Meeting March 27, 2009, 3:30PM EST

Before we can serve the vision of the “Student’s Academic GPS” (coined by the Washington HECB), we need to have a plan to develop the transport(s), the interconnection(s) and means to transmit data to new “devices” that can reveal pathways and data mapped by destination or in other words aspirations (and required competencies) linked to careers. Where are learning outcomes, not just courses, programs and requirements? What are the events that occur intersecting learner and institution? How do we support learners through the continuum? What data do we need? Sometimes it is helpful to reference or model innovations in other industries when we explore our challenges.

If we are going to make headway on this, we need to make the investment up front to work thru the details. Our European counterparts and the diploma supplement demonstrate stakeholders are attempting to redefine methods of tracking academic progress, transitions and completion, while respecting the needs of those who assess learning throughout the life cycle of serving students. Should we create a transcript supplement? A document that would attach to a transcript defining the outcomes and value of learning accomplished?

The PESC Academic Progress Workgroup is underway and we hope you can join us. The PESC Workgroup was formed back in October 2008. We are focused on improving degree completion and student success through improved data management. This workgroup will span three levels to help practitioners, policy and governance stakeholders understand the nuances, concerns and challenges facing our industry as we develop requirements for data exchange specifications.

The PESC Academic Progress Workgroup is made up of volunteers - working together. Our goal is to produce a neutral set of data exchange specifications for tracking and assessing a learner's academic progress through institutional programs of study. This is a broad topic. We will promote specifications in stages, once complete. And, we hope the specifications will be adopted and built-in to application tools employed by institutions and stakeholders over time. The impact, we hope will build toward our overall goals of interoperability, improved utilization of resources and services to learners everywhere.

Data, assessment methods and processes are important elements of guidance, planning and response to learners. It requires institutional orchestration and coordination. Guidance requires information to transition on and off bridges - to transverse institutional policies and practices, whether inside one institution or across several. As we build the next generation systems, let’s work together to define the touchpoints.

We hope you can contribute to our initiative. If not, track our progress on our blog and wiki.

Wiki: http://sites.google.com/site/academicprogress/
Blog: http://academicprogress.blogspot.com/

Reminder, Conference Call, Friday 3:30PM, EST
Conference Dial-in Number: (712) 775-7100
Participant Access Code: 726310#

Focus on this call will be on creating an Academic Progress work plan. I have outlined a series of todo’s on the wiki site starting with the Scope. We will review the task list, edit, add more, delete, etc.

Looking forward to our progress together

Public Message to Invite Stakeholders

I wanted to let you know we initiated an important workgroup inPESC (Postsecondary Exchange Standards Council) covering academic progress. I clipped and pasted the charter for you below. Our next conference call will be March 27, 2009 at 3:30PM EST and we are meeting at the Sixth Annual Conference on Technology and Standards on April 5-7th in DC (www.pesc.org). We will hold several workshops at the Summit on the business case, user stories and potential priorities. I hope you can help get the word out.

Given the nature of our work, we have all had a conversation or two around improving college degree completion, academic progress and the general need for interoperability across educational institutions to states to corporations to government systems. We so often use the term transparency in our discussion. To me, it means a learner, no matter where they are enrolled or not, can be supported with guidance and nurturing that transcends the borders and policies that are designed institutionally or within a state. 

Academic progress must be considered in a far different light, when one recognizes the challenges of mobility, online learning, academic credit portability, acceptability and articulation when learning spans traditional and non-traditional providers from community colleges, corporate universities or experiential learning to universities providing study abroad or distant learning. This is not all encompassing list. 

How can we make national and state progress toward degree production if we can’t measure and assess where a learner is in their path to a degree and we can’t help guide them through the gateways they enter and exit? The guidance has to be personal. And, resources need to be aligned to foster the conversation and representation to augment the data systems that support the stakeholders. Without such a conversation, we will continue to develop isolated systems and services that will challenge us all or force us to repeat very expensive efforts.

I truly believe, we need to emphasis a plan (or in this case a community developed specification and conversation) that would guide the stakeholders and players in moving toward common means of transcending discrete and isolated systems by utilizing a common set of advertised automated services. If we were an industry run like Walmart (or for that matter, any other consumer oriented organization), our degree production would be predictably more optimized. Yet, we don’t have that governance and I am not suggesting or lobbying for change. In the optimum and ideal state though, we would organize the touch points across organizations and standardize how data is exchanged and then consumed to facilitate academic progress and all its functions and users.

Gaps exist in assessing, tracking and reporting academic progress. They also exist in advising, counseling and linking learners to resources spanning organizations. Today, only 8% of institutions can deliver and consume an electronic transcript. Less than that can deliver an academic progress report for prospective students prior to enrolling, considering their military, industry or prior sponsored learning. The effort under way to develop a plan or specification, will create a dictionary of terms, an outline of processes that need data exchange, a set of events that reflect the actions of a learner interacting with the stakeholders. 

Please pass on the word. We need to grow our group of stakeholders and interested organizations who can help us do this good work. The next conference call is scheduled for March 27, 2009 at 3:30PM EST

Student, Course and Degree Audit Information Systems

There are many systems and developers deployed throughout higher education. As stakeholders in academic progress, we hope to recruit participants from many of the vendors and developers, even home grown systems to participate in our work group.

Reference AACRAO SIS/Degree Audit Survey

SIS vendors and systems:
Academic Edge Student System
Agresso
Campus Management
Datatel
iNet Solutions
Inttelix Software
Jenzabar CX, EX
Oracle/PeopleSoft
Peterson Software
Populi College Management System
Scan Business Systems - CampusCafe
SAP Higher Education
SunGard Higher Education, Banner, PowerCampus, Plus
Three Rivers

Learning management systems, course management systems
Blackboard
Moodle
DesireToLearn

Portfolio systems
rSmart
Nuventive
LiveText

Degree Audit/Advising
Decision Academic
redLantern/DARS
Degree Works
IronSoft

Retention
Starfish Solutions

Transcript Exchange
ConnectEDU
DocUFide
XAP
National Transcript Center
Script Safe

Catalog Production and Distribution
Smart Catalog
Digital Archtecture

Student Mobility Navigation
AcademyOne

Call on Friday March 6 3:30pm EST

Friday, March 6, The Academic Progress Workgroup (formerly Degree Audit) has re-organized under Co-Chairs David Moldoff of PESC member organization AcademyOne and Clare-Smith Larson of PESC member organization Iowa State University will be holding a conference call meeting from 3:30pm - 4:30pm EST. 

Conference Dial-in Number: (712) 775-7100
Participant Access Code: 726310#

If you've been interested in this effort or know of another organization that is, now is the best time to join this initiative. As a reminder...there is no limit to the number of representatives that can join a workgroup from a single PESC member organization but being a member is required for workgroup participation. 

For organizations looking to become a member, please contact Jennifer Kim, Membership Services Manager, at 202.261.6514. For more information go to the website athttp://academicprogress.blogspot.com/ and the home site atwww.pesc.org.