Designing Programs for Students, Start with a Student Design Team Feature Story
May 30, 2019
How course registration was made
easier through student input from the start
Getty Images – Huffington Post 2013
Much has changed
in higher education since the 1980s according to Dr. Bob Bramucci, Vice
Chancellor of Technology and Learning for the South Orange County Community
College District (SOCCCD).
The sheer number
of students attending college has increased exponentially over the years. In
fact, more millennials are attending college than any previous generation.
According to the Pew Research
Center, the
number of college-educated young adults with bachelor’s degrees is at its
highest yet. Forty percent of millennials in the workforce are more educated
that Gen Xers and Baby Boomers during the same points in their careers.
Even something as fundamental as registering
for classes has changed dramatically in the last several decades. Dr. Bramucci notes
how much that portion of the student experience has changed—when he registered
for college in the 1980s, one spent hours registering in person at the
gymnasium. Today’s students register online, with the average registration
session lasting about three and a half minutes.
In addition—college tuition, technology
advances, increased diversity, and learning tools vary greatly for existing
students compared to the college environments of Baby Boomers’ and GenXers, who
comprise the majority of administrative positions in higher education today.
So when it was time for administrators at
SOCCCD to adopt new technology to help students register for classes and
connect with faculty and other students online, Dr. Bob Bramucci and his
colleagues did not rely upon their college experiences alone. They turned to
the subject matter experts—students.
“College is hard,” says Dr. Bramucci.
“But registration doesn’t have to be.”
Dating back to 1995, SOCCCD, not unlike other
community colleges, put their class schedules online. Back then, the static
HTML pages generated in a batch job each
night. Then in 2002, the class schedule was upgraded to the first version of
SmartSchedule, adding information from the course catalog, faculty profiles,
real-time enrollment data, section-specific deadline dates, and campus maps to
highlight the location of classes. In 2004, a shopping cart feature was added,
fully integrating with the registration system.
Fast forwarding to 2016, the value of student
input was made clear through the creation of a Student Design Team to assist in the development of SmartSchedule
2.0.
Students were sought out to provide input,
feedback, and anecdotal information about what they needed to succeed and what
features in the registration process could help them in achieving their goals
more efficiently. SmartSchedule 2.0 sought to bring information into one place
and present it to students in an intuitive and understandable way.
According to Jim Gaston, SOCCCD Director,
IT-Academic Systems, the class
schedule is a neglected area in higher education technology. “The class
schedule is the exact place where students are making important decisions that
will impact their future,” says Gaston. “Academic planning is the theoretical
path, but the class schedule is the place students sift through what is
actually offered and select desired classes.”
Too
often, systems are adopted and built in isolation and then integrated after the
fact. “Community colleges should encourage academic exploration,” Gaston
explains. And SOCCCD IT Administrators are charting new territory and making
landmark discoveries through their work with students from the campuses of
Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, CA and Irvine Valley College in Irvine,
CA.
Students
of various genders, ethnic backgrounds, positions in life, areas of study, and
career goals have applied, been interviewed, and hired to serve as professional
“inputters”. Technically speaking, the job of the students who serve on the
Student Design Team is to provide helpful input about the operation of the
SmartSchedule amongst other student success tools.
From the
design architecture, to the navigation tools, to the wording of each section,
students have input on a tool that will influence much of their own college
experience. The bonus for many members
of the Student Design Team—the ability to improve the college experience for
their peers and future students.
The
collaborative process initiates with the design. Step one is the idea, which
develops into a prototype and then the iteration begins. Next, faculty and
staff participate in brainstorming sessions, which is followed by the
development process where students become part of the cooperative endeavor to
develop a product that serves their needs.
Images of rough sketches from Student Design Team
After a review of class schedules from other community
colleges, brainstorming transpires with the students in the form of a retreat
or breakout groups. Collective input is then transferred to rough sketches and
designed based on personas, (i.e.) Olivia the Overachiever, Uri the Undecided,
Abby the Adult Learner, Ed the Emeritus Student, and the list goes on.
Student Design Team Member Tony Bautista (far left) with breakout group.
Various phases of the demo
process occurs, then the infrastructure is developed. From that point in the
process, focus groups of real students are structured through outreach efforts
led by the Student Design Team.
Tony Bautista, a veteran and
what some would consider a non-traditional student, is a key member on the
Student Design Team. Tony returned to
school after experiencing great success in the private sector but wanted a
change and began a new professional journey at Saddleback College. It was there
that he also discovered the opportunity to be hired on the Student Design
Team. As a returning student, Tony serves
as a great asset to the team. “Not only can I provide input as a
non-traditional student on the Student Design Team, but I can identify with
other students like me who meet roadblocks when navigating through college
later in life,” said Tony.
The
members of the Student Design Team meet weekly with staff leader Jim Gaston and
team. Not only to improve upon the design and development of the SmartSchedule,
but to fine-tune other products under consideration for SOCCCD’s IT Department.
Surprisingly, every student on the design team is not a
“techy”. In fact, most were brought to the team with limited knowledge and
interest about technology. Kelsey Lillie, a cosmetology student, openly shares that
she has little interest in tech development, but thought the opportunity to
serve on the design team would be a good experience for her. “I plan to open up
a salon after earning my bachelor’s degree in business and then possibly
starting my own makeup line,” says Kelsey. “Being a member of the Student
Design Team allows me the chance to work with others and learn how to speak the
language of administrators who have years of experience in the business world and have
earned masters and doctorate degrees,” Kelsey said.
Still shots of the video
On the other hand, Student Design Team member Sam Seifollahi is using the experience to not only meet new people, but to develop new skills. Sam works to record the “how to” video tutorials for the SmartSchedule—an integral marketing tool to ensure that students utilize the SmartSchedule to its full potential.
Student Design Team Member Bita Gheibi during a promotional video shoot of the Student Design Team
Student Design Team member, Bita Gheibi shares similar sentiments with Kelsey and
Sam. Getting hired to the Student Design Team not only provided a great job on
campus, but exposure to a professional environment. She also feels that the
access to high level managers and administrators will help prepare her for the
next stages of her college and professional life. “As a member of a team that
helps develop student success tools, I feel it will be a great resume builder,”
said Bita. In addition, Bita has fun working with the team and IT Department,
plus Bita knows that she is making a meaningful impact that will benefit
students for years to come.
Now that the
SmartSchedule is up and running, the focus has been narrowed on the development
of the product, specifically the student involvement portion of the product
development process.
With the
potential to serve as a replicable model across the nation, SOCCCD’s Student
Design Team is an example to other two and four-year institutions about how the
student voice, when included early, and infused in every phase of the
development process, can serve as an invaluable tool to the colleges to help
ensure that the work of staff and faculty meet the needs of students in today’s
environment.
The added
advantage is that simultaneously, students gain hands on experience in a
professional environment and learn transferable skills that can be utilized
throughout the rest of their academic and professional careers.
Overall, the
everyday work that takes place on a south Orange County community college
campus, encapsulates the commitment of community colleges in America—to focus
on access, responsiveness to community need, and equity.
About the South Orange County Community College District:
SOCCCD serves more than 60,000 students per year through our two
colleges, Saddleback College and Irvine Valley College. The district serves
nearly one million residents and employs more than 3,000 faculty and staff.