Successful and Sustainable Program Development

Renee Kuharski, Ph.D. ~ Colorado Mountain CollegeChi-Chung Keung ~ Interact Communications

League for InnovationMarch 2012, Philadelphia, PA

Session Outcomes

– Learn how Colorado Mountain College revitalized their New Program process.

– Hear how Colorado Mountain College partnered and strategized with Interact Communications for their front-end program development.

– Think about how your college can benefit from faster and more reliable program planning for program design and launch

The Need

Colorado Mountain College

– Serves 9 counties & 12,000 square miles in the Colorado Rockies

– 7 campuses that include 3 residential campuses, 11 learning centers, plus online learning

– 23,000 students (unduplicated headcount)

– An Awakening that Innovation was Key

Put Simply….

Colorado Mountain College

The future of our college depends on how quickly and effectively we identify community needs and develop or update programs to meet those needs.

The Issue(s)

Beginning of Downturn (2007)

– Solicited Program Ideas Internally

– Difficult to Evaluate

– Forms but not Clarity of Process in how to answer

– Difficult to clearly gauge market needs

– Process could be politicized between campuses and programs

Real Needs Impact– New Bachelor’s Degrees Could Be Slow to Launch

– Morale Issues Follow Program Concepting

– Political Ramifications of Saying No to Local Industries

– Not Responding Quickly Enough to Community Needs

– Responding Too Quickly to Non-Vetted Internal Ideas

How It Started

A Mix of Brainstormed Programs– AAS - Film and Digital Design

– AAS & Certificate - Video Game Developer

– Certificate - Forestry Technician

– AAS & Certificate – Medical Assistant

– Restaurant Management

– New Media

Had

– Faculty/staff completed forms

– Program ideas

– Lobbying for favorites

Did NOT Have

– A Process to Generate and Verify Real Market Trends

– Staff to Do the Needed Leg-Work

– A Fair Way to compare Markets between Programs

– A Fair Way to Compare Markets between Campuses

– Enough Hours in the Day

Approached Interact Communications

– Full-Service Marketing and Research Firm

– Two-Year College Exclusive Focus

– All Staff have two-year experience

– A Research-Based Process to Program Decision Making

Interact’s Phased-In Review Process

Phase One – Environmental Scan– TRENDS

• Review and Cost Reference 5 National Job and Trend Databases across ALL RELATED JOB TYPES• Review and Cost Reference State and Professional Trend Databases• Review Job and Salary Potential

– COMPETITION• Review All Public and Private Colleges for Program Competition• Cross-Reference District population with Program Availability and Create Travel/Online Matrix

– EMPLOYER • Identify all potential Employer Types for Possible Phase 2

Phase OnePhase One –

Environmental Scan

Phase 2 – B&I Scan

– Review of All Job Categories and Create Employer List– Integrate Local Advisory and Employer List– Develop Custom Survey of Needs/Study Area/Job Availability and Salary Ranges– Develop Sampling Strategy (Or Reach the Entire Population)– Phone Survey of Employers– Report with Go or No-Go Recommendation

• Ideas for Market Expansion• Salary and Training Trends• Training Focus Areas

Phase 2 – B&I Scan

Phase 3 – Potential Student Survey– Core Population Location– Hidden Underemployed Population– Working Population for Skill Upgrade– Develop Custom Survey (Phone/Web) around:

• Marketing Language• Training Needs• Delivery of Message• Time to Decision

– Report that Recommends:• Marketing Lead Time• Outreach Hot Spots• Messaging Factors

Phase 3 – Potential Student Survey

First Time Through with CMC

How It Strengthened CMC

CMC Used the Research for:– Decision making ~ based on the unbiased recommendations provided in the study to move a program forward or not

– Program sustainability ~ trendy vs. long term job focused

– Long term strategic perspective ~ Incorporated a formal and strategic look at local, state and national data

– CRITICAL: This helped drive internal changes to our Review Approach

CMC Clarified

their Internal Processes

Advantages of Process– Strengthened external involvement on the front end

– Impacts on the college as a whole looked at upfront i.e., costs for human (faculty & staff) and physical resources (new and/or remodeled facilities, equipment, etc. , risk management (safety)

– Reduce the Number of Phase One Research Projects

– Program concept more thoroughly defined

– Going to a Phase One is a College-Wide Process

Impact on Organization– There are Real-Time Checks to the System

– Provides leadership and direction in the development of new programs

– Assists in generating and refining new program ideas

– Maintains a transparent, active and results-oriented attitude

– Does not slow new program development but demands reliability

Phase 2- (Employer Study)

Defines the Program Clearly

Phase 3- (Student Potential)

Prepares the Program for Launch

The Ah-Ha’s

Internal Ah-ha’s– Increased awareness of programs being developed by the college in the

community, region, etc.

– B & I scan helped shape programs or add areas not previously considered.

– Provided the program with new and passionate additional advisory committee members

– Ah-ha moments – A campus team could be engaged and passionate about their program – but not correct

• Data vs. Emotion• Clarity vs. Trendy• The B & I Scan highlights employment and economy

External Ah-ha’s– Credibility with Business Community that

there is Data-Driven Decision Making

– Realistic Responsiveness

– Reduce Campus Conflict due to Data-Focus

– Focus on Lasting Programs – Not Trendy Ones

No, for a number of reasons…

Responsiveness in terms of other “things” on plate Allocation of staff time

Lack of enough staff to be able to dedicate time Consistency of reports for each program

Clear reporting ~ quantitative data provided with the Qualitative Narrative

A Complete Absence of Program/Campus Bias

Could this have been done Internally?

Leadership Perspective– College leadership has Real Data

• Approved the Two-phase CMC new program process as well as the requirement for a feasibility study

– Accreditation is Streamlined: • HLC (North Central Accreditation) & DOE (Gainful Employment),

CCCS all require that the college can answer the question ~ “how do you know this will provide students with employment or transfer opportunities”

– The impact on program and college resources for planning is clear and upfront

– Begins the process of the program’s five-year plan

Stronger New Programs Medical Assistant New Media Restaurant/Culinary Management Renewal Energy

Why are they Stronger for the Process? College was able to make choices using data-driven decision making Community engaged ~ partnerships strengthened Provided college with “outside the box” ideas for future expansion Tied to College strategic plan

Pre-Development is our Stage 0

• Interact’s Phase 1 – A Low Cost Vetting and Proof of Clarity

• Interact’s Phase 2 – Focus on Local Needs – Integrate Wider Findings– Details on Program Courses– Real Learning Outcomes Needed– A Stronger Assessment– Pathways

• Interacts Phase 3 – When There is a Program Need – But it is not widely known in Community– Faster start up

At CMC

At CMC

We leverage our Internal and External

Resources to Clarify and Streamline

the Process

The Results

– 11 Total Programs Vetted over 5 years

– Resulting in 5 Total New Program and 1 SWOT analysis

– 1 study currently underway

CMC learned how to better leverage our resources internally and externally, use the data and not just our passion

C M C ’S 2012-2015 S T R ATE G IC PLAN: A BIRD’S E Y E VIEW

VIS IO N} B ecom ing a

First Choice C o lle ge

M ISSIO N} To C reate a

Better Future... for our students, em p loyees & com m unities

V A LU E S } Tru th Trust R es p ec t R espo nsive ness (T2R2)

STR ATEG IC FO C U S A R E A S

Transformational Experiences Transform ational Growth

F or O ur STUDEN TS

F or O ur EM PLOYEES

F or O ur COM MUNIT IES

& BUSINESS PA RTNERSH IPS

For O ur ENROLLMENT

Exceptional C apacity

for O ur PROGRA MS

with input from our com munity partners

1 m axim ize student enga g em e nt

2 p ro m o te & assess meaningfu l lea rn ing

3 le ve rage cu rricular & co-cu rricu lar exper ientia l opportun ities in un ique m ounta in lo ca tions

4 c lose ach iev em e nt gap s for underse rved populations

5 increase student suc cess & de gree atta inm ent

Va lue em ployees v ia:

1 re le vant professiona l deve lo p m ent

2 increased em ployee recognition

3 increased c larity of ro les

Use loca l com m unity capita l for:

1 adjunct recru itm ent, guest lec tures, m e nto rs & m ea n- ingfu l com m ittee serv ice

2 service learn ing , student inte rnships & ca ree r p lace - m ent

3 econom ic deve lo pm ent, cu tting -e dge program m ing & innovation

4 strateg ica lly re leva nt pa rtnersh ips w ith o the r co lleges & un ive rs it ies

1 inc rease quality en ro llm ents for A A, A S , select C T E & BA progra m s th rough a form idable ca m pu s -spe c ific recru itm e nt plan that results in an ag greg a te incre as e

2 identify existing best prac tices for retention & implement them co lle ge w ide to ensu re a seam less educa tional expe rience to goa l atta inm ent

1 new & existing F lag sh ip P rog ra m s resou rces e.g . instructional design , facu lty re- sources, tu to ring fo r stude nts, etc.

2 exceptional on line learning- m ove to national m o de l in 3 yea rs

3 capa city fo r hon - ors prog ram s i.e. w ith F o unda tion scho larsh ips

4 im p rove d, m ore innovative rem edial p rog ra m s

A Strong Part of our Strategic Planning Process

Continuing Relationship

– Low Cost

– High Quality

– Fast and Responsive

– Reviewing the data upfront, before the college invests resources, provides long term cost savings…

Successful and Sustainable Program Development

League for Innovation ~ March 2012 /interactcom /interactinteractcom.com

@InnovationsConf#INN12

Chichung.keung@interactcom.com ~ Chi-Chung KeungInteract Communications

rkuharski@coloradomtn.edu ~ Renee Kuharski, Ph.D. Colorado Mountain College