Enrolment for 2005 … and Beyond
Ritchie Theatre, UNSW
27 August 2004
1. Welcome – Topics
Objectives + Agenda
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Robert Morrell, Student Systems & Publications Office
myUNSW - Services Overview

Sarah Thomson, Student Systems & Publications Office
The Course Catalogue, Class Scheduling, Requirements, NSS
Enrolment Controls

Geoff Whale, Business Systems Development Services
NSS Class Management: A User’s Perspective

Stephen Parnaby, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Online Handbook

Kieran Fitzpatrick, Business Systems Development Services
Timetabling, Academic Rules and Academic Advising

Geoff Whale, Business Systems Development Services
Problems, Issues, Gaps + The Way Forward
Objectives
To establish a ‘baseline’ understanding of the current
capability and limitations in NewSouth Student for
supporting academic rules and core academic
administration processes.
To enable staff in faculties to prepare for 2005
enrolments.
To provide a preview of future directions and
priorities for enhancing capability and addressing
existing issues.
Method
To bring together various ‘players’ and stakeholders
in academic administration and on academic
committees.
To present an overview of key academic
administration functionality in NewSouth Student,
and describe how these functions are used in
enrolment processes, myUNSW and the Online
Handbook.
To identify future directions.
NewSouth Student – Milestones
Initially released in 2000 - development continues
Fundamental shifts
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Standardised credit point system
Terminology changes
‘Rules’ based system
Student Self-Service – esp. for web enrolment
NSS Online > myUNSW
Introduction of workflow-based processes
Course Catalogue, Class Schedule
Virtual Handbook
New assessment policy, processes and reports – incl. Eccles
New academic standing policy and procedures
New fee policy – based on courses and unit of credit for tuition fees
NewSouth Student – Gaps
No academic advising
Leads to pressure to ‘improvise’ other forms of online
support
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Virtual Handbook
Sitar (program advice, simple rules engine)
Cola (course-level advice, complex rules engine)
Extensive use of enrolment controls and requirements to define
and impose ‘progression pathways’
Some current UNSW requirements [esp. exclusions]
not well-handled in NSS
Despite incremental gains, no institution-wide
timetabling
NewSouth Student – Gaps
Change management issues not fully addressed …
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Current understanding of facilities and maintenance
processes is uneven
Academic administration roles and responsibilities not
defined or clearly implemented – in faculties or central
units
Need to align jobs, roles and responsibilities with current
business needs
Challenges, Opportunities, Dilemmas [COD]
What are the current abilities and limits for NSS
implementing and supporting UNSW’s academic rules?
How can these be addressed?
What is the UNSW coursework program model?
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What is a ‘major’? What is a ‘specialisation’? What defines
these?
What is a ‘subject area’? How does this relate to fee policy?
How well do we support students in combined degree
programs?
Do our program, major, enrolment and progression rules
and requirements help or hinder students to pursue their
academic goals? Are we ‘best practice’?
What impacts will the new budget model and any fee
policy changes have on our academic offerings?
Challenges, Opportunities, Dilemmas [COD]
We provide a diverse range of printed, online and inperson advice and information to students. How are these
used? Why don’t students take our advice?
If the Academic Board were to abolish pre-requisites, corequisites and exclusions tomorrow, how would we cope?
A small number of students don’t follow the requirements
for the program / plan they’re enrolled in. How should we
respond?
‘Everyone agrees’ that Academic Advising is one of the
most pressing issues for faculties and Student
Administration. How do we move it forward?
The things we used to do, we don’t
do those things no more …
DEST is moving away from a semester-based, fulltime/part-time view of measuring what students do [built
around two fixed census dates] and how they should be
supported, to a more flexible unit of study based
measuring system, allowing ‘floating’ census dates.
What impacts will the Higher Education Reforms [under
HESA] have on our academic structures, programs,
offerings and rules?
What can we learn from these reforms? What
opportunities do they open up?
Systems today and tomorrow
Results
History
Configuration
maintained
by Schools
Program
Rules
Academic
Advising
Students,
Advisers
Course
Catalogue
Online
Handbook
All users
Enrolment
Requirements
Equivalent
Courses
WebCTVista
Students, Staff
Class
Schedule
myUNSW
Reserve
Capacities
Enrolment
Quotas
Meeting
Times
Students,
Staff (proposed)
Existing functionality
Timetabling
Syllabus
Plus
Potential functionality
2. myUNSW – Services overview
myUNSW enrolment process:
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Integrated with workflow processes, especially for
commencing students
‘Shopping trolley’ concept
Reasonably intuitive, with online help and links to support
tools
Students can design cohesive timetable either manually or
through auto-timetabling functionality before committing to
enrolment
myUNSW – Services example
Examples of myUNSW enrolment functionality:
1. Advanced class search
2. Search for course list by student’s program/stage with
plan selectable
3. Class selection including choosing between on-campus
Lecture/Tutorial delivery and Web class
4. Viewing timetable grid with clashes
5. Auto-timetabling functionality to select non-clashing
options
Process example: class search,
detailed enrolment
myUNSW – enrolment control
Enrolment controls limit and prioritise access to
classes:
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Prerequisites, corequisites and exclusions
Overall quotas
Reserve capacities
Consent-based enrolment
Term/session unit limits
Career pointer exception rules
Enrolment appointments
3. Course Catalogue
Purpose
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Maintains history of all course changes
Captures fundamental characteristics of a course
under several offerings
Provides template for new sets of classes
New record should be created only for genuinely
new courses
Course Catalogue growth
2001
Active
Unpublished
Not Current
2002
2003
2004
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Number of Courses (x 1000)
Active: in handbook and can be scheduled
Unpublished: not in handbook but can be scheduled (RSCH etc)
Not current: remain active, but not currently offered
13
Course Catalogue structure
Effective date: 2000-07-31
Effective date: 2002-01-01
Effective date: 2003-09-09
Equivalent
Course
Titles: Medical Imaging
Units:
6
Consent:
No
Grading basis: GRD
Components
LEC
TUT
LAB
Offerings
Enrolment
Requirements
(per offering)
BIOM 9027
PGRD
BIOM BIOM
9027 9027
PGRDUGRD
BIOM 4020
UGRD
Links to class schedule
Course Catalogue: multiple offerings
Each offering can have its own
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Subject area and/or catalogue number
Career
Campus
Other: faculty, school (though usually fixed)
Enrolment requirements
Preferred mechanism for
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Subject area aliases for differential fees (MINE/MNNG)
Subject area aliases for promotion (EURO/HIST/JWST)
Multiple careers (UGRD/PGRD)
Process example: creating a new offering
Course Catalogue components
Components
Capture activities undertaken by student:
1. Nominal (one component per course):
thesis, work experience, web, honours
2. Conversion default (one component per course):
lecture
3. Regularly timetabled (up to three per course):
lecture, tutorial, seminar, laboratory
Process example: adding a Web component
Course Catalogue linkages
Description
extracted to online handbook (currently)
Equivalent courses
all equivalent courses link to common object
Enrolment requirements
links to enrolment requirement setup
Process example: aliasing existing courses
4. Class Schedule
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Classes enable student enrolment in a given session
Identifies cohort engaged in specific activity
Enrolment managed by
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Overall quota
Quota for identified groups (reserve capacity)
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Consent (where required)
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Full timetable and location details
Component-linked classes allow students’ complete
timetable to be recorded
Structure must be stable prior to enrolment period
Class Schedule growth
2001
Active classes
Empty classes
Inactive classes
2002
2003
2004
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Classes (x 1000)
Active: available (possibly stopped), enrolment not zero
Empty: available, no enrolments
Inactive: cancelled or tentative
12
13
14
Empty classes: where and why?
Empty Classes 2004
7
305
Non-award
355
Research
Postgrad - consent
250
488
237
Postgrad - open
Undergrad - consent
Undergrad - open
Classes: 1642
Open:
542 (33%)
Consent: 738 (45%)
Other: 362 (22%)
Goal: improve accuracy of class schedule so it reflects
genuinely available and running courses
Class Scheduling models (common)
LEC
LEC
LEC
TUT
LAB
A. Implicit choice
Pick lecture
stream
TUT
TUT
TUT
LAB
LAB
Pick tutorial
Pick lab
B. Explicit choice,
non-associative
Models simplified since introduction of myUNSW:
hides administrative class detail from user
Class Scheduling models (extended)
Association: grouping of classes that represent
complementary activities
Association 1
Association 2
LEC
TUT
TUT
TUT
TUT
TUT
WEB
TUT
Enrolment procedure:
Choose association first,
then TUT if applicable
Class Schedule: structure
Meetings
Session: S1
Section: M11A
Component: TLB
Dates: …
Capacity: 18
Consent: None
Status:
Active
Reserve Caps
Program
3400: 10
Mon 11:00–12:00
All weeks, no clash
Quad G049
Dates: …
Tutor’s details
Mon 12:00–13:30
All weeks, no clash
Leaf lab Mech Eng
Dates: …
Tutor’s details
Notes
Program
3420: 4
Demonstrator’s
details
Places reserved for Arts & Social Science students
Tutorial part of tut-lab starts week 2
Process example: adding web classes
Class Schedule: the future
Increasing need for accuracy (HESA reforms)
Increasing need for completeness (WebCT-Vista
requirements, timetabling)
Staff portal could present class structures in different
ways from NSS/Citrix panels
Irrelevant fields suppressed
Easily extended to collect timetabling parameters
5. Enrolment Requirements
Purpose:
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To express required background in terms of prior or
concurrent course completion
To record essential and logical progression rules
To limit access to professional courses to relevant cohort
Never intended to mimic program rules by
establishing rigid pathways independent of required
knowledge
Enrolment Requirements
Supported rule types
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Specific course prerequisites and corequisites
Prior knowledge in terms of units completed in subject
area, faculty or overall
Program restrictions
Simple logical combinations of these
Rule types poorly supported
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Course lists subject to frequent change
Complex “if-but-maybe” networks
Exclusions
Enrolment Requirements: exclusions
Complexity of configuration precludes widespread use:
Course Catalogue
Enrolment Requirement
Group
Data
Offerings
Requisite (3-5)
Components
Description
Parameters
Requisites (1)
Taxonomy
Owner
Detail (2)
Other
enrolment
requirements
Exclusion
requirement
Detail Params
Course
Identifiers
Course Lists
Academic
Requirement
Description (3)
Requirement (3)
Exclusions:
Courses:
Panels:
Entry fields:
Params (1)
Controls
Line Item (4)
Detail (2+)
Parameters
Exclusion
course list
Line Item Params (2)
Line Item Controls
Line Item Detail (2)
Often avoided by using equivalent course links
1
2
9
22
Enrolment Requirements examples
Examples from Arts & Social Sciences courses
shown later
6. Enrolment Controls
Overall quotas apply to all classes
Class Sections panel provides ability to
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Monitor demand in real time
Adjust quotas
Change class status
Class utilisation website (over) shows class enrolment
by subject area (daily refresh)
Subquotas created for program-based cohorts
through reserve capacities
Class Utilisation web pages
Updated daily
www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~nss/sitar/classes
Class Sections panel
Overview of class status, capacity and total
enrolment
All classes for a course in one scroll area
Immediate feedback
Can update (except for class cancellation)
Process example: adjusting class limits
Reserve Capacities
Part or whole of class enrolment quota reserved for
students meeting enrolment requirement
Predefined codes
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for every active program
by faculty (based on program)
by seniority (units completed in multiples of 6)
Multiple subquotas possible
Date driven: can “unreserve” later
20PPPP
4FF0
6UUU
7. Class Management – a user’s perspective
Areas of responsibility:
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Class scheduling
Enrolment requirements
Reserve capacities
Class scheduling approaches vary across faculty:
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ENGL3754 – tutorials and lecture fully represented
PHIL1010 – students enrol in tutorial timeslot, actual classes
assigned by school
SOCA#### – school negotiates tutorial classes at first
lecture, based on nominal room bookings
Class Management – enrolment reqts
Frequent changes – high maintenance
Common faculty rules – progression by maturity
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Minimum units for upper level
Minimum units in subject area
Minimum average mark in subject area or overall
Exclusions currently quite prolific
Process example: reviewing typical
enrolment requirements:
Class Management – reserve capacity
THST2143 has one open class and one reserved for
Dance Education students
Subquotas possible by faculty or seniority (units of
credit completed in multiples of 6)
Process example: extending and
managing reserve capacities:
8. Online Handbook
February 2003: Academic Board
sponsorship for project to redevelop the
Online Handbook
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Concerns about currency, quality, controls
No integration with printed Handbooks
Online Handbook – Objectives
Policy and Governance: A policy and standardsbased approach to student publications, including
handbooks
University Rules: Rules and processes must be
communicated clearly
Content: Must be accurate, relevant, complete and
authoritative
Marketing: Presentation must be attractive and
engaging
Online Handbook - Solution
Online Handbook - Status
Data is being migrated by Student Systems and
Publications now
Handbook editors can access CMS system now, to
review migrated data and get some experience with
the system
Courses will be migrated from NSS on September 21
Handbook web site to go live in late September
9. Timetabling – state of play
UNSW has no coordinated strategy for updating the
academic timetable
UNSW uniquely uses no scheduling tools
Some parts of the timetable are in a 1970s time
warp
Low effective utilisation of physical resources and
time
Poor choices for students, especially in combined
programs
Timetabling – room utilisation 9am-6pm
% of time room is booked
Large theatre frequency
Large theatre occupancy
Medium theatre frequency
Medium theatre occupancy
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
% of seats
occupied
when in use
Source:
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
CATS
bookings,
S1 2003
Large: 180-500 seats (excl. Clancy, NSG, Ritchie, Sci; 16 theatres)
Medium: 100-168 seats (22 theatres)
Timetabling – 2005
Removal of Heffron theatres squeezes last drop from safety
margin
Planning tools non-existent: one-off analysis and manual
adjustments
CATS-2 system exacerbates scheduling problems, difficult to
justify continuation
Need for wider range of learning space, yet no drop in demand
for conventional rooms
Progress hampered by incomplete and inconsistent record of
facilities on NSS (see over)
Timetabling – CATS/NSS correlation
1200
NSS class matched
No NSS match
Casual
Not used (after audit)
Number of CATS Bookings
1000
800
600
Source:
CATS bookings,
S1 2004
400
200
0
COMM
ARTSC
SCI
ENG
LAW
MED
BLTEN
Timetabling – 2006
Development of centralised timetabling procedures has been
proposed, but awaits funding for detailed analysis
Principles
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Improve utilisation, goal is accepted standard of 75% (frequency
times occupancy) compared to current 50%
Increase available course combinations for students
Smooth chronological peaks
Even the playing field for recently introduced courses
Accommodate preferences where possible
Business process:
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Class schedule roll forward (indicative class structures)
Schools adjust parameters for class size, room requirements
Data exported to scheduler
Provisional timetable reimported to NSS + bookings to CATS
Amendments require approval + manual room bookings
10. Academic Advising
Manual checking processes represent on-going headache for
staff and students
Features of UNSW program rules:
 Scale – 527 UGRD/PGRD active programs, 2967 active
plans (major, minor, specialisation)
 Complexity – many kinds of interacting rules
 Inconsistency – similar plans have minor differences, why?
 Ambiguity – some rules subject to interpretation
 Instability – changes occur regularly, so cohort-specific
PeopleSoft AA suits US rulesets (complex but in a different way
from UNSW)
Hybrid system possible: PS tables, UNSW rules engine, web
presentation + simpler, more uniform program/plan rules
No cheap solution exists, requires rule rationalisation
Academic Advising – complexities
3400 Arts
HIST
CHIN
ENGL
SPAN
GERS
GREK
EURO
SOCA
INDO
PHIL
JAPN
POLS
LING
MUSC
POLS
FREN
SLSP
RUSS
THST
COMD
Max 12uc
@ level 1
LATN
WOMS
Other
Arts
areas
EDST
PSYC
IBUS
BIOS
ECON
General
Education
SOCW
ITAL
HPSC
KORE
Major
sequence
areas
AUST
IROB
COMP
MATH
Other
faculty
areas
Overall units
Min. plan units
Academic Advising – sample report p.1/2
Program requirement – 3502 Commerce
 Overall units: 42/144
 General Education (Commerce & Economics)
Overall units: 0/12
Own faculty courses (max 3 units)
Option (3 units):
GENC####
Other faculty Gen Ed (max 12 units)
Required (9 -12 units from): GEN[~C]#### ZGEN####
 Limits: no more than 60 units of Level 1 courses
Completed (48 units).
 Level 1 core courses (36 units)
Completed (30 units): ACCT1501 ACCT1511 ECON1101 ECON1202 ECON1203
In Progress (6 units): ECON1102 [WD]
Required: nil
Academic Advising – sample report p.2
Plan requirement – MARKA13502 Marketing (single major)
 Overall units: 6/48
 Stage 1 courses (6 units)
Completed (6 units): MARK1012
 Stage 2 courses (24 units)
Required (24 units): MARK2051 MARK2052 MARK2053 MARK2054
 Stage 3 courses (12 units)
Required (12 units): MARK3081 MARK3082
 Options (6 units)
Required (6 units from): MARK1014 MARK3071 MARK3072 MARK3091 MARK3092
Plan requirement – ACCTA23502 Accounting (minor)
 Overall units: 12/24
 All courses (24 units)
Completed (12 units): ACCT1501 ACCT1511
Required (12 units): ACCT[234]### FINS3626
Free Electives
Completed (6 units):
COMP1091
Unused Courses – these do NOT count in this program
No courses in this category
11. Problems, Issues, Gaps [PIG]
Academic Admin and Handbooks: Roles and
Responsibilities
Articulating the UNSW coursework program model
Combined degree programs
Reviewing and rationalising plans, courses, classes
and requirements
Academic Advising
Timetabling
Reviewing the Academic Calendar
12. The way forward
– potential projects & initiatives
Timetabling
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Sponsors: Professor Robert King (DVC Academic), Dr Alec Cameron
(DVC Academic), Academic Board (Academic Services Committee)
Academic Calendar Review
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Sponsors: Professor Robert King (DVC Academic), Academic Board
(PAC)
Academic Rules and Academic Advising
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Sponsors: Professor Robert King (DVC Academic), Professor Adrian
Lee (PVC Learning & Teaching), Academic Board (PAC, Committee
on Education)
Roles and Responsibilities
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Sponsors: Professor Robert King (DVC Academic), Deans / VCAC
Combined Degree Programs
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Sponsors: Professor Adrian Lee (PVC Learning & Teaching),
Academic Board (USC, Committee on Education)
Further Information?
myUNSW
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my.unsw.edu.au
site map: www.my.unsw.edu.au/student/sitemap.html
Ask NSS Questions
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Send an email to the explode email:
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