Posted by
Steve on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 1:32:59 AM
Today starts the beginning of a new semester. This semester I teach BIO 160 and 182. It is the first time I have not taught BIO 156 since the fall of 2002. It will be really different. I have gotten used to telling a semester by what labs are being taught. I will have to revise that for this semester.
Our college is in the midst of a decline in enrollment. All the colleges in the district are struggling with enrollment problems this year. Yet, even with the decline in enrollment we have found a way to increase our enrollment in Biology. We are offering a one year only position for next year. The position will teach courses that we are confident will fill. They are courses that are required for people that want to become nurses. Nurses are in short supply all over the US and particularly in the Phoenix area. There are lots of people that want to become nurses. The thinking is that the people will take the required courses with us. They will then take other courses on campus that semester. That should impact enrollment and increase the student levels.
It is a bold approach to solving the enrollment problem. The usual approach is to try to find courses people want and then offer them. We have some courses people want. We fill all that we currently offer. We have decided to offer more. The theory says that those courses should fill as well.
When students take one course at a campus, they usually take more than one course that same semester from that campus. We should see an enrollment increase in other courses on campus. The results will be more diffuse as the students will take different courses with our Biology courses. That will make the other increases hard to quantify. But the total for the campus should show the increase.
If this works, we can then ask that the position be made permanent as the increase in enrollment campus wide will justify the position. We are not due to get another position until 2011. I think this might be our chance to get one much sooner than that. I am keeping my fingers crossed.