EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE

Transcription

1 EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE The SR Equivalency Coordinator (EQC): determines equivalencies (EQs) for coursework from other institutions enters EQs into institution databases in Datatel. The EQC determines EQs in accordance with various TWU transfer policies, and with the assistance of TWU academic departments and the Office of Undergraduate Studies and Academic Programs. TRANSFER CREDIT POLICIES From the TWU Undergraduate Catalog Texas Woman s University reserves the right to re-evaluate the transferability of specific courses offered by other institutions, and to amend the University course and/or program offerings without prior notice. TWU s Transfer Equivalency Guides show courses that are transferable to TWU as direct course equivalencies. Courses that transfer but do not have direct TWU equivalencies are posted to the transcript with the course heading, a generic course number, and the title of the course, such as BIOL*2000 Principles of Biology. A TWU advisor will determine how these courses may be applied to a degree plan. Core courses and global perspectives equivalencies will be determined by the Office of Undergraduate Studies. Courses not listed on the Transfer Equivalency Guides may be transferable to TWU, but are not guaranteed to transfer. Courses will transfer to TWU at the level at which these courses were classified by the institution granting the credit, unless specified otherwise in the institutional transfer equivalency guides. Community college courses will count as lower-level courses, unless otherwise specified. College preparatory course work in developmental math, reading, and writing is not transferable and does not satisfy college-level requirements at TWU. Successful completion of developmental courses may be used to establish readiness for college-level courses. Courses taken at institutions not holding accreditation will be evaluated independently and on a courseby-course basis. Courses defined as workforce education courses (WECM) are not transferrable to a B.S. or B.A. degree program unless specifically approved by the appropriate academic department. However, the WECM courses may be transferred as a block to specific degrees such as the B.A.S. (Bachelor of Applied Science) degrees by approval of the appropriate department. Students who enter a B.A.S. program may change to a B.S. or B.A. program by re-application to the university, but workforce credits will not be applicable and will be removed from the TWU transcript. TWU follows the recommendations of the American Council on Education s (ACE) Guide to the Evaluation of Education Experiences in the Armed Services. TWU does not accept life or work experience as college credit. EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 1

2 DETERMINING COURSE EQUIVALENCIES TEXAS 2-YEAR PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS Courses from Texas public institutions are evaluated first by their Texas Common Course Number (TCCN). Most 2-year Texas public institutions utilize the TCCN as the course rubric. If a direct match to a TWU course has been determined, utilize that TWU course as the equivalent: EX: Dallas County Community College TCCN ENGL 1301 = TWU ENG 1013 When no direct match to a TWU course has been determined per TCCN, the course is given a title equivalency: EX: Lone Star College System TCCN ARAB 2312 Intermediate Arabic II = FL 2000 Intermediate Arabic II Two-year public institutions often offer Workforce Education Courses (WECM) alongside their academic courses. With few exceptions, WECM courses are not transferrable to TWU. A list of APPROVED WECM STANDARD EQUIVALENCIES is available in the ShareDrive. TCCN equivalencies between TWU and other institutions may also be researched on the TCCN website at: TWU departments do have the right to override the TCCN equivalencies when they determine an institution has deviated from the course content for that TCCN. Notes should be kept in the Comment field in TCEQ for these exceptions. Some courses which might not normally be transferrable to TWU, must be transferred if utilized by the sending institution as a part of that institution s Texas Core Curriculum: EX: Paris Junior College PSYC 1100/EDUC 1100 Learning Frameworks. This TCCN course is usually not posted as it is similar to TWU s UNIV 1011, and not considered for course credit. However, PJC uses this course as one of its accepted core 090 Institutional Option core curriculum courses, and therefore must be posted. Include a note in TCEQ under Comments in this case. TEXAS 4-YEAR PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS Some 4-year Texas public institutions use the TCCN for the course rubric, or cross-reference their course rubrics to the TCCN in their catalogs or on their websites. EX: Texas State University San Marcos ENG 1310 College Writing I (TCCN ENGL 1301) = TWU ENG 1013 Composition I When no TCCN match to a TWU course has been determined, the course is programmed as a title course. EX: University of Houston Downtown FREN 2301 Intermediate French I (TCCN FREN 2311) = TWU FL 2000 Intermediate French I Courses without a TCCN equivalency are then evaluated by their course content, and how closely it matches TWU course content. When necessary, the EQ Coordinator will contact academic department chairs for a final determination. Include PER DEPT and the effective date in the comment field in TCEQ. EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 2

3 Some courses which might not normally be transferrable to TWU, must be transferred if utilized by the sending institution as a part of that institution s Texas Core Curriculum: EX: Texas State University San Marcos US 1100 University Seminar. This course is usually not posted as it is similar to TWU s UNIV 1011, and not considered for degree credit. However, Texas State uses this course as one of its accepted core 090 Institutional Option core courses, and therefore must be posted. Include a note in TCEQ under Comments in this case. With few exceptions, 4-year TX public institutions do not offer technical or Workforce Education Courses (WECM). TCCN equivalencies between TWU and other institutions may also be researched on the TCCN website, at: TWU departments do have the right to override the TCCN equivalencies when they determine an institution has deviated from the course content for that TCCN. EX: Texas Tech University courses BIOL 2401 and 2402 do not match the TCCN rubric, as one focuses on Anatomy and the other on Physiology only, whereas TWU s courses have both Anatomy and Physiology as their content. The Department of Biology has determined that the courses should transfer as ZOOL 2041/43 AND ZOOL 2051/52 (4 credits), and if and when students present transcripts with both courses, a course substitution may be done in DARS for our A&P courses by the department. TEXAS PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS Most Texas private institutions do not utilize the TCCN system. Therefore, courses are evaluated on course content alone. Course descriptions and course syllabi may be needed to determine equivalencies. When necessary, contact academic department chairs for a final determination. Include PER DEPT and effective date in the comment field in TCEQ. OUT-OF-STATE 2-YEAR INSTITUTIONS To determine transferability to TWU, first determine whether a course taken at a 2-year out of state institution is AA-or AS-degree applicable. Consult institution catalogs to make this determination, using the following guidelines: o If a course is applicable only to AA or AS degrees, it is transferrable to TWU. o If a course is applicable to AA, AS or AAS degrees, it is transferrable to TWU. o If a course is applicable only to an AAS degree, it is NOT transferable to TWU (similar to WECM courses in TX). Courses are next evaluated on course content. Courses which exactly match TWU courses are given that equivalency; those without a match are given title equivalencies. Course descriptions and course syllabi may be necessary to determine equivalencies. When in doubt, contact academic departments for a final determination. Include PER DEPT and effective date in the comment field in TCEQ. EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 3

4 OUT-OF-STATE 4-YEAR INSTITUTIONS To determine transferability to TWU, first determine whether a course taken at a 4-year out of state institution is BA-or BS-degree applicable. Consult institution catalogs to make this determination, using the following guidelines: o If a course is applicable only to BA or BS degrees, it is transferrable to TWU. o If a course is applicable to BA, BS or BAS degrees, it is transferrable to TWU. o If a course is applicable only to a BAS degree, it is NOT transferable to TWU. Courses are next evaluated on course content. Courses which exactly match TWU courses are given that equivalency; those without a match are given title equivalencies. Course descriptions and course syllabi may be necessary to determine equivalencies. When in doubt, contact academic departments for a final determination. Include PER DEPT and effective date in the comment field in TCEQ. EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 4

5 OTHER CONSIDERATIONS TRANSFERRABILITY OF COURSES It is best to determine whether an outside course is developmental, technical or vocational before the student is accepted. Evaluators should bring suspected developmental/technical/vocational courses to the EQC to be researched prior to accepting a student, particularly if transferability of the questionable course may affect their admission GPA. EQUIVALENT DEVELOPMENTAL COURSES Courses which are not listed as developmental on an outside transcript, but are equivalent to the following TWU developmental courses, should not be included in transfer GPA calculations, or posted to the TWU transcript, per Undergraduate Studies. ENG 1003 Introduction to Writing MATH 1113 Fundamentals of Algebra MATH 1123 Transition to College Mathematics READ 1003 Fundamentals of College Reading & Learning SCI 1003 Fundamentals of Science REPEATED COURSES AT VARIOUS INSTITUTIONS Evaluators should be careful to consult TCCN lists at TX public institutions. Often students will repeat a course for a better grade, but at a different institution. If the TCCN is not identified for courses at TX 4-year institutions, a repeat could be missed, esp. if the equivalency was not programmed correctly into Colleague. OLD/INCORRECT EQUIVALENCIES IN SYSTEM EQs have been created in Datatel for many years by various evaluators. So, equivalencies exist in Datatel which may be out of date or incorrect per TCCN, etc. While EQs cannot be deleted from Datatel, they can be ended by date, so that they no longer are an option when a course is being posted. Evaluators should carefully monitor equivalencies being assigned to each course posted for a student. Out of date or incorrect equivalencies should be brought to the attention of the EQC so that they may be researched and corrected. INSTITUTIONS ON QUARTER-HOUR SYSTEM When evaluating courses from institutions on the quarter-hour system, consult course catalogs to determine number of courses in a year-long sequence, as often a 3-course, year-long sequence is necessary to equal to TWU s 2-course, year-long sequence. EX: Centralia College offers ZOOL 251, 252 and 253 Human Anatomy & Physiology I, II and III, as their year-long anatomy & physiology course sequence. These courses individually would NOT be equivalent to TWU s ZOOL 2011/2013 & ZOOL 2021/2023, as all three Centralia course would need to be taken to equal TWU s two ZOOL courses. Therefore, each Centralia course in this example should be transferred as title. A department advisor can then monitor if the student has all three courses in a sequence, and substitute for an appropriate TWU course sequence. EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 5

6 TITLE OF COURSES IN SEQUENCE The words fundamental, survey, introductory/introduction, general, principles and college, are red flag terms in a course title. They can be very misleading in the overall sequence of an institution s course offerings. General Chemistry might come after Principles of Chemistry, but be the course which chemistry majors take, or vice versa. Do not go necessarily by the title, unless you also check the course sequence to be sure which one comes first, or applies to majors, before determining equivalency. UPPER VS. LOWER DIVISION COURSES W/TCCN If an upper-division course offered at a four-year TX institution has a TCCN which would make it equivalent to a lower-division TWU course, it must be posted as an upper-division course, to give the student upper-division credit. If the lower-division course is needed for degree completion, the substitution can be done in the degree plan (DARS) by the advisor. EX: PSY 3011 Lifespan Development taken at X University is determined to have the equivalent content of TWU s PSY The courses is posted as PSY 3000 Lifespan Development (gives upper-division credit to student), and substituted for PSY 1603 in the DARS by the student s department. DISTRICTS WITH SEVERAL CAMPUSES If an institution has its own catalog it must have its own set of EQs, regardless of whether the school is part of a larger district, or the district issues only one transcript for all their member schools. Since EQs are set up by school, each school must be entered separately in IASU/XEXTS. For example: Dallas County Community College district issues one transcript for all member institutions, and has one catalog which all their member institutions use. Therefore, all their EQs are under one DCCCD record. Alamo College s member schools (San Antonio College, Northwest Vista, etc.), each have their own catalogs with separate course inventories. Although Alamo College issues one transcript, each school s courses are coded, and must be entered under their own record in IASU/XEXTS. When in doubt, check the institution s website to see if the member institutions have their own catalog. CHANGES IN EQUIVALENCY Equivalencies are programmed by date, given the best information we have on when the course was established. Two sets of dates are important: 1. The date the outside course began or ended, and 2. The date the TWU equivalent course began or ended. If we do not know the date the outside course began, we use the generic beginning date 1/1/50 and no end date, so that we might include as many occurrences of that course as possible. When a course equivalency ends, we use the end date of the semester the course ended. For example, if a course was offered through 11/SU, we would enter 11/SU in the END DATE field. The end date of the 11/SU term will load. It is vital that there be no gap in dates between when an old equivalency ends and a new one begins. Therefore, if one course ends 11/SU and a new one begins 11/FA, the end date for the old EQ will be 8/13/11, and EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 6

7 the begin date for the new one will be 8/14/11. Typing the terms in the appropriate field will automatically load the dates. EQUIVALENCIES NOT PULLING UP WHEN POSTING When an EQ will not pull up when you are posting, there are may be several reasons: The equivalency is not yet entered in Datatel for that institution. Bring the EQ to the EQC for research and posting. The course was taken during the current term, but the term is not yet over at TWU. This happens often for Wintermester or Maymester courses elsewhere. To fix, enter yesterday s date as the end date in EXTR when you are entering the outside course. Then go back to TCEQ to assign the EQ. The course was created on the fly by an evaluator when working a PB student. Bring the issue to the EQC. The academic level will need to be changed from PB to UD for that equivalency. The start date of the EQ does not match when the course actually was taken. For example a course EQ was entered on the fly as 12/31/08, but the course was taken 07/FA. Bring the issue to the EQC. The start date will need to be backdated to 1/1/50 to include all the possible terms. EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 7

8 DAY-TO-DAY EQUIVALENCY PROCESS The EQ Coordinator will research and post equivalencies for any outside course for which an EQ does not already exist in Datatel. Evaluators should bring all EQs to the EQC following this procedure: PRIOR TO ACCEPTANCE Evaluators bring courses with questionable transferability to the EQC for research. The EQC will research the course and give a determination of transferability to the evaluator. In some cases, this might mean contacting the appropriate department for a final determination. FOLLOWING ACCEPTANCE 1. Evaluators post all coursework and assign equivalencies already in the system. This includes all posting duties such as marking core completion in STNT, entering core numbers, adding heading in ASTR, determining academic level in STAL, etc. 2. For courses for which no EQ exists, they highlight the courses on the transcript and give the transcripts to the EQC. 3. The EQC researches the highlighted EQ and makes a determination, creates the equivalency in TCEQ and posts the credit to that student s record. 4. The EQC also re-racts the record, checks ALTT, and makes any change necessary in STAL. 5. If the postings bring the student s 2-year credit total to 72 or 84, the notation in ASTR is also added, and the track in ITR set. EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 8

9 PROGRAMMING EQUIVALENCIES INTO DATATEL MNEMONICS NEEDED: TCEQ Transfer Course Equivalency; INST HOW TO ENTER A NEW COURSE: 1. In TCEQ, enter the schools FICE code (including leading zeroes), in the INSTITUTION LOOKUP. Press enter. One instance of the institution should come up; choose that institution. (If more than one comes up, this means there is a duplicate institution record which will need to be researched and eliminated. See INSTITUTION CLEAN UP below.) EX: San Antonio College FICE EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 9

10 2. Choose the institution by checking the square to the left of the school, or pressing 1 and enter. 3. Enter the course you wish to look up, in this case CHEM 2223 EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 10

11 4. The course is not yet programmed in Datatel, so the following option comes up. Choose ADD. 5. Enter the course information. In this case, CHEM 2323 has a TCCN equivalency of CHEM 2213: Be sure credits match! START DATE, ACAD LEVEL, CREDIT TYPE, GRADE SCHEME, MINIMUM GRADE AND DEFAULT STATUS fields must all be completed. The COMMENTS field is optional, but a good place to make any notes such as PER DEPT, APPROVED WECM, the TCCN number for a course which does not use the TCCN as the rubric, etc. Be sure to save when you are done. EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 11

12 In some cases, one outside course will be equivalent to two TWU courses, for example, a lecture & lab. Both courses are then entered in the EQUIVALENT COURSE fields: Be sure credits match! Enter TR for direct EQs; T for title EQs here. HINT: When programming a course from an institution on a quarter-hour system, enter the converted semester credit hours in both the Transfer Course Credit field, and the Equivalent Course Credit field, as credits must match. EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 12

13 ENDING AN EQUIVALENCY Equivalencies must sometimes be ended, if courses are no longer offered at outside institutions or at TWU, the equivalency has changed, etc. In this case an end date must be assigned to the old equivalency, and a new equivalency established if needed. EX: The TWU course equivalent to TCCN MATH 1350 was changed by the Math Department as of 10/FA. The old equivalency was MATH 1603; the new equivalency is MATH An end date of 8/13/10 (end date of 10/SU3) was assigned, and a note was placed in COMMENTS: EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 13

14 A new equivalency for MATH 1350 of MATH 1543 was then created, with a start date following the end date of the old EQ, and the reason for the new EQ placed in COMMENTS: EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 14

15 INSTITUTION CLEAN UP When searching from an institution, search by FICE code first, then by name if there are no results by FICE code. When more than one institution comes up in a search by FICE code, it means that more than one institution record exists with that FICE code attached to it. To resolve: Double check the FICE code for the institution in the Higher Education Directory to be sure it is correct. Search under TCEQ for that FICE code. Check each institution record which comes up, to see if any EQs are attached to that institution s record. Note whichever record does NOT have EQs, as that is the institution record you will want to deactivate. The record number appears to the right of the institution name: Once you have established which record you wish to deactivate, search for that record under INST. EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 15

16 Here are some search results for Dallas County Community College (searched by name, not by FICE). There were many records made for Dallas County in the past. Only one is correct and has EQs attached ( ). The status of A on the right indicates a record is ACTIVE and is the correct one. The status of D on the right will indicate that a record is a DUPLICATE and should not be use Change the code to DNU in the Institution Type/Level, and delete any instances of the FICE code in the record of incorrect institutions in the INST screen: EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 16

17 Then detail on the AORG screen Enter the D status in the ORGANIZATION STATUS field: EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 17

18 Lastly, noting both the incorrect institution record number (to be deactivated), and the correct institution record number (with the EQs attached), you will need to merge the student records under the incorrect record, with the correct one, using XUII. Enter the incorrect record number in the INCORRECT INSTITUTIONS RECORD ID field, and the correct record number in the CORRECT INSTITUTION RECORD ID field: Choose Update. The records will be merged. Any student record with the incorrect institution is revised, and shows the correct institution record in IASU, XEXTS, etc. Save a copy of the names changed to your hard drive for safe keeping. EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 18

19 RESOURCES ACADEMIC COURSE GUIDE MANUAL (TCCN rubrics)... (last revised Spring 2012) APPROVED WECM STANDARD EQS...(revised as needed) Available on the ShareDrive QUARTER HOUR CONVERSION CHART Available on the ShareDrive TWU TCCN LIST... (last revised 7/2011) TEXAS COMMON COURSE NUMBER WEBSITE... (maintained by UT Pan American) WORKFORCE COURSE GUIDE MANUAL...(last revised 1/2/2012) EQUIVALENCY TRAINING GUIDE Page 19