Pipeline graphic

There are certain disciplines I have encountered on my life journey that have proved invaluable in framing challenges far outside the scope of their fields. Economics was one, with its emphasis on modeling interconnected systems using statistics and calculus in an attempt to explain human behavior. Linguistics has helped me to better understand the extent to which language frames how we think and what we understand. Neuroscience yields clues to how our minds differ from computer ‘intelligence.’ Computer science, interestingly, has informed my understanding of human consciousness and free will. Business and, more specifically, sales, have lent some of the most practical insights and techniques, one of which has been at the top of my mind since joining the CIT faculty in August.

Our department has been brainstorming how to increase the number of students entering and completing their studies in the software development track of the Computer Information Technology department. My training and experience in sales prompts me to view this as a ‘pipeline’ problem. In sales, keeping the pipeline full is critical. One must always have a large supply of prospects to feed into one end. Each step of the process, between the time they are identified as a prospective buyer of the product or service through the point at which they have taken delivery and become a potential source of referrals and repeat business, must be managed. Unlike in a real pipeline, however, in sales the volume is dropping precipitously from the beginning of the process to the end. Consequently, some envision the sales pipeline more as a funnel than a pipe.

In sales, this is the nature of the beast. Confounding factors along the way eat away at your eventual sales. Other companies vie for the same customers. Sticker shock causes many sales to “go to sleep.” Some prospects want but don’t need what you are selling. All the same, great salespeople have techniques to manage the sales pipeline, in order that it more consistently produces a volume not too diminished from that which went in. In addition, they manage the consistency of the flow through the sales pipeline. This minimizes the “feast or famine” cycle that results from paying attention to particular segments of the process, such as spending inordinate time “closing the big fish” at the expense of prospecting for new candidates going into the pipeline.

In community college, we face many of the same challenges. We must draw students from various populations: high school, the work force, un- and underemployed workers, business partnerships, local civilians, senior citizens, and so forth. For most of these contingents, we measure our output in completed certificates or degrees. Consequently, a fair amount of institutional resources are concentrated on measuring output and determining how to keep the pipeline moving quickly with minimal leakage. And, as in sales, market conditions are constantly changing, necessitating adjustments to our processes in order to achieve favorable completion rates. There are those who are just dabbling in higher education, but my concern here are those for whom completion and placement are important.

Our department has been concentrating on four main areas that we feel are important to our departmental goals. First, we must actively recruit to assure a steady supply of new students entering the program. Second, we must have systems to retain them while they complete their studies. Third, we must prepare them for the marketplace or the university, so that they have the breadth and depth necessary to compete for the best placements. Finally, we must strive to be involved as partners in their job or university placement. As more private institutions come under fire for their failure to place their students as promised by their recruitment materials, it becomes all the more apparent that placement is an important metric for higher educational success.

The CIT Pipeline

Recruitment cannot be ignored in a period of declining enrollment and, certainly, should be important to any institution interested in attracting top students. We have worked to inject a bit more of a ‘hip factor’ into our programming classes with game development and robotics. We have reached out to the ISD and are purposefully developing local connections with businesses whose programmers may benefit from additional education.

Because the economy has improved, we are concerned that many of our students are now working and therefore unable to continue their education during the day. We have started to reevaluate our scheduling based upon this insight. We are investigating the possibility of developing workshops or sponsoring clubs that would expand on areas of interest that are outside of the strict constraints of our current curriculum. These may serve recruitment, retention, and preparation purposes.

We recently had four Open Advising sessions in an attempt to increase enrollment by creating some immediacy to their registration and also improving our ability to guide students into the classes they should be taking next. To prepare our students for the workforce, we have started having “Industry Nights Out” in which we tour local businesses as a group. We look for apprenticeship opportunities and tie third party certifications, where appropriate, to our curriculum.

Placement is a hard nut to crack because so much of it is the responsibility of, and requires individual initiative by, the student. We track and publicize job opportunities among our students. Apprenticeships may result in job offers. But our students do need to consider whether the local job market will support their goals or if they should consider work outside of the area. Telecommuting is an option. Placement, however, cannot be divorced from preparation, however, and we are considering ways in which we can provide students with a leg up through mock interviews, resume workshops, and exposure to discussion of the various technologies they can expect to encounter once employed.

Dearest to my heart, however, is the possibility of inspiring them to continue their education through, at the very least, a bachelor’s degree. Perhaps we can have representatives of information technology departments from various universities visit either in person or via a teleconference. We, as instructors, have the opportunity, if not duty, to identify potential in our students and encourage its development.

This has just been a quick tour of the thinking that is going on in our department. The insight that this is a pipeline helps us to concentrate on all phases of the problem, rather than concentrating on a few to the detriment of the many. CIT has the advantage that local businesses both feed the pipe and receive the product of our efforts on the other side, but I suspect that your department faces similar challenges even if it is not one closely allied with local concerns. Hopefully the pipeline metaphor will give you an additional analytic tool with which to address them.