|
4th Edition - February 2006 |
||
| Letter from the Director | ||
|
Welcome to the fourth edition of the ASSIST Transfer Channel, a semi-annual newsletter for counselors, advisors, faculty, evaluators, articulation officers, and everyone else who is interested in the latest information about ASSIST. We’re sending this edition via the ASSIST-Channel-L@uci.edu email listserv and would appreciative your forwarding it on to any others at your campus who you think might be interested. We’ve also posted a copy on the ASSIST Information Center at http://info.assist.org/transferchannel.html. If anyone would like to have future editions of the ASSIST Transfer Channel automatically delivered to their email, please check out the Subscribe section of this edition for instructions. | ||
|
This edition includes another special section for students titled “Help Yourself” that explains all of the different types of help that are available in ASSIST. Feel free to print copies of this article and hand them out in transfer centers and other key places on campus. The ASSIST Exploring Majors feature continues to be very popular. ASSIST Coordination Site staff demonstrated this feature at the fall 2005 CSU and UC community college counselor conferences and received a lot of very positive feedback. Dale, in our office, recently posted a number of new videos on the main ASSIST site that show (and talk about) using the site. You can access these videos from most of the pages under the “Help Topics” category on the left sidebar of the ASSIST home page. Dale is now working on a video that shows how to use the ASSIST Exploring Majors feature and will announce its availability via the ASSIST-L email listserv once it is ready. In the September 2005 edition of this newsletter, I mentioned that a professional research company had been hired to conduct the ASSIST User Needs Assessment. They were to collect information from students, counselors, and other ASSIST users to help guide future improvements to ASSIST. That work has been temporarily suspended, but I hope it will resume soon and that we will be able to share the findings with all of you. We are continuing to work with CSU on their new Lower Division Transfer Patterns (LDTP) initiative. All of the LDTP course articulation will be stored in and presented via ASSIST. Once LDTP information is available through ASSIST, we will announce it broadly so that you can start using this important information with students. In case you aren’t aware, my office, the ASSIST Coordination Site, includes more people than Cathy, Dale, and me who you may see in your travels. We are a staff of eleven people who work hard to keep ASSIST running. We have support staff who work with campus ASSIST managers and their staff, data gurus who keep all the data nice and clean, technicians who keep our computers happy, and programmers who make all the magic happen. As you know, most of the data in ASSIST is entered by articulation staff at each of the CSU and UC campuses and each of the community colleges. It’s this extensive network of people that collaborate to make ASSIST a big success. Thanks for your continued support of ASSIST and please feel free to contact any of us at (949) 824-4385 if you have comments or questions. You can tune into the next edition of the ASSIST Transfer Channel in fall 2006 - until then … Eric Taggart
|
||
Help YourselfThe first time you use ASSIST it can be pretty overwhelming. There are so many options and so many ways to get to information that it's possible to get a little lost. On top of that, we use words casually that have very specific meanings when talking about transfer: transferable courses, admissions, GPA, equivalent courses, etc. Some users don't quite know where to begin. To make things a little easier, we've included a number of ways for you to get help when using ASSIST. The first help you see in ASSIST is in the form of mouse rollovers. When you roll your mouse over a topic on the left sidebar, a summary of that topic appears in the right sidebar. Clicking on a topic gives you additional information. The additional information for the Help Topics and the Related Information include explanations, descriptions, and links to other web sites when relevant. Students sometimes come to ASSIST with questions that are not part of our mission. We try to address some of those questions on the very first page by providing links to more appropriate sources of information. We also have a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) sent to us by ASSIST users who filled out our feedback forms. The most common questions are about using ASSIST, but there are also some questions about topics that are outside of the mission of ASSIST, like interstate transfer or transfer to private universities. The newest type of help that's available is a series of "How To" videos. These short Flash videos walk you through the process of choosing specific kinds of information in ASSIST. Seven of these videos are currently available:
These have proven to be very popular and are being watched more often than we expected. For example, the video that explains how to find a UC transferable course was viewed more than 3000 times in January. Since these are helping so many students find the information they need, we'll soon be adding videos that demonstrate how to use all of the ASSIST Exploring Majors features. The final way to get help in ASSIST is to use one of our Feedback forms. You'll see two links near the bottom of the left sidebar. One form is intended for general questions and comments; the other is for reporting instances where your courses didn't transfer the way you expected. If you use one of these forms, be sure to include as much detail as possible about your situation, such as the college you currently attend, the university you plan to attend, the course number, when you took the course, and so on. Also, remember to enter a valid e-mail address so we can respond to your questions. We receive several questions each day from users and we try to respond to all of them within the next business day. Sometimes the question is one that should really be answered by someone else, like a UC admissions evaluator. In those cases we forward the question on to the campus or a more appropriate person. So, whenever you have a question while using ASSIST, help is not far away. Take a look at the Help Topics, the Related Information, the FAQs, and the demo videos. And if you still can't find what you need, use the Feedback forms to contact us directly.
|
||
When is Data for My School Published?We are often asked when new or updated articulation information will be available in ASSIST. Such a simple question does not have an easy answer. Almost all of the information in ASSIST is updated on a yearly basis; however, there are a variety of timelines and processes followed for the different types of data. Hopefully, the following paragraphs offer some answers and, when a specific date cannot be given, at least a general idea is offered about when articulation is published each year and what to expect. Campus-to-Campus Articulation: Articulation between universities and community colleges is developed and updated by the individual UC and CSU campus. Each university determines its own timeline for updating the articulation during the academic year. Each time a UC or CSU publishes articulation information, the ASSIST contact at the community college is notified that the data has been published. Other articulation in ASSIST is updated by the UC and/or CSU System offices on a yearly basis. The following overview explains the timing for making that data available: CSU Baccalaureate Lists: CSU Baccalaureate lists are published in May for the next academic year. Community colleges determine which of their courses will meet CSU baccalaureate level. Each April, community colleges are asked to update any curriculum additions or changes to their baccalaureate lists for the next academic year. When the update cycle is completed in the first week of May, the new baccalaureate lists are published in ASSIST. This allows any new information to be available to students who are planning their schedules for the next year and to make the information available to articulation officers who want to begin updating articulation agreements for the following year. UC Transferable Course Agreements: UC Transferable Course Agreements, those courses that are transferable to any UC campus, are published July through November of the current academic year. The UC Office of the President staff updates the list of courses transferable to the University of California from California community colleges each year. All 109 lists are updated between June and October. Colleges sign up for an update month in the Spring. As soon as the review is complete, the TCA is sent to ASSIST for publication. All UC Transferable Course lists are published by the middle of November. If you want more specific information about when the list for your college will be published, contact your articulation officer to see in which month your TCA is updated. IGETC, CSU GE/Breadth, CSU American Ideals Lists: These lists are published in May for the next academic year. Approvals for these lists are made by CSU (and UC for IGETC). Colleges may submit courses for review for any of these lists until mid-December each year. The UC and CSU system offices target April for completion of their reviews and email the community college articulation officers with the results as soon as the reviews are finalized. ASSIST publishes the new lists along with the new CSU Baccalaureate information in May. Because it is very important for ASSIST to have accurate data available at all times, we publish updates and corrections daily. The articulation officer on your campus is made aware of changes made in ASSIST and can let you know about new information that has been published. When CSU Baccalaureate, UC Transferable Course Agreements, IGETC, CSU GE/Breadth, or CSU American Ideals information is published, notification is sent out on the ASSIST-L list serv. Anyone can subscribe to the list serv to get information about what has been published. To subscribe to the ASSIST-L list serv, go to the ASSIST Information Center (http://info.assist.org), click "About ASSIST" and follow the link for ASSIST-L. The enormous amount of articulation in ASSIST comes from a variety of sources. It's no small task and takes a lot of work from many people to get all of this information reviewed, approved, and entered into the ASSIST database. All of this makes it difficult to guarantee that all of the work will be done each year by a specific date. Hopefully this information gives you a realistic, although in some cases general, idea about when articulation information will be available each year in ASSIST.
When is Data for My School Published? - Printer Friendly Version |
||
Find it On the Information CenterThe ASSIST Information Center is a web site designed for campus ASSIST managers, but it also contains useful information for other campus personnel involved in helping students transfer. The site includes information about nearly every aspect of ASSIST. It has information about the ASSIST Coordination Site and the ASSIST Board of Directors, a calendar of ASSIST-related activities, contact information for campus ASSIST managers, various publications to inform, train, and inspire, and much more. This, however, is only a short list of what's available on some of the Information Center menus. Since it's not possible to look at all that is available on the ASSIST Information Center in one article, this article focuses on the Publication menu where there are several practical items you may not know about. ASSIST Transfer Channel Training Presentations The training presentations on the Information Center include:
Graphics and Printing ASSIST logos and animated logos can be copied directly from the Information Center and placed on campus web sites to bring attention to ASSIST information and links. The images include a hyperlink to ASSIST so that ASSIST opens when the image is clicked. Color and black and white ASSIST logos in several sizes are also provided for printed materials. These encapsulated postscript files can be placed on desktop published pages and will print clearly from any postscript printer or in documents printed by a professional printing service. Information about using the images for web pages and printing is in included on the Information Center pages with the images. Handouts Conference Materials The ASSIST Information Center is updated regularly. It is a great source of
information and useful resources for faculty and staff whose purpose is to
help students transfer. The Publications menu by itself is full of practical
information to help learn about and support ASSIST on your campus. There are
several more menus with a variety of important information that are equally
practical. Take a look around and see what's there.
Find it On the Information Center - Printer Friendly Version |
||
On CampusThe "On Campus" feature looks at transfer programs and practices at colleges and universities throughout the state. Each issue of the ASSIST Transfer Channel focuses on a different college or university. In this edition, Cathy Beane talks about articulation at California State University, Long Beach. Cathy Beane has been the Coordinator for Academic Programs and Articulation at CSU Long Beach for the last 8 months. Prior to that, she was the Assistant Director of Admissions, also at CSULB. In addition, she spent 15 years at U.C. Irvine in the Office of Graduate Studies specializing in Graduate Admissions and Graduate Student Financial Support. This is my first year in articulation at California State University, Long Beach, and let me start by expressing my pleasure and satisfaction working with such a professional and dedicated group of people. From the counselors and articulation officers at the community colleges, to the staff at ASSIST, and my counterparts at the other CSU campuses, I have found such a welcoming and helpful attitude. All of those with whom I have been in contact have offered up their experience and expertise to assist in my transition. In addition, all have made evident their commitment to the students and their degree goals. I appreciate the support and join you in that commitment. My prior experience has been in admissions, with a run as a transfer admissions evaluator, so I am fully aware of the importance that the ASSIST site plays for students and counselors. With this in mind, updating and maintaining CSULB articulation in ASSIST has become a major priority for our articulation office. We are working our way through the list of colleges, bringing articulation in ASSIST up to date, and adding the “By Major” articulation for our most popular majors. Please allow me to express my appreciation for your patience as we work on this project. Our progress has been steady and strong. In addition to updating articulation in ASSIST, we at CSU Long Beach are working on a pro-active approach to the up-and-coming Lower Division Transfer Patterns (LDTP) project. We have been reviewing the lists of campus-specific LDTP degree requirements under development and taking a look at the existing articulation for the CSULB version of those courses. When there are “holes” in articulation, we have been contacting community colleges, requesting course outlines for articulation review. By building a robust articulation program, we are hoping to ease the transition a bit. In any event, the result will be increased articulation that will assist all transfer students, whether or not they participate in the LDTP program. Any added agreements from this project will, of course, be published on the ASSIST site. These projects are keeping us busy, but please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions or concerns. In closing, let me again express my appreciation of the dedication, expertise, and empathy of my new colleagues throughout the state higher education system. I am happy to be a part of the team! Go Beach! Cathy Beane
|
||
ASSIST Usage UpdateThe ASSIST web site continues to be very active. During the 2005 calendar year, almost 800,000 people used ASSIST to request over 7.6 million articulation reports. About 30,000 reports are requested on an average day, and during peak working hours we’ll see about one report being viewed every second. We’re getting ready for the always-busy months of April and May when record high numbers of students are expected to use ASSIST as they plan their fall 2006 coursework. Even though our usage numbers look high, there are still far too many students who don’t know about ASSIST. We rely on college and university counselors, advisors, faculty, students, and others to spread the word. We encourage every college and university to include references to ASSIST in their campus web sites, catalogs, schedules of classes, and other resources that transfer students often use. To help out we have a page on the ASSIST Information Center (http://info.assist.org/gifs.html) that includes some standard language about ASSIST along with a number of graphic images your campus may want to consider using. Feel free to contact Doug Koeppen in our office if there’s anything else that we might be able to provide to help add more references to ASSIST throughout your campus.
|
||
SubscribeSubscribing to the ASSIST Transfer Channel is easy. Click
this link and fill in your
|
||