CASE STUDY
Tri-C Builds Academic Pathways with CourseLeaf
At a Glance
Institution Type: Two-Year Public
Enrollment: 9,800 students
SIS Integration: Ellucian Banner Integration
Challenge: Static PDF catalog; Limited student pathway visibility; Difficult credential and outcome comparisons
CourseLeaf Solutions: CourseLeaf CAT Academic Catalog Software
Supporting Student Success Through Guided Pathways
Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) serves more than 23,500 credit students each year with a mission centered on providing high-quality, affordable higher education opportunities throughout the greater Cleveland area.
As part of its commitment to improving student access, success, equity, and completion, Tri-C recognized an opportunity to strengthen how students explored programs and understood their path to graduation.
Strengthening Academic Pathways
As the college explored new ways to improve student completion, leaders identified academic pathways as a critical area for improvement.
According to Dr. Lindsay English, Vice President for Learning & Engagement,
"As we explored options to improve completion, one important project that become apparent was the need to strengthen our academic pathways."
At the time, the college's catalog primarily presented one-to-one relationships between programs and courses, making it difficult for students to understand the broader connections between certificates, degrees, careers, and transfer opportunities.
In support of the American Association of Community Colleges' Guided Pathways initiative, Tri-C launched a comprehensive catalog redesign focused on helping students navigate structured academic and career pathways.
"We realized we could do a better job helping students understand their academic path to completion. The first step was to narrow the options, not the opportunities. We did this by creating meta-majors and moving away from the cafeteria model of offering courses and programs," said English.
Building a Student-Centered Catalog
To support its new Guided Pathways model, Tri-C replaced its static PDF catalog with CourseLeaf CAT.
Working collaboratively with CourseLeaf, the college developed an online catalog that organizes both credit and noncredit programs within clearly defined meta-majors while presenting recommended course sequences, employment outcomes, transfer opportunities, and related academic pathways.
The catalog also includes Degree Comparison functionality, allowing students to compare certificates and degree options while exploring related programs.
According to Kris Walz, Assistant Dean, Student Affairs,
"CourseLeaf staff understood our student success goals and worked with us to create a beautiful online and mobile friendly catalog."
The redesigned catalog made it easier for students to understand their educational options while helping advisors guide more informed academic conversations.
As English explained,
"CourseLeaf helped us bridge the gap between information and informed student decision-making."
Connecting Students to Opportunities
CourseLeaf CAT also allowed Tri-C to present the complex relationships between certificates, degrees, and career pathways while integrating with the college's existing technology environment, including Ellucian Banner and its learning management system.
When students explore a program, the catalog highlights related certificates and degrees that share coursework, helping them better understand additional educational opportunities.
According to English,
"It is enlightening for students using the pathways model to better understand how their courses scaffold from certificates to degrees to a live-able wage opportunity."
By helping students see the full pathway rather than individual courses, the catalog supports more informed decisions throughout their academic journey.
Supporting the College's Mission
Following the launch of the new catalog, student engagement increased dramatically.
Online catalog usage more than doubled during the first two months, and the catalog became the college's most visited website with more than 2.2 million views during its first year.
Reflecting on the broader impact of the project, English said,
"CourseLeaf helped us move our equity, success and completion mission forward through CAT's integrated tool. Using pathways is not optional and is key to our student success and completion agenda. CAT has provided an integrated tool and worked."
Helping Students Navigate with Confidence
Today, Tri-C's academic catalog serves as more than a repository of course information. It functions as a student-centered planning resource that helps learners understand academic pathways, explore career opportunities, and make more informed decisions about their education.
By aligning catalog management with its Guided Pathways strategy, Tri-C has strengthened student support while advancing its institutional goals for access, equity, student success, and completion.