Terri Tommasone & Diana Abinader Pre-Evaluation of Transfer Credit Continuous Improvement to Create Scalability and Consistency while Maximizing Transfer Options for Students Terri Tommasone & Diana Abinader

Agenda Background and History New Pre-Evaluation Process The Office of Admissions and Evaluation What is a Pre-evaluation? History of the Pre-evaluation Process Reasons for the Transition Our Transition Goals Transition Process New Pre-Evaluation Process Workflow IT Development Communication Staffing

Background and History

The Office of Admissions and Evaluation Provost Office of Admissions & Evaluation Official admissions decisions and transfer credit evaluations Operations Enrollment Services Recruitment and onboarding of potential students The Office of Admissions and Evaluation is responsible for the execution of official admissions decision and transfer credit evaluations Enrollment is responsible for the onboarding and acquisition of interested applicants Process is separated for scalability and consistency to mirror official transfer credit decisions and program academic progression requirements Responsibilities are separated for scalability, consistency, and quality. In the pre-evaluation process, this allows us to consider program policy and academic progression requirements, and mirror official transfer credit decisions

What is a Pre-evaluation? A pre-evaluation is an unofficial review of potential transfer credits an applicant may be able to apply towards a University of Phoenix degree program. The pre-evaluation process allows our Enrollment Representative to obtain unofficial documentation from previous post-secondary institutions from the potential student and submits a request for a pre-evaluation prior to the student completing admissions paperwork.

History of Pre-evaluation Process Pre-Evaluations processed by Student Services as needed, upon request from Enrollment University growth and program complexity presented need for process improvement Pre-Evaluation process centralized within Admissions & Evaluation Streamlined process using SharePoint Increased quality and consistency Improved timeliness of pre-evaluation process Better, more consistent results for students May 2015 Pre-evaluations were processed through our Student Services group based on their close relationship with Enrollment through Graduation Team alignments Many students previously did not chose to obtain pre-evaluations because the standard evaluation process could take place in ~28 days or less (including transcript acquisition on the student’s behalf) As the University grew and transfer credit evaluations became more complex with mixtures of traditional, PLA, and alternative credit it became important to streamline this process for efficiency purposes In May 4, 2015 the process transitioned to Office of Admissions and Evaluation where a focused group of evaluators could perform the same work in a more timely and higher quality fashion based on their role to officially evaluate incoming credit This also helped to ensure results appeared consistent between the student pre-evaluation and the student’s final evaluation conducted by the Office of Admissions and Evaluation

Reasons for the Transition Additional transfer credit expertise Additional transfer credit resources Increase accuracy Create standardization Improve accountability Growth opportunities Improve output for students

Our Transition Goals Transition the pre-evaluation process from one group to another Find process improvement solutions using resources available, without any IT development Maximize the expertise of our staff to improve a process Continuous improvement of the pre-evaluation process

Transitioning Pre-evaluations to Office of Admissions & Evaluation Cross-functional meetings between Student Service and Office of Admissions and Evaluation to set expectations Creation of a sample process flow and identification of process improvements Process change had the challenge of using existing resources and tools without requiring IT development Identification of tools to be used to improve process (Sharepoint, queue, new worksheets, reporting) Communication plan Staffing models

New Pre-Evaluation Process

Pre-evaluation Process workflow

IT development Before After Email requests Email requests forwarded Handwritten pre-evaluation results sent via email Academic Advisors often times had to complete a Pre-Evaluation over again to respond to a question Completed pre-evaluations could not be located by any other Enrollment Representative Process was not trackable Unable to track duplicate requests * Demonstration slide to follow After Use internal systems and resources Sharepoint queue for submission form for pre-evaluation requests * Pre-evaluations completed electronically and saved in pdf format * Evaluators enter all coursework and use excel enhancements to correlate with Pre- Evaluation result page Search function created to allow Enrollment Representative to locate previously completed pre-evaluations* Auto generated status email updates Duplicate checks

IT Development- Submission Form

IT Development- SharePoint Queue

IT Development - Search Function

IT Development- Pre-evaluation Form Pre-evaluation forms are organized by sections for better understanding of the results. Demographics Required Course of Study General Education Requirements Elective Requirements Transfer Credit Program Credits Summary Notes

IT Development- Pre-evaluation Form

IT Development- Pre-evaluation Form

Communication Before After Enrollment Representatives would reach out to an Academic Advisor with questions Status communications were not standard *Demonstration slide to follow After Dedicated pre-evaluation inbox solely for pre-evaluation questions Status update emails from creation to completion * Announcement banner * Evaluator Comments box Enrollment Representative comments box FAQ Customer survey

Communication- Status Update Emails Submission email: Communication- Status Update Emails

Communication- Announcement Banner

Staffing Before 100’s of Academic Advisors completing pre-evaluation * Limited credit evaluation experience Insufficient credit evaluation resources Other focused priorities *Demonstration slide to follow After Team of 10 Evaluators * Experience in official credit evaluation Familiar with all credit evaluation resources available Key performance indicator goal and priority for the team Quality Control program Experienced with program requirements and regulatory policies Experienced with program requirements and regulatory policies Up to date with University policy updates and changes Cross trained to traditional and non-traditional credit evaluation (NTP, Military, etc)  

Staffing- Process Flow After Before

Feedback Customer survey Quality Control Run regular reports Pre-evaluation email inbox

Summary of Continuous Improvement Initiatives Implemented How it Improved Process Centralized Work Distribution 2015 Q3 Work items are sent to an electronic queue and worked on first in/first out basis Customer FAQ Provides most frequently asked questions and responses Updated frequently to stay current Added Comment Field in Request 2015 Q4 Allows the Evaluator and Enrollment Representative to communicate better

Summary of Continuous Improvement Initiatives - Continued Implemented How it Improved Process Official Quality Control Process 2016 Q2 Coaching opportunities Increase quality Customer Survey 2016 Q4 Provides customer feedback for continuous improvement Resources & Trainings 2017 Q2 Updated resources and conducted refresher trainings for Evaluators

Questions

Contact Information Diana Abinader Manager, Admissions & Evaluation University of Phoenix Diana.abinader@phoenix.edu Terri Tommasone Director, Admissions & Evaluation Terri.Tommasone@phoenix.edu