Academic Re-Structuring Course and Program Changes

Summary

Implementation of Semesters

10/6/04Winter 2009

Financial Issues: What are you going to pay for and what do you assume can be done in current workload?

Academic re-structuring – course and program changes

Policy and Procedure re-write – student services, college plans, financial processes

Technology changes – re-structuring existing programs around semesters

Transition costs – creating a structure or assigning responsibility for organizing/managing transition activities

Assumptions about post transition savings

Labor contract re-structuring – negotiation and new costs

The implementation of semesters presents a variety of challenges both in managing curriculum change and in redesigning our administrative processes and policies. In general, areas of impact coalesce into the following major areas:

·  Student Information System and software changes (job scheduling, programming, reports, screens, compatibility with historical data, etc.)

·  Procedural and workflow changes (time to assess, redesign, and implement)

·  Policy revisions and updates (approval, rewrite, communication to students)

·  Revisions to publications and web content

·  Communication of change to students, parents, and external agencies, vendors, etc.

·  Transition planning and implementation

·  Rescheduling of classrooms and events

·  Staff training (extensive)

·  Reconstruction of curriculum to fit semester, e.g. individual course credits, program credits, sequencing and course content, coordination of curriculum changes among departments, schools/colleges.

·  Development of transition plans for students caught in the transition. Additional advising to assist in this process.

·  Opportunity costs; diverting faculty and staff away from instruction, research, other service work, operational tasks, system improvements, and new initiatives

·  Management of the transition effort – typically about a three-year period following the decision.

Pros and Cons associated with moving from quarters to semesters are predicated upon the values of the individual and institution. Statements regarding potential value to students, enhancement of the curriculum, and the impact on administrative processes fluctuate depending upon the perceptions of those providing commentary. As a result there are few clear cut gains and losses but rather an array of potential benefits with predicted impacts that vary depending upon what is valued.

Academics and Curriculum

·  In general faculty at institutions that have moved to semesters report improvement in their curriculum by allowing for enhanced writing assignments, time for remedial work, and improved depth of understanding.

·  (They also report contraction of curricula with fewer course options.)

·  Conversely, many faculty believe that course content that is best delivered through repetition and more consistent exposure to material is better suited for the quarter system.

·  With regards to broad curriculum integration, semesters support integration by encouraging enrollment in general education courses simultaneously with courses in preparation for the major. (How? Why are they not just taking more general education courses and then more major courses at one time? How do semesters spread general education over more years than quarters? Is simultaneous enrollment, if it occurs, “integration?”)

Academic and Curriculum Topics/Faculty

·  Rebuilding the curriculum could take many hours (varies by department)

·  Reaction among academic departments is mixed; some are enthusiastic, programs that are integrated with WSU for example, while others feel the work will yield few benefits

·  Most five credit courses will translate rather easily

·  Courses that are four or three credits present some difficulty

·  Three quarter sequences convert nicely, but two quarter sequences are problematic

·  Text books are generally designed for semester delivery, better curricular coordination among semester schools for transfer students and within course sequences

·  Building the initial schedule of courses for departments with multiple programs may be a challenge especially where multiple programs share a single course.

·  Similar problem where courses service programs in multiple departments, schools/colleges.

·  Semesters provide a better/longer timeframe for EWU students wishing to study abroad as well as more direct credit evaluation for international students seeking enrollment here at Eastern

·  Faculty must carry responsibility for more courses at a time (assuming equivalent credit load, e.g. 8 three semester credit courses over two semesters assumes 4 courses each semester)

·  Need to assess impact on faculty eligibility for sabbaticals, particularly partial sabbaticals.

·  Regional and specialized program accreditations may need to be re-appraised based on significant program changes

Administration

Semesters can may reduce the overall workload in administrative offices if cross-training is emphasized. Management of the human resources is especially important in the Semester environment which is characterized by increased service demand during peak periods and lower service demands during mid-term periods. Current directors do not see moving to Semesters as providing a substantial savings potential.

General Administrative Considerations

·  Conversion of data for historic records may be needed

·  Many academic policies are based on a quarterly implementation schedule

·  University catalog will be impacted significantly in several areas

o  Programs of study

o  General Education

o  Academic Policy

·  Web sites will be developed to support continuing students who are enrolled during the transition

·  Policy development and review can be time consuming

·  Project management in data conversion, web site, curriculum approval, catalog updates

·  Capacity may be impacted among “Basic Skills” courses. Facilities scheduling and availability of graduate assistants and instructors as well as adjunct faculty may make it difficult to offer the same number of sections over two semesters as are currently offered over three quarters. (Impact on laboratory usage?)

·  Communication to many constituencies, students and agencies; web sites, mailers, and publications – both during and after the transition to semesters

·  Extensive staff training

Records and Registration Impact

·  Form and web documents changes (redesign and re-order)

·  Changes in registration cycles

·  Academic Calendar modification; timelines for publications and scheduling

·  System tables and feeds to other systems

·  Same number of registrations annually but in two waves not three (plus summer)

·  Same number of course sections to maintain

·  Same number of graduation applications

·  In many instances intensity and duration of activities increase but the number of high demand times decreases annually – neutral net effect (if managed appropriately.) What do we do with the people needed for high intensity periods during longer low intensity periods? “cross-training” for what?)

Undergraduate Advising Impact

·  Advising for next-term registration takes place over a longer period of time (Why? Elsewhere the argument is made for periods of high intensity effort. Is this only in actual registration while advising is spread out? What happens to advising significantly separated in time from registration?) which may result in:

o  Higher quality of student contact (Why? More time per student? Advising spread over more time or more advisers? Same amount of total time per student but spread over two blocs rather than 3? More effective that way?)

o  Better academic planning (Same questions)

·  More faculty contact and training time is available in semesters (longer time frame does not necessarily equal more “time.” Standards of contact plus work hours per credit hour still apply.)

Admissions Impact

·  Changes to file and transcript evaluation process.

·  Rebuilding transfer equivalencies in student information system and transfer guides

·  Convert admissions cycle to meet semester based system.

·  Convert admissions publications and web site to meet new cycle, new priority dates, etc.

·  Admit decisions come sooner

·  Fewer admit points each year

·  Transcript evaluation

Financial Aid Impact

·  Rewriting of all forms, publications, and web content

·  Revisions to student budgets

·  Revisions to many process cycles including;

o  application cycle and needs analysis routines (FAFSA and scholarships)

o  file verification, awarding, loan certification, and disbursement cycles

·  Revisions to student employment cycle

·  Revisions to satisfactory academic progress cycle

·  Revisions to statistics and fund management process

·  Revision and rewrite of all term-related policies and procedures

·  NSLDS reporting

·  Coordination with historical data

·  Quarters provide a shorter time frame for disbursement of one-term loans as well as a shorter time frame for the return of Title 4 funds (lower cost of failure to students)

Student Financial Services

·  All rate tables (tuition, fees, housing and Dinning, etc.) would need to be redone

·  The tables of historical information would need to be changed to reflect semesters for re-enrolled students

·  All bills and forms would have to be changed or purchased

Technical/Information Services

Number of reporting cycles reduced - two terms instead of three

· 

·  Difficulty comparing data between quarter credits to semester credits (Transition problem? Formula adoption issue? How to count quarter credits in semester equivalents?)

·  All user controlled SIS tables must be changed if they involve credits in any way. Website redesign

Technical/Information Services

Reporting cycles reduced

Difficulty comparing data between quarter credits to semester credits

All user controlled SIS tables must be changed if they involve credits in any way.

·  All locally created and modified COBOL and FOCUS programs must be modified to reflect just two terms instead of three

· 

Student Impact

In general student response at institutions varies according to the system each is most familiar with. Students caught in the transition find many frustrations in navigating curriculum changes “mid-stream” and find it difficult to adjust to the longer terms and increased number of courses each term. For the students who enter under the semester system there seems to be little impact.

·  Students have earlier opportunities for summer and full time jobs (must leave them earlier in the Fall)

·  Less time spent by students on administrative tasks (registering, advising, etc.)

·  Easier for students to schedule their work hours if schedules allow MWF, TTr schedules

·  Better compatibility with area K-12 school districts and Running Start

·  Better support of athletics for fall sports

·  Fewer financial aid award adjustments

·  Advantages students in the summer job market and graduation job market

·  Semesters can make student budgeting financial aid awards more difficult -, larger awards must be managed over more time by each student

·  In the quarter system, students are not as likely (do not have as much time) to procrastinate coursework on papers and other projects

·  If students have a professor or class they don’t like, the quarter is done more quickly thant the semester

·  Semesters provide mMore time to recover from a bad start in a class, reduction in dropped classes (Does anyone have real data on this?)

·  Students have fewer opportunities to recover from a bad semester

·  Students must carry more courses at a time to make normal degree progress

Additional Considerations

In partnership with the Community Colleges of Spokane these topics were discussed and accepted as being representative of the issues associated with transitioning from quarters to semesters. Our community college partners face an additional challenge and that is of records and reporting. The community college system uses a central data structure to which all community colleges report. If the Community Colleges of Spokane were to transition to semesters with Eastern they would be the only semester schools in the system which could cause difficulties in reporting enrollment among other things. A strong statement by Eastern regarding its commitment to semesters is important to the colleges’ effort to overcome their own records issues.

Without exception all who were asked believe that converting to semesters should take place after the implementation of Banner is complete. This does not mean that there is no benefit to making a decision soon on the semester question. In fact the implementation process could support the future transition to semesters by making adjustments when possible that are cognizant of a semester schedule.

Direct Costs of Semester Implementation

No attempt is made here to put dollar amounts to time to be spent by faculty, staff and administration in implementing a transition, except to the extent that additional personnel are hired to perform functions. Nor is any attempt made to address opportunity costs. These may be large but are part of the policy decision to implement a change, i.e. the use of existing personnel time in semester implementation is a better use of their time than in alternative efforts. The focus is on technology, additional staff (presumably temporary), potential longer-term savings, and other direct financial implications.

Goals –

Make transition “neutral” or opportunity for change?

Need to monitor for program expansion and poaching

Change in credit charge formulation – cutoff for full-time, pay per credit

Classroom needs change – OSU found need for more facilities

Summer session and compression of semester courses – how long would summer semester be? How much compression is effective? Different courses?

Sabbaticals – fewer; more useful as longer?

CalPoly Pomona Student Survey

FOR SEMESTER

· More time for insight into subjects.

· Year Round School.

· Inexpensive system of fees.

· Keep university in co-ordination of other Uni.

· Less complexity in administration.

· Easier to transfer to other Universities.

AGAINST SEMESTER

· Students loose focus in more time.

· Smaller summer session.

· Fees are spread into three parts.

· Looses identity established by quarter system.

· More complexity for students and faculties.

· Difficult to change from quarter to semester system.\

Why change to semesters?

Academic purposes

Stimulate institutional change

Competitive purposes

Cost savings

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