Ohio Specific Encoding

Encoding DARwin/u.achieve for the Ohio Transfer Module

Each institution will need to identify its Transfer Module according to the guidelines appended. Students who successfully complete the Transfer Module at one institution will be considered to have met the Transfer Module requirements of the receiving institution.
There are four tables to be affected for DARwin/u.achieve to complete a Sub-requirement based on the Transfer Module completion.

1. Institutional Reference Table
2. Transfer Articulation Table
3. Grade Master Table
4. Requirement Table

Finally, u.select must be setup to utilize this encoding.

Institutional Reference Table

The Institutional Reference Table will be used to interpret grades and symbols found on a student record into and from Universal symbols during the articulation process. In the Source Institution table, the grade will be defined to reflect what it means at the Source institution. The grade on the source will be interpreted into a Universal value that will be interpreted into a meaningful grade or code at the home institution.

There are two ways to accomplish this. If you currently have all the Ohio public schools in your Transfer Tables, you can choose either method. Use Method 2, if you do not have, or do not plan to have, Transfer Tables for all of the Ohio Public Institutions.

Method 1

For each Ohio Institution's Institutional Reference Table (IREF), a Source grade needs to be incorporated that will be interpreted into a new Universal Grade used in the Target IREF designed to satisfy Sub-Requirements.
First, encode a new grade in the Source IREF that will be used on the student for identifying the completion of the Transfer Module. Our example uses OT, and is interpreted to MOD Universal Grade (UGrd).

Method 2

Create an Ohio Public IREF, a Source grade needs to be incorporated that will be interpreted into a new Universal Grade used in the Target IREF designed to satisfy Sub-Requirements. In this case, we called the table OBOR.
Encode one grade line in the Source IREF that will be used on the student for identifying the completion of the Transfer Module. Our example uses OT, and is interpreted to MOD Universal Grade (UGrd).

For both methods, the UGrd from the Source IREF needs to be placed in the UGrd field on the Target IREF and interpreted to a Grade at your institution, which will be used to satisfy Requirements. Our Example uses EV as the Target Grade.

Transfer Articulation Table

At the top of the Transfer Articulation table for each Ohio institution, if using Method 1, a new rule needs to be created accepting a course identified as being the completion of the Transfer Module, and articulating that course to the OH TRAN MOD pseudo course used in the Sub-Requirements. If using Method 2, create a Transfer Articulation table for your Ohio Public Institution and create the rule described above. This table will have only one entry.

Grade Master Table

Whether using Method 1 or Method 2, all home institution grades must be defined in the Grade Master Table located with the Support Tables. This is the location where the EV grade, assigned through Transfer Articulation of the Ohio Transfer Module completion, will be assigned the characteristic of completing a Requirement.

Selecting Force = 'S' will force the Sub-Requirement in which a course with this grade will be located to completion.

Requirement Table

Each Sub-Requirement affected by the completion of the Transfer Module must contain a pseudo course used to identify its acceptance as completing this area.

The OH TRAN MOD pseudo course, as used in our examples, is placed in the Acceptable Course List for each Sub-Requirement that will be satisfied given the completion of the Ohio Transfer Module. This pseudo course is brought into play from the Transfer Articulation Tables for each public Ohio institution/OBOR table.

u.select Questions and Answers

In order to test this system, a student will need to select the originating source course with the appropriate grade. In u.select, the student will choose "Yes, I have completed my Ohio Transfer Module at this institution" to add the course. The u.select Administrator is responsible for setting up the Program Question and Answer for this scenario to work.
First, the Program Question is entered by the u.select Administrator asking the student if the Ohio Transfer Module has been completed.

Next, add answers from which the student would choose, which would then affect whether or not the pseudo course is added to the courses sent and processed through DARwin/u.achieve. For Method 1, there will be multiple 'Yes' answers, one for each Ohio Public Institution. For Method 2, there will be only one 'Yes' answer, with the INSTIDQ and INSTID matching your created table.
The answer that would allow the pseudo course to be added could look as the example below:

Please refer to the u.select Administrator Guide for more information on adding Program Questions and Answers.

Associates Degree

As a general policy, most Target institutions will only accept transfer work if completed with a 'C' or better grade. Due to the Articulation and Transfer Policy in Ohio, individuals who have earned an A.A degree or A.S. degree, with an overall GPA of 2.0 or better at an Ohio institution, will receive transfer credit for all college level courses which they have passed.
There are three tables to be affected for DARwin/u.achieve to accept passing grades lower than 'C' based on an A.A. or A.S. degree having been earned.
1. Transfer Articulation Table
2. Institutional Reference Table
3. Grade Master Table

Finally, u.select must be setup to utilize the encoding.

Institutional Reference Table

For each Ohio Institution's IREF, a source grade needs to be incorporated that will be interpreted into a new Universal Grade (UGrd). First, encode a new grade in the Source IREF that will be used on the student for identifying an earned Associates Degree. Our example uses DG, and is interpreted to DEG Universal Grade.

Secondly, the UGrd from the Source IREF needs to be placed in the UGrd field on the Target IREF and interpreted to a Grade at your institution. Our Example uses AD as the Target Grade.

Also in the Target Institutional Reference table, two entries for each Universal Grade corresponding to a grade below a 'C' will need to be defined. One grade will accept credit for the course, the other grade will process as your institution would normally accept the grade. The conditional grade would need to be listed before the normal entry; therefore the first entry for the Universal Grade would need an Acu field (Accept Universal Condition Code) value of S:condition code. A UNIVERSAL Condition Code is three characters and is assigned and tested in the IREF to affect processing of the grade assignment, credit assignment, GPA assignment, other condition code assignments, or the course articulation processes.

The S:@ we have chosen for our example is the condition code assigned in the transfer articulation rules with a CTLCD of SY or SR. We will set up the Associates Degree rule CTLCD field of the Transfer Articulation table, with an 'SY' to indicate a System Condition Code. In processing of these grades, the Acu field value would also need to match before the Target grade is assigned.
The TC-, TD+ and TD grades, with the associated condition in the Acu field, are defined with earned credit, and the NTC-, NTD+, and NTD grades are defined with no earned credit (or however your institution would normally accept this grade).

Transfer Articulation

At the top of the Transfer Articulation table for each Ohio institution, a new rule needs to be created accepting a courses identified to evaluate passing grades lower than 'C' on condition. To instruct DARwin/u.achieve of this special condition, a character, which will become a condition code assigned to the Target course, is entered in the Cond field (and must be in the COM.CONDTB-US1 field), and an SY is entered in the Ctl Cd field. The literal SY indicates a 'system' condition code, which may be tested in the Target Institutional Reference table.

The ASSOC DEGREE pseudo course will be articulated to a Target pseudo course, ACCEPT D WORK. When the ASSOC DEGREE is entered for the student, it will match this articulation rule. In u.select, this course will be added to the student record through the program question and answer process. The course will not, however, be stored in their course portfolio; it is individual to each institution.
The purpose of entering the SOURCE pseudo course is to indicate that the student has an Associates Degree. When the Target pseudo course is generated, the system condition code of 'S:@' is also set for the student. DARwin/u.achieve will be able to test for the 'S:@' in the Target IREF as the condition that must be present before a grade lower that 'C' will be accepted. Therefore, the 'S:@' will be entered in the ACU (Accept Universal condition code) test field in the Target IREF.

Grade Master Table

All grades entered on the Target IREF must then be inserted into the Grade Master Table.

u.select Questions and Answers

When entering course work for the student with an Associate degree, we can enter a pseudo course value to also represent the degree. This is the same method that was used to enter a notation when the Ohio Transfer Module was completed.
First, the program question is entered by the u.select Administrator asking if the student has completed the Associates Degree.

Following the question, should be answers from which the student would choose, which would then affect whether or not the pseudo course is added to the record and processed through DARwin/u.achieve as it has been setup.
The Answer that would allow the pseudo course to be added could look as the example below:

Additional Ideas

The articulated pseudo course representing an Associate Degree can be used to activate a Sub-requirement with information for the student regarding the acceptance of his/her D graded work.
The Sub-requirement requires that one course be completed (Required Count of 1) and accepts the Target pseudo course indicated in the transfer rule encoded in the Transfer Articulation table.
Selecting an Alternate View by placing your cursor in the Required Count field, and select the icon from the taskbar. The Reporting Tab has a NOLIST button, 'T', selected to report only the title of the Sub-requirement, No Sequence Number selected to '- Suppress sequence number' so that reporting of the Sub-requirement number on the audit does not show, and a List Sub-requirement value of C - Hide until Satisfied selected to only report the Sub-requirement when the ACCEPT D WORK pseudo course is present for the student.
As long as this specific Requirement is placed in the list of Requirements for each Degree Program, then the resulting Sub-requirement appears on the audit when a student has an Associate degree from the Source institution.

Ohio Articulation Numbers - Transfer Assurance Guides

Each institution will need to identify its own Transfer Assurance Guide (TAG) approved courses. Students who successfully complete TAG course at one institution will be considered to have met the requirement of the receiving institution's TAG approved course in the same manner as if the student took the at the receiving institution - "Approved TAG courses carry the guarantee that the courses and their credits will transfer and apply toward the major at any of Ohio's public institutions of higher education, provided the course was taken when the courses were equivalent." (from the Ohio Board of Regents website for TAGs).

There are four components that should be set in DARwin/u.achieve and u.select to make the TAGs work:
1. Institutional Reference Table
2. Transfer Articulation Table
3. Requirement Table(s)
4. u.select Glossary Messages

Institutional Reference Table - OAN

An Institutional Reference Table must exists for the institution for which an Ohio Articulation Number will be articulated with the DARwin Transfer Articulation process.

Transfer Articulation Table - OAN

In the Transfer Articulation table, the encoder will want to modify the current articulation rule so that the OAN is attached. The suggested method for this is the Alternate ID so that the course can be searched in the Course Equivalencies in u.select, and so that it can be used for matching where the target course does not already exist in the program requirements. A date range is recommended.

• Add the OAN to the Alternate ID field
• Check the "P" box to mark the course as a pseudo course.
• Save

Requirement Table - OAN

If the target course exists in the program requirements, nothing else is required. The course will match as expected in the program.

If the target course is not a part of the program requirements, but the OAN is guaranteed to meet program core requirements, the OAN may be used in its place.

u.select Glossary Messages - OAN

In order to better explain to students what the Alternate value means, please utilize the Course Equivalency (CEG) Messages for the Alternate ID type.
 
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