Classroom Utilization

Capacity Management Study:Findings and Next Steps

Doug SwinkRegistrar

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

OVERVIEW

Overview

Background – Ad Astra Scheduling Terminology Guiding Principles & Methodology Findings Enrollment Growth Recommendations Common Course Schedule Task Force

BACKGROUND

Background—Ad Astra

Ad Astra provides business solutions for higher education scheduling needs [http://www.aais.com/]

2006: UMKC engaged Ad Astra Information Systems to evaluate campus capacity and space utilization; they analyzed Fall 2005 scheduling data and provided a report

2009: UMKC partnered with Ad Astra to conduct a Strategic Scheduling Check-Up Study

UMKC’s uses Ad Astra’s scheduling software

Scheduling Terminology

Term DefinitionRoom Hours/Week

Actual hours a room is used in an average week during the analyzed term.

Room Hour Utilization

Percentage of room hours used (Total Room Hours / (Scheduling week (70, 20, 12 hours) x Number of rooms with specified room type)).

Prime Ratio Percentage of hours scheduled during primetime hours (Prime room hours / Total Room Hours).

Bottleneck 80 percent utilization or higher of a particular room type

Scheduled Hours

Total hours actually scheduled in a room. Includes only those hours for classes meeting within specified time periods. Hours are broken down into 30 minute increments. Example: 30 minutes counted in primetime hour utilization for class meeting 1:30-2:30 p.m. (since primetime ends at 2:00 p.m.).

Average Enrollment / Maximum Enrollment

Weighted average of class actual enrollment or maximum enrollment caps. Enrollment is weighted to eliminate issue with classes meeting for different durations. Example: one three hour class is weighted higher than a class that meets for just one hour.

Station Fill Percentage of seats in use when room is scheduled (Actual or Max Enrollment / Capacity).

Contact Hours

Average student contact hours in a room for a week (Actual or Max Enrollment or x Room Hours).

Contact Hour Utilization

Comparison between the number of actual contact hours and the total possible amount of contact hours if the room was full all week long (Capacity x Total Possible Hours = X. Contact Hours / X). Example: if actual contact hours are 250, and total possible contact hours are 1000, the Contact Hour Utilization will be 25 percent.

Guiding Principles

Maximize current resources to increase student success by: Preparing to increase undergraduate enrollment Implementing centralized classroom scheduling Expanding class offerings across more days and times Increasing the availability of required class offerings Increasing the number of technology-enhanced classrooms

(ILE); as part of an ILE upgrades project and the 2006 Ad Astra study, the number of ILE classrooms increased from 79 to 126

UTLIZATION METHODOLOGYRoom Utilization

Room Hour Utilization Standards

Utilization Category Utilization

Low < 20.00%

Moderately Low 20.00-34.99%

Moderate 35.00-49.99%

Moderately High 50.00-64.99%

High 65.00-80.00%

Very High >80.00%

A standard scheduling week for post-secondary campuses varies from 45-90 hours per week; the standard scheduling week for UMKC is 70 hours or (8am-10pm, Monday-Friday)

Ad Astra recommends 80% as the as the optimal room utilization goal for campuses.

AD ASTRA FINDINGSRoom Utilization

Finding 1: Utilization Based on a 70-hour Standard Week is Moderately Low

Room Type # of RoomsRoom

Hours/WeekRoom Hour

Utilization

Classroom 46 775.07 24.07%

ILE Classroom 79* 2,732.00 49.40%

Other room types 89 1,294.29 20.78%

Total 214 4,801.36 32.05%

* As part of an ILE upgrades project and the 2006 Ad Astra Study, the number of ILE classrooms increased from 79 to 126; classrooms previously without integrated audio visual systems were upgraded to ILE Hybrid classrooms in 2009. The upgrades are not reflected in these data.

A 70 Hour Scheduling Week is defined by classes that meet between 8:00 AM – 10:00 PM (the data is based on all classrooms (centrally scheduled and department owned)

Finding 2: Utilization During the 20-hour Morning Prime Scheduling Week is Moderate

Room Type # of RoomsRoom

Hours/WeekRoom Hour

Utilization Prime Ratio

Classroom 46 286.07 31.09% 36.94%

ILE Classroom 79 1,070.29 67.75% 39.18%

Other room types

89 477.21 26.81% 36.87%

Total 214 1,833.57 42.84% 38.19%

A 20 Hour Scheduling Week is defined by classes that meet between 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM (the data is based on all classrooms (centrally scheduled and department owned)

Finding 3: Utilization During the 12-hour Evening Prime Scheduling Week is Moderate

Room Type # of RoomsRoom

Hours/WeekRoom Hour

Utilization Prime Ratio

Classroom 46 168.96 30.61% 21.80%

ILE Classroom 79 582.07 61.40% 21.31%

Other room types

89 271.00 25.37% 20.94%

Total 214 1,022.04 39.80% 21.29%

A 12 Hour Evening Prime Time Week is defined by classes that meet between 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM the data is based on all classrooms (centrally scheduled and department owned)

Finding 4: Utilization Varies by Control Group

Utilization of classrooms and ILE classrooms during the prime scheduling week varies by control group

Control Group Regular classrooms20-hour morning

ILE classrooms20-hour morning

Regular classrooms12-hour evening

ILE classrooms12-hour evening

Centrally ScheduledRooms

81.43% 74.06% 65.74% 72.96%

Departmental Priority Rooms

30.00%Low Utilization 72.86% 67.86% 75.06%

Scheduling Challenges

Bottlenecks exist in every size category of ILE classrooms.

High demand for particular class times and specific room types increase bottlenecks. See example of bottlenecks day/times below:

• MW 9 – 2

• TR 9:30 – 11

• Evening Classes at 5:30

ILE classrooms with more than 150 seats are bottlenecked through most of the morning, early afternoon and early evening all week long.

Non-Standard Meeting Patterns Implications

While UMKC has a policy that defines standard meeting times, there are occurrences of non-standard meeting times throughout the schedule

Finding: Non-Standard Meeting Patterns

Fall 2009 Example for Monday, September 14, 2009: The standard meeting times need to be more consistently enforced on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays to ensure the most efficient use of space.

Finding: Non-Standard Meeting Patterns

Fall 2009 Example for Friday, September 18, 2009: Space is not utilized on Fridays. (Note: Lime Green represents special, one-time events, while the blue, orange and red represent classes.)

Fall 2010 Example for Monday, September 13, 2010: The standard meeting times need to be more consistently enforced on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays to ensure the most efficient use of space.

Fall 2010 Example for Friday, September 17, 2010: Space is not utilized on Fridays. (Note: Lime Green represents special, one-time events, while the blue, orange and red represent classes.)

Finding: Non-Standard Meeting Patterns

Occurrence of one hour meeting patterns create scheduling challenges, thus restricting room availability

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

1:00 PM 1:50 PM F1:00 PM 1:50 PM MTWR

1:00 PM 1:50 PM MW1:00 PM 1:50 PM T

1:00 PM 1:50 PM W10:00 AM 10:50 AM F

10:00 AM 10:50 AM MTR10:00 AM 10:50 AM MTWRF

10:00 AM 10:50 AM MWF10:00 AM 10:50 AM T

10:30 AM 11:30 AM M11:00 AM 11:50 AM F

11:00 AM 11:50 AM MF11:00 AM 11:50 AM MTWRF

11:00 AM 11:50 AM MWF11:00 AM 11:50 AM T

11:00 AM 11:50 AM W11:00 AM 12:00 PM T

11:30 AM 12:30 PM W12:00 PM 12:50 PM F

12:00 PM 12:50 PM MTWR12:00 PM 12:50 PM MWF

12:00 PM 12:50 PM TR12:00 PM 12:50 PM WF

12:30 PM 1:20 PM M12:30 PM 1:30 PM F2:00 PM 2:50 PM M

2:00 PM 2:50 PM MTWRF2:00 PM 2:50 PM MWF

2:00 PM 2:50 PM TR2:00 PM 3:00 PM T

2:30 PM 3:20 PM MW3:00 PM 3:40 PM R

3:00 PM 3:50 PM MTWR3:00 PM 3:50 PM MWF

3:00 PM 3:50 PM W4:00 PM 4:50 PM MW

4:00 PM 4:50 PM R4:00 PM 4:50 PM TR

4:30 PM 5:20 PM T5:00 PM 5:50 PM R5:15 PM 6:15 PM R5:30 PM 6:30 PM M

7:40 AM 8:50 AM MWF8:00 AM 8:50 AM MTWR

8:00 AM 8:50 AM MW8:00 AM 8:50 AM T

8:00 AM 8:50 AM TRF8:30 AM 9:20 AM T

8:30 PM 9:30 PM M9:00 AM 9:50 AM M

9:00 AM 9:50 AM MTWRF9:00 AM 9:50 AM MWF

9:00 AM 9:50 AM TR

PLANNING FOR ENROLLMENT GROWTH

Spreading class offerings across the entire 70 hour scheduling week will provide up to 40% more capacity

ENROLLMENT GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES

RECOMMENDATIONS

Ad Astra Recommendations

Spread class offerings across the entire standard scheduling week

Equitable use of ILE classrooms by departments during prime scheduling times

Schedule classes in appropriately sized rooms Adherence to existing policy that requires classes to use

standardized meeting blocks Scrutinize the inventory of space to ensure all rooms

are being used at their highest potential

COMMON COURSE SCHEDULETask Force

New Task Force

A task force of faculty and staff representing all academic units; primary charge is to review the Classroom Scheduling Policy adopted in 2004.

The committee will review current classroom utilization and make a formal recommendation to the Provost on changes needed to classroom scheduling policies and standard meeting times by the end of Fall 2010.

The committee should be guided by an overarching principle of achieving space utilization efficiency as well as scheduling that does not impede a student’s timely progress towards a degree.

New Task Force Charge

Review the Fall 2009 Ad Astra Strategic Check up Study and Bottleneck Study

Review the 2010 Student Opinion Class Scheduling Survey

Review and make recommendations for more efficient use of all classrooms during the entire scheduling week

Review and make recommendations for rooms or times that are bottlenecks

Review and make recommendations for authorized enrollment capacity of class sections

Review and make recommendations for the distribution of course offerings

Make recommendations regarding appeals for exceptions and timelines

Annual reporting of effective usage and review of policy effectiveness with recommendations to the executive sponsors