Computing and Communications
Application for 2009 Larry L. Sautter Award for
Innovation in Information Technology
Enrolling Learning Communities with Course Clusters
“Your creation of block scheduling has simply made the lives of my students, my staff, and me
easier. Prior to your innovations to SIS+, we were unable to manage enrollment effectively.”
“Block scheduling has allow us to expand the way we create learning communities. We can build
longitudinally over the course of a year, or latitudinally by bringing together three or four
courses/components over the course of the year. In a recent conversation with Dr. John Briggs,
University Writing Program, we discussed how the block scheduling innovation will allow us to
proceed with the Writing Across the Curriculum initiative.”
Dr. Geoff Cohen
Academic Coordinator
CHASS F1RST: First Year Experience
Project Summary
In order to support UCR’s strategic goals and short term objectives relating to student success,
Computing and Communications (C&C) built an enhanced enrollment process that encourages
first year freshmen to enroll into Learning Communities. This project automates the enrollment
of freshman students into several related courses upon their selection of a course “cluster”
specific to the Freshman Learning Community the student has been assigned to. Incoming
freshmen are assigned to Learning Communities prior to Freshmen Orientation based on college
and discipline. A Freshmen Learning Community consists of a small community of freshmen
who enroll in a planned schedule of three to six core courses that are grouped by theme,
academic major or discipline.
UCR had been manually managing small learning communities for several years when the
significant usage of the program began to make it challenging to process them manually.
Additionally, after evaluating the success of students who were part of a first year learning
community, the decision was made to automate the program.
Project Highlights
 During orientation, enrollment course “clusters” specific to the learning community are
presented to the student.
 When the student selects a cluster, he is automatically enrolled in several courses at the
same time.
 As different students select the same cluster, they are enrolled in the same discussion
sections, making large classes smaller and less intimidating.
 During the term, as Learning Community students attend classes, they will see the same
familiar faces.
 Learning Communities offer students a place to develop relationships with other
freshmen with the same interests.
 They increase the opportunity to form study groups, and acquire better study skills.
Project Challenge
The greatest challenge was trying to satisfy the diverse requirements of UCR’s three different
colleges. The process built with this project, capitalizes on the existing Student Information
System (SIS) enrollment infrastructure and, driven by a robust set of tables, satisfies those
unique requirements. The table driven process allows for messaging tailored not only by college,
but also by area of program interest. The tables also allow the colleges to specify, by learning
community, whether enrollment in a learning community cluster of courses is mandatory or
optional. From the student’s perspective, the ease of use encourages students to select Learning
Community course clusters reserved especially for them.
Solution
1.
Creation of Cluster Courses. Appropriate college staff / advisors submit a cluster
grouping of courses with a relevant title to the Registrar’s Office on a standard template
maintained by the Registrar’s office. The Scheduling Analyst creates the cluster of
courses linked under a common call number.
2.
Cluster Course Management. Learning Community restrictions and quotas are defined,
reserving sections for specific Learning Communities. Controls also prevent community
students from dropping their cluster courses without an advisor.
3.
Presentation of clusters during enrollment within GROWL. Students with learning
community designations will be presented with a list of course clusters to which they are
eligible to enroll. In order to give priority to learning community cluster courses (e.g.
avoiding time conflicts, etc) students who are in a learning community will be presented
with the cluster options prior to being given the option to enroll in individual courses.
Students are only allowed to select one cluster. Optionally, under the control of the
college office, students may choose not to participate in a learning community. After
enrolling in a cluster, students will be free to make other selections.
4.
Cluster Enrollments – Prerequisites, Co-requisites, other Scheduling Problems. If a
student does not meet a prerequisite or a co-requisite (or if the student has any other
problem enrolling in a Cluster), the student will be notified (on the appropriate GROWL
screen) that he / she will not be able to enroll in the Course Cluster and must visit an
advisor.
5.
Creating Learning Communities. Students may be manually associated with a Learning
Community via a SIS screen. Additionally, two automated methods of associating
students with Learning Communities are also provided.
Method 1 – Colleges will supply C&C lists of IDs associating student IDs to
Learning Communities and C&C will upload these lists to SIS.
Method 2 - C&C will mark all entering freshmen within a college with a
particular (one) Learning Community by the time Freshman Orientation begins;
C&C would remove this designation by the end of 3rd week (Fall) for anyone not
enrolled in a Cluster Course.
6.
Learning Community Control.
All Learning Communities will have a record in this table. This table allows for
flexibility across colleges and Learning Communities. The table will control options
such as:
a. Does this community have the ability to opt out of learning communities
b. Does this community roll forward to subsequent terms
c. Which tailored message is presented to students at enrollment
7.
Tailored Messaging.
The different Learning Community designations allow for “tailored” messaging on the
GROWL enrollment screen. This messaging is controlled via a Learning Community
Control Table.
8.
Learning Communities Redistribution. Another table controls the redistribution of
learning communities after enrollment (at 3rd week). During fall registration, Learning
Community students choose from a list of cluster courses tailored to their program. For
subsequent terms, the communities will be broken down in to more granular communities
based on the actual cluster chosen. Students will be given only 1 option, based on the fall
cluster, keeping the students for the rest of their freshman year. This table houses the
following data:
Existing Learning Community Designation. This is the “from” learning
community to which students are initially assigned prior to Fall enrollment.
Identifying Course. This is the single course within the cluster selected that
identifies to which new learning community the student will be assigned.
New Learning Community. This is the code of the new learning community to
which the student will be assigned (based on their selection of a Cluster Course
contained the Identifying Course noted above).
Testimonials
“….The block scheduling program allows us to offer students a variety of options when they
go to register for classes. During Freshman Orientation, they can choose between a year-long
program or a fall quarter only program. They can also choose the times which best fit their
schedules.”
“….The best part for CHASS F1RST: If a student wishes to drop from one of our programs,
he/she needs to discuss it with one of us. We can drop them from the program depending on
their reasons, or best explain why it is in his/her best interest to remain in the program.”
“…When students in the year long CHASS Connect program go to register for winter or spring
courses, their first option is always which section of the learning community to they want to go
in. They have no other option. They cannot drop out of the program without speaking to one of
us, they can’t register for other classes unless they choose the CHASS Connect course. It has
helped maintain enrollment, but equally important, you innovations help the students who
thinking dropping in a good option by bringing them to our offices.”
“… Block scheduling has allow us to expand the way we create learning communities. We can
build longitudinally over the course of a year, or latitudinally by bringing together three or four
courses/components over the course of the year.”
“… In a recent conversation with Dr. John Briggs, University Writing Program, we discussed
how the block scheduling innovation will allow us to proceed with the Writing Across the
Curriculum initiative.
“…The final point I want to make is about our students. Block scheduling has helped CHASS
First grow and provide valuable learning experiences for 900 students a year since we started
using it. We provide them connections within the classroom and across the campus which allows
them to lay the foundations for the academic and life-long success. All of that code has changed
the lives of so many students. For that, we all have to thank you.”
Dr. Geoff Cohen
Academic Coordinator
CHASS F1RST: First Year Experience
“… the system handled the wide variety of needs for each of the colleges and even supported the
University Honors Program with learning community functionality. The whole process was a
great example of collaboration with the Colleges, the Registrar, Undergraduate Education, and
Computing and Communications. When people can reach beyond complaining, think outside the
box, and develop real solutions, great advancements are made that help to institutionalize
worthwhile programs.”
David Fairris, Vice Provost
Patsy Oppenheim, Assistant Vice Provost
Undergraduate Education
“…I am extremely grateful for the systematic approach to managing student enrollment with the
Learning Communities course sections! The effort has virtually eliminated the dreaded
"contamination" that occurred previously.”
Lucy Del Toro
Assistant Registrar
“… the method and design of the Learning Community scheduling and enrollment process
provided a great deal of control for departments and the Registrar's Office but complemented
that with an ease of registration for the student.”
Bracken Dailey
Registrar
Technology Utilized in the Project
IBM mainframe CICS transaction processing system
IBM mainframe web services
Project Team
Computing & Communications
Bill Eade
Mary Livaudais
Stephen Bennett
Submitted by
Mary Livaudais
Director, Academic Information Systems
Computing & Communications
UC Riverside
Registrar’s Office
Bracken Dailey
College Offices
Barbra Wallace
Geoff Cohen
Tara Brown