DIGARC Announces Acquisition of Visual Schedule Builder Student Schedule Planning Software at Ellucian Live
NEW ORLEANS, April 10, 2019 (Newswire.com) - DIGARC, a leading provider of curriculum management and student success solutions for higher education, announced today at the Ellucian Live conference in New Orleans that it has acquired Visual Schedule Builder (VSB). VSB empowers students and advisers in planning academic schedules to increase credit hours taken while reducing time to graduation.
VSB enables students to simplify scheduling and streamline registration by creating a visual calendar based on course requirements and preferred times. Students narrow schedule options based on degree plans, schedule restrictions and section preferences. By visualizing schedules that satisfy pathway requirements and personal preferences at the point of registration, institutions increase student retention and accelerate success efforts.
“We’re thrilled to expand DIGARC’s focus on student pathways and student success,” says Angela Selden, CEO of DIGARC. “With VSB’s innovative scheduling, advising and registration platform, students increase the number of courses and credits per term, increase adherence to their degree plan pathway, complete courses in order and graduate on time.”
By monitoring student search and enrollment activities, institutions with VSB’s analytics tool can access otherwise unavailable preference data that supports planning and resource allocation, including course supply and anticipated demand, common course conflicts, student persistence and enrollment heat maps. Institutions with DIGARC’s SECTION schedule planning tool will be able to operationalize these insights from API-enabled integration with VSB to have transparent and efficient class section schedule planning from request to approval.
“We have gained visibility over our course offerings and student demand in ways we had never imagined,” says Karen McCredie, former registrar at Capilano University. “It’s a game changer.”
VSB enables better communication between student and advisor on the class registration process and graduation requirements, increasing student retention. At the University of North Texas at Dallas, advising sessions previously centered around registering for courses. Now, after implementing VSB, focus is on essential questions about a student’s potential career paths, financial aid and more.
“Advising appointments now are no longer registration-related,” says Rian Wilhite, director of academic advising and student success at University of North Texas at Dallas. “Because of the extra time, it allows us to do a whole lot more with that appointment. Advising is now a holistic process.”
VSB was first conceptualized in 2001 by brothers Sean and Alan Weeks, who will join DIGARC along with the VSB team of specialists. VSB recently released its 5.0 version, leveraging the latest in Google Material Design principles for a simplified student registration experience that averages 11-14 minutes for a first-time user.
“Our VSB team of specialists is excited to join DIGARC and looks forward to a strong synergy and future collaboration,” says Alan Weeks, now vice president of VSB at DIGARC.
VSB’s API-enabled integration leverages degree plan and SIS data to inform the entire scheduling process. VSB joins DIGARC’s Connected CurriculumTM suite of solutions for institutional success and student success that also includes Acalog (catalog management), Curriculog (curriculum management), SECTION (schedule planning) and EXPLORE (student pathfinder).
To learn more about VSB, visit https://www.vsbuilder.com. To learn more about DIGARC, visit https://www.digarc.com.
ABOUT DIGARC
Founded in 2001, DIGARC is a leading provider of education technology, now serving more than 600 clients in North America and beyond. DIGARC provides the unified platform, products and services that connect curriculum data to align the offerings of educational providers with student success. DIGARC is based in central Florida, with offices in Orlando and Lakeland.
Media Contact:
Benjamin Powell
Phone: 863.286.0053
Email: bpowell@digarc.com
Source: DIGARC