WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

ACADEMIC COORDINATING COMMISSION MINUTES

Regular Meeting  -- March 1, 2005

Chair Tom Downing called the meeting of the Academic Coordinating Commission to order on March 1, 2005 in OM340 at 4:02 p.m.   There were fifteen (15) members present, five (5) guests, the Registrar (1) and recorder (1) for a total of twenty-two (22).  (See attached roster).

Approval of ACC minutes

Members approved the minutes of February 15, 2005 with minor corrections.

Degree Evaluation and Transfer Articulation

Joe St. Hilaire, Registrar, Jeanne Gaffney, Assistant Director, College Relations/Admissions, CAPP Project Leader;  Linda Luke, Registrar’s Office, CAPP Encoder, and Judy Korski, Registrar’s Office presented a power point summary (attached) of the Degree Evaluation and Transfer Articulation (TA) program to the Commission.   The program can also be referred to as “CAPP”.  Some details follow:

·   CAPP stands for Curriculum Advising and Program Planning and is a software module within the Banner Student Information System.  CAPP is a tool that students, advisors and evaluators use to look at progress toward a degree. 

·   Graduation requirements for each type of degree, including general university requirements and major requirements are encoded in the CAPP system.   Students’ course work (academic information) is compared to the requirements.  The resulting report, a degree evaluation, lists those requirements met and those not met.

·   Work is progressing rapidly to code all of Western’s majors in CAPP.  As requirements for a major are encoded, the appropriate college and department are consulted to verify the accuracy of work done.  Once this process has been completed, students and advisors will be able to run compliance reports via Web4U.

·   The CAPP software allows a student to enter any Western major in an effort to see what course work he or she would have to complete to finish that major and degree.

·   TA stands for Transfer Articulation and is a software module within the Banner Student Information System.  A student’s transfer work will be evaluated as a part of the registration prerequisite checking when the student’s individual transfer course work has been evaluated and articulated.

·   New transfer students admitted for Winter Quarter of 2006 will be the first group of students to have their transfer course work evaluated and entered in the new TA system on a course by course basis. 

Comments from Commissioners: 

·   St. Hilaire reported that the university has been talking about this for about 10 years but the costs were daunting.  Now a simple implementation will begin, but it is not certain about ongoing support.  The system will be a tremendous boon to students who can immediately see their progress at any point toward the degree. The information is also available to faculty advisers.  The system is accessed through “Web-4-U”.  Commissioners learned that there will be thorough exposure and training for faculty advisors and students, who will critique the system. 

AGENDA ITEMS - Action Items

College Curricular Minutes.  The following minutes came before the Commissioners:

All of the following minutes were accepted by the Commission.

Discussion Items

Review of Proposal to Create an Interdisciplinary Curricular Committee

·   Commissioners listed the various areas that do not report directly to a college curricular committee.    Commissioners had previously discussed the formation of an interdisciplinary committee to consider courses from areas such as Interdisciplinary Studies, Honors, FIGs, East Asian Studies, CGM courses, Canadian American studies, Women Studies, American Cultural Studies, etc.  The Chair envisions a small committee of perhaps four faculty and one student.  Their main work would probably be in Fall Quarter.

·   Provost Bodman reported that he would like to bring forward a proposal for campus consideration, and as part of that there would be a committee proposal.  The Provost has had discussions with various people in the areas of concern and has a good level of agreement on ways to create an integrated umbrella, in a proposal that would include curricular elements and administrative reportage.  ACC will continue to scrutinize curricular items that have no where else to go while Commissioners will await the proposal from Provost Bodman.

Constituents’ Concerns

·   One commissioner asked where self-assessment results within a department eventually land; is it sent somewhere for accountability?  The concern is raised relative to future accreditation.

·   A Commissioner responded that self-assessments ideally remain in the departments, until some higher body comes along and asks to see them.  Reports should be cycling internally, so that there is a feedback loop. 

·   Provost Bodman reported that accreditation in 2008 will be looking especially at GUR assessments in each department, as student learning outcomes at the GUR level had been previously considered as a weakness. Provost Bodman suggested that assessment is a very important theme across the board.  It is designed to provide feedback for continuous quality improvements in departments, and is a matter that is taken very seriously by the accrediting agencies.  Commissioners noted that in some disciplines this self-assessment happens all the time, however in a less formal manner.

Adjournment

Commissioners adjourned at 4:50  pm.

Rose Marie Norton-Nader, Recorder, March 1, 2005

ACADEMIC COORDINATING COMMISSION 2004-2005 ROSTER

Registrar’s Office

Office of Admissions

Western Washington University

Following are some answers to a few questions about CAPP and Transfer Articulation.  They should provide a basic understanding of the system, as we begin the implementation at Western.

Q: What is CAPP?

A:        CAPP stands for Curriculum Advising and Program Planning and is a software module within the Banner Student Information System.  CAPP is a tool that students, advisors and evaluators use to look at progress toward a degree.  Graduation requirements for each type of degree, including general university requirements and major requirements are encoded in the CAPP system.   Students’ course work (academic information) is compared to the requirements.  The resulting report, a degree evaluation, lists those requirements met and those not met.

Q:  Who can request a Degree Evaluation?

A:        Work is progressing rapidly to code all of Western’s majors in CAPP.  As requirements for a major are encoded, the appropriate college and department are consulted to verify the accuracy of work done.  Once this process has been completed, students and advisors will be able to run compliance reports via Web4U.

Q:  Can a student do a “What-If” compliance report?

A:        The CAPP software allows a student to enter any Western major in an effort to see what course work he or she would have to complete to finish that major and degree.

Q:  How will CAPP deal with substitutions?

A:        Approved substitutions and waivers will continue to be approved using the same or if necessary, adjusted procedures currently in use.  The actual substitution or waiver, once approved by the student’s advisor, will be keyed into the CAPP system by the credit evaluation staff in the Registrar’s office.

Q:  How will CAPP deal with requirements for self-designed majors?

A:        Student/Faculty designed majors, including Fairhaven interdisciplinary majors, will become part of the CAPP project eventually.

Q.  What is TA?

A:        TA stands for Transfer Articulation and is a software module within the Banner Student Information System.  It is designed to set equivalents between transfer courses and Western courses.  Catalogs from other institutions are being reviewed and WWU equivalent courses identified.   Individuals involved in curriculum matters will be interviewed to verify the proposed equivalents and provide adjustments to this data as necessary.  A student’s transfer course work will be evaluated using this transfer catalog information and recorded in WWU’s Student Information System as a part of the student’s total academic record.  Once this has been done, transfer courses will be recognized by the system for purposes of degree evaluation and during registration for prerequisite checking. 

Q:  Will transfer course work be a part of the degree evaluation?

A:        Yes.  When a WWU degree requirement is met with a transfer equivalent the WWU course will appear on the degree evaluation report.

Q:  Will a student’s transfer work be evaluated as part of the registration prerequisites.

A:        The registration prerequisite information must exist in WWU’s catalog and schedule modules of the Student Information System (Banner).  A student’s transfer work will be evaluated as a part of the registration prerequisite checking when the student’s individual transfer course work has been evaluated and articulated.

Q:  Where can I see the transfer equivalents?

A:        When programming is complete, a web page will display each course from the transferring institution’s catalog that has been equated to a course in WWU’s catalog.  This web page will be available to the public.

Q:  When will transfer course work be a part of the degree evaluation report?

A:        New transfer students admitted for Winter Quarter of 2006 will be the first group of students to have their transfer course work evaluated and entered in the new TA system on a course by course basis. 

Q:  Where can I see what course work was accepted?

A:        When programming is complete, a web page will display the individual transfer course and its equivalent at WWU for each transfer student.  This information will be available after the student confirms their intent to enroll.  Access to this data will be provided to students and advisors.

Q:  Who can I contact if I have questions about the project?

A:        Cindy MacLean of the Registrar’s office is the project leader and can be contacted at 650-7209 or via e-mail at cindy.maclean@wwu.edu.  Other members of the team include Linda Luke, also of the Registrar’s office and Jeanne Gaffney of the Admissions office.  Many other key individuals in the Registrar’s Office, Admissions Office, Academic Advising Office, Administrative Computing Services, and Graduate School,  make up the implementation team.  Academic departments are being consulted on a regular basis and are involved in the degree evaluation and transfer articulation decisions. This large project is expected to be substantially completed in 2006 and will involve continual updates to CAPP and TA for every new catalog at WWU.  Catalogs from the main Washington community colleges will also be reviewed and equivalency data updated annually.