DegreeWorks: A Degree Evaluation and Advising Tool for Georgia College

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DegreeWorks A Degree Evaluation and Advising
Tool for Georgia College State
UniversityInformation for Faculty and
AdvisorsSpring 2008
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What Is DegreeWorks?

• DegreeWorks is a web-based tool that will provide
  a clear and convenient method for students and
  advisors to track degree progress, to prepare for
  registration, and to plan for graduation.
• DegreeWorks is designed to aid and facilitate
  academic advising, but is not intended to replace
  face-to-face advising sessions.

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Why GCSU Chose DegreeWorks

• DegreeWorks provides information in a more
  user-friendly and readable format than our former
  program, CAPP.
• After later phases of our DegreeWorks
  implementation are completed, students and
  advisors will have the ability to develop
  long-range degree completion plans through
  DegreeWorks and incorporate those plans in
  student audits. CAPP did not have this
  functionality.
• DegreeWorks will help the University gather
  critical information to help with planning and
  reporting needs, which was also unavailable
  through CAPP.

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Who can use DegreeWorks?

• All currently-enrolled undergraduate students
  who
• first attended Georgia College after Fall 1998
• are using the 2004 catalog or a later catalog to
  fulfill their degree requirements
• Faculty, advisors, deans, department chairs, and
  academic support staff will also have access to
  the DegreeWorks worksheets for these students

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Accessing DegreeWorks
Log into myCats. (If youve forgotten your
password or your account is disabled, use the
Forgot Your Password link under the log in fields
to reset your password or to enable your account.)
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Select the Faculty tab. Then click on
DegreeWorks.
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This screen will automatically open in a new
window.
Click the Find button to search for
students. (Weve asked DegreeWorks to add
functionality that automatically loads your
advising lists. We hope this is available soon.)
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If youre searching for a single student, type
their name or GCID here. If youd like to look
for a group of students (seniors in your major),
select the appropriate groups from these drop
down boxes.
After entering your search parameters, click the
Search button.
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The students who meet the criteria you entered
will appear in the space at the bottom of the
pop-up box.
To access the audits of all the students in the
list, click OK. If you only want to look at
some of these students audits, use check all,
uncheck all, and the check boxes by each
students name to make your selection. Then
click OK.
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The students you selected will load to the
drop-down box at the top of the screen.
Select the student whose record you want to view
from the drop down box. Then click on the
worksheet tab. The processing time to pull up
the students worksheet may take several seconds.
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Reviewing a Student Worksheet
The top part of the students record will contain
basic information about the students degree
program, GPA, class status, academic standing,
etc. This section was designed to model our
TranGuide.
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The Degree Progress Bar shows a student an
estimation of the students progress toward
degree completion. This estimation is based on
the number of requirements that have been
checked off. For pre-majors or undeclared
students, it will be based only on their first
two years of coursework.
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Scrolling down, the next part of a worksheet
shows any unmet conditions for a degree. This
area checks total hours (without wellness or
orientation courses), upper-level hours,
institutional gpa, and residency requirements.
Once each of these requirements is complete, this
advice will be removed from the students audit.
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The next part of a worksheet shows the students
core curriculum. Requirements that are completed
are checked off in the boxes on the left. When
a requirement has not been met, a list of
acceptable courses appears. These courses are
hyperlinked to catalog descriptions.
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The next section checks a students Area F and
major requirements. The catalog term that is
being used for a students audit is listed on the
right side of the blue bars that separate the
parts of the audit.
If you have any concerns about the way the
curriculum has been programmed, or if you find
any errors in degree requirements, please contact
your department chair.
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The next section checks a students degree
requirements. Orientation courses are included
here, as are most required tests. If the student
has taken wellness courses, they will appear in
this section and be marked as excluded.
The First Year Academic Seminar will
automatically be marked as waived for transfer
students.
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All of the students electives are recorded at
the end of the audit. These courses are counted
toward total hours, but are not needed to fulfill
specific core or major requirements.
If orientation or wellness courses are included
in the electives area, please contact the
Registrars Office. These courses need to be
moved to another location so they can be excluded
from the students total hours.
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Students who have failed, repeated, or withdrawn
from courses will have an insufficient section in
which these courses will be listed. Remedial
coursework will also appear in this section.
These courses do not count toward a students
total hours.
Currently enrolled students will also have an In
Progress area that lists courses in which they
are registered.
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Wellness and orientation courses that have been
excluded from hour calculations are included in
the Not Counted section. Please note that
these hours still remain in a students earned
hours, but they simply are not counted toward
total hours required for graduation.
Finally, any exceptions that have been entered
will be summarized at the end of the audit.
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When youre ready to view another students
audit, either pick another student from the drop
down box and then click the worksheet tab, or
use the Find button to search for new students.
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Additional Features
Click on the Class History link at the top of the
page to view a students complete course list.
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Click on the FAQ link for a list of questions to
help you troubleshoot common problems and
issues. Click on the Help link for information on
how to report problems. (And PLEASE report any
issues. We need your help to make this system
perfect.)
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Click on the What If tab to process a students
audit using desired criteria. Pick a degree,
major, and, if desired, a minor or
concentration. You can also enter planned
courses. Click the Process What If button on
the top of the screen to generate the worksheet.
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Why Use DegreeWorks?

• DegreeWorks should allow you to focus less on the
  nuts and bolts of the curriculum during
  advising meetings, and more time on your
  advisees intellectual and professional needs.
• Using DegreeWorks and asking your advisees to
  do so before they meet with you will help your
  advisees take a more active role in the advising
  process.
• DegreeWorks will ultimately save you time. For
  instance, we hope we can use this program to
  alleviate the amount of time faculty and
  departments spend reviewing graduation
  applications.

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If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions
after using DegreeWorks, please email the
Registrars Office at degreeworks_at_gcsu.edu We
will need the students name and a brief
description of the problem to provide you with
the best assistance. We will email you as soon as
we have resolved the issue or recorded your
suggestion.
Help Us Make DegreeWorks Work Even Better