Mike Minton, Ph.D. Associate Director Illinois State University Think BEFORE You Import: Understanding Pitfalls and Positive Practices for Importing Student Data Mike Minton, Ph.D. Associate Director Illinois State University

Benefits of Importing Data data accuracy vs. students self-reporting reach those students NOT logging in target specific student populations ease of reporting customized reporting (specific to your Institution) accreditation information Do you really want to rely on students to fill out their profile accurately? Importing institutional data makes things much more accurate and allows you to compare apples to apples. By importing data you have information on students who have not logged into your system and completed a profile. If you are not utilizing the RSVP feature, you most likely have students attending your fairs and programs who have never utilized your NACELInk system. Importing data allows you to measure your reach with these students. Consider importing race/ethnicity, veteran status, major, and year in school to target specific populations that you would like to reach with messages and promotion of your fairs/events. Importing data allows you to create customized reports for employers and university administrators that are specific to your institution. We have been able to provide academic departments with information related to accreditation, and have been invited to participate in accreditation visits because of the data we are able to provide.

Go the annual report and highlight a few of the comparisons by using institutional data:

Go the annual report and highlight a few of the comparisons by using institutional data:

Student Academic Profile Basics The most import fields!!! Full Name, First Name, and Last Name Email Class Level = Year In School (screening criteria) Major (screening criteria) Graduation Date (screening criteria) Work Authorization (screening criteria) GPA (screening criteria) Degree Level (screening criteria) Applicant Type (screening criteria) These are the most important fields within the Student Academic Profile due to the built-in functionality. For example, Full Name, First Name, and Last Name – will appear when students check in for advising appointments, this is what will print on the name badge when they swipe into a career fair. Email. This is what is used for all system generated messages. If your institution tries to utilize single sign-on technology, using the school email is critical Major – Employer can filter on this field when posting positions in OCR….meaning….if a student does not have the major an employer selected, the student will be unable to apply for a position. Making sure that this field has the correct information is vital for both students and for reporting purposes. This can also be selected as a field that can print on the name badges. Degree Level – this field can be selected my employers posting positions that are non-OCR. It is important to make sure that this information is accurate as it could discourage an employer for taking a look at a candidate.

Pitfalls Graduation Date GPA Class Level Work Authorization Graduation Date – This can be filtered by employers when posting positions through OCR. This is probably the most difficult field to get correct on doing the import. First, this field means “when does a student expect to graduate?” Be careful using the term “graduation date”, as this might be interpreted literally as “when a student graduated with a degree”. Having worked in academic affairs, usually what is listed in the institutional system as when a student “expects” to graduate is not accurate until the term for which a student applies for graduation. We have made the choice based on how our institution stores data to not import this field. We leave it up to the student to fill this information out. GPA – GPA is a system field that can be filtered by employers when they screen candidates through OCR. For most campuses, transfer students and first-semester freshmen have a institutional GPA of 0. We have instances where first-semester transfer students have a GPA of 0, and therefore cannot apply for a position through OCR. In these instances, it would be advantageous for institutions to alter the script on the import to bring in a “transfer GPA” for all first-semester transfer students if available. We do not have that option, so we encourage students to contact us and we look up their transcripts from the transferring institution to push their application through. Class Level – Employers can filter on this field. It is important to note that most institutions base “class level” or “class standing” on the number of earned hours. Some students coming out of high school will be brining credit hours earned during dual credit and college achievement programs. Therefore, you might have a situation where a student is in their first semester of college, but they are listed as a sophomore based on the import. We import this field, but I know of other schools who import data but turn off importing this field and have students fill out this field on their own. Work Authorization – probably the most controversial field to discuss with the ability of employers to filter applications based on the work authorization status of students. As it relates to importing, it varies widely on how institutions track and store work authorization status. It is important to note, that “citizenship” does NOT = work authorization.

Diversity Issues Preferred Name – Import into First Name Race/Ethnicity Veteran Status Gender Preferred Name – Ask your institutional data folks if there is anywhere in the system where students can create a “preferred” first name. This is extremely important for transgendered students, and international students. Whatever is in the first name field will be print on the name badges. Also, when students check in for advising, you don’t want to go out there and call a student by something they have already indicated that they do not want to be called. Transgender students face enormous obstacles in trying to legally change their name, so take the time to see if your school allows students to give a preference for what they want to be called. Race/Ethnicity – Having data in your system for race/ethnicity can be helpful for marketing diversity events/initiatives to your students. Import what your institution has on record and do not make this field visible to students. Veteran Status – work with your institutional folks to get this information to help connect these students with opportunities. Know in advance that sometimes institutions have a hard time separating veterans, active military, children of veterans, etc. Just be sure you ask if it is important to you in knowing. Gender – We currently import data based on institutional data for each student, but this is not visible to the student in their profile. Depending on how inclusive your institution is identifying gender, importing this information could be helpful to identifying students who could benefit from diversity initiatives for GLBTQ and underrepresentation of gender within certain career industries.

Pitfalls and Things to think about… Do NOT create custom fields without FIRST fully understanding the original system fields Meet with someone in your Registrar’s Office, Technology, and Academic Advisors. And all roles in career services! Talk to other schools using the same info system (Banner, People Soft, etc.) Keep a system key!

Questions?