November 14 -17, 2016 Discipline Stakeholder Meetings: Creating College to University Transfer Pathways

Discipline Stakeholder Meetings Schedule Monday 8:00 – 11:00 Social Work 11:30 – 2:30 Sociology 3:00 – 6:00 Crim. Justice: Police Tuesday Computer Science Math Economics Wednesday Chemistry Nursing Kinesiology Thursday Early Childhood Educ. Elementary Education Communication

What are Transfer Pathways? Pathways from associate degrees into the top 25 – 30 majors in the system About 2/3 of all ~12,000 bachelor’s degrees every year are awarded in those majors Students who earn a Transfer Pathway associate degree award will enter a Minnesota State university as a junior and be able to graduate with 60 additional credits. For example, a college will develop an associate degree in biology which will be accepted for entry into the major at any state university.

Background: How did we get here? 2015 legislation required Minnesota State to “Implement new transfer pathways for associate of arts degrees, associate of science degrees, and associate of fine arts degrees toward baccalaureate degree programs… The implementation must, to the greatest extent possible, be done in accordance with the implementation plan, including its timeline.” The creation and implementation of transfer pathways has occurred recently in many states. Significant elements of our work have been modeled after the work done in: California Pennsylvania Connecticut

How are the pathways being developed? Transfer Pathway Coordinating Team Transfer Pathway Teams Oversight is provided by the Transfer Pathway Coordinating Team (TPCT). This team is composed of faculty, students, staff, and administrators. The TPCT is co-chaired by one university faculty member and one college faculty member. Each pathway is created by a Transfer Pathway Team (TPT). Composition of team is a majority of faculty (12/20) but also includes students, staff, and administrators. Teams are co-chaired by one university faculty member and one college faculty member.

What is the general timeline for a tpt? Each TPT has a semester to develop the pathway Feedback is sought for the draft pathway via a Discipline Stakeholder Meeting and surveys Feedback informs the final pathway The TPCT approves the final pathway Each college and university has a year for local work: modifying or creating courses approving the pathway using the template making changes in the catalog informing students, etc.

What is happening during the 2016-2017 academic year? Campus curriculum work has begun in order to implement Spring 2016 pathways by Fall 2017 Fall 2016 TPTs are being launched and will be implemented by Fall 2018 12 disciplines Spring 2017 TPTs are being launched and will be implemented by Fall 2018 14 disciplines spring semester Campuses will develop plans for communicating with and advising students

Spring 2016: pilot transfer pathways teams Biology Business Psychology Theatre Evaluation survey: 51 of 70 TPT members responded. 84% rated their success 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale Website (search “MnSCU transfer pathways”) offers: Newsletter, brochure, published pathways, videos of discipline stakeholder meetings, TPT meeting minutes

Fall 2016 transfer pathway teams and timeline Chemistry Communications, General Computer Science Criminal Justice, Police Early Childhood Education – focused on the birth to third licensure Economics Elementary Education Kinesiology and Exercise Science Mathematics Nursing Social Work Sociology Fall 2016 TPTs begin development of 12 pathways September 2016 Proposed pathways presented for review at discipline stakeholder meetings November 14-17, 2016 Final Fall 2016 pathways approved for campus implementation February 15, 2017 Campus process for curriculum review and development Fall 2017 Fall 2016 pathways available for student enrollment Fall 2018

Transfer Pathway Implementation Plan After each pathway is designed, campuses have a year + for implementation. Spring 2016 pathways must be available to students in fall 2017. All others in fall 2018. Campus Implementation Toolkit published August 2016. Transfer Pathways website provides additional details Newsletter / FAQ to be updated regularly throughout the year. Elaina

LESSONS LEARNED SO FAR Identifying competencies and outcomes is a good place to start. Identifying and linking competencies to courses and their descriptions is necessary to delineate a pathway for students. Course competencies, titles, descriptions, and credit values are necessary, but over-specification is not good. With 30 colleges and 7 universities there will be differences. e.g., Use credit ranges for a pathway course when you encounter common differences among colleges Issues such as sub-fields, licensure, and accreditation are challenging, but employers and supervisory bodies have been very happy to work with us. Having a liaison from the TPCT is helpful, but they are not experts in your discipline. They can help provide direction to the development of a pathway, not its content. Elaina et al.?

College Implementation: Programs Existing Programs Associate of Arts Emphasis degrees will be retired when an Associate of Arts- Pathway (AA-P) in that discipline is offered Associate of Fine Arts degrees will be retired when an Associate of Fine Arts- Pathway (AFAP) in that discipline is offered Associate of Science (AS) degrees may be kept IF they are significantly different from the Associate of Science-Pathway (AS-P) in that discipline. When there are two AS degrees in the same field, those differences must be made clear to students In the liberal arts and sciences many new AA-P and AS-P degrees in specific disciplines will be implemented as new programs Julie New Programs

College Implementation: Catalog Description “Boiler Plate” Program Description The DISCIPLINE(Minnesota State Transfer Pathway) [AA-P, AS-P, AFAP] offers students an opportunity to complete an associate degree that fully transfers to a DISCIPLINE bachelor's degree program at any one of seven universities within the Minnesota State system* that offers the major. The entire curriculum has been carefully designed to meet designated bachelor's degree program requirements for transfer students planning initial study at one of the 30 community and technical colleges of Minnesota State that offers the pathway. Students planning to transfer outside of the Minnesota State system are advised to consult with their intended transfer institution to determine transferability of the courses in this curriculum. * The Minnesota State universities are Bemidji State University; Metropolitan State University; Minnesota State University, Mankato; Minnesota State University Moorhead; St. Cloud State University; Southwest Minnesota State University; and Winona State University. www.asa.mnscu.edu/transfer/pathways

Julie Maxson julie.maxson@metrostate.edu Key contacts Transfer Pathways Coordinating Team Co-chairs Julie Maxson julie.maxson@metrostate.edu Gregg Marg gregg.marg@mnsu.edu Glenn Merrick g.merrick@lsc.edu System Office Staff Lynda Milne, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Lynda.milne@so.msncu.edu Brenda Lyseng, Transfer Pathways Project Manager, Brenda.Lyseng@so.mnscu.edu

Transfer Pathway Resources Transfer Pathways Website: http://www.asa.mnscu.edu/transfer/pathways/ Brochure Pathways Schedule (Fall 2016 and Spring 2017) Approved Pathways Baccalaureate Degree Transfer Pathways: Report to the Legislature Campus Transfer Pathways Implementation Toolkit FAQs Lynda, slides 23-24