly lifecycle costs
 Overall: 18% of initial room cost /
year

– We project UNC-CH costs varying year
to year from 9%-14% per year per
classroom
Human Costs

Personnel to support traditional
classrooms
– Roughly 1 FTE checks each of 100
classrooms for 25 minutes each week
(.01 FTE/classroom)
Human Costs

Multimedia Classrooms
– Roughly 1 FTE checks each of 20
multimedia classrooms for 2 hours each
week (.05 FTE/classroom)
• Niemayer* recommends .15 FTE/classroom,
.5 FTE/computer classroom
* Hard Facts on Classroom Design, The ScareCrow Press, 2003, Daniel Niemeyer
Add ‘em all UP and you get…

Method 1 (top-down):
– Multiply your initial classroom costs by the
percentages given for maintenance and
lifecycling and personnel and you get a yearly
cost/classroom

Method 2 (bottom up):
– Take the per item costs for maintenance and
lifecycling and personnel by type of
multimedia room and get a yearly total to
maintain a particular type of classroom
UNC-CH’s numbers using Method 2
2000-2001
01/02
02/03
03/04
04/05
Total Multimedia Classrooms
52
72
95
117
132
Total Traditional Classrooms
133
113
90
68
33
Lifecycle All Classrooms
$466,940
$550,254
$698,367
$789,688
$862,614
Maintenance All Classrooms
$185,943
$221,610
$270,034
$305,358
$333,686
Perm. Personnel Costs
$119,026
$199,780
$269,668
$351,034
$421,727
Temp. Personnel Costs
$163,490
$175,324
$187,566
$199,967
$211,217
Total Classroom Support Budget
$935,399
$1,146,968
$1,425,635
$1,646,047
$1,829,244
UNC-CH’s numbers using Method 2
04/05
05/06
06/07
07/08
08/09
Total Multimedia Classrooms
132
144
151
161
162
Total Traditional Classrooms
33
41
34
24
23
Lifecycle All Classrooms
$862,614
$918,187
$966,909
$1,012,488
$1,017,045
Maintenance All Classrooms
$333,686
$356,003
$372,397
$390,870
$392,717
Perm. Personnel Costs
$421,727
$485,067
$535,497
$599,237
$632,437
Temp. Personnel Costs
$211,217
$221,688
$230,998
$241,283
$249,116
$1,829,244
$1,980,945
$2,105,801
$2,243,878
$2,291,315
Total Classroom Support Budget
A More Readable Summary

Fiscal Year 00/01 Projected Budget
– $935,399 for 52 multimedia classrooms

Fiscal Year 04/05 Projected Budget
– $1,829,244 for 132 multimedia
classrooms
A More Readable Summary

Fiscal Year 08/09 Projected Budget
– $2,291,315 for 162 multimedia classrooms
• Approx. .56% of Provost Office’s State Funding

$1,355,916 in NEW operating funding
would support 110 new multimedia
capable classrooms
• Approx. .33% of Provost Office’s State Funding
UNC-CH Challenges / Next Steps

Budgeting: How do we identify new
operating funding to support bond capital
spending, esp. in hard fiscal times?
 Oversight: How can the CDAC effectively
oversee the creation of great classrooms?
 Collaboration / Coordination: How can
central IT, Facilities, and faculty work
together more effectively?
UNC Challenges / Next Steps

We are losing 10%-30% of our seat count
when renovating old classroom space due
to infrastructure and laptop support
issues
 We are continuing to make every
classroom we renovate or create
multimedia capable
 Recently completed a Faculty Classroom
Survey to gauge interest/support
Resources/Links

Ways to inform yourself about
classrooms
– Hard Facts on Smart Classroom Design,
Daniel Niemeyer, ISBN #0-8108-4359-5
– http://www.classrooms.com
– http://hotline.unc.edu (shows exact
equipment in UNC-CH classrooms)
– “Make Yourself Uncomfortable,” 3/7/03
Chronicle of Higher Ed cover story
Some Questions for Discussion?

Are the added costs required to support
multimedia capable classrooms “worth
it?” (45% of our faculty say that they can’t
COUNT on getting a multimedia classroom
– their #1 constraint in using classroom
technology)
 Should institutions, if large, designate a
staff person to oversee classrooms?
 Should all classrooms be “multimedia
capable?”
Questions (cont.)
Why do we need overhead projectors
and slide projectors when we have
document cameras and digital
libraries?
 Who “owns” the classrooms?
 Do we overbuild classrooms to
accommodate more “prime time”
sections?

Questions (cont.)

How do we project the impact (e.g., quality
of learning environment) of renovating old
buildings , making classrooms laptop
friendly, aiming for lower class sizes, and
increasing enrollment?
 Oh, by the way, how can we design
multimedia classrooms to better support
active learning? (we just designed a new
flexible, ADA-compliant, podium standard)
Thank You!

Presentation Available on-line at:
http://cdac.unc.edu/docs/classroomcosts.ppt