Tobey Veenstra
The Broadside
Oregon State University-Cascades introduced DegreeWorks, a new online service to help students plan goals and track their progress throughout their academic experience, on Tuesday, April 12, 2011.
The service lets students see where they stand based on their chosen major and minor degree, along with other features beneficial to students’ academic process.
“It compares the degree requirements to courses the student has taken, has transferred to OSU, or is currently enrolled in to generate a Degree Checklist Audit,” wrote OSU Registrar Kent Kuo in an email to OSU students.
Although it is already available to students, introduction and training for the service won’t begin until Summer.
“We will begin showing it to students during the summer orientation and then to students … continuing in Fall,” said OSU-Cascades’ Admissions and Records Manager Marty Beidler.
Changes will also be made to DegreeWorks to enhance the system over the next few months until Summer term.
“As this system is new, please realize that changes are being made each week to enhance the system and expand functionality throughout the Spring 2011 and Summer 2011 terms,” wrote Kuo in the email. “Please do not be alarmed as changes will be made during this timeframe.”
The previous option for OSU-Cascades students was general requirements, a degree audit program that only evaluated how students’ coursework meets their Baccalaureate Core, major and option requirements.
The other information was only available through OSU-Cascades’ advisors, which students had to schedule an appointment for in advance.
The DegreeWorks service will also be available for Central Oregon Community College students by Fall term. The college’s administration members are currently in the process of implementing the service. OSU-Cascades students can access the service by clicking the MyDegrees link in the Student Records menu in Online Services on the OSU-Cascades website.
More information on DegreeWorks is available at http://oregonstate.edu/registrar/mydegrees/, which includesfrequently asked questions and video tutorials.
Tobey Veenstra can be reached at [email protected]
Features of the DegreeWorks system, according to Kou’s email:
‘• Compares the degree requirements to courses the student has taken, has transferred to OSU-Cascades or is currently enrolled
in to generate a Degree Checklist Audit.
• A What-If feature to see a temporary audit based on a potential change of degree, major, minor, or options.
• A Look-Ahead feature that maps planned future courses toward the degree requirements.
• An Educational Planner that allows students to develop future term schedules based on the requirements on their Degree Checklist.
• A GPA Calculator that will show how you can achieve a specific desired GPA at time of graduation.