Revolutionizing Student Services: How Broward College Leveraged QLess for Enhanced Student Success

Broward College, like many higher education institutions, faced the challenge of managing a large student body and the associated demand for various services. With over 67,000 students returning each year to register for classes, apply for financial aid, and seek academic advising and tutoring, long lines and extended wait times became a significant pain point, especially during peak periods. To address this issue and enhance the overall student experience, Broward College implemented the QLess technology, a queue management system designed to streamline student services and provide valuable insights into student activity.

The Challenge of Traditional Queueing

Every year, 67,000+ students return to Broward College, often resulting in long lines for essential services like class registration, financial aid applications, and academic advisement. The peak of these activities typically happen at the same time each term with everyone showing up at once. The traditional approach to managing these services often involved students waiting in long lines, which not only wasted their time but also created stress and frustration. This inefficient system also placed a strain on college staff, who were tasked with managing the flow of students and addressing their needs.

The QLess Solution: A Paradigm Shift in Student Service

While researching queue management systems, Dr. García discovered QLess and within a short period of time led the college-wide implementation of QLess technology across Broward College’s three main campuses and four centers. The QLess technology offered a solution to these challenges by allowing students to schedule appointments for various activities, including applying for admission, financial assistance, class registration, and academic advising. This eliminated the need for students to wait in long lines, freeing up their time for other activities such as attending class, studying, or participating in campus events.

Students access the QLess solution to register for appointments and services via on-site kiosks. During peak periods, campus staff circulates with tablets to assist students and help them schedule a date and time to return. The students can then depart to attend class, study, or participate in other campus activities, returning at their appointed times. Students receive regular updates via text or voice message with any delay or schedule change. With the QLess campus management solution, students can join the line from anywhere with their mobile app and don’t have to wait as they receive real-time updates on their wait times. This status notification application also allows them to be in control of their time and free up staff time to provide better student services. This way, students can spend their time doing more valuable things than wasting hours in line.

Key Features and Benefits of QLess at Broward College

The implementation of QLess at Broward College brought about several key benefits:

Read also: College Experience Optimization

Reduced Wait Times: Students no longer had to wait in long lines to access the services they needed. Instead, they could register for appointments via on-site kiosks or with the help of student affairs staff using tablets. With remote check-ins, the campus management solution reduces on-site wait times by up to 97%.
Improved Student Satisfaction: By eliminating long waits and providing a more convenient way to access services, QLess contributed to increased student satisfaction.
Enhanced Staff Efficiency: QLess freed up staff time, allowing them to focus on providing better student services. Since university staff will no longer have to monitor long lines with QLESS, their attention and workload will shift to focus on student needs.
Data-Driven Insights: The QLess solution provided valuable data on student activity, allowing the college to better plan and manage services. “The data we get from the QLess solution helps us chart the peaks in student activity so we can better plan and manage services,” said Dr. García. “By plotting when the peaks will occur, we can ensure that there we have enough staff at the right locations to assist our students in a timely way.”
Seamless Integration: QLESS is a web-based campus management solution that doesn’t require any hardware or downloads.

Leveraging Data for Continuous Improvement

One of the most significant advantages of QLess was its ability to provide data-driven insights into student behavior and service utilization. For example, QLess allowed the college to determine that academic advising at South Campus alone had over 28,000 student visits in 2014.

“In higher education, access has historically been the primary priority but we have now moved into an era where student success is our top priority,” said Dr. García. “With QLess, we are not only able to see how many students used advising services, but who they are, how often they use that service, and how those services correlate to their academic performance. With this information we are able to continuously improve the quality of the services we provide.”

Broward College is adding QLess features to conduct customer service feedback surveys and market campus activities and programs that may interest students. One of the unique features about the QLESS campus management solution is that it allows students to provide feedback using SMS surveys on how to improve services; additionally, QLESS has found with past positive experiences in education, students will extend their reach and share their experiences online.

QLess as a Solution During System Outages

Dr. García also cites that during an outage of their student information system, staff was able to use QLess to continue scheduling student appointments and gather key student data until the system was restored.

A Holistic Approach to Student Success

Broward College provides all degree-seeking students with a success coach and an academic advisor. Your Student Success Coach is responsible for establishing a welcoming onboarding experience to Broward College by providing comprehensive answers resulting in successful registration in your first term. Your success coach is available to assist you until you are fully registered and paid for your first term.

Once you are fully registered and paid for your first time, you will work with your assigned Academic Advisor. Advisor assists with the exploration of career options, academic requirements, and selection of courses. Broward College assigned Academic Advisor by career pathway, last name, and home campus. Advising appointments are typically scheduled for 30 minutes. BC’s Seahawk Outreach Services (SOS) provides wrap-around services and holistic support to students by connecting them to key campus resources and referring to community organizations.

QLess Beyond Broward College: A Wider Impact

The success of QLess at Broward College is not an isolated case. Other institutions, such as VSU (Valdosta State University), have also deployed QLess to manage appointments for financial aid staff, resulting in increased student satisfaction and retention rates. At South Seattle College, QLESS campus management solution was used at the Center for International Education. In 2014, South Seattle College took initiative over controlling the 700 students spilling out from the tiny office into the halls. Wanting to have the students spend time in their studies and engage in their new community, South Seattle College used QLESS. The solutions allowed students to sign up virtually via the internet. The college saw a 49% increase in staff production as well as allowing the department to expand its programs.

Key Takeaways

QLess helps universities manage the ever growing student body year to year.
Improving satisfaction and wait times are just the cornerstone of providing excellent services.
QLESS also found that students who are most likely to have their needs met are less likely to drop out.

Navigating Academic Policies and Procedures

Broward College provides resources and guidelines for students regarding academic policies and procedures:

You must initiate the request via Dynamic Forms using the “change of program” document.
You should make an appointment with your advisor to develop a personalized Academic Plan for your pathway.
The Limited Access Application can be found at Student Forms under the Advising tab.
Official transcripts are typically evaluated within the first term of enrollment provided all completed transcripts are on file.
Please submit your official scores to the Registrar Department.
Make an appointment with your academic advisor during your graduating semester to ensure that you have completed all your required courses to graduate.
Schedule an appointment with your academic advisor to explore transfer options at Broward College or to discuss other transfer institution requirements before your graduating semester.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records.
It is the responsibility of the student to /drop her or his course registration up through the published deadline for a 100% refund. After the published deadline for 100% refund, a student may withdraw up to the published last day to withdraw.
Withdrawn courses remain on the student’s transcript with a status of withdrawal (W), indicating that the student registered for the course but withdrew.
A student will be permitted a maximum of two (2) withdrawals per course.
Students who can demonstrate that extenuating circumstances impacted their ability to withdraw by the deadline or need to withdraw after the deadline may petition for a late withdrawal by completing the Academic Standards Petition.

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