SCHEDULING TASK FORCE
OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS REPORT
APRIL 21, 2014
The Scheduling Task Force met from February 21 – April 11, 2014 to review Brookhaven College
scheduling processes, gather relevant data from enrollment trends and recommend process
refinements.
DATA COLLECTION
The Scheduling Task Force processes included meeting with every division dean and their administrative
assistants to capture current procedures and methods of developing the schedule. We also met with a
number of lead faculty and chairs from each division to discuss their unique courses, data collection,
enrollment trends, varieties of instructional modalities and special forms used in making decisions. We
asked both groups about the process, specifically:




how decisions were made regarding the number of sections offered
how decisions were made to offer the various types of instructional modalities
how and when decisions were made to open additional sections or cancel existing sections
which Colleague screens were used
While all divisions collect data in a variety of ways, past enrollment trends play a key role in
development of future schedules. There is a significant amount of time, energy, effort and commitment
on the part of a number of individuals in every division to the development of the schedule and the
tracking of enrollment patterns during the registration process.
In addition to conversations with each division, we requested three years of enrollment data along with
room utilization information from Planning, Research and Instructional Effectiveness. We also
requested data on the number of Brookhaven College students taking courses at other DCCCD colleges
and what courses they took. Extracting data from Colleague is labor intensive and at this point we have
not received either of the reports.
We also visited with colleagues from other DCCCD colleges to compare processes, conducted an
informal space inventory comparison, and compared logistics such as days and times courses are
offered. We also visited other institutions outside the DCCCD to look at facilities, course offerings, when
courses were offered, the variety of instructional modes, and costs.
OBSERVATIONS
Space
-
One of the most telling discoveries involves the amount of space our sister institutions
garnered through the bond program. In an informal survey of surrounding colleges, we
discovered the following:
College
Brookhaven
General Use Lecture
65 or
81 (includes E and W)
General Use PC Labs
22
Eastfield
114
(excludes W/CE, Pleasant
Grove)
56 or
110 – 4 locations
40
114
(excludes Garland)
47
Northlake
Richland
?
-
Between Brookhaven and both Eastfield and Richland there is a difference of 49 lecture
classrooms each. If you do the math, both Eastfield and Richland can offer 293 more lecture
classroom sections at prime time than we can offer simply because of our room inventory
(49 x 2 [MW/TR] x 3 [9:00, 10:30 and noon] = 293).
-
However, as has been indicated for several years, Brookhaven has not been full at prime
time either because there was space at the end of schedule build that remained unused or
because of cancellations through the first two weeks of the semester.
-
While the following chart is unofficial, it reflects some trends about the amount of prime
time space we have available at the end of the schedule build process and after we cancel
sections. These are general use spaces, not decided spaces or labs.
Semester
Spring 2014
Lecture
23
PC labs
14
Total
37
Spring 2013
28
12
40
Spring 2012
(does not include
all cancellations)
13
13
26
Space Management
-
As we have learned from divisions and lead faculty, a number of people are tracking and
monitoring enrollments during registration periods. Several divisions have detailed
spreadsheets of daily enrollments that are maintained and archived for use in subsequent
semesters for schedule build.
However, there is no group or committee monitoring enrollment trends or space needs
college-wide during the registration process. The compartmentalization of information
leads to unused space.
Since there is no plus/delta at the conclusion of registration, some of this information has
never been compiled or shared.
-
Credit and Workforce/CE classes have not used matching class start and end times. As a
result we are unable to share any vacant spaces.
-
Since a larger portion of our students elect to attend classes during prime times, it would
seem logical that we should maximize our prime time spaces.
Faculty Hiring
-
Obviously having space alone does not guarantee that a section can be added once
registration begins. The paperwork process for adjunct positions is lengthy and cannot be
completed during the last week of registration.
-
As was noted, the fluctuating interpretation of TRS rules and restrictions has created a hiring
burden.
-
A pool of approved faculty or faculty assigned to ghosted sections could help with “just-intime” section additions.
-
However, we recognize that having a pool of applicants who have already completed the
paperwork process and have been approved by the credentialing committee does not
guarantee that these applicants will be available when the new sections are added during
registration.
Knowing our Competition
-
We do not know our competition as well as we should. We are not aware of the number of
sections or the course offerings at our sister colleges.
-
We are also not aware of institutions outside our county. We are not aware of NCTC, their
limited course offerings, their identical costs, and their lack of space. We are also not aware
of Collin College’s tuition and the numerous fees that vary by program.
Timeliness
-
As one of our faculty members stated, “time is of the essence when making scheduling
decisions. Making this process as streamlined as possible would work to our advantage;
otherwise, we have Richland (who is monitoring “our” classes) reaching in and taking our
students.”
-
Our timing is off. We are unable to take advantage of available space in a timely manner.
We cannot activate new sections quickly enough.
Marketing and Advertising
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“We unlock the doors and wait for students to show up.” - Scheduling Task Force member.
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We are the best kept secret in town because we are not aware of our own marketing plan
and we do not appear to be aggressively advertising our comprehensive and unique
offerings.
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We do not appear to aggressively market our affordability.
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We do not appear to aggressively market our distance learning opportunities outside our
county.
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As tech/occ lead faculty commented, they recruit, market and advertise their programs in
addition to other responsibilities such as teaching.
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We are less aware of social media opportunities.
-
With the installation of digital signage, there are “no cost” advertising opportunities for
courses with spaces still available during the latter days of registration
-
With the move from paper schedules to online, the ability to alter the sequence of courses
has evaporated. As was noted, specialty programs with an ordered progression of courses
are less apparent or “invisible” because of alphabetical constraints (i.e. if you do not scroll to
the bottom of the list you will miss the course). Some programs have created their own
printed materials to advertise what is not apparent in the online system.
Colleague Training
-
With years and retirements our Colleague knowledge has diminished.
-
Lead faculty do not appear to know about access to all of the Colleague screens that could
be useful in identifying course offerings at other locations (RGAM), tracking enrollments
during registration (CSAR or through eConnect), or working with students on completion
requirements (PSPR).
Growing Indefinitely
-
One of the largest “elephants in the room” is the seldom discussed district concept of
indefinite growth. Part of the allocation structure is the budgetary reward given to those
colleges with the largest percentage of increase over the previous year. While we may not
agree with the budget formula, we are painfully aware of the negative results for failure to
grow.
While never explicitly stated in this process, the assumption is increase enrollment/contact
hours and do so better than the other colleges.
Strategically, the college has not discussed what it means to continuously grow. It is difficult
to create a scheduling plan if we have not created a strategic plan for growth.
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The larger question is: are we committed to growing?
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. An Enrollment Management committee is needed to globally monitor, review, and suggest
scheduling changes throughout the registration process. The committee would be
composed of a faculty chair (serves as the chair and whose job duties include enrollment
management), deans, lead faculty, the room coordinator, and the Dean of Student
Enrollment Services or designee. There could be a number of possible committee charges
including but not limited to:
a.
b.
c.
d.
reviewing daily enrollments
identification of additional sections needed to meet demand
suggestions to offer delayed starting sections
moving low enrollment sections to smaller rooms so other sections could grow
e. reviewing the number and type of sections offered at other colleges,
f. suggesting targeted advertising of low enrollment sections, etc.
The goal is to use our limited space effectively. The goal is to grow sections and not cancel
sections. The goal is timely decision making.
At the end of registration there should be a plus/delta report.
2. Student Survey. It has been a number of years since we last asked our students what they
want, when they want it and how they want it. We recommend a broad-based survey. Do
they want face-to-face instruction? If so, what days and times? Are there other courses
they want us to offer? What instructional modes do they prefer? Do we need to alter
evening start times because of traffic? Do they take courses at other DCCCD locations? If
so, what, where, what days, times, why, etc.
How can we know if we are meeting student scheduling expectations if we do not ask?
3. We need additional Colleague Training offered at Brookhaven.
4. We need user friendly and timely Colleague reports. We recommend the creation of canned
enrollment/space utilization reports available on demand.
5. We recommend that Workforce and Continuing Education review their course starting and
ending times, similar to those of credit courses, to increase opportunities to share space.
6. We recommend the instructional community strategize and formulate a plan for what it
means to grow indefinitely.
7. We recommend the college seek a more effective and aggressive manner of marketing our
programs. We need procedures to expedite all division requests made to PI to prepare
marketing materials.
8. We recommend that this Task Force continue meeting to review the requested reports from
Planning, Research and Instructional Effectiveness.
Scheduling Task Force Membership
Name
Natalia Arredondo
Rhonda Bitner
Sheila Brock
Patti Burks
Christi Carter
Evonne Clark
Brenda Dalton
Octavio Gutierrez
Debbie Hanus
Sarah Lopez
Kevin Paris
Bill Sigsbee
Sarah Ferguson - chair
Area
Advising
Communications
Workforce and CE
Business Studies
Health and Human Services
Mathematics and Science
Student Services
School of the Arts
Mathematics and Science
School of the Arts
World Languages
Social Science
LRC
Employee Group
PSS
Faculty
Administrator
Faculty
Faculty
PSS
Administrator
Faculty
Faculty
PSS
Faculty
Faculty
Administrator