Tallahassee Community College
College Composition—Course Planning Tool
The Course Planning Tool is a formatted spreadsheet that facilitates a three-step process for institutions to establish and compare the instructional costs before redesign (the traditional course) and the instructional costs after the redesign (the redesigned course).
Step #1 shows the calculation of all personnel costs associated with preparing and delivering the course expressed as an hourly rate. Annual salary for faculty listed is the average for faculty teaching the course and includes a 16% benefits rate. Step #2 uses this initial calculation to determine the cost of preparing and delivering the traditional course. Step #3 calculates these costs for the redesigned course. More specific Course Planning Tool instructions are available.
Below are a summary of the cost savings anticipated at Tallahassee Community College and the completed course planning tool.
Cost Savings
Tallahassee Community College’s redesign of College Composition will permit the institution to reduce the number of full-time faculty involved in this course (from 32 to 8) and substitute less expensive adjunct faculty without sacrificing quality and consistency of learning experiences for students. Total faculty time is reduced by over 2800 hours in the redesign. Decreased time in diagnosing student problems allows a shift for all faculty to time spent on focused writing experiences and feedback.
TCC has outsourced review of mid-stage drafts to online tutors at SMARTHINKING, reducing both the amount of time faculty spend grading papers by 1800 hours annually and the burden on the Writing Center by over 4000 hours annually. The result is a savings of over $94,000, $28,500 of which will be used for SMARTHINKING's services.
In the traditional course, 100 hours of class time were allotted to library presentations; in the redesigned course, the needed library instruction has been shifted to an online tutorial, thus reducing the time spent by librarians in the course from 100 hours to zero.
The redesign will result in a reduction in the cost per student of 43%, from $252 to $145, saving the institution almost $322,000 annually. The savings will be used to reassign full time faculty to second-level courses where finding adjuncts is much more difficult. In addition, adjuncts will increase their office hours by 1 hour per week to accommodate greater one-on-one interaction with students.
[For more detailed information regarding their initial academic redesign, consult the project plan description.]
Step #1: Determine Instructional Costs per Hour
Instructional Costs per Hour—College Composition
| Faculty | Full-time | Adjunct |
| Salary and Benefits | $68,300 | $1,563 |
| % devoted to instruction | 100% | 100% |
| % devoted to this course | 13% | 100% |
| $ devoted to this course | $8,538 | $1,563 |
| Contact hours for course | 42 | 42 |
| Out of class hours | 162 | 120 |
| Total hours | 204 | 162 |
| Cost per hour | $42 | $10 |
| Professional/Staff | $ per | |
| Positions | Hour | |
| Writing Center Director | $26 | |
| Permanent Part-Time (PPT) | $20 | |
| Hourly (Writing Center) | $8 | |
| Graders | $8 | |
| Librarian (Faculty) | $42 |
Step #2: Determine Instructional Costs of Traditional Course
Instructional Costs of Traditional Course—College Composition
| Faculty | 32 | Adjunct | 18 | Writing Center Director | Writing Center (PPT) | Writing Center (Hourly) | Grader | |||||
| # of Hours | Total Cost | # of Hours | Total Cost | # of Hours | Total Cost | # of Hours | Total Cost | # of Hours | Total Cost | # of Hours | Total Cost | |
| Hourly rate = | $42 | Hourly rate = | $10 | Hourly rate = | $26 | Hourly rate = | $20 | Hourly rate = | $8 | Hourly rate = | $8 | |
| I. Course Preparation | ||||||||||||
| A. Curriculum Development | ||||||||||||
| B. Materials Acquisition | ||||||||||||
| C. Materials Development | ||||||||||||
1.Lectures/ presentations |
576 | $24,106 | 324 | $3,240 | ||||||||
| 2. Learning materials/software | 288 | $12,053 | 65 | $650 | ||||||||
| 3. Diagnostic assessments | 115 | $4,813 | 162 | $1,620 | ||||||||
| 4. Assignments | 288 | $12,053 | ||||||||||
| 5. Tests/evaluations | 115 | $4,813 | ||||||||||
| Sub-Total | 1382 | $57,837 | 551 | $5,510 | ||||||||
| D. Faculty/TA Dev/Training | ||||||||||||
| 1. Orientation | 288 | $12,053 | 97 | $970 | ||||||||
| 2. Staff meetings | 115 | $4,813 | ||||||||||
| 3. Attend lectures | 58 | $2,427 | ||||||||||
| Sub-Total | 461 | $19,293 | 97 | $970 | ||||||||
| Total Prep. | 1843 | $77,130 | 648 | $6,480 | ||||||||
| II. Course Delivery | ||||||||||||
| A. Instruction | ||||||||||||
| 1. Diagnose skill/knowledge | 704 | $29,462 | 216 | $2,160 | ||||||||
| 2. Presentation | 1508 | $63,110 | 792 | $7,920 | ||||||||
| 3. Interaction | 3232 | $135,259 | 1008 | $10,080 | 1000 | $26,000 | 4400 | $87,360 | 1500 | $12,000 | ||
| 4. Progress monitoring | 448 | $18,749 | 108 | $1,080 | ||||||||
| Sub-Total | 5892 | $246,580 | 2124 | $21,240 | 1000 | $26,000 | 4400 | $87,360 | 1500 | $12,000 | ||
| B. Evaluation | ||||||||||||
| 1. Test proctoring | 256 | $10,714 | 144 | $1,440 | ||||||||
| 2. Tests/evaluation | 5184 | $216,950 | 2916 | $29,160 | 2700 | $21,600 | ||||||
| Sub-Total | 5440 | $227,664 | 3060 | $30,600 | 2700 | $21,600 | ||||||
| Total Delivery | 11332 | $474,244 | 5184 | $51,840 | 1000 | $26,000 | 4400 | $88,000 | 1500 | $12,000 | 2700 | $21,600 |
| TOTAL | 13175 | $551,374 | 5832 | $58,320 | 1000 | $26,000 | 4400 | $88,000 | 1500 | $12,000 | 2700 | $21,600 |
| GRAND TOTAL | $757,294 | |||||||||||
| Total # of students | 3000 | |||||||||||
| Cost per student | $252 | |||||||||||
Step 3: Determine Instructional Costs of the Redesigned Course
Instructional Costs of Redesigned Course—College Composition
| Faculty | 8 | Adjunct | 17 | Writing Center Director | Writing Center (PPT) | Writing Center (Hourly) | Grader | |||||
| # of Hours | Total Cost | # of Hours | Total Cost | # of Hours | Total Cost | # of Hours | Total Cost | # of Hours | Total Cost | # of Hours | Total Cost | |
| Hourly rate = | $42 | Hourly rate = | $10 | Hourly rate = | $26 | Hourly rate = | $20 | Hourly rate = | $8 | Hourly rate = | $8 | |
| I. Course Preparation | ||||||||||||
| A. Curriculum Development | ||||||||||||
| B. Materials Acquisition | 43 | $1,806 | ||||||||||
| C. Materials Development | ||||||||||||
1.Lectures/ presentations |
144 | $6,048 | 306 | $3,060 | ||||||||
| 2. Learning materials/software | 58 | $2,436 | 122 | $1,220 | ||||||||
| 3. Diagnostic assessments | ||||||||||||
| 4. Assignments | 288 | $12,096 | 612 | $6,120 | ||||||||
| 5. Tests/evaluations | ||||||||||||
| Sub-Total | 533 | $22,386 | 1040 | $10,400 | ||||||||
| D. Faculty/TA Devmt/Training | ||||||||||||
| 1. Orientation | 58 | $2,436 | 306 | $3,060 | ||||||||
| 2. Staff meetings | 58 | $2,436 | ||||||||||
| 3. Attend lectures | 29 | $1,218 | ||||||||||
| Sub-Total | 145 | $6,090 | 306 | $3,060 | ||||||||
Total Preparation |
678 | $28,476 | 1346 | $13,460 | ||||||||
II. Course Delivery |
||||||||||||
| A. Instruction | ||||||||||||
| 1. Diagnose skill/knowledge | 64 | $2,688 | 136 | $1,360 | ||||||||
| 2. Presentation | 320 | $13,440 | 680 | $6,800 | ||||||||
| 3. Interaction | 2096 | $88,032 | 3944 | $39,440 | 510 | $13,260 | 1638 | $32,760 | ||||