DegreeWorks Staff Tutorial 2013
What is Degree Works? DegreeWorks is an online tool that allows you to track your advisees’ progress towards completing their degrees. This system will show a student’s Degree Audit – a comprehensive breakdown of the graduation requirements for his/her degree and major/program of study. You can use DegreeWorks to map out your advisees’ remaining semesters, including: planning class schedules, calculating their GPA, and exploring a change of major or program.
Important Facts •
Recommended browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari.
•
The Admit Year of the student determines which catalog/degree requirements students follow to obtain a degree.
•
DegreeWorks will not be available to students who were admitted prior to Fall 2008. If your Advisee was admitted prior to Fall 2008, and wishes to use DegreeWorks, please contact the Registrar’s Office.
•
Students in the PhD or BA/BFA program or who attend Mannes are not currently available in DegreeWorks. A small population of Mannes will begin using Degree Works this Fall.
DegreeWorks and FERPA • According to the Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), university employees may view student education records only if they have legitimate educational interest. • Advisors should therefore only access DegreeWorks Degree Audits for their advisees. Accessing other students’ Audits violates FERPA. • Remember that Notes can be viewed by students and other advisors for the student. In general, if you are in doubt about including a note, leave it out. In contents of your notes, just describe and do not evaluate.
Where Can I Find DegreeWorks? Log in to MyNewSchool. Go to the Employee tab. Click on the DegreeWorks link.
The Introduction Page This is your start page for DegreeWorks. If you need help, please take a moment to view our FAQ’s. If you need further assistance click “Help” to send us an e-mail.
To begin, enter your advisee’s ID number (the 9-digit ID beginning with N). If do not have the advisee’s ID, please click the “Find” button.
Print the degree audit by clicking here
What’s The Find Button? If you are having trouble locating your advisee’s information you can use the “Find Student” function. Choose the options that are applicable in the drop-down menus OR enter the student’s name and click the “Search” button. You may choose one or multiple advisees from the list of students who meet your criteria.
Understanding the Degree Audit This section is an outline of what is needed for your advisee to complete his/her degree. Details are provided in the corresponding blocks below. Degree Progress Bar: Represents the percentage of requirements completed or in-progress.
Tabs: Each tab leads to more advanced functions
Credits Applied: Credits your advisee has successfully completed, plus all inprogress and preregistered credits.
If necessary, you can save your advisee’s degree audit as a PDF
The audit shows the academic year your advisee began his/her degree, and the credits required for the program.
The Student’s Major / Program This section details the requirements for your advisee’s major or department. Similar sections will display if your advisee has a second major, a minor, or a concentration. Unmet conditions: Summarizes any missing requirements.
Color: Indicates the status of each requirement: Yellow=Fulfilled Red=Not Met Blue=In-progress Still needed: Lists the courses that can be used to fulfill the requirement
The Last Sections At the bottom of each audit you may see the following:
•Additional courses taken that don’t fulfill specific requirements above. For some programs, electives will display here. If any “additional” course should be counting towards a particular requirement, please contact your department chair or divisional advising office about adding an exception. •In-progress and preregistered courses •Notes that have been created by you (the Advisor). See the Notes section for further details. •Any withdrawn courses or insufficient grades not counting towards the advisee’s degree (not pictured).
What does this symbol mean??? A Legend is provided to help you understand the symbols.
Here is additional information: •The “:”- used for ranges of course numbers or credits •The “@” – is a ‘wildcard’ that indicates an open-ended number of options in subject area groups or course numbers , example: L@=any Lang Course. ***EXAMPLE: “P@ 1000:2000” means any course with a subject code beginning with “P” and a course number between 1000 and 2000 Looking for a course title? Hover your cursor over any course that is still needed and the course title and credits will appear. Note: this will not work for course ranges (ex. PUDM 4000:5000)
Creating Notes You can share reminders, suggestions and other important information from your advisement appointment . Add/Modify/ Delete Notes This section will give you the option to add notes to your advisee’s record. You can use a predefined or freeform note. Once you save the note, click “Run New Audit.”
Important: Notes are visible to your advisee. Please make sure all notes are objective and FERPA compliant. Notes you enter will remain on your advisee’s audit.
The Planner
This tab allows the student and advisor to map out future semesters of course work together. The plan can be saved for future reference and displays where the planned courses fit into the degree. Two windows display: The left pane shows the degree audit, and the right pane shows the planner.
Your Degree Audit
Planning Section
Planner Instructions •Select a term from the dropdown menu •Map out your advisee’s class schedule by dragging “Still Needed” courses from the audit or by typing them in the planner. •Click “Check All Terms,” or click the box next to your planned term •Click “Process New.” The degree audit should refresh itself to include planned courses. These courses will display as ‘PLANNED’ or ‘PL’.
What’s a What-If? What-If This allows you and your advisee to research different “What-If” scenarios if your advisee decided to change his/her area of study, or might be interested in a second major/minor. •Select the new Major or Minor that is being considered. Be sure to also select the appropriate College/Division. •Click “Process What-If” when all the selections have been made. You will see how your advisee’s current courses would fit into the new program of study.
•You may save the What-If audit as a PDF document if desired.
The GPA Calculators Graduation Calculator This useful tool tells you the GPA your advisee must achieve in his/her remaining courses in order to graduate with a desired GPA.
Advice Calculator This is a simpler version of the graduation calculator. The advice breaks down the number of credit hours and grades that must be earned in order to achieve the desired overall GPA.
The GPA Calculators: Continued Term Calculator This tool is used to determine how pending grades for the current semester will affect your advisee’s overall GPA. The system will display the current and preregistered courses and associated credit hours. You can add or delete courses from the calculator as you see fit. Choose an estimated final grade from the dropdown box next to the course and click “Calculate.” The results will include a projected GPA and the total number of credits earned.
Other DegreeWorks Functions Class History: This window allows you to view your advisee’s coursework by term, similar to a normal academic transcript view. Click this link and a pop-up window will appear.
Student Holds: Check to see if your advisee has Holds by clicking here.
Look Ahead: View how a course your advisees plan to register for will fit in their audits.
Any Other Questions? Feel free to contact the University Registrar’s Office regarding any further questions you may have about the functionality of DegreeWorks. reghelp@newschool.edu
If you have any questions regarding the content being used to fulfill those requirements, please contact your Division’s Director of Academic Advising.
Go to MY NEWSCHOOL and try out DegreeWorks!