Statewide collaboration in information technology:

1. Statewide collaboration in information technology: Moving from paper to the WWW with the (Arizona) Course Applicability System Track 4 Presentation - Directions for Higher Education and Information Technology: the Arizona Course Applicability System

2. Preview • An AZ CAS Demonstration • AZ CAS Project Overview • The Five Principles • User Satisfaction Data Track 4 Presentation - Directions for Higher Education and Information Technology: the Arizona Course Applicability System

3. Brief demonstration of Arizona CAS Track 4 Presentation - Directions for Higher Education and Information Technology: the Arizona Course Applicability System

4. AZ CAS Project Overview • Begun in 1996, due to action by the AZ Legislature. • Goal 1: create an electronic version of our paper “Course Equivalency Guide” • Goal 2: provide students and advisors with information about applicability of transfer courses to university degrees. Track 4 Presentation - Directions for Higher Education and Information Technology: the Arizona Course Applicability System

5. Project Participants • CAS Implementation Team included all AZ public community colleges and universities. • Participants included technical, advising, and administrative representatives from each school. • Software was developed collaboratively by the State of Arizona and the Miami DARS team. • Two state-funded lines in AZ were devoted exclusively to CAS. Track 4 Presentation - Directions for Higher Education and Information Technology: the Arizona Course Applicability System

6. What we learned: the Five Principles • Respect the disparity in starting points among varying institutions. • Remember that project success for any institution benefits all institutions • Reinforce interdependence between business and technical units. • Resolve problems using the motivation provided by the pressures of real-time data publication. • Recall that respect for institutional diversity is essential, as is institutional ownership of data and processes Track 4 Presentation - Directions for Higher Education and Information Technology: the Arizona Course Applicability System

7. Principle 1. Respect the disparity in starting points among varying institutions • Two urban and eight rural community colleges participated. • Course bank files were easy or difficult, depending on the IT resources at the school. • One public university already ran DARS for degree audit, two did not. • This allowed one school to participate more fully, more quickly - but it has also created challenges. Track 4 Presentation - Directions for Higher Education and Information Technology: the Arizona Course Applicability System

8. Principle 2. Remember that project success for any institution benefits all institutions • Administrative Course Equivalency Guide - • data from community colleges and universities are combined in a single report • This means that all schools are interdependent • There was a perception that the project would primarily benefit the community colleges • but ‘swirling students’ blur the distinctions Track 4 Presentation - Directions for Higher Education and Information Technology: the Arizona Course Applicability System

9. Principle 3. Reinforce interdependence between business and technical units. • In some cases, different units had been in charge of doing the business of articulation and maintaining and using the systems to process it. • In this project, both types of unit have benefited from the experience of the other. • There’s an increasing understanding of the interdependence of these units on a campus. Track 4 Presentation - Directions for Higher Education and Information Technology: the Arizona Course Applicability System

10. Principle 4: Resolve problems using the motivation provided by the pressures of real-time data publication. • Giving lots of groups in the state access to the data on equivalency meant that we had a large pool of “proofreaders” • We could respond by making necessary corrections quickly • We provided some innovative reports to assist our users to ensure data accuracy Track 4 Presentation - Directions for Higher Education and Information Technology: the Arizona Course Applicability System

11. Principle 5: Recall that respect for institutional diversity, as well as data and process ownership is essential • Participants have now spent time on their colleagues’ campuses • Participants have an understanding of why processes and data display may differ from school to school • Participants feel a strong sense of ownership of their data Track 4 Presentation - Directions for Higher Education and Information Technology: the Arizona Course Applicability System

12. Summary • Respect the disparity in starting points among varying institutions. • Remember that project success for any institution benefits all institutions • Reinforce interdependence between business and technical units. • Resolve problems using the motivation provided by the pressures of real-time data publication. • Recall that respect for institutional diversity is essential, as is institutional ownership of data and processes Track 4 Presentation - Directions for Higher Education and Information Technology: the Arizona Course Applicability System

13. AZ CAS User Satisfaction • 75% say “Yes” • 88% say “Yes” • 76% say “Yes” • 89% say “Yes” • Did you find CAS to have clear directions? • Did you find CAS to have useful information? • Did you find CAS to be user-friendly? • Would you use CAS again? • Others? N = 199 as of May 10, 2001 Track 4 Presentation - Directions for Higher Education and Information Technology: the Arizona Course Applicability System

14. Questions? Contact us: • Rebecca Moore, CAS Technical Analyst • rebecca.moore@asu.edu • Amy Fountain, Ph.D. CAS • amy.fountain@asu.edu • Arizona CAS: http://az.transfer.org/cas Track 4 Presentation - Directions for Higher Education and Information Technology: the Arizona Course Applicability System