3. Know Your Customers
Referring to CE patrons as clients or customers may seem too businesslike for higher education, but it’s appropriate for all aspects of CE. Whether it’s in allied health, workforce training, community education or even kids’ summer camps, anyone who enrolls in a CE course or program has an expectation of the experience and will either be satisfied or dissatisfied with it. Since CE units often serve at the gateway to the college for the entire community — given their broad appeal and program offerings — treating students and trainees as valued customers is vital to win their repeat business. This in no way detracts from the importance of human development and relationships in education. We, ourselves, are often return customers to businesses that make us feel special and with whom we have a personal connection.
Gathering and using data about customers is an important CE function, especially when meeting defined KPIs. CE leaders should use existing college systems or known add-ons to their institutions’ databases in gathering and analyzing customer data. Often times, the institution’s database has many CE-related functions and features that no one may have used or knew existed. In researching such options, CE units can avoid purchasing complicated data-tracking software packages that provide all the bells and whistles, too often promise the moon and, ultimately, yield little. Similarly, CE units should only focus on gathering useful data and avoid getting bogged down in fancy analytics. A thermometer from a dollar store or a free app on my phone is all I need to tell the temperature with the necessary degree of accuracy. Institutional trend data and readily available labor market data are often all that are needed to make sound program decisions. Also, CE units should not underestimate the value of qualitative data. Advisory committees, workforce board staff and chambers of commerce can provide CE staff with a wealth of input needed to better inform institutional and labor market trend data.
4. Scan the Horizon
Determining which CE programs and classes to offer involves using the current trends and qualitative data as lenses through which to view future projections. CE departments shouldn’t offer programs just to offer them or because they’re the latest trend. They should also avoid offering the “same old, same old” just because it’s convenient. Instead, CE units should view all of their offerings in terms of whether they result in meeting the agreed-upon KPIs and purpose of the unit. Scanning the horizon for the purpose of projecting future offerings is never an exact science. The willingness to adapt programming in response to shifting projections, as well as the ability to implement change, is far more important than the accuracy of initial predictions. The agreed-upon purpose of the CE unit and the ensuing KPIs serve as the guideposts in such periods of change.
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