CASE STUDY
Building Academic Operations at Wesleyan
Wesleyan University Modernizes Curriculum Management, Academic Catalogs, and Academic Operations
At a Glance
Institution Type: Four-Year Private
Enrollment: 3,600 students
SIS Integration: Workday Student Integration
Challenge: Fragmented form processes; Slow approval routing; Limited PeopleSoft integration and tracking
CourseLeaf Solutions: CourseLeaf CIM Curriculum Management Software, CourseLeaf CAT Academic Catalog Software, CourseLeaf CLSS Academic Scheduling Software & Analytics
Data entry errors and a cumbersome combination of paper and electronic forms motivated the administration at Wesleyan University to find a solution that could streamline curriculum management, improve academic operations, and provide an innovative way to send forms to the correct people for approval while minimizing lost paperwork and collecting historical data. The solution also had to offer advanced integration with their student information system (SIS), PeopleSoft Campus Solutions.
The Challenge: Streamlining Curriculum Management and Academic Workflows
“We had to find a partner that could help to streamline our processes,” recalls Amanda Daddona, Associate Registrar at Wesleyan University. “We needed to eliminate paper and create a way to retain historical records. Our course approval forms were collected and stored in binders in the Registrar’s Office, taking up an extraordinary amount of space. We really wanted to turn a cumbersome and somewhat unreliable process into something much smoother, cleaner, efficient, and transparent.”
Before implementing CourseLeaf, the team at Wesleyan managed their curriculum and academic catalog through a combination of paper and electronic forms collected by the Registrar's Office and entered manually into their student information system, PeopleSoft Campus Solutions. Looking at the big picture, the Wesleyan team wanted curriculum management software that could manage the academic catalog, program-level data, course-level data, and section-level data within a connected academic operations platform.
The Solution: Curriculum Management Software with PeopleSoft Integration
“We are happy to say we have an incredibly powerful system to collect and manage our entire curriculum in CourseLeaf CAT, CIM, and CLSS. New course proposals are approved quickly, where before it could take weeks for paper to get to all the appropriate desks, now it takes days!” added Daddona.
“CourseLeaf was on our radar. When we sat with the team, we knew this was our partner. They were extremely positive, supportive, and collaborative. Their willingness to hear what we were looking for and do what they could to make a solution fit our business and process needs put them far ahead of the competition. CourseLeaf allowed us to manage program, course, and section-level data, which the others did not,” said Daddona.
Improving Curriculum Workflows and Academic Operations
Through brainstorming sessions and a hands-on approach, CourseLeaf provided Wesleyan with innovative and efficient ways to improve its modules and business practices. The university now has an electronic historical record of changes in CIM Courses and CIM Programs, giving faculty and administrators greater visibility into curriculum changes while supporting more efficient curriculum workflows.
The team at Wesleyan continues to collaborate with CourseLeaf to bring new software and technology forward in all areas of curriculum management. Most recently, they have begun work on the CIM Bridge, which integrates tightly with PeopleSoft Campus Solutions. Using data from the student information system, the software regularly performs accuracy checks to ensure the data in CourseLeaf matches the data in PeopleSoft.
Results: A Trusted Academic Operations Platform
“It’s a great product! It not only looks beautiful, it’s user friendly, it’s clear, and it’s very effective. The CourseLeaf team also goes above and beyond at every step of the way. We feel supported, even years after implementation and the transition to support.” says Daddona.
Ready to Modernize Your Academic Operations?
Inspired by Wesleyan's results? See how the CourseLeaf Academic Operations Platform helps colleges and universities modernize curriculum management, simplify curriculum workflows, publish accurate academic catalogs, and support connected academic operations.