Iowa State University’s Schedule Planner
Helping Students Prepare for Registration: Building an Electronic Trial Schedule
Laura DoeringSenior Associate Registrar &Director of Transfer RelationsIowa State [email protected] 294-0760
Class Schedule Planner• The Class Schedule Planner is an application that
allows students to plan their schedules using courses displayed in the Online Schedule of Classes. Students can select courses and/or sections they want to take for a particular term, as well as block out unavailable class days and times. Based on those selections, Class Schedule Planner can return all possible schedules to the student in a color coded grid format.
Overview• That was then; this is now• Project Goals• Development
• Why we developed it • Players • Timeline• Costs
• Implementation - communication plan• Demo• Stats• …all in 10 minutes!!!
That Was Then…Iowa State University Registration Trial Schedule Form (Time Grid)
Days 7:00a.m.
8:00a.m.
9:00a.m.
10:00a.m.
11:00a.m.
12:10noon
1:10p.m.
2:10p.m.
3:10p.m.
4:10p.m.
5:10p.m.
6:00p.m.
Mon.
Tues.
Wed.
Thurs.
Fri.
Sat.
This is now……• Schedule Planner - no authentication• Planning tool – Doesn’t register or reserve• Generates schedules
• Up to 50,000• Time grid display; shows time conflicts• Accommodates partial term, overlapping courses• Allows students to preference class times
• Requires Java• Provides on-line help for downloading Java and
navigating the Planner
Goals• Build functionality that existed in current
entrepreneurial system, known as RegMan• Improve upon RegMan• Provide for administrative support and
sustainability• Deliver in a Web-based environment
Development• Why we developed it
• Student demand to replace RegMan• To encourage students to plan ahead
• Players • Provost, Registrar, IT, Students
• Timeline (7 months)• August 2003 – Design and development• February 2004 –Pilot• March 1, 2004 – Release
Costs• Development
• $55/hour for professional staff custom software development• $30/hour for student support (280*$55 = $15,400; 160*$30 = $4,800)• Total programmer cost for development = $20,200
• Maintenance• Server
• Provost Office paid for the acquisition of the server• $1287/month for server support (back-up, windows security patches)
• Daily downloads to the server• $100-130/run (Depends on data set size)
• Schedule Planner data file storage • $30/month
Implementation• Virtually problem-free
• Jeremy Hanson and Carl Carlson - champions• Notified IT college and department support staff
• Java installation• Notified key academic and student affairs offices• Announced launch on university Web site
• Limited advertisement to allow for gradual roll-out• SUCCESS!
The On-line Schedule of Classes
• Allows students to search current class offerings for specific semester.
• Is not linked to Class Schedule Planner.• Is updated at the same time as the
Schedule Planner.• Information is never more than 24 hours old during registration
• Students start here.
http://classes.iastate.edu/
planner.iastate.edu/
Monthly Usage History
Daily Usage History
Senior Registration
Junior Registration
SophomoreRegistration
FreshmenRegistration
Open Registration
AdvisingBegins
When Do Students Use Class Schedule Planner?
How much time are students spending in Schedule Planner?
Only 27% of students spend more than 15 minutes using Class Schedule Planner.
How are students finding Schedule Planner?
7,015 visitors have added Schedule Planner to their “favorites.”
Future Applications for the Schedule Planner
• Course demand / projections• Upload to Web Registration
• Closed sections• Enrollment restrictions• Works as is
Questions?
Helping Students Prepare for Registration: Building an Electronic Trial Schedule
Laura DoeringSenior Associate Registrar &Director of Transfer Relations
Iowa State [email protected]
515 294-0760