Successful program planning happens when decisions are based on all the information that’s available.
Rather than rely on hunches or gut feelings, Metro Continuing Education relies on data, and it has proven quite effective for the program.
The program serves 17,000 Edmonton, AB area students per year through offerings in adult continuing education, K-12 and ESL courses. It offers more than 1,000 classes per year in 14 subcategories.
Program leaders always knew that Cooking was a successful area but a LERN Program Review in 2014 confirmed the Cooking category was a major driver of revenue and registrations for Adult Continuing Education.
From 2012 to 2014, the Cooking category represented the largest percentage of registrations – 12.71 percent – and the third highest percentage of income – 9.59 percent.
Armed with that data, Metro Continuing Education decided to focus efforts on growing the Cooking 
category even more.
For the 2015-2016 school year, 28 percent of the Cooking classes offered by Metro Continuing Education were new, and the classes covered a broad range of interests including basics, baking, and ethnic cooking.
Programmers also focused on food trends and special diets, adding classes for “Meat Lovers” such as Charcuterie at Home, Pork Butchery, and Sausage Making. The also added dietary-focused classes such as Gluten-Free Pierogis & Fresh Pasta, Gluten-Free Holiday Baking and Introduction to Vegan Baking.
Three of the new offerings including Charcuterie at Home, Fresh Pastas, and Endless Sauces, and Noodle, Noodle, Noodle, filled up more than two months before the class start date.
According to Metro, the range and appeal of the new classes led to an incredibly low cancellation rate – averaging just 13 percent for the three terms in the period.
Programmers also focused on the quality of the offerings and worked to ensure classes averaged high quality scores, averaging 4.59/5, which is slightly higher than Metro’s overall average quality score of 4.5/5.
To support the new offerings, Metro also took steps to incorporate the Cooking category into its overall marketing efforts. The three course catalogs released by Metro during the 2015-2016 school year all featured cooking imagery on the front covers, and more images were added to the cooking section of the catalog. Metro also made it a point to use those cooking images on their website and via social media.
Special social media posts and online advertisements specific to the Cooking category were created, and Metro sent a series of targeted emails to past Cooking registrants.
The combination of new courses and increased marketing efforts resulted in an astounding 22 percent increase in enrollments and 21 percent increase in revenue.