Computer Classroom Utilization

During the two Summer 2004 academic sessions, Computer Lab Management continued to see record numbers in reserved computer classroom use. Because of the high demand, several computer classrooms remained open as much as three hours after the normal closing time. Additional funding was sought and received to provide the additional services. Typically, Computer Lab Management operates with fewer computer classrooms open during the summers. This summer, five of the 10 computer classrooms were opened for instructional use. These rooms were available from 9 AM to 8 PM, Monday thru Thursday and 9 AM to 5 PM on Friday.

Figure 1 below identifies summer reservation hours and growth since 1998. The five computer classrooms were reserved a total of 1391 hours. Because of demand, rooms remained opened for several classes beyond normal summer operating hours, providing an additional 576 hours of reservable computer classroom time. The result was a 27 percent increase in reserved hours over Summer 2003. The increase was significant considering the University's decision to put a cap on enrollment. While this means fewer people, it did not necessarily mean fewer class hours. Over the past three years, the number of class hours held in the computer classrooms grew by nearly 60 percent.

Fig. 1

While the number of hours has increased dramatically, the number of courses scheduled entirely or partly in the computer classrooms have increased at a slower rate. This is aparent in the graph below. A seven percent increase over Summer 2003 was observed. The average hours per course increased between Summer 2003 and Summer 2004 by five hours. The graph shows an anomaly in 1998 which indicated a greater number of courses with the fewest total hours reserved.

Fig. 2

Computer Lab Management evaluates summer room utilization by evaluating reserved hours. Utilization graphs similar to those obtained in the regular academic quarters are not applicable during summer operations. Major and minor renovations, equipment and software upgrades, and other maintenance operations result in irregular open and available times. This makes gathering typical percent utilization of rooms difficult.