Value Statement
To support timely student completion of credit instructional programs, the Austin Community College District (“ACC” or “the College”) will establish a responsive, data-informed process that produces a (high-quality) course schedule that supports student educational needs, demand for programs, and efficient and effective use of resources and personnel.
Administrative Rule
The College will design course schedules that enable students to complete their degree, certificate, or other award programs in a timely manner. Final authority for course schedule development and resource allocation rests with the Vice Chancellor of Instruction’s office. The schedule development process and related operational definitions and practices will involve a centrally resourced support system and collaboration with academic departments and relevant administrative units to ensure alignment with institutional goals and priorities that include predictability, responsiveness, and optimization.
Predictability
The scheduling process will promote predictability for students. This will include the establishment of schedules with predictable times, campus locations, and meeting patterns across instructional modalities. The College will use data on enrollment trends, student progression patterns, and award demand to inform course scheduling decisions. This will include analyzing historical enrollment data, student feedback, and academic award requirements. The College will aim to minimize changes to section offerings that happen after registration begins, including course cancellations, particularly for high-demand courses. The College will monitor enrollment trends during the schedule review process and proactively address needed adjustments.
Responsiveness
Scheduling decisions will prioritize student educational needs, ensuring that required courses are offered in a manner that facilitates timely progress toward award completion. The scheduling process will be supportive of institutional goals and priorities for awards and programs. This includes a systematic and centralized review of enrollment patterns, student demand, and instructional program priorities to ensure that courses are offered at sufficient frequency and capacity to meet demand. Course offerings should be scheduled to reflect discipline-specific pedagogical needs, standards, and accreditation and regulatory requirements.
Optimization
Consideration will be given to course modality as well as all times and days to accommodate diverse student schedules. The scheduling process will aim to optimize the use of College resources. This includes ensuring that course offerings align with available human and physical capital, such as classroom space, instructional staff availability, and technical infrastructure for different instructional modalities. Course offerings will be scheduled in a manner that supports optimal fill rates across all sections, and to augment opportunities for student completion. Efforts will be made during the initial course schedule development and during the ongoing schedule review process to align course availability with student demand and ensure that courses are offered in a way that maximizes enrollment and access.
The College will use best practices recognized within higher education associated with the quality measures of predictability, responsiveness, and optimization to continuously assess the health of the academic schedule and make necessary adjustments and improvements.
Back to Top