TCCC Case Study
I first heard of AccuTrack when I attended the 2000 Kellogg Institute at Appalachian State University (ASU). I was very excited to discover this amazing software resource because the Developmental Education department at TCCC was going through some major transitions and rebuilding at the time. I was hired to put the program back on its feet. 🙂 One of our institution's challenges back then was the tracking of students in learning labs and support activities. The school used handwritten time cards that had to be individually checked, verified, and calculated every week. The handling of these cards required so much time and energy; they had to be accurate for state and local reports. The old system frustrated students, faculty, and data collectors alike. At the time, other departments like Adult Basic Skills were also using a similar and problematic time card system.
When I returned from Kellogg full of ideas, I shared the information about AccuTrack with my supervisor at the time. We agreed that this would be a welcomed and beneficial change in how we did business. We worked through our channels and funding to make AccuTrack a reality for our Murphy Campus and for our Graham Campus. Once we had the software up and running, we immediately realized its far-reaching value for accurate, time-saving, professional reports --reports that pleased our in-house reporting departments and state auditors. We could track attendance. We knew the content and courses that brought students into our support labs. We could identify traffic patterns. We could look at individual students participation, and we could look at groups of student in common classes. We could identify day and evening students. We could identify part-time and full-time students. We could gather profile information---any of these actions with just a few clicks. We could trust the data collected by AccuTrack!
Reports that would take long, painful hours by hand could now be completed in minutes. All of a sudden, we had a loyal, reliable ally--AccuTrack--in our weekly efforts to provide and to monitor services to our students. Adding the AccuTrack program was truly like hiring a full-time person to handle all the tracking and data. Instructors were released from the burdensome task of tracking and reporting lab time. They could focus their full attention on the learners, and the learners didn't have to worry about lost or incorrect cards. The AccuTrack system improved our department by 1000%. AccuTrack has helped us on many auditing reviews.
Since that first AccuTrack year, we've added an institutional license and expanded our use to the Graham campus, TCCC's library, and Adult Basic Skills. When the Cosmetology Department's old time clock died, the instructors were looking for a suitable replacement. I helped them set up AccuTrack for their class /lab settings. They still love it, and they enjoy the freedom of computer assisted tracking! I believe the other Spa Therapies on campus will be using it too. We've always encouraged other departments on campus to use the AccuTrack System. Our Student Success / Advising center also uses the AccuTrack program.
We have always had the best service and support from Engineerica! The company has an amazing product in AccuTrack, and they stand by it with genuine pride.
We are currently talking about upgrading to the newest version of AccuTrack, and we are looking at our budget resources this.
So, the folks at TCCC are fans of AccuTrack and Engineerica!
KT
The attached pictures are of our student Ms. Lydia Hitchcock using our AccuTrack Station in Guided Studies lab.
Kathryn Lea Temple
Director/Instructor, Guided Studies
Tri-County Community College
Murphy, NC