Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 16:17:34
From: Robert Mercer (mercerr@pdx.edu)
To: gilkey@darkwing.uoregon.edu
Subject: meeting notes

Notes from PSU meeting on October 28th, Native American Center, 1-3pm. Approximately 40 people in attendance; including community college representatives, and two JBAC members.

Questions and Comments from the audience

The issue can up about whether the OUS schools would also be expected to certify/endorse the Transfer Education Module. For our students who were intending to transfer somewhere else, how would the University post and track completion.

How will this lead to graduating more students and graduating them faster/more efficiently? What is the data that shows students transferring from community colleges, or among OUS institutions will benefit from this change----or the data that supports the notions regarding students losing credits in transfer. Is this project data-driven or anecdote-driven?

Someone expressed concern that there would be pressure on PSU to conform to a more traditional distribution-based general education model. Since our freshman and sophomore-level gen ed courses are interdisciplinary in nature, they would be a challenge to figure how they would fit either in a TEM for students intending to transfer out, and for students elsewhere who were intending to transfer into PSU.

Someone pointed out that 2/3rd of PSU students are transfer students. The speaker felt that some directed credits---in addition to major requirements---are useful in laying a freshman foundation for success at the University level.

Concerns expressed by a number of people about how this will work for us since we see our gen ed as very different.

Logistics issues about the community colleges which are currently offering some PSU-type general education options (Freshman Inquiry, Sophomore Inquiry) and how those would fit if the students elected to attend another OUS institution. Also, we currently offer Freshman Inquiry at three area high schools. Many of those students go on to other OUS schools. How might those courses articulate with TEM? Can we equate FRINQ and SINQ into the transfer module in a way that the other OUS and community colleges would agree to?

Would any vocational/technical credits be allowed at the community colleges as electives in the TEM?

If a student is dual/enrolled or dual admitted and working towards the TEM, which school would certify?

This appears to be motivated by a desire at seam-less transfer; but with every institution able to "top-off" gen ed and degree requirements what function does the TEM really play?

Concern reiterated about counting credits or counting courses. This may become less of an issue at least in the Portland area since both PCC and Clackamas are shifting to a 4-credit norm (similar to PSU).

We gets many Washington State students who transfer from Clark and Lower Columbia. Would we need to develop something similar for those students?

One of our community college representative felt that articulation in the majors was a far more critical issue than gen ed articulation.

(This is not a part of the discussion--though it was mentioned in passing. Currently PSU uses the DARS/CAS system of degree auditing and course articulation. DARS (Degree Audit Reporting System) allows current PSU students to request immediate online audits of their progress towards degree. It provides instantaneous and accurate information about standing relative to general education, degree requirements, and major requirements. It also allows for a "shopping" option which allows students to explore where they would stand if they were to change their major. The implementation of this program has reduced by more than half, the number of students petitioning to waive requirements based on mis-information, mis-understanding, or mis-advising. CAS (Course Applicability System) allows for students from any OUS institution or community college to hand input their courses into our online system and receive a smiliar audit back telling them where the stand relative to completing a PSU degree and particular major. It will also report tot he community college students, which specific community college courses they should take to meet their gen ed/ degree/major requirements at the lower division level. Several states, including Arizona and Michigan, have been mandated---and funded--to implement CAS for all the higher ed/community college campuses. This means that a student at a community college interested in majoring in history, could input their courses into the CAS system, and then run them against the graduation requirements of each University to see where they stand relative to graduation. While we at PSU are proud to have this current advantage over the other OUS schools, many of us feel that this would be a wonderful system to be funded and implemented State-wide---end of advertisement).

Robert Mercer