Penn InTouch 2000Over the past several years, Penn has undertaken several projects to improve both students' electronic access to course and transcript information and to aid in undergraduate academic advising by faculty members and others. The eventual goal is to establish an electronic degree planning and audit system, which would help students explore academic options and give faculty and staff advisors access to students' academic plans as well as to formal graduation certification capabilities. Planning for this web-based electronic degree planning and audit system, Penn InTouch 2000, is well advanced. On February 28, Advisor InTouch--representing phase one of Penn InTouch 2000--will be launched. This system will provide undergraduate advisors, as well as advisors in the Graduate School of Education, with web-based access to the registration and transcripts of their advisees in an easier way than through the University's Student Records System (SRS). In September, 2000, the electronic degree planning and audit component of Penn InTouch 2000 will be available. It will provide undergraduate students with a status report on progress towards completion of degree requirements and serve as a powerful tool in the exploration of academic options by allowing the creation of "what if" scenarios in degree planning. It will permit students and advisors to concentrate on selecting a challenging academic experience rather than focusing on the mechanical aspects of selecting courses and meeting requirements. Penn InTouch 2000 is a joint initiative of the four undergraduate schools, the Graduate School of Education, and the Office of the Provost working with the Council of Undergraduate Deans, the Registrar's Office, and Information Systems and Computing. The schools involved are in the process of orienting their faculty advisors to Advisor InTouch. There will be further communication to students, faculty and staff about phase two of Penn InTouch 2000 later in the current semester. Implementation of Penn InTouch 2000 is being facilitated by the Electronic Degree Planning and Audit Working Group:
--Peter J. Conn, Deputy Provost Almanac, Vol. 46, No. 22, February 22, 2000 |