University of West Alabama | Essential Scheduling

The University of West Alabama (UWA), in Livingston, is located in the historically-designated rural Black Belt and serves a diverse and largely first-generation population. Acknowledging the many barriers to degree completion, the university sought to invest in its region with a goal of focusing on student needs through a strategic course scheduling initiative.

This would include disrupting silos to resolve any disconnects between units and using data and technology as a positive driver of change. An inclusive, action-oriented process would also assist in encouraging the conversations needed to make connections and generate the desired progress.

With a promising strategic plan, campus leaders needed to figure out how to best align resources and space management with the university's evolving goals.

“This was a big challenge that would require specific and strategic senior administrative support as well as a mind shift in the whole campus community,” said Danielle Miller, Campus Space & Project Administrator at UWA. “To move forward with trust, you need to have the right people at the table and to work together in a collaborative environment.”

As an Ad Astra client since 2019, UWA used Astra Schedule primarily for events, but saw an opportunity expand into academic scheduling to better meet student needs with capabilities that Astra Schedule was not capable of performing.

The Solution:

Leverage accurate, reliable academic data for effective space management and course scheduling

By expanding its partnership into Ad Astra’s Essential Scheduling solution, UWA not only upgraded its event management, but gained the ability to look at student success metrics, Degree Velocity®, and completion rates. This would assist the institution in making real-time informed decisions about strategic scheduling and course management in alignment with the university’s initiatives, the result being more seamless schedules that would help students stay on track and graduate faster.

“We felt it was necessary to move forward with Essential Scheduling to provide better data for student initiatives and their completion rates,” Miller said. “With Essential Scheduling, we are able to move more into workflows, get away from paper, and see our students’ data in real time to make real-time decisions that inform our course scheduling initiatives.”

The strategic move was further enhanced by the support of prior change management work conducted by the UWA Strategic Doing teams. The teams provided answers to four important questions. “What could we do?” “What should we do?” “What will we do?” and “What are the assets?” Answers to these questions became the framework of an actionable strategic plan and a foundation for the implementation of Ad Astra’s Essential Scheduling solution.

UWA approached the work in phases, beginning the migration process with Event Scheduling before moving on to Academic Scheduling, where they are currently working through pathway validation. As part of the process, the Space Management Committee developed common utilization and space guidelines for academic, athletic, auxiliar, and research spaces, including the identification of all space occupants and opportunity zones.

“With centralized data for improved accessibility through the Essential Scheduling platform, we have real-time analytics for space utilization, better resource allocation, and increased operational efficiency,” Miller concluded. “The future is now, so why not move to a more robust platform to give your institution and its students what they need.”

Student Demand Data:

Historical enrollment data offers insight into student course demand.

Conflict-free Space Management:

Schedule course sections and events with clear visibility into space availability.

SIS Integration:

Bi-directional integration with Ellucian via Ethos ensures a smooth data.

Student Success Metrics:

Gain insight into student success with integrated metrics like Degree Velocity™.

Utilization Reports:

View course, event, and room reports to optimize utilization and scheduling practices.

School Background

The University of West Alabama, Livingston, Alabama, was founded in 1835 as the Livingston Female Academy. The school was the first Southern state to fund the education of women as future teachers. Today, the co-educational school offers associates, bachelors, educational specialist, and educational doctorate degrees
The University of West Alabama is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges

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CASE STUDY | UNIVERSITY OF WEST ALABAMA

Fulfilling student needs by adopting Essential Scheduling

The Challenge

Transform space management to better serve students and meet strategic course scheduling goals