What do we do?
Institutional Research
OIE conducts analytical studies and provides information in support of institutional planning, policy formulation and decision making. This includes:
Data and data analysis: OIE is the official source of OC’s institutional data and is responsible for ensuring data integrity. The office provides data and data analysis to the college president, senior administrators, committees, and the college community in general. The office is responsible for many reporting requirements at the federal and state levels, including IPEDS and Gainful Employment.
Many general questions can be answered using the OC Annual Report; however, please contact OIE directly for requests for College data and information.
If you cannot find the data you are looking for, then please submit a data request. Data requests are handled by the data management team. The process used is as follows:
- The data management team meets to review requests and assign an analyst to your request.
- The analyst contacts you to refine your request, discuss what data is and is not available, and provide an estimate of how long it will take to fill the request.
- The data analyst provides the final report to you.
The data analyst assigned to your request may often be able to direct you to already existing reports for your data needs. Also, all the data analysts have routine work meeting the regular, ongoing data needs of the college. The amount of time available to respond to ad hoc data requests is therefore a small percentage of their time. Please note that the lead time to fulfill a data request is currently running at 6 weeks or longer.
Data Management Team and Data Access: The Office of Institutional Effectiveness and the Data Management Team serve as the information hub for all campus-wide requests and needs.
Research Studies and Support: OIE conducts research studies and literature reviews and publishes its findings in the form of research reports, research briefs, data reports, and fact sheets. Research study topics may also be requested by the OC community. Research support is available to college staff (and in some cases, students) and includes developing survey instruments using statistical techniques in research, helping to analyze data, and conducting various types of evaluations. The office also provides support with writing grant proposals, statistical analysis, tracking student performance, and ensuring research activity compliance. OIE also oversees college-wide surveys such as CCSSE and PACE.
Institutional Review Board: OIE oversees the operation of the College’s Institutional Review Board, to ensure the integrity and compliance of internal and external research projects affecting OC staff and students.
Current Research: We administer a variety of surveys on a three year cycle to address the core needs of the College for comparative, longitudinal data on key trends in students education. Many of these surveys are administered in conjunction with other colleges and universities nationally. Collectively, they form the basis of many planning, decision-making and program review activities at the College.
Strategic Planning
OIE provides college-wide leadership and coordination for planning and institutional effectiveness to collect and report information for decision making and organizational development, and to provide support for accreditation-related self-study.
Goal Setting and Evaluation
OIE supports the College by providing data and analysis to monitor and evaluate OC’s Strategic Goals and Strategic Initiatives. Evaluating the College’s short and long term goals is essential to supporting the College in its strive for mission fulfillment.
OIE also oversees the College’s review process for student and campus support functions. More information about the Support Function Review process is available direct from the OIE. Queries relating to Academic Program Review should be directed to the Office of Instruction.
In addition, OIE has a focused role in the evaluation of student success initiatives and the monitoring of the College’s performance in the WA SBCTC Student Achievement Initiative.
Accreditation
OIE provides data and evaluation of the College’s Core Themes, in support of the College’s Accreditation activities for the Northwest Commission for Colleges and Universities. Queries relating the Olympic College’s regional accreditation, or the accreditation of specific programs, should be directed to the College’s Accreditation Liaison Officer, Mary Garguile.
Assessment
OIE coordinates on-going evaluation for the purpose of improving the quality of the college's instructional programs and ensuring that outcomes achieved are consistent with the mission and goals of the institution. The focus of academic assessment is on student learning outcomes, curriculum management, and quality teaching.
Student Learning Outcomes
OIE provides direct support and resources for the evaluation of student learning through the College’s Instructional Assessment Council. Ad-hoc support for individual programs and faculty for student learning outcome assessment is available on request to OIE.
Curriculum Management
OIE, working with the Title III Office, provides faculty (individually and collectively through the College Curriculum Committee) with assistance in the management and documentation of curriculum materials. More information is available from the Title III Program Director, Charles Mannila.
Quality Teaching
OIE provides support through the College’s Instructional Assessment Council and the Title III Project for the development and resourcing of professional development opportunities for faculty in assessment of student learning. For more information contact Charles Mannila.
Who we are
OIE includes several specialist staff, including the Title III Project team.
Allison Phayre, Director of Institutional Effectiveness
Amanda Gebhardt-Fuentes, Manager of Institutional Research & Effectiveness and IRB Chair
Charles Mannila, Title III Project Manager
