Title of Effective Practice: - California Postsecondary Education ...

Direct Connection to Policy Area 4 of The Illinois Commitment
Red Bud Campus Block Scheduling and Advantage Program
Southwestern Illinois College
What issue or need is addressed by the effective practice? Enrollment Management, Admission, Student Support, Cost-
Effective Facilities Management
Description of the effective practice: Since 2003 the RBC staff has created new strategies to improve credit student
enrollment at the Red Bud Campus. The college and campus staff shared concerns that enrollment had not adequately
grown when a new building opened and services were added in 2000 at the Red Bud Campus. Contributing factors
identified included:
• Student fear of courses not “making” (insufficient enrollment causing courses to be cancelled).
• Lack of transition courses for transfer degree sophomores.
• Course conflicts on the schedule.
• Student difficulty adjusting to college environment and procedures.
Red Bud Campus staff coordinated a variety of actions designed to address these issues.
1. Curriculum Issues.
• Admissions and Campus personal designed model semester programs to provide new students with a two-year program
outlook. Instructional departments committed to the two year plan in critical areas such as Mathematics and English
programs.
• Admissions, Instruction and RBC staff expanded and improved the schedule of sophomore level courses, allowing a
greater number of area students to remain at Red Bud Campus for a second year.
• Admissions and RBC staff evaluated class cancellations and continue to weed out courses or sections that are
historically in danger of cancellation.
• Block schedule – certainly the most radial change, the college divisions coordinated the conversion of the daytime
schedule to a Block Schedule. The traditional M-W-F were converted to a M-W schedule. Fridays are used primarily
for one day per week courses. Students are able to accomplish a full-time schedule while attending on M-W, or T-Th,
or M-W-F or T-Th-F.
These changes proved highly beneficial to students who worked part-time or full-time, giving them greater flexibility in
scheduling. The Block Schedule also provided transportation and child care cost savings. In addition the changes have:
• led to development of learning communities through students’ use of the model programs (an indirect goal).
• increased sophomore level enrollment on the campus.
• reduced the number of cancelled courses at Red Bud Campus.
• increased student confidence in building a Red Bud Campus schedule.
• allowed new courses to be scheduled at the campus.
2. Enrollment and Counseling Support. The Admissions, Counseling, and RBC staff have coordinated a series of student
contacts or communications, some ongoing and others new. These include:
• Students who applied for admissions and/or completed placement tests but did not enroll are called with offers of
assistance for counseling appointments and other services.
• Current enrolled students who have not yet enrolled for the next semester are called.
• Current new, full-time freshmen are called by a counselor two to three weeks into the semester. Queries are made as to
their progress and if they have any problems or concerns. Follow-up calls and appointments are made if required.
• Current new, full-time freshmen are called and offered an opportunity to schedule an early counseling appointment for
the next semester. As an incentive to participate the student’s registration is processed by staff the first day registration
is open, without the student having to return to the office.
These efforts to intensify our communication with the students have improved their voluntary communication with the
counseling and student development staff. A direct benefit for the college, and indirectly for the students, is the fact that a
greater number of class sections are “made” earlier, building student confidence in scheduling courses and allowing
instructional department heads to plan staffing.
How does this practice achieve sustainability? As greater numbers of classes are “made” and as more students choose
the campus, the availability of resources needed to sustain the initiative increases.
What are the results/measurable outcomes? Since initiation of the program, the Red Bud campus has shown steady
increases in its credit hour enrollments. Most recently, Summer 2006 alone was up by 5.1%.
Contact Information
Name: Mike Reed
Email: Mike.Reed@swic.edu
Phone: (618) 235-2700
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