Welcome Transfer Pathways Designees!
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Because of the critical role you will play in this work, we have taken the liberty of subscribing you to the
MiTransfer newsletter
that will share updates on the progress of various multi-institution, cross-sector transfer projects.
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Right Math at the Right Time - A Productive Workshop in Jackson
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On Friday April 13, Right Math at the Right Time (RM@RT) work group partnered with the Charles A. Dana Center to present a one-day workshop on
Advising and Mathematics Pathways.
The workshop was held at the Jackson College Maher campus. Representatives from nineteen community colleges and six public universities attended the workshop, which was co-facilitated by representatives from the Dana Center and the national advising association, NACADA. Topics included core competencies for advising students about math pathways, collaboration between two and four-year institutions and resources to better understand and improve student success in MTA mathematics pathway courses.
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To date, public institutions (11 community colleges and 12 universities) have completed the survey of
Intent to Align Learning Outcomes in Mathematics Pathway Courses.
Institutions completing the survey will identify the first college-level course in each pathway (quantitative
reasoning, introductory statistics and preparation for calculus) that they intend to align, as well as a series of actions signaling their intent to
adopt
the recommended learning outcomes,
accept
courses with the recommended learning outcomes in transfer and
apply
the courses as specified in programs of study. Information about the survey has been sent to community college chief academic officers and university provosts.
Mathematics faculty co-leads for each pathway from a community college and a university will be attending the Transfer Pathway Summit on May 18 to provide information about the pathways and recommendations for program faculty as they select the appropriate mathematics course(s) to include in their transfer programs.
Finally, RM@RT has launched a new website. Please visit
www.mirightmath.org/
to find news and events, publications, archived presentations and other resources to strengthen the implementation of mathematics pathways in Michigan.
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MiTransfer Pathways Summit Set for May 18
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More than 200 faculty and staff from all 28 community college, all 15 public universities and up to 10 independent colleges in four programs (biology, business administration, criminal justice, and psychology) will come together on Friday, May 18
th
at Lansing Community College- West campus to begin the process of building associate to bachelor’s degree transfer pathways. Additional information about this event is available on the project’s website,
www.mitransfer.net
. Click on
Project Materials
to review information about each discipline.
New Project Videos, Website, and Newsletter
View
new project videos
that provide a comprehensive overview of the work of the Transfer Steering Committee and statewide efforts to improve transfer student outcomes.
R
eview the
second edition of the MiTRANSFER newsletter
and the
new MiTransfer website
with
information about this project. Please share these materials with faculty and staff at your institution as we continue to share the progress of this project.
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In the Spotlight: Curricular Consistency at Wayne State
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Over the past decade, Wayne State University has been continuously implementing new systems to improve all pieces of the academic process. The publication of course and curriculum information has been an area of recent focus. Since the beginning of the 2015-16 academic year, the registrar’s office has been taking steps to coordinate resources with the goal of moving toward the publication of consistent curriculum and course information. The university has purchased systems to manage curricular proposals, degree audit, transfer credit and the university bulletins, and most of these systems are currently in use and being consistently improved upon.
As these software systems have been implemented, we learn more about what works and what doesn’t. For example, in the 2017-18 edition of the university bulletin, we chose to display all prerequisites and restrictions as enforced in our student information system. This was an eye-opener for many and even contentious for others, as roughly 25% of our courses employed “soft” prerequisites or unenforceable restrictions. That edition of the bulletin was published live in July 2017. Currently, we are still finding a balance between prerequisite-related requests from programs and the ability of our software to display the most readable version of this information.
Updated software, however, is only one element of the solution. We are also addressing our internal communication. In the registrar’s office, we have been trying to instill a process and a culture by which we notify each other of changes as they happen. If a course or program changes, does this affect scheduling, degree audit, etc.? Moreover, has anyone notified the department or program that the change was approved and when it will be effective?
Such issues are at the forefront for us as we prepare to launch a new general education program for the fall 2018 term. Faculty are racing to add the final touches in order to present the most robust curriculum possible. This requires the registrar’s office to be as efficient as possible to ensure the desired program can be accurately delivered to students during advising and registration. The new program and the old program must be maintained carefully, while still being readily available. All the while, we must be conscious of the pitfalls posed by manually duplicating this data across numerous sources.
As Wayne State prepares for the future, we are using the lessons we are learning daily to continually improve our processes. This involves a great deal of collaboration among many offices across the university. The hope is that we will be able to use our current experiences to create best practices to be applied to future projects throughout the university, and in turn to lend insight to other institutions that may seek insight in reforming or refining their operational processes in a manner that best serves students.
David McGrann, Academic Services Officer
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Michigan Transfer Network Upgrade
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The Michigan Transfer Network (MTN) is an award winning transfer portal which has proven useful to many students, faculty, and staff members over the years. However, it is in need of substantive updating to make the overall experience of exploring transfer options more efficient and easier to understand.
In order to anticipate the needs of future MTN users focus groups were conducted at the annual ACPA-Michigan Conference and Michigan Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers meetings (with assistance from MCCA staff). These focus groups provided helpful insights for upgrading the MTN; i.e. providing suggestions for how guest students can optimally interface with the MTN.
Later this Spring an RFP will be released to build the new site which will include increased search capabilities, more comprehensive information about transfer, and better reporting to colleges and universities.
The replacement of the MTN is funded by an appropriation signed into the FY 2018 budget by Governor Snyder. This work is part of a cross-sector, multi-institutional initiative being conducted by the Michigan Association of State Universities and the Michigan Community College Association (MCCA) who provide leadership on issues affecting Michigan’s Community Colleges.
Visit
MiTransfer.net
for more information about the Michigan Transfer Network Replacement and the progress of building multi-institutional associate to bachelor’s degree transfer pathways.
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Transfer Effectiveness Webinar: New Tools and Research from CCRC
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The Michigan Center for Student Success was pleased to host a webinar, Transfer Effectiveness: New Tools and Research from CCRC on Wednesday, April 25 from 3-4pm. Participants learned about several new tools from CCRC designed to help colleges and universities learn about how to better serve transfer students. CCRC discussed new research on transfer students and resources to help institutions conduct their own research.
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A multitude of stakeholders at Michigan’s colleges and universities are enthusiastically engaging in the work of advancing the statewide student transfer agenda. Staff at MCCA, MASU and MICU are eager to harness this energy and to produce tangible results that will improve transparency and efficiency in the transfer process, while maintaining high-quality instructional delivery and student outcomes.
If you have questions or comments you wish to share as it involves advancing the student transfer and student success in Michigan, you are encouraged to contact a member of the
Transfer Steering Committee
.
You are also encouraged to contact Erica Orians at the MCCA, Will Emerson at MASU, or Colby Cesaro at MICU; they are serving as the primary project coordinators and staff liaisons for the MTN replacement and degree pathways initiatives.
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Erica Lee Orians, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Center for Student Success
Michigan Community College Association
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Will Emerson, Ph.D.
Director of Student Success Initiatives
Michigan Association of State Universities
Colby Cesaro
Vice President
Michigan Independent Colleges and Universities
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The MiTRANSFER Newsletter is jointly produced by the Michigan Community College Association (MCCA), the Michigan Association of State Universities (MASU), and the Michigan Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (MICU)
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