OSCAR and ASSIST

1
OSCAR and ASSIST

• Academic Senate for the California Community
  Colleges
• Curriculum Institute 2004
• San Jose July 15, 2004
• Eric Taggart ASSIST Coordination Site

2
What is ASSIST?

• Articulation System Stimulating
  Interinstitutional Student Transfer
• Californias official source of course
  articulation for CCC, CSU, and UC available free
  to the public www.assist.org
• All of the most current course articulation
  established by every CSU UC campus with any of
  the 109 California Community Colleges
• All information in ASSIST is official and will be
  honored by the colleges and universities
• Central operations managed by the ASSIST
  Coordination Site (located in Irvine)
• ASSIST is a suite of software and database
  systems to support the development, data entry,
  storage, management, analysis, and dissemination
  of course and articulation information

3
What is OSCAR?

• Online Services for Curriculum and Articulation
  Review
• Web-based system for California Community
  Colleges to submit information from official
  course outlines of record for courses being
  proposed for various types of articulation review
• Course syllabi are not the same as Course
  Outlines of Record
• Integrated with the ASSIST database
• Course outline information is tied to current and
  historical curriculum data in ASSIST
• Online faculty/staff review processes
• ASSIST OSCAR UC TCA Review System
• CSUCO OSCAR IGETC/CSU GE-B Review System
• Developed to support a number of additional
  future uses
• CSU Am Inst review, UC/CSU Artic review, New CAN
  Model review

4
ASSIST Demonstration

• http//www.assist.org/

5
OSCAR Demonstration

• http//assist.org/oscar.html

6
Questions?

• Eric Taggart
• Director
• ASSIST Coordination Site
• 820 University Tower
• Irvine, CA 92697-1005
• Tel [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• Email eric_at_assist.org

7
More Details on OSCAR
8
Why OSCAR?

• Annual UC TCA, IGETC and CSU GE-B review
  processes had become too labor intensive
• Information submitted by colleges was often
  inconsistent or incomplete
• More colleges are developing or buying curriculum
  management systems that can provide course
  outline data electronically
• OSCAR can receive data transmitted from campus
  systems
• However, OSCAR is not a curriculum management
  system
• Other articulation processes could benefit from
  online access to course outline information
• CSU and UC campus articulation, the New CAN Model
  articulation review process

9
OSCAR Components

• OSCAR Campus System
• Web site for colleges to submit course outline
  information and request review actions for UC
  TCA, IGETC, and CSU GE-B
• Requests for CSU Am Inst review are being added
  now
• Open all year 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Deadline dates for various reviews
• UC TCA on a monthly schedule June-November
• IGETC/CSU GE-B on an annual schedule with
  December deadline
• Developed, maintained, and supported by the
  ASSIST Coordination Site
• Integrated as a component of the full ASSIST
  system (software and data)
• College can hand enter, copy/paste, or download
  outline information

10
OSCAR Components

• OSCAR UC TCA Review System
• Web site for UCOP articulation staff to review
  and record decisions regarding UC transferability
  of CCC courses
• Developed, maintained, and supported by the
  ASSIST Coordination Site
• Email-based notifications of review decisions to
  colleges and UC evaluators
• OSCAR IGETC/CSU GE-B Review System
• Web site for CSU and UC staff and faculty to
  review and record decisions regarding IGETC and
  CSU GE-B qualification of CCC courses
• Developed, maintained, and supported by the CSUCO
• Outline and review request data transmitted from
  ASSIST to CSUCO
• Final decision data transmitted from CSUCO to
  ASSIST

11
OSCAR Main Features

• Web site for authorized CCC staff to enter and
  submit course outline information
• Colleges with computerized curriculum management
  systems can transmit outlines electronically
• Authorized CCC staff then confirm outline
  information and specify proposed UC TCA, IGETC,
  and/or CSU GE-B review
• Linked with ASSIST curriculum data
• Outlines are linked to courses in ASSIST to
  verify accuracy of course information
• Outlines submitted via paper are also verified
  against ASSIST curriculum data by CSUCO/UCOP
  administrative staff
• On-line faculty/staff review systems
• Email notifications to campuses of UC TCA, IGETC,
  and CSU GE-B review decisions
• Final UC TCA, IGETC, and CSU GE-B decisions are
  transmitted directly into the ASSIST database for
  public access

12
OSCAR Course Outline Data Elements

• College, course name, title, units, begin term,
  cross listings, current UC transfer status,
  current IGETC, current CSU GE-B
• All these data elements come from the ASSIST
  curriculum data
• Repeatable indicator Is this course
  repeatable?
• Telemediated Indicator Are there components of
  this course that may be conducted via distance
  education?
• Honors Indicator Is this an honors course?
• Date of campus approval of outline (required)
• Lecture hours/wk Lab hours/wk (required)
• Course Description (required)
• Prerequisites
• Corequisites
• Course Objectives (required)
• Course Content (required)
• Lab Content (required if lab hours are not zero)
• Methods of Instruction (required)
• Out-of-Class Assignments
• Methods of Evaluation
• Appropriate Texts or Other Required Reading
  (required)
• Honors Enrichment (required if an honors course)
• Other Outline Information

13
Future Plans for OSCAR

• 04-05 Targeting all colleges to use OSCAR in
  submitting outlines for UC TCA, IGETC, and CSU
  GE-B review
• Colleges request an exemption to submit via paper
• Seeking more colleges to submit electronically
• OSCAR Advisory Committee being established as a
  standing committee under the ASSIST Board
• CSU Am Inst review requests being added now
• ASCCC to provide guidance on current
  implementation and future development
• CAN Board considering use of OSCAR to support the
  new CAN model for qualifying CCC and CSU courses
  for CAN Identifiers
• Would require updating the OSCAR Campus System
  and the development of an OSCAR CAN Review System

14
ASCCC Guidance for OSCAR

• Review/revise current course outline data
  elements used in OSCAR
• ASCCC consider developing and endorsing a
  standard format (XML?) for exchanging course
  outline data electronically
• Developing public access to outline information
  in OSCAR
• Expanding OSCAR to be a repository for any CCC
  course outlines
• Expanding OSCAR to support other articulation
  initiatives
• Other ideas or areas of concern?

15
More Details on ASSIST
16
What Data are in ASSIST?

• Major Preparation agreements established by CSU
  UC campuses with individual Community Colleges
• Also Course-to-Course and Gen Ed Agreement
• All Community College courses transferable to any
  CSU campus for baccalaureate credit
• Including courses qualified to meet the CSU
  graduation requirement in US History,
  Constitution, American Ideals
• All Community College courses transferable to any
  UC campus for baccalaureate credit
• Including courses qualified to meet the UC
  Transfer Admissions Eligibility Requirements
• All Community College courses approved for the
  CSU GE-Breadth and IGETC certification programs
• Soon All Community College courses approved to
  meet the CSU-UC High School Admissions
  Eligibility Requirements

17
How Does ASSIST Help Students?

• Determine how courses taken at one or more
  colleges will be applied to requirements for
  their major at a university when they transfer
• Plan a more efficient package of course work,
  reducing the cost and frustration of retaking
  what appear to be similar courses
• Decide alternative courses of study as their
  interests change by providing information on how
  courses theyve already taken apply to different
  majors
• Plan courses for reverse transfer to take at a
  CCC after admission to a university

18
Who Uses ASSIST?

• Students using professional counseling services
  at colleges use ASSIST to make their time with
  counselors more focused and productive
• Counselors use ASSIST to stay current with
  changing courses, major programs, and
  articulation
• Students who dont use counseling services use
  ASSIST as a self-serve transfer planning tool
• Faculty use ASSIST to see how their courses apply
  at other institutions and to compare how similar
  courses at other schools are articulated

19
How Much is ASSIST Used?

• The ASSIST web site processes up to 9.5 million
  hits per month
• 30,000 course articulation reports are requested
  in an average work day
• 500,000 course articulation reports are requested
  in an average month
• Over 90,000 unique visitors in an average month
• 2003 calendar year over 560,000 unique visitors
  requested over 4.5 million articulation reports
  in over 3.3 million visits where ASSIST servers
  handled over 64 million site hits
• Many colleges have ASSIST running in counseling
  and transfer centers for students to use
• Many colleges integrate use of ASSIST into their
  College Success courses

20
How Does ASSIST Help Campuses?

• All CCC, CSU UC campuses use ASSIST to maintain
  current and historical information on all
  transferable and articulated courses
• All CSU UC campuses use ASSIST to manage their
  growing databases of current and historical
  course articulation
• CCC campuses use ASSIST to track the quantity of
  current articulation available for their students
• CCC, CSU UC campuses use information from
  ASSIST to correlate with other transfer
  information to better understand articulation and
  transfer issues

21
How Does ASSIST Help Campuses and Systems?

• CSU UC campuses use data from ASSIST to support
  local degree audit systems
• CSU Mentor/CaliforniaColleges.Edu use ASSIST data
  for the IGETC/CSU GE-B Transfer Planner function
• UC Pathways uses ASSIST data for more accurate
  self-reporting of CCC coursework
• UC uses OSCAR to manage the annual review of UC
  transferable CCC courses
• UC and CSU use OSCAR to manage the annual review
  of courses for IGETC and CSU GE-B

22
How is ASSIST Supported?

• Funded by the California Legislature through the
  CCC, CSU UC system offices
• Governing board of faculty, staff and system
  office representatives from CCC, CSU UC
• Daily operations managed by the ASSIST
  Coordination Site (located in Irvine)
• Every college and university has an official
  ASSIST Manager
• Universities do most of the data maintenance work
  since they are ultimately responsible for
  granting transfer credit

23
Recent Accomplishments

• Updated core ASSIST software and hardware
  technologies
• Maintaining detailed and historical curriculum
  information each term
• Quantifying the amount of existing articulation
• Standardized the presentation format for
  articulation agreements
• California Model Articulation Format

24
Recent Accomplishments

• OSCAR for collecting CCC course outline
  information via the web
• ASSIST Major Preparation Explorer
• New web site that helps student browse
  articulation via majors, colleges, and
  universities
• Initially focused on UC information only
• CSU seeking to expand it to include info on all
  CSU campuses
• Displaying CAN Identifiers in ASSIST articulation
  agreements
• Finalizing a redesign of the Web ASSIST user
  interface to make it easier for students to use
• Targeting deployment in September 2004

25
ASSIST Collaborations

• IMPAC
• CIAC Articulation officers professional
  association
• Transfer Center Directors Association
• CAN
• CaliforniaColleges.edu (Student Friendly)
• OSCAR

26
Whats Next for ASSIST?

• Maintain the basic viability of ASSIST until
  additional funding can be secured then
• Make ASSIST easier for students to use
• Student Focus Groups
• Increase the number of students served
• Marketing Plan
• Ensure the most current course articulation is in
  ASSIST as new agreements are established and
  courses/requirements change each year
• Augment and maintain central server computers to
  support increased use of ASSIST

27
ASSIST Components

• Web ASSIST www.assist.org
• Site for public access to articulation
• ASSIST Information Center assist.org
• Site for public access to information about
  ASSIST and ASSIST-related activities
• On-line training presentations, ASSIST policies,
  other publications
• ASSIST Curriculum Update System
• Secured site for authorized staff at CCC, CSU
  UC campuses to update historical curriculum
  information each term
• ASSIST Articulation Maintenance System
• Secured system for CSU and UC campuses to use in
  entering and updating articulation agreements
• OSCAR
• Secured system for CCC campuses to use in
  submitting information from official course
  outlines for UC TCA, IGETC, and CSU GE-B review

28
ASSIST Data Extracts

• Raw extracts of all primary types of data
  included in ASSIST
• File specifications are online at the ASSIST
  Information Center web site
• Extracts of all types of TCA data for all
  colleges are automatically generated on the 5th
  calendar day of each month and placed on the
  ASSIST ftp server
• Extracts of articulation agreement data are
  provided on request to CSU UC campuses only
• ASSIST Board has established detailed policies
  governing the use of data extracts

29
Use of ASSIST Data Extracts

• CCCs use TCA data extracts for local educational
  plan systems
• CSU UC campuses use TCA and articulation
  agreement data with degree audit systems
• CaliforniaColleges.edu (Student Friendly System)
  uses IGETC/CSU GE-B data extracts for the
  Transfer Planner
• UC Pathways and UC DAP use special data extracts
  to support respective goals

30
ASSIST Goals

• Strategic Plan updated every two years
• Mission, vision, goals, objectives, activities
• Current Goals
• Ensure complete and consistent data
• Increase number of students benefiting from
  ASSIST
• Make ASSIST easier for students to use
• Increase overall awareness of ASSIST in
  California higher ed
• Maintain the currency of ASSIST technologies

31
ASSIST Issues

• Secure funding
• Official repository policies
• Quantifying articulation and reporting to the
  campuses/Legislature
• Data in ASSIST for independent colleges and
  universities (AICCU)

32
ASSIST Issues

• Articulation not honored by universities
• Dispelling/proving articulation myths
• Data accuracy and consistency
• Use of ASSIST data extracts by CCCs and companies