Start Here - Data Inquiry

1. Define your terms

"How many online students do you have?"

The answer depends on how you (or the person for whom you are gathering the info) defines an "online" student (see the Definitions tab); it also depends on whether you need enrollment numbers or the # of unique students.Most Board of Regents' reports use enrollment.

"How many online courses do you have?"

The answer depends on if you want the # of sections offered or # of unique courses. Most Board of Regents' reports use # of sections.

It also depends on how your define an online course. The BOR defines an online course as one in which more than 50% of instruction occurs online, even though these courses are coded as Partially Online in Banner.

If you need a list, make sure to specify exactly what data elements you will need included (first name, last name, major, etc.)

2. Define your time-frame

If you say "in a year" we will need to know which year, Academic Year (June - July) or Calendar Year (Jan - Dec). Do you want annual totals or totals broken out by term? Note that it is often best to compare like-terms to like-terms (Fall 2015 to Fall 2016, for example) in order to get a more fair comparison; it often doesn't make sense to compare Summer term enrollment to Fall term enrollment. Most standard data centers will only pull Fall data, or only Fall & Spring. Most Board of Regents' reports skip Summer, use the Academic Year (June - July), or compare Fall to Fall.

3. Make sure the data you are requesting is truly the best information to address the problem, project, or question

What may be helpful is to discuss the problem, explain the project, or share the question you are trying to answer, in collaboration with UWG Online's Director and/or UWG Institutional Effectiveness & Assessment.

For example, you may think you need "the # of online students" but our staff more familiar with all of the data options may help you to realize that "the # of credit hours generated by online courses" may suit your goals better.

We are also familiar with what others on campus are collecting for projects like CCG, QEP, etc., as well as other helpful data reports that are already readily available.

4. Consider your audience

If the data is for any official reports (like SACS or other accreditors), the data has to come from or be vetted by UWG Institutional Effectiveness & Assessment.

5. Keep your deadline in mind

Some reports are readily available herein; some data is easy to get and assimilate in the format needed; but sometimes a data report may take days. Try not to wait until the last minute, to seek our what you need.

6. Carefully represent your data with definitions & disclaimers when possible; Know why your report may not match someone else's report

All of our systems in which data is housed (Banner, Peoplesoft, etc) are in constant flux.

UWG Online only has access to live (in-flux) data. Therefore, since the # of online students can change minute-to-minute, based on drops, adds, withdraws, admin withdrawals, etc. all the way up to the last day of class and beyond, your #s may not match someone else's #s that were pulled at a different point in time.

UWG Institutional Effectiveness & Assessment has access to "Census date" data - or data frozen and archived at specific points during each term. This is typically the data used for official accreditation reports, reports to the Board of Regents, and other national clearinghouses (IPEDS).

Your report tables should specify: (1) the definitions used; (2) the date the data was extracted; (3) whether the data came from a live source or archived census data; (4) the name of the Banner job used and the person who provided the data, if that info is available.