July 2010 Issue
Volume 2, Issue 2
In this Edition:
In the next several months, iTransfer will get a new
look!
Discussion of the online process with a single Institutional
Login and other important information.
The 'Panel Related Documents' page on the iTransfer
website is available to provide pertinent information on what panels
expect in submissions.
Information is provided to help institutions keep
their contact information updated as these contacts are the first
people with whom we share important directives and information about
IAI .
The IAI majors are being formalized through the IBHE
and ICCB staff and participating institutions. Details on that important
directive are discussed.
For a list of IAI and transfer related activities,
check the IAI
Calendar.
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Also in this Edition:
In recent years, Agriculture courses have been submitted
in a variety of ways. Details on how courses are to be submitted in
future are explained.
The 5 year review process is now a fully online process
that will allow institutions and panels to work together greater information
flow.
August Advisor Training! Let u.select help you prepare.
There are vacancies on many IAI panels for both GECC
and the majors. Details are discussed.
Details on the Fall Transfer Coordinators Meeting
are provided.
PDF's of Previous Issues Available:
January
2009, July
2009; January
2010
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iTransfer site redesign coming
In the next several months, iTransfer will be getting a new look as
we work to redesign and freshen the site. We are taking this step now
as the last site redesign was more than 4 years ago. Time flies when
you are working with transfer issues!
Rest assured, the functionality will remain so you will still be able
to find what you are looking for within the site. We will also be doing
more usability studies and responding to feedback as we receive ideas
about how to make the site better. You may have noticed recently that
we are creating lots of new processes and services as we work on improving
user experiences within the site.
We expect for our new look to be ready by the end of the year or early
next year. Please feel free to share your thoughts with us on improvements
necessary and other site needs. You can contact us by clicking the contact
us link on the site or emailing us at itransfer@itransfer.org.
We would definitely like to hear from you!
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 News
You Need for Course Submissions!
In the redesign and automation of the 5 year review process and the recent
automation of the course
submission through the website, we have made some note worthy and
important changes to the submission pages.
Besides establishing a single login for each institution, you can submit
your course in any document format and our systems will be able to create
a pdf document for the panel to review. Software has been implemented
that will allow for this as well as creating a pdf of the pertinent data
from the online submission form so a separate copy of the submission form
is no longer necessary, unless desired by the institutional submitter.
This was done to help the panels review documents more easily and efficiently
without the need for special program installation on their computers.
It also provides a seamless transfer of data to the servers for future
storage.
You may have noted that we now have a single institutional login for
course submissions and accessing the new 5 year review online processes.
This is discussed in more detail under the 5 year review
article below.
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Since the course submission and 5 year review processes have been revised,
it is important that submitters review the appropriate panel related
documents while gathering information and prior to submitting a course.
There are panel specific checklists, sample syllabi, approval criteria,
and other assistance tools available for review and download. These
are provided to avoid submitted courses being returned unapproved because
they did not include a specific piece of panel required information.
The panels review this documentation at each panel meeting and this
information can change or be updated frequently. Institutional submitters
can find panel related documents on the iTransfer site via the Panel
Related Documents page.
Reviewing this information helps avoid incorrect information from being
submitted and delays in the approval process as panels request additional
information due to inadequate or incorrect documentation. We are currently
working with panels and staff to be certain that the information of
the Documents page are complete and correct. We expect that we will
have all recently created and reviewed documents on the page by the
beginning August and the busy course submission season.
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Updating Your Institutional Contacts!
Another important aspect of the change in the course submission and 5
year review processes is the importance of maintaining updated contact
information for the Transfer Coordinator/Transfer Counselor related positions
as well as the information for institutional IAI contact persons.
These are the first people to whom IAI staff communicates important IAI
changes. Institutions may not be receiving information they need if our
contact lists are out of date. To check contacts listed for your institution,
follow these links: School
Review Searches for IAI contacts and panel membership information
and the
Transfer Coordinators Directory for Transfer Coordinators and additional
institutional contacts.
If you find there is outdated or incorrect information for
your institution, please contact Krista Jackson at 309-438-8640 or by
email at iai@itransfer.org. Krista
can also help should you experience any difficulty in tracking down your
institutions contact information. Thank you for keeping your information
up to date in the IAI systems.
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IAI Majors To Be Strengthened and Formalized
In the last year, the Illinois Community College Board and the Illinois
Board of Higher Education have been working to formalize the acceptance
of the course recommendations of the IAI major panels. The current IAI
and institutional transfer and articulation agreements work well for
most students. However, the system could do more, especially for those
students who enter community colleges with an intended major, but without
an intended transfer destination. As a result, you will be hearing more
about how the IAI majors will be strengthened from your Chief Academic
Officers and institutional leadership in the coming months. Your support
and assistance in the project is greatly appreciated as we work to improve
the transfer experience of students in the state of Illinois.
You can find additional information and recent developments on this
important directive on the iTransfer site via IAI
Documents page.
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Important Reminder - Agriculture Course Submissions
An important course submission development of which you
should be aware is how course submissions for the Agriculture panel are
now handled. All IAI Agriculture major courses should be submitted to
the panel through the automated IAI course submission processes, which
can be found on the iTransfer.org site on the Course
Submissions page. Please discontinue other submission methods if employed
previously. All courses needing review by any of the IAI panels should
be submitted through the online process. Emails and physical mail submissions
will be directed to submit through the website. Your assistance in submitting
these courses is both appreciated and very helpful getting the courses
approved in a timely manner.
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 Announcing:
The New 5 Year Review Process - ONLINE!
The Illinois Board of Higher
Education and the Illinois
Community College Board have been working closely with the IAI and
iTransfer.org staff to develop an internet-based system that will streamline
and automate the 5 year review process. While this new process is anticipated
to help the Board and IAI staff implementing the administrative portion
of the 5 year review process, it also provides the participating institutions
a useful tool in managing requests for course materials, tracking where
the process is within the variety of panels, and what specific courses
have been called for review or may be called in the future. The system
will allow the institutional contact to upload and store documents on
the iTransfer server for future use if desired. It will also allow us
to consolidate a variety of programs currently used to maintain IAI
information into one easy to use and streamlined process.
As a result of this important change, each institution is required
to have a single institutional login to access the 5 year review system
and submit any new course to the IAI panels for review. This login is
based on the WebReview system login and
can be created by the institutional contact who will be responsible
for doing the course submissions, requesting syllabi from departments
and faculty when a course is called for review, and who would generally
need to know what is occurring with any of the IAI processes. If you
are the institutional contact and have a WebReview login you are currently
using, the IAI staff needs to know the email for this login to give
appropriate access to the 5 year review login and course submission
login. If you are unsure who will have this access at your institution,
the IAI recommendation is that a discussion takes place at your institution
to determine who should have this login. To establish or determine a
login for your institution, please contact Krista Jackson at either
309-438-8640 or by email at iai@itransfer.org.
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u.select Updates
August Advisor Training
In these dog days of summer it is hard to believe that the fall term
is only weeks away. Let u.select help you prepare. u.select is a valuable
tool for advisors serving transfer students.
Throughout the month of August we are bringing u.select Advisor Training
to you! There is no cost for participation. We can schedule hands-on training
at your site or you can take advantage of our August webinar schedule:
Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. – 8/3, 8/10, 8/17, 8/24 & 8/31
Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. – 8/5, 8/12, 8/19 & 8/26
To sign up for advisor training contact Dena Lawrence, the u.select Illinois
Project Coordinator by email at denalawr@uillinois.edu
or by phone at 217-244-0931.
Have there been any changes to your course names or numbers?
If so, please don’t forget to share the information. When an institution
changes course names or numbers, every receiving institution is affected.
Because there is no clearinghouse available for these changes, u.select
Illinois is collecting and posting the information for you.
Send us your lists of changes and new courses, in any form, and we will
post the information at http://illinoiscas.org/crosswalk/.
Visit the site today to see updates from the University of Illinois at
Chicago, Elgin Community College and Oakton Community College.
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Transfer Coordinators and Faculty To Serve on Panels!
The Illinois Articulation Initiative cannot operate as it was intended
without active participation from faculty members in the disciplines,
as well the dedicated Transfer Coordinator’s who work tirelessly
to assist students in transferring amongst the various Illinois schools.
There are vacancies for faculty members and Transfer Coordinators, as
well as Chief Academic Officers from the 2 year public institutions,
on many of the IAI GECC and major panels. Current vacancies are listed
on the iTransfer site via our Vacancies
page. There is a particular need for Transfer Coordinators to serve
on panels as they speak on transferring students behalf.
We will work to keep the information on this page up to date, but request
that the institutional contacts keep us informed of personnel changes,
retirements, etc. We are currently reviewing participation from the
spring meetings and the information on this page may be updated further
in the next few months.
To make a nomination for a Transfer Coordinator or faculty member to
serve on a panel, please send the request to the appropriate contact
listed on the Vacancies
page. The IAI Staff member will maintaining a list of these nominations
for service on each of their panels. The IBHE and ICCB committee will
make a determination on the nominations and let selected members know
they will be serving. Please direct any questions regarding nominations
or service on a panel to Krista Jackson at 309-438-8640 or by email
at iai@itransfer.org. 
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Transfer Coordinators Meeting is November 9th
The Transfer Coordinators fall 2010 meeting is November 9th at Illinois
State University's Alumni Center. We will meet at our regularly scheduled
time from 10 am until approximately 2:30 pm.
There is a Transfer Coordinator and new attendee orientation prior to
the start of the regular meeting at 8:30am. This session is open to all
new participants in the meeting and topics will include but are not limited
to: the history of the Transfer Coordinators group, website training/information,
submitting of courses, getting involved on different panels and other
relevant items.
We are working on some excellent and timely items for the meeting. If
you have any suggestions for agenda items, please contact Lois Bishop
at LBISHOP5@depaul.edu or Thedford
Jackson at thedford.jackson@highland.edu.
They can also be reached by phone at 312-362-5161 for Lois and 815-599-3487
for TJ. Your contributions are both welcomed and encourage for topics
that interest our participants and make the meetings meaningful for all
those who participate.
We hope you will take the time to attend the meeting. As a reminder,
the Transfer Coordinators meeting is a fairly loose organization of not
only specific Transfer Coordinators at institutions, but also those individuals
within institutions who work with transfer related issues including IAI.
For more information on the meetings and details of past meetings, check
our Advocate site. You can find good
information about the Transfer Coordinators group there as well.
We look forward to seeing you at the Alumni Center!
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Supporting Contributors:
IBHE
ICCB
u.select
The Articulation Advocate
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