Enrolment for 2005

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• Enrolment for 2005 and Beyond
• Ritchie Theatre, UNSW
• 27 August 2004

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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 Users 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

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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.

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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.

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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 gt 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

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NewSouth Student Gaps

• No academic advising
• Leads 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 NSS
• Despite incremental gains, no institution-wide
  timetabling

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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

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Challenges, Opportunities, Dilemmas COD

• What are the current abilities and limits for NSS
  implementing and supporting UNSWs 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?

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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 dont 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 dont follow the
  requirements for the program / plan theyre
  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?

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The things we used to do, we dont 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?

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Systems today and tomorrow
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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

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myUNSW Services example

• Examples of myUNSW enrolment functionality
• Advanced class search
• Search for course list by students program/stage
  with plan selectable
• Class selection including choosing between
  on-campus Lecture/Tutorial delivery and Web class
• Viewing timetable grid with clashes
• Auto-timetabling functionality to select
  non-clashing options

Process example class search, detailed enrolment
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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

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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

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Course Catalogue growth
Active in handbook and can be scheduled Unpublish
ed not in handbook but can be scheduled (RSCH
etc) Not current remain active, but not
currently offered
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Course Catalogue structure
Effective date 2000-07-31
Effective date 2002-01-01
Effective date 2003-09-09
Components
Titles Medical Imaging Units 6 Consent
No Grading basis GRD
Equivalent Course
LEC
TUT
LAB
Offerings
BIOM 9027 PGRD
Enrolment Requirements (per offering)
BIOM 9027 PGRD
BIOM 9027 UGRD
BIOM 4020 UGRD
Links to class schedule
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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 offering
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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

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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

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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

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Class Schedule growth
Active available (possibly stopped), enrolment
not zero Empty available, no enrolments Inactive
cancelled or tentative
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Empty classes where and why?
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
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Class Scheduling models (common)
LEC
Pick lecture stream Pick tutorial Pick lab
LEC
TUT
TUT
LEC
TUT
TUT
LAB
LAB
LAB
A. Implicit choice
B. Explicit choice, non-associative
Models simplified since introduction of
myUNSW hides administrative class detail from
user
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Class Scheduling models (extended)
Association grouping of classes that
represent complementary activities
Association 1
Association 2
LEC
WEB
TUT
TUT
TUT
TUT
TUT
TUT
Enrolment procedure Choose association
first, then TUT if applicable
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Class Schedule structure
Mon 11001200 All weeks, no clash Quad
G049 Dates
Tutors details
Session S1 Section M11A Component
TLB Dates Capacity 18 Consent
None Status Active
Meetings
Mon 12001330 All weeks, no clash Leaf lab Mech
Eng Dates
Tutors details
Demonstrators details
Notes
Reserve Caps
Places reserved for Arts Social Science
students Tutorial part of tut-lab starts week 2
Program 3400 10
Program 3420 4
Process example adding web classes
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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

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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

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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

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Enrolment Requirements exclusions

• Complexity of configuration precludes widespread
  use

Course Catalogue
Enrolment Requirement Group
Data Offerings Components Description Requisites
(1) Taxonomy Owner
Requisite (3-5) Parameters Detail (2) Detail
Params
Exclusion requirement
Other enrolment requirements
Exclusions 1 Courses 2 Panels 9 Entry
fields 22
Course Identifiers
Requirement (3) Params (1) Controls Line Item
(4) Line Item Params (2) Line Item Controls Line
Item Detail (2)
Academic Requirement
Course Lists
Description (3) Detail (2) Parameters
Exclusion course list

• Often avoided by using equivalent course links

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Enrolment Requirements examples

• Examples from Arts Social Sciences courses
  shown later

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6. Enrolment Controls

• Overall quotas apply to all classes
• Class 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

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Class Utilisation web pages
Updated daily

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

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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
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Reserve Capacities

• Part or whole of class enrolment quota reserved
  for students meeting enrolment requirement
• Predefined codes
• for every active program 20PPPP
• by faculty (based on program) 4FF0
• by seniority (units completed in multiples of
  6) 6UUU
• Multiple subquotas possible
• Date driven can unreserve later

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7. Class Management a users 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

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Class Management enrolment reqts

• Frequent changes high maintenance
• Common 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
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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
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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

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Online Handbook Objectives

• Policy and Governance A policy and
  standards-based 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

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Online Handbook - Solution
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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

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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

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Timetabling room utilisation 9am-6pm
of time room is booked
of seats occupied when in use
Source CATS bookings, S1 2003
Large 180-500 seats (excl. Clancy, NSG, Ritchie,
Sci 16 theatres) Medium 100-168 seats (22
theatres)
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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)

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Timetabling CATS/NSS correlation
Source CATS bookings, S1 2004
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Timetabling 2006

• Development of centralised timetabling procedures
  has been proposed, but awaits funding for
  detailed analysis
• Principles
• 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

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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

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Academic Advising complexities
3400 Arts
HIST
AUST
CHIN
SPAN
EURO
Other Arts areas
ENGL
GERS
SOCA
INDO
SOCW
GREK
ITAL
HPSC
LATN
PHIL
COMD
KORE
JAPN
Max 12uc _at_ level 1
WOMS
POLS
LING
SLSP
MUSC
EDST
Major sequence areas
RUSS
POLS
Other faculty areas
IBUS
THST
PSYC
FREN
BIOS
ECON
IROB
Overall units
General Education
COMP
MATH
Min. plan units
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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) GENC
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
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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) ACCT234
FINS3626 Free Electives Completed (6 units)
COMP1091 Unused Courses these do NOT count in
this program No courses in this category
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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

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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)

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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" ltnewsouth-questions_at_explode.unsw.ed
  u.augt