Transitioning Transfer Evaluation:
Paperless, Automated, Powerful
Session 2A
Ted Cain
Reporting & Data Integrity Analyst
Ted.Cain@unco.edu
RMACRAO 2014
Schedule of Discussion
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Profile of UNC
History of Transfer Evaluation Process
Goals of Transition
Procedural Changes
What Did We Learn?
Next Steps
Q&A
Profile of UNC
• Located in Greeley, Colorado
• Founded in 1889
• 12,000+ students
• 9700+ undergraduate
• 2300+ graduate
• 100+ undergraduate academic programs among
nearly 50 majors
• 1700+ employees, including 500 full-time and
250 part-time faculty
• Large population of First Generation students
History of Transfer Evaluation Process
Previously Housed in the Office of Admissions
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All transcripts data was evaluated and entered prior to
admission.
During Banner implementation, the report created to
communicate information to students and faculty was
modeled off the legacy system.
Report was created outside the standard University
reporting structure in order to accommodate established
process.
Process followed legacy system, as well, which included
printing three copies: one for the student, one for the
department, and one to keep on file.
Copies to students and faculty were physically mailed.
The “Salmon” Sheet
History of Transfer Evaluation (Cont.)
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Faculty could return physical copy with
equivalencies noted, but equivalencies (including
approvals to our Liberal Arts Core requirements)
were handled via any method available, including
undocumented phone calls.
Equivalencies were made by faculty in the
department of the student’s major rather than
faculty in the department of the course discipline.
Equivalencies were often applied individually, with
no consistency from student to student.
Equivalencies were frequently used in place of
substitutions/waivers.
Goals of Transition
• Establish a more efficient method of
communication.
• Establish consistency at as many levels as
possible.
• Establish clear definitions of “transfer
equivalency”, “substitution”, and “waiver”.
• Establish the course discipline’s department
as the authority to approve equivalencies.
The Transfer Equivalency Report
• New report built within the University reporting
structure (using WebFocus).
• Duplicated the relevant info on the “Salmon”
sheet, but included several upgrades:
• Eliminated page breaks for different
institutions.
• Included transfer GPA elements.
• If the student had multiple majors/minors,
they were listed.
• Used term descriptions instead of codes.
The Transfer Equivalency Report
Transfer Equivalency Report (Cont.)
• Two versions of the report were created:
• Students – When the link is selected, the
student ID feeds through from the web portal
login and gives the student their own
information.
• Faculty/Advisors – When the link is selected,
a window pops up prompting entry of the
student ID.
Second Step – It Was A Biggie!
Deletion of the transfer course libraries (SHATATR)
• We created backup data for each library, coordinating
with IT to ensure that if something went wrong, they
could repopulate the data by script rather than manually
re-entering all 81,106 records.
• We scanned local job postings.
• We pushed the button.
Second Step – It Was A Biggie!
Deletion of the transfer course libraries (SHATATR)
• Necessary to ensure that all incoming transfer work
was treated with transparent consistency.
• We headhunted our biggest feeder institutions
(especially the Colorado Community College system)
and rebuilt our libraries to encompass their current
course offerings.
New Procedure – Administrative
• Transcript evaluation occurs ONLY after
student is admitted.
• Upon receipt, transcripts are imaged and the
raw course data is entered into the system.
• “Perform Articulation” in SHATAEQ is used to
award any equivalents built in the libraries.
• Transferrable courses without established
equivalents are manually given a general
equivalent (i.e. – ENG 1X, BIO 3X, etc).
Information Sent to Academic Department
• Notification is sent to department of courses
without equivalencies (divested of student
data).
Institution
Inst Code TR Prefix TR Number TR Title
TR Term Course Hours UNC Prefix
CAL State U-Long Beach
000302
ANTH
120
Intro to Cultural Anthro
200730
3.000 ANT
Cabrillo College
000173
ANTHR
2
Intro Anthro:Cultrl
201150
3.000 ANT
Colorado College
000498
ANTH
208
Topics in Anthropology
201050
3.500 ANT
Danville Area Community Colleg
001010
ANTH
107
Cultural Anthropology
200630
3.000 ANT
Mills College
000332
ANTH
057
Human Evolution
201350
3.500 ANT
Mills College
000332
ANTH
058
Cultural Anthropology
201430
3.500 ANT
Pima Community College
000101
ANT
101
Human Origins and Prehistory
201050
3.000 ANT
Regis University
000526
AN
204
Intro to Cultural Anthropology
201230
3.000 ANT
St Mary's College Of Maryland
001736
ANTH
101
Intro to Anthropology
201250
4.000 ANT
St Mary's College Of Maryland
001736
ANTH
201
Anthropology Toolkit
201330
4.000 ANT
St Mary's College Of Maryland
001736
ANTH
202
Archaeology Practicum
201350
4.000 ANT
St Mary's College Of Maryland
001736
ANTH
281
Archaeology and Pre-History
201350
4.000 ANT
St Mary's College Of Maryland
001736
ARTH
224
Ancient Amer Art/Architecture
201350
4.000 ANT
Academic Review Guidelines
Direct Departmental Equivalency – Can the course be given a direct
UNC course equivalency within your discipline?
General Departmental Credit – If not a direct equivalent, would you
accept the course as a general elective within your discipline?
• Transfer Credit Equivalency Update Form (requested equivalents that
fall within the Liberal Arts Core require additional review by the Liberal
Arts Core Council)
Other Departmental Equivalency – Is there an equivalency outside your
discipline that you feel is appropriate (i.e. – a Psychology Statistics course
(PSY) that should be given a STAT equivalent)?
• Transfer Credit Equivalency Update Forms from both disciplines are
necessary (in the above example, notification from both Psychology
and Mathematics).
New Procedures – Academic
• Department must specify the time frame that
an equivalency applies to.
• If none of those three options, the
department can identify the course as
“reviewed, not equivalent”.
Transfer Credit Equivalency Update Form
New Procedures – Academic
• Once forms are submitted to the Office of the
Registrar, equivalencies and departmental
elective credit are built into the library.
• Existing transfer coursework is searched and
updated if appropriate.
• Non-equivalent courses are given a course
attribute in the library to prevent them from
going out for review again.
Procedural Changes – Student
• Once a week, notification is sent to students
whose coursework was updated within the
last week.
• Includes transfer policy information and
instructions on accessing the Transfer
Equivalency Report.
• If students want to contest a decision, they
can contact the department of the discipline
of the course and provide course
descriptions/syllabi.
Email Notification to Student
What Did We Learn?
• Don’t be afraid to rip the bandaid off!
• Transfer coursework had been entered using
a single attendance period method.
• Now in the process of
manually fixing
thousands of records
for current students.
What Did We Learn?
• Does the left hand know what the right hand
is doing?
• Degree Works implementation obsoleted an
equivalent title solution.
What Did We Learn?
• Don’t be afraid to speak up!
• New data entry process created attendance
periods with null values…which was a
problem!
• Bringing it to
Ellucian’s attention
resulted in a
suggested
workaround and a
patch is in the works!
Next Steps
Upgrades to the Transfer Equivalency Report
• Liberal Arts Core indicators
• “Reviewed” indicators
Report Automation via ReportCaster
• New Coursework for Review to Academic
Departments
• Student Notifications
Questions?
Ted Cain
Session 2A