Enrolment for 2005 … and Beyond

Ritchie Theatre, UNSW

27 August 2004

1. Welcome – Topics

Objectives + Agenda 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 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 advisingLeads to pressure to ‘improvise’ other forms of online support

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 NSSDespite incremental gains, no institution-wide timetabling

NewSouth Student – Gaps

Change management issues not fully addressed …

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?

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 in-person 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, co-requisites 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, full-time/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

Academic Advising

Students, Advisers

Results History

Timetabling Syllabus Plus

Existing functionality

Potential functionality

ProgramRules

WebCT-Vista

Students, Staff

CourseCatalogue

ClassSchedule

OnlineHandbook

Enrolment Requirements

Enrolment Quotas

Reserve Capacities

Meeting Times

myUNSW

Equivalent Courses

All users

Students,Staff (proposed)

Configuration maintained by Schools

2. myUNSW – Services overview

myUNSW enrolment process: 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 search2. Search for course list by student’s program/stage

with plan selectable3. Class selection including choosing between on-

campus Lecture/Tutorial delivery and Web class4. Viewing timetable grid with clashes5. Auto-timetabling functionality to select non-

clashing optionsProcess example: class search, detailed enrolment Play

myUNSW – enrolment control

Enrolment controls limit and prioritise access to classes:

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 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

Active: in handbook and can be scheduledUnpublished: not in handbook but can be scheduled (RSCH etc)Not current: remain active, but not currently offered

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

2004

2003

2002

2001

Number of Courses (x 1000)

ActiveUnpublishedNot Current

BIOM 9027

PGRD

Course Catalogue structure

Components

Offerings

LECTitles: Medical ImagingUnits: 6Consent: NoGrading basis: GRD TUT

LAB

BIOM 9027

PGRD

BIOM 9027

UGRD

BIOM 4020

UGRD

Effective date: 2003-09-09

Effective date: 2002-01-01Effective date: 2000-07-31

Equivalent Course

Links to class schedule

Enrolment Requirements (per offering)

Course Catalogue: multiple offerings

Each offering can have its own Subject area and/or catalogue number Career Campus Other: faculty, school (though usually fixed) Enrolment requirements

Preferred mechanism for 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 offeringPlay

Course Catalogue components

ComponentsCapture 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 componentPlay

Course Catalogue linkages

Descriptionextracted to online handbook

(currently)

Equivalent coursesall equivalent courses link to

common object Enrolment requirements

links to enrolment requirement setup

Process example: aliasing existing courses

Play

4. Class Schedule

Classes enable student enrolment in a given session

Identifies cohort engaged in specific activity Enrolment managed by

Overall quota Quota for identified groups (reserve capacity) Consent (where required)

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

Active: available (possibly stopped), enrolment not zeroEmpty: available, no enrolmentsInactive: cancelled or tentative

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

2004

2003

2002

2001

Classes (x 1000)

Active classesEmpty classesInactive classes

Empty classes: where and why?

Goal: improve accuracy of class schedule so it reflects genuinely available and running courses

Empty Classes 20047

355

250

237

488

305 Non-awardResearchPostgrad - consentPostgrad - openUndergrad - consentUndergrad - open

Classes: 1642Open: 542 (33%)Consent: 738 (45%)Other: 362 (22%)

Class Scheduling models (common)

A. Implicit choice

LEC

LAB

LECLEC

TUT

TUT

LABLAB

TUTTUT

B. Explicit choice, non-associative

Pick lecture stream

Pick tutorial

Pick lab

Models simplified since introduction of myUNSW:hides administrative class detail from user

Class Scheduling models (extended)

Enrolment procedure: Choose association first,then TUT if applicable

WEB

LEC

TUT

TUT

TUT

TUT

TUT

TUT

Association 1 Association 2

Association: grouping of classes that represent complementary activities

Class Schedule: structure

Process example: adding web classes

Reserve Caps

Session: S1Section: M11AComponent: TLBDates: …

Capacity: 18Consent: NoneStatus: Active

Tutor’s details

Program 3400: 10

Places reserved for Arts & Social Science students

Tutorial part of tut-lab starts week 2

Mee

tin

gs

Notes

Program 3420: 4

Mon 11:00–12:00All weeks, no clashQuad G049Dates: …

Mon 12:00–13:30All weeks, no clashLeaf lab Mech EngDates: …

Tutor’s details

Demonstrator’sdetails

Play

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 panelsIrrelevant fields suppressedEasily extended to collect timetabling parameters

5. Enrolment Requirements

Purpose: 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 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 Course lists subject to frequent change Complex “if-but-maybe” networks Exclusions

Enrolment Requirements: exclusions

Complexity of configuration precludes widespread use:

Data

Offerings

Components

Description

Requisites (1)

Taxonomy

Owner

Course CatalogueEnrolment Requirement Group

Requisite (3-5)

Parameters

Detail (2)

Detail Params

Requirement (3)

Params (1)

Controls

Line Item (4)

Line Item Params (2)

Line Item Controls

Line Item Detail (2)

Academic Requirement

Description (3)

Detail (2+)

Parameters

Course Lists

Other enrolment

requirements

Exclusion requirement

Course Identifiers

Exclusion course list

Exclusions: 1Courses: 2Panels: 9Entry fields: 22

Often avoided by using equivalent course links

Enrolment Requirements examples

Examples from Arts & Social Sciences courses shown later

6. Enrolment Controls

Overall quotas apply to all classesClass Sections panel provides ability to

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

www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~nss/sitar/classes

Updated daily

Class Sections panel

Overview of class status, capacity and total enrolmentAll classes for a course in one scroll areaImmediate feedbackCan update (except for class cancellation)

Process example: adjusting class limitsPlay

Reserve Capacities

Part or whole of class enrolment quota reserved for students meeting enrolment requirementPredefined codes

for every active program 20PPPP by faculty (based on program)

4FF0 by seniority (units completed in multiples of 6)

6UUU

Multiple subquotas possibleDate driven: can “unreserve” later

7. Class Management – a user’s perspective

Areas of responsibility: Class scheduling Enrolment requirements Reserve capacities

Class scheduling approaches vary across faculty: 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 maintenanceCommon faculty rules – progression by maturity

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: Play

Class Management – reserve capacity

Process example: extending and managing reserve capacities:

THST2143 has one open class and one reserved for Dance Education studentsSubquotas possible by faculty or seniority (units of credit completed in multiples of 6)

Play

8. Online Handbook

February 2003: Academic Board sponsorship for project to redevelop the Online Handbook

Concerns about currency, quality, controls

No integration with printed Handbooks

Online Handbook – Objectives

Policy and Governance: A policy and standards-based approach to student publications, including handbooksUniversity Rules: Rules and processes must be communicated clearlyContent: Must be accurate, relevant, complete and authoritativeMarketing: Presentation must be attractive and engaging

Online Handbook - Solution

Online Handbook - Status

Data is being migrated by Student Systems and Publications nowHandbook editors can access CMS system now, to review migrated data and get some experience with the systemCourses will be migrated from NSS on September 21Handbook web site to go live in late September

9. Timetabling – state of play

UNSW has no coordinated strategy for updating the academic timetableUNSW uniquely uses no scheduling toolsSome parts of the timetable are in a 1970s time warpLow effective utilisation of physical resources and timePoor choices for students, especially in combined programs

Timetabling – room utilisation 9am-6pm

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

Large theatre frequencyLarge theatre occupancyMedium theatre frequencyMedium theatre occupancy

Source:

CATS bookings,

S1 2003Large: 180-500 seats (excl. Clancy, NSG, Ritchie, Sci; 16 theatres)Medium: 100-168 seats (22 theatres)

% of time room is booked

% of seats occupied

when in use

Timetabling – 2005

Removal of Heffron theatres squeezes last drop from safety marginPlanning tools non-existent: one-off analysis and manual adjustments CATS-2 system exacerbates scheduling problems, difficult to justify continuationNeed for wider range of learning space, yet no drop in demand for conventional roomsProgress hampered by incomplete and inconsistent record of facilities on NSS (see over)

Timetabling – CATS/NSS correlation

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

COMM ARTSC SCI ENG LAW MED BLTEN

Num

ber o

f CA

TS B

ooki

ngs

NSS class matchedNo NSS matchCasualNot used (after audit)

Source:CATS bookings,S1 2004

Timetabling – 2006

Development of centralised timetabling procedures has been proposed, but awaits funding for detailed analysisPrinciples

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: 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 rulesNo cheap solution exists, requires rule rationalisation

Academic Advising – complexities

ENGL

HPSC

KORE

GREK

CHIN

GERS

HIST

JAPN

EDST

INDO

MUSCLING

PHIL

SLSPPOLS

FREN

POLS RUSS

THST

SPANAUST

COMD

ITAL

EURO

SOCW

LATN

SOCA

WOMS

MATH

IROB

COMP

ECONBIOS

PSYC

GeneralEducation

Overall units

Max 12uc@ level 1

IBUS

3400 Arts

Major sequence

areas

Other Arts areas

Other faculty areas

Min. plan units

Academic Advising – sample report p.1/2

Program requirement – 3502 Commerce Overall units: 42/144 General Education (Commerce & Economics)

Overall units: 0/12Own 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 ECON1203In 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 ACCT1511Required (12 units): ACCT[234]### FINS3626

Free ElectivesCompleted (6 units): COMP1091

Unused Courses – these do NOT count in this programNo courses in this category

11. Problems, Issues, Gaps [PIG]

Academic Admin and Handbooks: Roles and ResponsibilitiesArticulating the UNSW coursework program modelCombined degree programsReviewing and rationalising plans, courses, classes and requirementsAcademic AdvisingTimetablingReviewing the Academic Calendar

12. The way forward – potential projects & initiatives

Timetabling Sponsors: Professor Robert King (DVC Academic), Dr Alec

Cameron (DVC Academic), Academic Board (Academic Services Committee)

Academic Calendar Review Sponsors: Professor Robert King (DVC Academic), Academic

Board (PAC)

Academic Rules and Academic Advising Sponsors: Professor Robert King (DVC Academic), Professor

Adrian Lee (PVC Learning & Teaching), Academic Board (PAC, Committee on Education)

Roles and Responsibilities Sponsors: Professor Robert King (DVC Academic), Deans /

VCAC

Combined Degree Programs Sponsors: Professor Adrian Lee (PVC Learning & Teaching),

Academic Board (USC, Committee on Education)

Further Information?

myUNSW my.unsw.edu.au site map:

www.my.unsw.edu.au/student/sitemap.html

Ask NSS Questions Send an email to the explode email: "NSS Question" <newsouth-

questions@explode.unsw.edu.au>