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DARS degree audit and transfer articulation interactions:. An Arizona Course Applicability System (CAS) Users’ Presentation Kristy Jacobs North, ASU DARS Millie Torre, ASU DARS Amy Fountain, CAS Transfer Analyst Arizona Advising Roundup - February 22, 2002. What will we cover?.
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DARS degree audit and transfer articulation interactions: An Arizona Course Applicability System (CAS) Users’ Presentation Kristy Jacobs North, ASU DARS Millie Torre, ASU DARS Amy Fountain, CAS Transfer Analyst • Arizona Advising Roundup - February 22, 2002
What will we cover? • Overview of DARS – the Degree Audit and Reporting System • A simple example • A direct equivalency: TA • A direct equivalency: DA • More complicated examples • Different equivalencies for ASU Main, West, East: TA & DA • A required portfolio review: TA & DA • A major-specific rule: TA & DA • Summary & questions for the experts?
Overview of DARS – “TA” vs “DA” • DARS is a software package that provides the “engine for CAS” • DARS provides two sets of database tables used in creating the CEG and Transfer Guides: • Transfer Articulation (TA) tables store information about course equivalencies • Degree Audit (DA) tables store information about academic requirements • The CEG in CAS reads the TA tables • CAS-generated Transfer Guides and Planning Guides read the TA AND DA tables
Example 1: A simple equivalency – TA (for the CEG) • NPC's ART 103 • TA encoding for UA: • Table for NPC courses. Entry for ART 103=source, UA course ART 102= target. • TA encoding for NAU: • Table for NPC courses. Entry for ART 103=source, NAU course ART 150 is target. • But look – there’s more for NAU to do! • NAU also has an entry in this rule, called an “Alternate Identity”, that is entered as “AHI”. • The CEG displays: ART 150, “also satisfies: Aesthetic and Humanistic Inquiry (AHI)”
Example 1: A simple equivalency – DA (for the Transfer Guides/Planning Guides) • Degree Audits are made of three nested pieces: • Academic Program • Academic Requirements • Academic Subrequirements • In order for ART 103 to show up in a transfer guide, it’s university equivalent must be mentioned in a subrequirement. • ASU builds a table that looks for ASU’s ART 112, (Program=BA Studio Art, Requirement=ART-18 hrs, Subrequirement=required courses). • ASU’s transfer guide will report that NPC’s ART 103 is equivalent to ASU’s ART 112, so will satisfy the same requirement that ART 112 does. • NAU’s liberal studies guide looks for all AHI courses using a DARS subrequirement
Example 2: A more complicated equivalency – different/similar rules for different campuses (TA for CEG) • Cochise's AJS 101 • Equivalent to JUS 100(SB) at ASU Main, AJS 100(SB)at ASU West, and JUS 100(SB) at ASU East. • ASU maintains a total of four articulation tables. • Rules that are the same, regardless of campus, are encoded in a master set of articulation tables. • When a rule differs between any of the three campuses it has to be encoded in East, Main and West articulation tables.
Example 2: A more complicated equivalency – different/similar rules for different campuses (TA for CEG) – cont’d • Why does the East equivalency display, when it’s the same as the Main equivalency? • Because the rule has been encoded in all three campus tables. • It may not be the case that these equivalencies for ASU Main and East are actually identical! • There may be differences in some of the hidden codes associated with the rule for East or Main that make these rules look a little different to CAS. • We’ll see an example of a hidden code in our example 4! • If there were no West/East specific rules to display, the CEG will simply show one equivalency for ASU.
Example 2: A more complicated equivalency – different/similar rules for different campuses (DA for Transfer/Planning Guides) • Let’s look at a Justice Studies Transfer Guide at ASU Main: • Only the equivalencies to the courses required for an ASU Main degree are listed. • Let’s look at an Administration of Justice Transfer Guide at ASU West: • Only the equivalencies to the courses required for an ASU West degree are listed. • There are also separate transfer guides for ASU East. • Only the equivalencies to the courses required for an ASU East degree are listed.
Example 3: A bit more complicated equivalency – portfolio review (TA – for the CEG) • Maricopa's INT 135 • TA encoding for ASU: • TA tables must include equivalency for students who have NOT completed the portfolio review requirement. • A human being must review a student’s portfolio. If approved, an equivalency for DSC 122 is granted and recorded in the student’s Degree Audit record at ASU. • There’s a CEG text note informing students about the portfolio requirement • The CEG shows the equivalency that the student would get BEFORE the portfolio has been reviewed.
Example 3: A bit more complicated equivalency – portfolio review (DA – for the Transfer Guides) • Let’s look at the Interior Design Transfer Guide at ASU: • Maricopa’s INT 135 doesn’t appear under the DSC – 30 hrs requirement – but that’s what it would satisfy should it pass portfolio review. • This is because INT 135’s CEG equivalency: STUDIO/E isn’t called for as a required course in the relevant sub-requirement. • A text note instead informs students: • “BSD INTERIOR DESIGN Transfer credit for courses below is based on portfolio review.” • The specific Maricopa courses, and their appropriate ASU equivalencies AFTER portfolio review are given.
A note about text notes in the CEG and Transfer Guides! • We in Arizona have added the ability for schools to add text notes to the CEG to the ‘baseline’ CAS product. • Text notes may be added to DA processing also – but this is also a by-hand process. • Text notes for the CEG are maintained separately from the actual DARS tables (they are for information only, and are not a part of DARS processing) • Therefore, if you have questions about the display or lack of display of a text note, contact your CAS Team!
Example 4: A still more complicated equivalency – major-specific equivalency (TA – for the CEG) • Maricopa’s GBS 220 • “Accepted in lieu of MAT 119 for Business majors only”, else “elective”. • What does DARS TA need to know? • It needs to know the equivalency for GBS 220 for the unadmitted, undecided student • It also needs to know a special secret code that only the DA tables for the Business majors can interpret. • The standard equivalency appears in the CEG. • The “secret code” is suppressed from the display – because it’s not user-friendly! • The code is “BP MAT”
This seems like a good opportunity for a text note! • We agree…but; • See our discussion of text notes from before!
Example 4: A still more complicated equivalency – major-specific equivalency (DA – for the Transfer/Planning Guides) • Let’s generate a CAS Planning Guide: • GBS 220 DOES apply towards the requirement! • Why? • Within the Business academic programs, a requirement and subrequirement are encoded to look for the secret identity of this course-but this secret identity isn’t displayed to users. • Because the secret code isn’t visible in the requirement, it won’t show up in a normal static transfer guide. However, the ATP and CAS Planning Guides will each show the course.
So, what’s a user to do? Read our minds? • Principle 1 – any problem can be fixed, if the CAS Team is aware of it • Principle 2 – some fixes will take longer than others, because some are harder than others • Principle 3 – triangulation! The CEG, Transfer Guides and Planning Guides are useful sources of information – and each is more student-specific than the previous • Finding the right tool for the right purpose is part of the trick!
Want to learn more or report a problem? • The link to “Your CAS Team” is a great resource for you to use to report problems and ask for more info. • Your Arizona CAS Team has national DARS experts on it – if there’s a way to address your issue, they’ll know about it. • Your DARS experts want to help you understand this complicated system. So if you have a question for them, ask it now or…
Ask it later! • Contact Your CAS Team • Go to http://az.transfer.org/cas • Click on “Your CAS Team” • Kristy Jacobs-North: ASU DARS • Millie Torre: ASU DARS • Amy Fountain, CAS Transfer Analyst: Amy.fountain@asu.edu; (520) 206-4916