Learn

about good practices and sound policies that accelerate the effective adoption and use of technologies in teaching and learning.

WCET's Technology Costing Methodology (TCM) is a set of step-by-step procedures that enable institutional leaders to analyze the costs of using technology in both on- and off-campus instruction. TCM was developed in partnership with the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS).

• Examine the costs of different modes of instruction.
• Use step-by-step procedures.
• Analyze distance, hybrid, and face-to-face instruction.
• Analyze both on- and off-campus instruction.
• Download analysis tools for free.

TCM TOOLS

TCM offers a series of tools to assist you in making comparable and reliable estimates of the costs of alternative modes of instruction:

• TCM Handbook - step-by-step procedures for applying the costing methodology.
• TCM Tabulator - a series of Microsoft Excel® spreadsheets that assist in applying the TCM procedures.
• Tutorial - a step-by-step tutorial designed to help all users improve their effectiveness and efficiency when using the TCM Tabulator. Available only on the TCM CD (see below).
• TCM Casebook - write-ups on the experiences of 16 pilot sites implementing TCM.
• BRIDGE Model - The BRIDGE Model allows you to take known costs of technology used in mediated-instruction and to compare and project the effects of projecting those costs across a campus or several campuses. Available only on the TCM CD (see below).

TCM White Papers

Four white papers were written to help faculty and administrators think about technology costing in a broader organizational and policy context. The papers are freely available:

• "The Transformation of Instruction by Information Technology: Implications for State Policy" by Dewayne Matthews & Dennis Jones - May 2002
• "Funding and Cost Containment of Educational Technology: Shifting Policy and Practices" by John Opper & J.B. Mathews - September 2002
• "Evaluating (and Improving) Benefits of Educational Uses of Technology" by Stephen C. Ehrmann, Ph.D., The TLT Group - December 2002
• "Assigning Expenditures to Activities and Courses" by Robert Wallhaus - July 2004

TCM is...

an authoritative tool for analyzing costs using standard definitions and cost categories.

TCM is not...

a set of accounting protocols or a cost/benefit analysis, but it can be used to inform each of those.

TCM CD-Rom

The TCM CD-ROM includes all of the current TCM products and has a facility to easily install those products onto your computer. The cost is $25 and may include shipping costs for orders outside North America. To order a TCM CD-Rom, please e-mail us at wcetinfo@wiche.edu.

Contact TCM

Please e-mail us at wcetinfo@wiche.edu to ask questions or to obtain additional information about TCM.

Funding to develop the Technology Costing Methodology was provided by the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.