The University of Virginia's Office of the Vice Provost for Online Education and Digital Innovation (OEDI) in collaboration with Institutional Research and Analytics (IRA), seeks to assess and improve the way online and hybrid modalities are defined, tagged, and recorded across its twelve schools. Currently, each school approaches this differently—using a range of definitions, system fields, and naming conventions—which complicates central reporting, analytics, and strategic planning.

The project aims to inform the development of a standardized and centralized approach to modality tracking that will support consistent, accurate reporting and enable future SIS transitions. 

This data informs important decision making about which courses or programs to invest in building online or hybrid modalities. This work will be valuable both in the short term—for more accurate reporting to state and accreditation bodies—and in the long term, as UVA considers potential SIS transitions in the future. 

This project engages data science students to: 

• Investigate how modality (online/hybrid) is currently recorded at the academic plan (program/major) level, course level, and student level at each school.  
• Audit available SIS fields, flags, and metadata to assess what is currently possible and what limitations exist. 
• Engage stakeholders (e.g., OEDI, IRA, and both central and school-level registrars) to clarify definitions and surface variations in practice across the university. 

This project invites data science students to investigate the current landscape of modality tagging, including how individual schools code hybrid and online courses, academic plans (e.g., programs/majors), and even students in UVA’s Student Information System (SIS). Understanding the distinctions across these levels—course-level tagging, academic plan-level tagging, and student-level designation—will be critical to producing a complete picture of the challenges and inconsistencies. 

Students will also explore the limitations and available options within SIS for consistent codification, such as field types, flags, and data governance structures. The project will map the full scope of the challenge, expose inconsistencies, and provide a set of realistic recommendations to move toward centralized, standardized data practices. 

The project’s aim is to map the full scope of the challenge, surface inconsistencies, and produce a set of realistic recommendations to move toward centralized, standardized data practices. Students will engage with stakeholders such as OEDI, IRA, and central as well as school registrars to gain a comprehensive understanding of the institutional context and constraints. 

DELIVERABLES 

The project will culminate in three key deliverables: 

• Current State Mapping Report: A detailed view of how each UVA school currently tags and defines online and hybrid modalities, including course- and program-level distinctions and SIS configurations (e.g., flags, fields, naming conventions). 
• Systems Capability & Gap Analysis: An overview of what SIS currently allows or limits in terms of modality tagging, including a matrix of what’s possible across schools, and examples of best practices already in use. 
• Strategic Recommendations Report: A summary of findings and practical next steps for achieving greater consistency in modality tagging across UVA. This report will also outline potential implications and requirements for future SIS upgrades or transitions.