Catalog and Curriculum The USC Experience G8 PACRAO Spokane, WA November 7 11:15 – 12:15 Robert Morley Associate Registrar University of Southern California
University of Southern California Founded in 1880 University Park campus located three miles south of downtown Los Angeles Health Sciences campus located three miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles College of Letters, Arts & Sciences: Graduate School; 18 professional schools; teaching hospital 44,000 student enrollment 25,000 graduate and professional – 19,000 undergraduates Largest international student population: 10, 571 Largest private employer in Los Angeles: 26, 327 4,190 faculty; 14,482 staff, 7,655 student workers
Overview Background/History Desired attributes and functionality The Search Summary evaluation of features by area Tasks and Timeline Might have done this differently/better Outcomes Next steps
Background/History 2008 launch of “homegrown” CMS Dramatic increase in the number of * proposals: AY2009-2010 (675), AY2013-2014 (1,748) AY 2016-2017 (1,995) AY2013-2014; 65.2 average days for a proposal to be approved 2014 survey of the curriculum community revealed that 85% of the community was unhappy and that improvement was needed 2014-2015 the printed catalog is abandoned in favor of a web based The Provost and UCOC direct CCO to identify a replacement CCO begins a survey and review of all vendor solutions Attempts to launch KUALI CMS are unsuccessful (USC was a founding partner of the KUALI consortium) *proposal refers to the creation, revision, or termination of degrees, majors, minors, certificates and courses
Desired attributes and functionality CMS and Catalogue seamless integration Robust workflow Email notifications Ability to view proposals at any time/place in the workflow Forms, workflow and user access easily configured /maintained Robust reporting features with user ability to filter proposals SQL database oriented rather than page oriented Data base search function rather than a google-style search function Data backed up to the Amazon Cloud instead of local servers Reliable and responsive vendor support Shibboleth compatible
The Search 5 vendor products and the USC CMS were reviewed and evaluated Vendors were brought in for multiple demonstrations Numerous follow-up phone calls to clarify the product’s attributes and functionality Sought feedback from vendors customer base, not necessarily those schools provided by the vendor A final analysis resulted in a recommendation to the UCOC and Provost
Summary evaluation of features by area Feature XXX XXX XXX Catalog course functionality 0.5 2.36 2.72 Catalog and CMS integration 0 3 2.67 Administrative Workflow functionality 1.81 2.45 3 User access functionality 1 2.43 2.86 Proposal tracking functionality 0 2 3 Security functionality 1.5 3 2.5 Versioning functionality 2.5 2.75 2.5 Publishing functionality 1 3 3 User action functionality 2.06 2.25 2.56 Learning objectives functionality 0 2 3 Course sets functionality 0 1 3 Reporting functionality 0.78 2.22 2.33 SIS integration functionality 3 2.42 2.78 Overall Score 1.09 2.42 2.78
Tasks and Timeline 3/15 P.O issued to purchase Curriculog and Acalog 4/15 PDF Catalog sent to DigArc for populating our Acalog 6/15 We begin configuring the catalog, organization, hierarchy, etc. 7-8/15 Begin launch internally and training CCO staff 8/1/15 High level demo for key stakeholders 8/15 Establish access for curriculum users for Curriculog & Acalog 8-9/15 Training the curriculum community on both Curriculog & Acalog 10/15 Curriculog launch 11/15 Acalog launch 3/16 Integration from Curriculog to SIS
Might have done this differently/better Timeline for implementation was extremely aggressive, given our level of activity and complexity Did not fully anticipate the time and effort needed to integrate with SIS and Acalog
Outcomes Curriculum community (both Curriculog and Acalog) is very pleased and accepting of the new process Little dependence upon local IT resources (primarily SIS integration) Eliminated the need to cut and paste from CMS into the Catalogue Curriculum community can view all proposals
Next steps Develop interface from Acalog to DARS Develop interface from Acalog to the Schedule of Classes Enhance the integration from the DigArc Integration Manager to SIS Educate and publicize the capabilities, especially those found in Acalog
Contact/Resources http://www.usc.edu/registrar Robert Morley morley@usc.edu/ 213 740-1164 http://www.usc.edu/registrar