Degree progress compares students' transcripts to the academic requirements they must meet in order to graduate. It creates a report showing which requirements have been met and which remain to be fulfilled.

In the past, NAU advisors prepared manual degree progress reports (often called curriculum check sheets). Now, advisors, faculty, and staff can use an automated web-based system to obtain degree progress.

Who can use degree progress?

Degree progress is available to undergraduate students who have been admitted to NAU and plan to graduate under the 2001-2003 and subsequent catalogs.

Degree progress is not available for post-baccalaureate students or undergraduate students graduating under the 1999-2001 or earlier catalogs. Degree progress is available for graduate students in select academic plans beginning in Fall 01.

Both advisors and students can request degree progress reports on line. Students can only view reports of their own academic work, while advisors can obtain degree progress reports for all students they�re working with, including assigned, new, and walk-in advisees.

Is degree progress available now?

Yes! Degree progress was implemented in two phases: On October 15, 2003, advisors, faculty, and staff were given access to degree audits on the web. Students were given access February 1, 2004.

Where does degree progress fit with the graduation check-out process?

Degree Progress will be used as part of the 2007 grad check-out process. If there are questions regarding your departmental plan setup within Degree Progress please contact us via the e-mail link below.

Ultimately degree progress will streamline NAU�s graduation checkout process and reduce the workload for staff in academic units who review and approve graduation applications. More importantly, it should help reduce the potential for varying interpretations of academic requirements, thus helping students complete their academic goals in a timely fashion.

Is degree progress easy to use? How can I learn about it?

Degree progress is easy to use! All you need to know is how to request a report on the web and how to interpret the report. You don�t need to input or manipulate information in LOUIE, because degree progress uses data that should already be in the system, such as a student�s transfer coursework, NAU coursework, and degree requirements.

To learn how to use it, review the Degree Progress Tutorial, which explains how to request and interpret degree progrss reports. Since this tutorial will remain available on the web for later access, you can review it again whenever you need to.

How can I access degree progress?

If you already have access to the self-service advisor functions in LOUIE, you automatically have access to degree progress. If you have successfully completed the FERPA tutorial, you are automatically assigned self-service advisor functions if you're currently teaching a class or if you have a faculty title (Professor, Instructor, etc.) or advisor title (such as Academic Advisor, Sr.).

If these categories don't apply to you, yet you advise students and need access to degree progress, you need to complete the FERPA training and then submit a security request form asking for the NAU_SR General Advisor role, if you haven�t already done so. You can reach the FERPA tutorial and security request form from http://www4.nau.edu/fslouie/. We also recommend that you complete the Student Advisor tutorial, which covers other aspects of the NAU_SR General Advisor role.

How might I use degree progress in an advising session?

Automated degree progress should free you from spending so much time creating or updating a curriculum check sheet for every advising session. You can request that your advisees print and review their degree progress reports ahead of time, then bring the report to the advising session with any questions that arise from their review.

This may help your students to take increased responsibility for meeting graduation requirements, and it should allow more opportunity for advisor-student interaction�time you can spend going over information in the degree progress, building a schedule, discussing career goals, and mentoring your advisees.

Incidentally, students can learn about degree progress from a TIPS tutorial, and the Gateway Student Success Center will inform incoming students about degree progress. Feel free to direct students to the TIPS course for basic information and to the Student Q&A on this as well.

Does degree progress make schedule building easier?

Yes. Degree progress reports show what requirements students still need to complete. So instead of your having to determine this manually, you can focus on the best sequence in which to take the remaining courses and help to develop a schedule that most efficiently meets your advisees� goals.

Does degree progress use transfer and test credit?

Absolutely. Most NAU students have transfer coursework or credit earned through testing, and degree progress shows how transfer and test credit applies to students� graduation requirements.

Through the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, students' transfer credit is entered into LOUIE when the student transfers courses to NAU. Transfer courses are equated to NAU courses when possible or entered as generic coursework when not. Credits for tests such as CLEP and AP are also entered in the system. Degree progress then applies equated transfer and test credit to the appropriate NAU requirements.

How does degree progress deal with exceptions for students?

Exceptions approved by the appropriate person or office, such as substituting one course for another or changing a requirement, show on the degree progress and indicate who approved them. So anyone working with a particular student has access to that information.

Exceptions are entered in the system by degree progress staff in the Academic Information Office. That means you don�t need to learn about the inner workings of the system, so you can devote your time to working directly with students instead.

However, it is crucial that degree progress staff be notified when exceptions are approved so they can be entered in students' records in a timely manner. Each academic unit has a process for doing this, so check with your college or department for more information. Exceptions should be communicated to degree progress staff at the time they are approved.

How are existing exceptions being added to degree progress?

In the past, exceptions have been recorded in paper files in individual advising offices; therefore, NAU�s degree audit system didn�t include this information initially. We encourage academic units to get exceptions taken care of for their existing students as soon as possible so students can see reports that are complete and accurate.

We are asking academic units to provide information for juniors first, then sophomores. (Students who are currently seniors will likely graduate before the degree progress reports become part of the graduation check out process.

How does degree progress deal with individualized requirements?

NAU�s undergraduate curriculum includes a few academic requirements that vary by individual student. The most common examples are the 15-unit focus required of BAiLS students and the 18-unit individualized content emphasis for students in elementary education. Degree progress provides what�s called a �student individualized plan� to take care of such requirements.

The requirements for a student�s individualized plan must first be developed by the advisor and student together and then must be communicated to degree progress staff for setting up in the LOUIE system. This involves the same process each academic unit uses for communicating student exceptions, so check with your college or department to find out more about that. Student individualized plans should be communicated to degree progress staff at the time they are approved.

You should know that specific types of student individualized plans (such as an individualized emphasis in a particular major) must be approved by the University Curriculum Committee and be specifically described as such in NAU�s academic catalog before they can be used for individual students in NAU�s degree progress system.

How are existing individualized plans being added to degree progress?

As has been true with student exceptions, the details of these individualized plans have in the past been recorded in paper files in individual advising offices. That means NAU�s degree progress system didn�t include this information initially. We have asked academic units that have student individualized plans to provide information to degree progress staff as soon as possible so students' degree progress reports will be complete and accurate.

We are asking academic units to provide individualized plan information starting with juniors first, then sophomores.

How does degree progress deal with noncourse requirements?

A very few undergraduate plans have noncourse graduation requirements, such as completing a language proficiency exam or a certain number of hours of work experience. Requirements such as these can be tracked in LOUIE by using what are called milestones. Milestones require maintenance by the academic units that use them and are only appropriate in a small number of circumstances. What�s important to know is that degree audit can check milestones just as easily as it checks course and GPA requirements.

Are degree progress reports ever inaccurate?

Unfortunately, yes. Degree progress provides a �looking glass� for viewing information in several parts of the LOUIE system. If that information is incomplete or inaccurate, the degree audit may be also.

Although most reports will be accurate, if a student has never declared a change of major or the minor he is pursuing, the degree audit will show the wrong major or will show no minor at all. This will need to be corrected by someone with access to change program/plan information in LOUIE.

If a student has completed transfer coursework since being admitted to NAU but that coursework hasn't yet been evaluated, it won�t show up in degree progress. The same thing could happen with an AGEC or an associate degree that was completed after the student was admitted to NAU. First check with the student to see if the appropriate transcript has been submitted. If it has, contact the Office of Undergraduate Admissions for more information.

In addition, if that student has had an exception or an individualized plan approved, but these haven�t been communicated to degree progress staff for entering in the system, they won�t appear in the student�s degree progress report so the graduation requirements won�t appear complete even if they are. In this situation, contact the person in your academic area who is authorized to approve exceptions and submit them to degree progress staff.

One last example: If the student's academic plan (major, minor, or certificate) or subplan (emphasis or focus) was coded incorrectly in LOUIE or the wrong requirement term (similar to catalog year) was input, you may see requirements from the wrong catalog year or for the wrong plan or subplan in the report. (You can check the catalog year in brackets on the report to make sure the proper requirements are showing.) Here also, someone with program/plan access in LOUIE will have to make the correction.

Although finding such problems through degree progress might seem frustrating, the degree progress �looking glass� provides an opportunity to get these problems resolved early rather than only when the student is preparing to graduate. Particularly because degree progress is available from the time students are first admitted to NAU, being able to find such problems and get them corrected is a real bonus of the degree progress system.

Why are degree progress reports so long? They take a lot of paper!

A degree progress report can be lengthy because it includes so much information. It shows any transfer and test credit the student has earned plus a complete unofficial transcript of all courses taken at NAU--as well as the analysis of the student's progress toward completing degree requirements.

Depending on how many credits the student has earned and how complex the relevant academic requirements are, a report may be several pages long!

You don't always need to print a report. If you just want to check one specific part of the report (for instance, to see if an exception you approved is showing up yet), you can simply view that information on screen.

When you do want to print a hard copy of the report, you may want to use a macro developed by the College of Business Administration that condenses the text. Although this can make the text a bit harder to read, it will definitely save paper.

How will degree progress be updated to reflect changes in curriculum?

The degree progress system will be updated each year, just as NAU�s academic catalog is. (As of Fall 2003, a new catalog is produced each year, rather than every other year has has been the case in the past.) All curriculum changes approved during a particular academic year by the University Curriculum Committee, or other appropriate entities, will be updated by the Academic Information Office in both the academic catalog and degree audit.

If students want to change majors, can degree progress help determine how existing coursework will apply?

Definitely! Degree progress can compare a student�s current academic record to the requirements for a different plan (major, minor, or certificate) or subplan (emphasis or focus), and the resulting report shows how existing coursework might fit with those specific requirements. This is called a �what-if� report, and the on-line tutorial shows how to request it.

Please note that what-if reports only show one plan and subplan at a time. After the student's change of plan or subplan is noted in LOUIE, you'll get more complete information by requesting a regular degree progress instead.

If students can request their own degree progress reports, won�t they assume they no longer need an advisor?

Degree progress doesn�t offer advice; it simply monitors academic progress. Reports aren�t intended to replace the one-on-one personal interaction between students and advisors that academic advising offers.

Although NAU requires some groups of students to work with an advisor, others are free to decide for themselves. Of those, some may choose to self-advise, to one degree or another, just as they have in the past. However, degree progress works best as a tool that facilitates academic advising.

That�s why each degree progress has an introductory statement encouraging students to meet with an advisor for a more complete interpretation of the report and to discuss their academic goals.

If students do self-advise, can degree progress give them new ways to make mistakes that keep them from graduating on time?

Students who advised themselves in the past have used many sources of information, including academic catalogs, departmental information, and suggestions from a variety of individuals. Having a self-service degree progress system available should provide students with more consistent and complete information than they've had before. As a result, degree progress may actually reduce the time-consuming mistakes students sometimes make in completing their academic requirements.

Instead of using this new degree progress, can I stick with my paper-based system?

You will need to continue providing manual degree progress for undergraduates graduating under catalogs prior to 2001 and for post-baccalaureate and graduate students. And you may want to briefly use your paper-based system as a double-check of automated degree progress until you become more familiar with it.

However, automated degree progress is replacing the manual process. Because this comprehensive tool gathers information for you (such as a student�s transfer credit and current NAU coursework) and compares it to the relevant academic requirements, it can free you to use your advising time more qualitatively than quantitatively.

As of October 2004 over 20,000 reports had been run by individuals. People are clearly transitioning. When degree students print their own degree progress reports and bring them to their advising appointments, you�ll find it beneficial to be able to interpret and discuss these reports comfortably with your advisees.

Who put this degree progress system together?

The Degree Progress Team included Ron Pitt (Associate Provost for Academic Administration), Eric Bradford (Degree Progress and former Academic Advisor), Margery Sorensen (Degree Progress and former Business Process Analyst), Julia Spining (Degree Progress, Business Analyst, and former Advisement Coordinator), and Sarah Wilce (Academic Catalog and Curriculum Specialist). Between us, we have 57 years of experience at NAU.

The team�s work was further enhanced by the involvement of 65 curriculum liaisons from each academic area with undergraduate curriculum as well as the advising staff at the Gateway Student Success Center. Finally, we were given guidance and assistance by Valaurie Bridges (Consultant) as well as by C.J. Smith (Professor, Psychology Department), Danielle Bordeleau (former Articulation Coordinator), Trish Rensink (former Project Manager, Testing and Training Team), and Walter Hopkins (Associate Dean, College of Engineering and Technology) at various stages of our work.

With all of us working together on NAU�s degree progress system, we made it as accurate and reflective of the university�s undergraduate academic requirements as we possibly could. Further, the degree progress staff--Eric Bradford and Margery Sorensen--in the Academic Information Office intend to keep improving it in the future, and we welcome your feedback in this endeavor.

What if I want more information?

If you have additional questions about degree audit, please feel free to email Eric.Bradford@nau.edu or Margery.Sorensen@nau.edu and we�ll do our best to respond. We appreciate your interest in degree progress and its role in NAU�s future!