Responses to the questions posted using the online chat feature during CCC Confer Curriculum and Articulation Maintenance Demonstration for ASSIST Next Generation on 05/20/14 and 05/21/14. Similar questions have been combined.
Can AOs or their helpers who are colorblind see information that appears in red in various places in Next Gen?
Response: ASSIST Next Generation has commitments to be accessibility compliant with federal regulations for Section 508.
(When selecting courses to add to a prefix) Can you do a "select all"?
Response: Currently, there is no "Select All" feature built into this area. Users can move all courses over individually but this seems like a situation where editing the prefix instead might be the more logical choice.
(In the Curriculum Maintenance Area under the Courses tab) Are there other course statuses besides "Current"? Perhaps "inactive" or "terminated"?
Response: The four course statuses are: New, Current, Modified, and Terminated.
If I build a 14-15 agreement in Legacy ASSIST, will both the PDF and ASSIST Next Gen version be viewable to the public?
Response: 2014-15 major agreements must be built in ASSIST Next Generation. PDF versions will not be available.
I didn't realize we (CSUs/UCs) would also need to build a course outline; is it required?
Response: This part of the demonstration applied to CCCs only.
Do we choose "finish" for every course individually when requesting UCTCA?
Response: Clicking on "finish" will submit all changes at once.
When a CCC does a split from one course lecture / lab combination to two courses (one lecture course and a separate lab course), will the course articulated at the CSU remain intact or will there need to be some type of manual "intervention"?
Response: This is something that will be addressed with workflow development and is a work in progress. Notification will be submitted to the CSU (in this case). The type of notification or method of delivery will be defined during the next development phase for approval/workflow.
Is the Course Attributes History screen available only to the institution that owns the course or will we be able to look at that screen for other institutions? Or is there another report that would allow that?
Response: At this time users can only access the Course Attributes History (and data) for the institution with which they are associated. Regarding reports, we are still in the process of determining and developing the available reports for ASSIST Next Generation.
Will there be a time window for curriculum change submissions or can we submit changes 24/7?
Response: ASSIST Next Generation was designed and built to support curriculum changes at any time but it needs to blend with business processes. Further consultation with the articulation community will take place regarding the schedule of curriculum changes.
(When selecting Articulation Attributes during the articulation building process) Can we type into the boxes if we choose not to use dropdowns?
Response: Typing into the dropdown box will function as a keyword search in the list. The option of using free text is not possible with regard to articulation attributes. Our hope is to standardize as many of the user choices as possible.
One of the attribute choices should state "Approved Substitution" for use when full articulation of the courses isnt established.
Response: An attribute of "approved substitution" will be added to the available attribute list.
Can added attributes be made specific to a major or would users need to create nearly identical articulation for similar majors? Can an attribute differ from major to major?
Response: Attributes are added during the creation of the major so it is expected that attributes could vary by major.
Can users add acceptable substitutes for a specific major? e.g. a course could be okay for one major but should show "no course articulated" when exploring by department?
Response: Yes, changes on one major will not affect another major or department agreement. However, you will have the option to "share" a substitution (or articulation) across more than one major.
What does "End Articulation" do?
Response: Once articulation is built by a user it stays active (note: **not** necessarily published). If no action is taken by a user on behalf of an institution, active articulation will simply roll over, and continue to roll over, into coming years unless someone uses the "End Articulation" function for a given piece of articulation.
What does UCTCEL stand for?
Response: UC Transfer Eligibility Code.
If a user selects "End Articulation" does ASSIST default automatically to "No Course Articulated"?
Response: "No Course Articulated" is an attribute and would be added by the user.
Where are the major titles pulled from? Do users enter the majors for their own campus?
Response: Users manage majors for their own institutions, including the addition of majors in the Articulation Maintenance area of ASSIST Next Gen.
Will Exploring Majors data be migrated for us?
Response: Explore Majors data will be migrated as part of the initial conversion.
Does the image icon allow you to insert an image? Are there any limitations?
Response: This is a feature that may still be affected by policy decisions. The ability to add images will stay and we will revisit it later in the development process.
Will "Footnote" and "Footer" be available on Major agreements?
Response: Free text in major agreements will be limited to a text comment box at the very top of an agreement. Footnotes and page footers will not be allowed. ASSIST Next Generation is being created to take advantage of 'attributes' that will describe limitations, minimums, substitutions, test requirements, and the like. These attributes will be available in the data extracts and can facilitate the use of all data for in-house systems.
In terms of timeline, do we actually get to test this out in August 2014?
Response: The current plan is to begin training in September for a small number of train-the-trainer participants as well as a few users willing to help during a beta test period. We are still in the process of establishing an official wide-scale training schedule for all end user training.
When will we be able to add requirements? By February?
Response: This is to be determined by policy discussion. The current plan indicates the system will be available to colleges and universities in February 2015 in order for curriculum verification and setup as well as to allow universities to add articulation and major agreements.
Will GE areas be used as course attributes?
Response: We don't plan to use GE areas as course attributes. However, users can associate courses with GE areas in a few ways. One option is via manual association between courses and the GE area on the articulation screen in ASSIST Next Generation. Another option is through direct articulation with a course that is marked as qualified for a GE area.
When a CCC terminates a course, will we receive notification? Does the course simply vanish from our agreement?
Response: Current design calls for users to receive notifications of terminations in at least two ways. First, users will receive a notification while in the articulation area that a particular piece of articulation contains terminated courses and needs attention. Second, users will receive notification of a terminated course via the internal ASSIST Next Generation notification system.
Will notifications be internal only or will out-of-system e-mails also be sent?
Response: We do plan to provide some type of external notification (e-mail) but there is still some planning and discussion to do regarding the nature and frequency of those notifications.
When we unpublish a 'by major' agreement, will the 'by department' articulation stay intact?
Response: Yes. Unpublication is very specific; ASSIST Next Generation will provide ample control over what gets unpublished based on the screen from which you are viewing agreements.
My institution does not have CurricUNET; how difficult will it be for me to upload course? Will I still copy and paste information like I do now?
Response: The goal is to make including course outlines in ASSIST Next Generation as simple as possible regardless of your curriculum management system. We continue to design ASSIST Next Generation with a variety of web services in mind.
Once course-to-course articulation is entered for an institution will 4-year institutions be able to merge that information with a template for the major?
Response: Yes. Course-to-course articulation agreements will be the basis for creating the major agreement. Major agreements can then be customized without impacting the course-to-course agreements.
Will we have similar template notes? (e.g., Template 1, 2, 3..)
Response: Users will build a template for each major using the names of the major at their own institution (there is no general Template 1, Template 2, Template 3).
What would happen if a user just modified the prefix abbreviation/long name as opposed to merging the names?
Response: "Modified" refers to a specific prefix update. "Merge" refers to curricular changes made where course numbers are moved 'en masse' from one or more prefix into a new prefix. To retain an appropriate history it would be recommended to use the merge function when merging prefixes and/or courses.
What if you are not terminating those courses and keeping the same prefix? (Move courses to a different prefix but keep the existing prefix for some courses).
Response: The situation described is an ideal one for using the "Split" feature of prefixes. Splitting a prefix allows users to break up an existing prefix into one or more new prefixes. The user can then move existing courses into the new prefixes as needed while still retaining the original prefix and creating a history of this action.
Are you saying that all cross-listed courses will be shown automatically in the articulation if one of the courses (of a same-as set) is shown?
Response: Yes.
We may have courses that are "Same As" for three disciplines. Can we add a third course?
Response: Yes. Users may add as many "Same As" course identifiers as needed--there is no system limit on this currently.
(When adding a new course) Why is CSU transferability a clickable option but UC transferability is not?
Response: UC transferability is not available on this screen because it invokes an approval process with UCOP and is not a simple selection. Instead, it is part of the course outline and transferability screen where you can submit your course outline for UC review. Other data selections on this add course screen do not involve any kind of approval process. Once your course is approved for UC transferability, this status will be indicated on the course list.
Where are the dates of approval? What about repeatability?
Response: Dates are viewable on course history (gear menu next to course). Course repeatability is indicated in the basic course information.
Will the UC AOs have a report to view current course outline for the California Community College courses?
Response: This is part of reporting services which we are still in the process of developing.
Current CurricUNET users can upload course outline information to OSCAR. Will this function continue to be available?
Response: We are in the process of developing reports and web services. All users will be able to upload course outline information, whether CurricUNET users or not (CurricUNet users may find they have additional integrated features not available to non-users).
Are we able to enlarge all these popup screens to minimize the scrolling involved?
Response: In most cases, this shouldnt be an issue but we will add this to our list of development areas to revisit.
Will the course that's been split off be included in the articulation with the parent course automatically?
Response: This won't happen automatically. Instead, the split off course will invoke a workflow process (still in development) that will notify the AO of the split course. It will also give the AO options to continue with the articulation (albeit modified) or to remove it altogether.
Will the former comments we currently see in TCAs include these kinds of split notes?
Response: UCTCA notes will be part of the Next Generation system. UCOP will have the ability to use Next Generation tools to format notes using system attributes and maintain the tables for ongoing standardized usage.
Why is the font gray instead of black?
Response: The accessibility review is still pending--we will make changes accordingly based on the findings of that review.
Is the access to the course outline available on public view or only to AOs?
Response: Course outlines will not be viewable on the public site.
Will the share majors function also show which majors a single course appears in?
Response: At this time no--the share majors function operates at a "block" level and not at a specific course level.
Is there a full document preview window for both the major template and the major articulation with a college?
Response: There is a preview for the major template (receiving side only). You can also preview the major articulation with a built-in button.
How many custom headers can we use?
Response: It is expected that the use of non-standard headers will be minimal and for a time-limited basis. Detailed policy and procedural guidance will be provided this fall.
Is there a character limit for the headers?
Response: The current limit is 250 characters.
Is there an "expand all" function so you don't have to click each section one at a time?
Response: Not yet--this is something we will look into adding.
Can you add a block of information on the GE page instead of specific requirements?
Response: On the template screen is where you build your GE pattern agreement. The GE "areas" are items you can create as placeholders for headings in those agreements. You can then associate courses with those "areas" in the GE pattern (and also re-use in other articulation if appropriate).
Are these printable? (referring to preview of Articulation Agreement by Major)?
Response: Yes, and we will make sure that any documents that might be printed will be formatted correctly through continued testing during the development process.
Once we create a template, does that major template automatically appear for all sending institutions?
Response: Yes--this was done by design to help with consistency of data.
(On Publish Agreements screen) If an agreement is published, but we continue to work on additions to that agreement, will it show on both sides?
Response: The agreement as published currently will show on the Published Agreements side while the version in progress will show on the Unpublished Agreements side. A time stamp showing when the agreement was generated will help users distinguish between agreements with similar names. Only the work that has been published will show on the published side and work-in-progress will remain in maintenance side until published.
Will there be archives of agreements?
Response: Yes--archives will continue to persist. They will record the date an agreement was generated, published, unpublished, and who took those actions. We plan to make those available to you in the review year, organized by academic year.
Will there be a support hotline for help?
Response: Yes. In addition to in-person and webinar training, documentation, tutorials, and system tips, a readily accessible help desk-type system will be available. Furthermore, ASSIST staff will continue to provide one-on-one support.
