Creating, and maintaining a student’s Degree Plan requires a lot of time – both student time and Academic Advisor time. The time consuming element is usually around the complexity of complying with a myriad of Program Rules that are a superset of Major Level Rules, Unit Set Rules and Subject Level rules. For a first-year student these can seem insurmountable and lead to a poor student experience and potentially to a student drop out.
Work together on the Plan
DegreeReady is designed so that Students and Academic advisors can both work on the plan at the same time. The Advisor can create multiple templates based on interests or career choices and the student can select one of these to build their plan. They can also change the template to suit their personal requirements. If they need help they can ask their Advisor and the Advisor can change the plan either in-person or remotely. They can also sit with the student to work on the plan together.
Changes to the Plan
One of the most difficult decisions for a student is when they want to either select or change their Major. This is when they need Advisor time the most. If a student is already part way through their degree they want to ensure that any subjects they’ve already completed are credited towards their new Major. The What-If function in DegreeReady takes these completed subjects into Account when working on a new plan. It shows the student what options are available to them (either a new Major or even a new Degree) and shows they which credits they can carry over. This option is also available to the Academic Advisor when working with the student.
Reducing Academic Advisor time
Our DegreeReady solution addresses the issue of excessive Academic Advisor time. The system is quick to implement and takes care of the validation of rules at each level ensuring that Degree Plans meet all the Requirements. It also makes it much easier for the student to create their plan without using up too much of the Advisor’s time.