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Case Study
Putting a Web-Enabled Database To Work at Syracuse University
8/2/2007
Using Web Viewer, we have already brought math, French, and Spanish placement tests online. Students used to take the placement exams during the summer using a paper test and did not get their results until they arrived on campus. Students also register during the summer, and this used to be a paper-based process as well. Now, instead of having their hard-copy tests sent to a processing center and waiting for the results, students can go online to take the test, and see their scores in an instant.
Automating Administration
We are automating many administrative tasks, too. There's now an online procedure for distributing absence memos to professors. Previously, students contacted the Dean's Office, and a staff member coordinated the process manually, ensuring that the proper forms reached faculty members. What once took about 30 minutes now takes less than five minutes with the new system.
Also in the works is a degree audit system that is about one-third complete. We have struggled with implementing a degree audit system for years. Our staff today has to create a hard-copy sheet for each student and update it every semester. We are looking forward to putting this process online so that faculty and advisors can have instant, up to date access to degree information when they are coaching students about remaining degree requirements.
We have also begun creating on a transfer credit database that will help automate a labor-intensive and sometimes inconsistent task. Students have to provide their transcripts from previous schools and then we indicate how we will accept each credit. It's a constant process of reevaluation that takes a lot of research time. Using Web Viewer, students will be able to upload course information, and we will have a view into course catalogs of other institutions, making the process faster and more standardized.
It's very rewarding to make people's jobs easier and with our new way of creating Web-based databases, there are many ways to do this. We've found many labor-saving, money-saving ways to streamline our processes. And having a system that's easy to use and adaptable is essential, because every day, it helps me uncover diverse needs and find a way to support them--all without having to hire a consultant.
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If you would like to share your stories with your peers--how your department solved a problem, how you improved the technology at your university, how you implemented an innovative technology-based program, etc.--please contact Dave Nagel, executive editor, at dnagel@1105media.com.
Ann Marie McGinnis is director, Student Records Office, for Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences.
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