Digitally transforming the student experience for UCLA

Location

Los Angeles, California, USA

Challenge

Efficient management of a complex curriculum and publishing of this to a modern catalog to maximise the student experience.

Outcome

A completely new & mobile responsive student catalog underpinned by a definitive source of truth for all curriculum data.

“We recognised the strategic value of offering micro-credentials, and had identified that they required different curriculum structures and approval processes. We needed a vendor with a robust data model and proven integration to our LMS and other key systems. CourseLoop’s experience showed us they were the ones to help us transform and continue to deliver quality curriculum to students.”
CL Loop@2x

Challenge

Despite its scale, UCLA previously managed its complex curriculum, catalog and other critical student information resources via homegrown systems and manually intensive processes. This situation was rapidly becoming unsustainable. UCLA recognized the need for radical improvements in its curriculum data management, curriculum approval, and catalog publishing capabilities as being key to maintaining its competitive strengths and commitment to student experience and success.

UCLA went to market for a complete curriculum management solution. They sought a partner with technology that could enable efficient management of its course and curriculum data as well as transform the process of publishing the annual catalog.

And they wanted to leverage modern technology and true platform capabilities. Critical requirements for UCLA included:

  • The need for a single campus solution accessible by all academic departments and units.
  • A definitive source of truth for all curriculum information based on evolving academic regulations.
  • A definitive source of truth for all curriculum information based on evolving academic regulations.
  • A contemporary and accessible catalog offering a world leading student user experience.

Why CourseLoop?

Alignment between the problem and solution

The team at UCLA was initially skeptical that a single vendor solution existed in the market. But according to Associate Registrar Claire McCluskey, coordinator of the UCLA selection process, they were thoroughly impressed when they saw CourseLoop. The problems UCLA faced may have appeared unique to their operating model, but the CourseLoop Platform has been purposefully built for universities experiencing these very same challenges on a similar scale.

Strength of the technical capability

The CourseLoop Platform provides true end-to-end curriculum management capability, which integrates ‘input’, ‘update’ and ‘refinement’ of data to directly publish the catalog once campus-defined criteria are met. The modular approach also provides a straightforward pathway for extending this capability through adding additional modules for the required functions (e.g. Governance, Review, Marketing).

Deep domain expertise

Not only did CourseLoop offer all the functionality UCLA was looking for, but the team’s deep domain experience and its expertise in implementing end-to-end curriculum management and publishing solutions for large and complex universities made CourseLoop the obvious choice.

“We recognised the strategic value of offering micro-credentials, and had identified that they required different curriculum structures and approval processes. We needed a vendor with a robust data model and proven integration to our LMS and other key systems. CourseLoop’s experience showed us they were the ones to help us transform and continue to deliver quality curriculum to students.”
CL Loop@2x

Solution

UCLA’s priority was to transform the catalog publishing process in the first instance. Therefore, the team implemented two CourseLoop modules to form the foundation for adding additional capabilities, while giving them the immediate value they needed most.

The CourseLoop Curriculum Data Management module has delivered the definitive source of truth for UCLA’s curriculum information, as well as the capability to integrate to the existing UCLA systems architecture. The module has also significantly reduced manual data entry and provides the project team with an intuitive user interface.

The CourseLoop Curriculum Publisher module is delivering the capability UCLA needs to deliver a modern catalog and give their students an enhanced user experience. Drawing on the now structured data stored in the Curriculum Data Management module, CourseLoop APIs have enabled integration that automates publication of curriculum information directly to the display layer, and provides the ability to build and organize other catalog pages. Built from the ground up, using a fully mobile-responsive design means students will get the best experience possible, no matter how they interact with the catalog.

The first phase of the project was completed mid-2021, delivering a better catalog for students and an optimized university administrative experience in managing curriculum data. The next phase includes implementing the CourseLoop Curriculum Governance module to automate and digitize UCLA’s workflow across their entire curriculum lifecycle and approval process. This extension in capability will provide UCLA with a robust and repeatable governance process. They will have complete clarity of workflow status and approval points, demonstrated compliance with University governance and approval policies, as well as reduced administrative burden on faculty and academic staff. CourseLoop’s platform approach means this will be a straightforward extension to their existing system, leveraging the same data repository and integration capability.

Over 730,000 views to the student catalog since it was launched mid-2021
630000 +

Outcomes

  • A completely new student catalog providing a modern user experience with an accessible, mobile-responsive design that supports the automated publishing of data online in real time.
  • A definitive source of truth for curriculum information, providing streamlined data management, direct integration to the catalog, improved data quality, and reduced administrative burden on faculty and academic staff.
  • Over 730,000 views to the student catalog since it was launched mid-2021.
  • An extensible curriculum management system which can be enhanced when needed by UCLA through addition of other CourseLoop modules.
  • Future benefits will include dynamic approval workflows with intuitive collaboration tools, giving UCLA the ability to demonstrate the assurance of learning while freeing up staff time.

About UCLA

About UCLA

UCLA is one of the world´s most iconic universities and one of the largest campuses in the University of California system. Offering more than 14,000 courses across 109 academic departments and nearly 150 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, UCLA is the most applied-to university in the US. For just the 2020 fall semester alone, the university received more than 130,000 applications from potential students. UCLA is also a major contributor to research and technology, with the valuation of startups built from UCLA´s technology innovations since 2000 totaling $33 billion across more than 140 new companies.

See our platform in action

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