U Penn Turns to Business Process Software for Grade Change Update

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 05/08/20

Like many institutions hit by quick-changing plans brought on by COVID-19, the University of Pennsylvania announced in March that it would shift to virtual instruction for all classes, beginning on March 23. Shortly after, the institution also told students they could opt in to receive pass/fail grades as a replacement for traditional A-F grades.

Behind the scenes, however, the university's Information Systems & Computing (ISC) department had to work with the Office of the University Registrar to set up a way for students to request that change for their spring term classes, interactions that had to be done remotely.

The school turned to BP Logix, which produces business process management software. Using the company's program, Process Director, IT staff created a digital form and workflow process to move off of paper forms and audit trails. The software uses a "low-code," drag-and-drop process to facilitate the integration of applications, automate the connection of data from multiple sources and set up a workflow.

"Our form provides a list of the student's courses which qualify for changes, prompts the student based on the existing grade type and routes their request to the appropriate school registrar for processing," explained IT Technical Director Isobel Thompson, in a statement.

Now, said Thompson, "Students are notified when a school acts on the change request, and the registrar gets a PDF copy of the whole transaction."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • black graduation cap with a glowing blue AI brain circuit symbol on top

    Report: AI Is a Must for Modern Learners

    A new report from VitalSource identifies a growing demand among learners for AI tools, declaring that "AI isn't just a nice-to-have; it's a must."

  • From Fire TV to Signage Stick: University of Utah's Digital Signage Evolution

    Jake Sorensen, who oversees sponsorship and advertising and Student Media in Auxiliary Business Development at the University of Utah, has navigated the digital signage landscape for nearly 15 years. He was managing hundreds of devices on campus that were incompatible with digital signage requirements and needed a solution that was reliable and lowered labor costs. The Amazon Signage Stick, specifically engineered for digital signage applications, gave him the stability and design functionality the University of Utah needed, along with the assurance of long-term support.

  • laptop screen with a video play icon, surrounded by parts of notebooks, pens, and a water bottle on a student desk

    New AI Tool Generates Video Explanations Based on Course Materials

    AI-powered studying and learning platform Studyfetch has launched Imagine Explainers, a new video creator that utilizes artificial intelligence to generate 10- to 60-minute explainer videos for any topic.

  • handshake where one hand is human and the other is composed of glowing circuits

    Western Governors University Joins Open edX as a Mission-Aligned Organization

    Western Governors University is the first organization to join the Open edX project as a "mission-aligned organization" (MAO), a new category of institution-level partnership supporting development of the Open edX open source online learning platform.