Transcript SCHEDULING TASK FORCE
SCHEDULING TASK FORCE
Observations and Recommendations
Charge
Review all Brookhaven College scheduling processes through contacting division staff, deans, and lead faculty Gather relevant data from at least the last three years of enrollment trends based on schedule Develop, revise or refine a scheduling process
Committee
Name
Natalia Arredondo Rhonda Bitner Sheila Brock Patti Burks Evonne Clark Brenda Dalton Octavio Gutierrez Debbie Hanus Becky Knickel Sarah Lopez Kevin Paris Bill Sigsbee Sarah Ferguson
Area
Advising Communications Workforce/CE Business Studies Mathematics/Science Student Services School of the Arts Mathematics/Science Business Studies School of the Arts World Languages Social Science LRC
Employee Group
PSS Faculty Administrator Faculty PSS Administrator Faculty Faculty Faculty PSS Faculty Faculty Administrator
Data Collection
Visited with every division dean/administrative assistants and with a number of lead faculty/faculty chairs Asked all groups about processes, how scheduling decisions are made and what information/data they used to make those decisions
Data Collection
Requested reports from Planning, Research and Instructional Effectiveness 3 years of enrollment data with room utilization Number of Brookhaven students taking courses at other DCCCD colleges, what courses were taken and the delivery mode
Data Collection
Visited with colleagues from other DCCCD colleges Compared processes Conducted an informal space inventory comparison Compared logistics: days/times/flex/hybrids
Observations
What we learned: Past enrollment trends play a key role in future schedule development Significant amounts of time, energy, effort and commitment go into the development of the schedule Divisions and lead faculty track their enrollment numbers during registration
Observations
Space College
Brookhaven Eastfield Northlake Richland
General Use Lecture
65 (81 with E & W) 114 (excludes W/CE, Pleasant Grove) 56 (110 all locations) 114 (excludes Garland)
General Use PC Labs
22 40 ?
47
Observations
Space, cont.
Difference of 49 lecture classrooms at both EF and RL Each can offer 293 more lecture sections at prime time However, for several years BC has not been full at prime time.
Spaces are left at the end of schedule build and then from cancellations during first two weeks
Observations
Space, cont.
Unofficial prime time spaces available
Semester
Spring 2014 Spring 2013 Spring 2012 (does not include all cancellations)
Lecture
23 28 13
PC Labs
14 12 13
Total
37 40 26
Observations
Space Management
Every division tracks enrollment numbers Many lead faculty track enrollment numbers plus create detailed spreadsheets of daily numbers, then archive for subsequent semester builds However, there is no group or committee globally monitoring enrollment trends daily for the duration of registration. The compartmentalization of information leads to unused space.
Observations
Space Management, cont.
Since there is no plus/delta at the conclusion of registration, some of this information has never been compiled or shared in this format.
Credit and W/CE have not used matching class start and end times. Thus, we’re unable to share any vacant spaces.
Since a larger portion of our students elect to attend classes during prime times, it would be logical to maximize our prime time spaces.
Observations
Faculty Hiring
Adjunct faculty hiring is a lengthy process We have space, but we have difficulties connecting space to available faculty for last minute new sections
Observations
Know the Competition
We are not aware of the number of sections or course offerings at surrounding colleges We are not aware of institutions outside our county. We are unaware of NCTC, their limited course offerings, their identical costs and their lack of space.
Observations
Timeliness
Our timing is off during registration.
The dilemma: when to add, when to cancel.
We tend to wait too long to add another section and we learn too late about available spaces.
We’re not connecting the dots effectively between new courses, new sections, space, faculty and cancellations.
Observations
Marketing and Advertising
We don’t know our own marketing plan We don’t appear to aggressively market our affordability We do not advertise during registration those courses with spaces remaining We do not appear to aggressively market our distance learning opportunities outside our county Tech/occ faculty noted they recruit, market, and advertise their programs in addition to teaching
Observations
Marketing and Advertising, cont.
With the move from paper schedules to online, the ability to alter the sequence of courses has evaporated.
Specialty programs with an ordered progression of courses are less apparent or “invisible” because of alphabetical constraints.
Programs have created their own printed material to advertise what is not apparent in the online system.
Observations
Colleague training
We’ve not maintained our Colleague skills Lead faculty can have access, but they need to know the function screen name and need to know what the function provides: RGAM CSAR PSPR
Observations
Growing Indefinitely
“Elephant in the room” – district allocation formula Percentage of Growth = more money Failure to grow = BC forfeits a portion of the budget Strategically: Are we committed to growing?
If so, what does the plan look like?
Recommendations
The following 8 recommendations reflect the recommendations presented at the April 2014 presentative and the additional comments and suggestions from the Convocation Conversations August 21, 2014.
Recommendation 1
An Enrollment Management committee is needed to globally monitor, review, and suggest scheduling changes throughout the registration process.
Recommendation 1
Enrollment Management Committee
Composition Faculty chair Deans Lead faculty Room coordinator Dean, Student Enrollment Services Colleague content specialist
Recommendation 1
Enrollment Management Committee
Review daily enrollments Identify additional courses/sections to meet demand Manage space Review number and type of sections offered at the other colleges Suggest targeted advertising of low enrollment sections
Recommendation 1
Enrollment Management Committee
Goals: Manage limited space effectively Make timely decisions Review processes – registration plus/delta
Recommendation 1
Enrollment Management Committee
Additional comments: Some on the committee and some at the convocation sessions stressed the need for one person to be responsible with decision making authority.
There were concerns that a large representative committee could be difficult to assemble and manage during crucial phases of registration.
Others on the committee expressed concerns that a single individual would not have all of the information necessary to evaluate the impact of adding or canceling classes. Deans and lead faculty need to be involved to assess the impact on the program, students, completers, faculty and budget before a decision is made.
Recommendation 1
Enrollment Management Committee
Additional comments: At issue, how much authority and how timely?
We are not proposing the RL Model (one person making decisions).
The BC Model is collaborative (chair, deans, advising, lead faculty, room coordinator); collectively resolving immediate needs.
The BC Model emphasizes coordination between departments and divisions (global review).
The BC Model considers space management of limited general use rooms (during schedule build and registration) to be a priority and the committee needs the ability to shift room assignments to address immediate needs.
The BC Model recognizes that only the deans can manage their budgets and make hiring decisions (adding or cancelling sections).
The BC Model emphasizes up-front planning (i.e. effectively using ghosted sections and increasing pre-approved faculty pools) in order to better manage the-end-of-registration chaos.
Recommendation 2
Conduct a Student Survey asking students their preferences for when and how courses are delivered.
Delivery modes?
Times?
Courses?
Enrolled at other locations?
What, where, why, what days, times, etc.
Recommendation 3
Provide on-site Colleague training targeting “just-in-time” information, reports, and understanding how Colleague limitations impact enrollment management.
Recommendation 3
Colleague Training
Additional comments: In the discussions it became apparent that different groups “see” similar information in Colleague differently.
Colleague limitations impact building a student schedule and the length of time required to build that schedule.
Recommendation 3
Colleague Training
Additional comments: For example, advisors can only view 8 items per page - - there is no scrolling. Advisors cannot see annotations.
ECHS courses are not obviously tagged as ECHS only courses New sections added do not appear with other sections with the same days and times. New sections fall to the bottom of the discipline.
Recommendation 4
Create user-friendly and timely enrollment and space utilization reports available on demand to support enrollment management processes.
Recommendation 5
Workforce and Continuing Education review their course starting and ending times to more closely match credit course times to increase opportunities to share space.
Recommendation 6
The instructional community needs to develop a strategic plan for continual growth reflecting the District’s funding allocation formula.
Recommendation 7
The College needs to seek a more effective and aggressive manner of marketing programs and review procedures to expedite division requests for marketing materials.
Recommendation 7
Marketing
Additional comments: This includes our web presence.
There was much discussion during one of the sessions about the District “rules” associated with Brookhaven advertising outside our county.
Recommendation 8
The Scheduling Task Force recommends that the task force become a standing College committee.
Recommendation 8
Scheduling Committee
Additional Comments: This committee could review the current schedule planning process to look for opportunities to improve communication and optimize the schedule across the college.
The committee could research what the other college’s are offering compared to the BC schedule.
The committee could review room utilization information.
Recommendation 8
Scheduling Committee
Additional comments: At the end of schedule build the committee could summarize the number of sections and seats available by course and time.
And, the Enrollment Management Committee (Recommendation 1) could be a subset of the Scheduling Committee.
SCHEDULING TASK FORCE
Thank you for your time and providing answers to our endless questions.