Advisory Committee Meeting Notes, January 22, 1999

OHIO BOARD OF REGENTS

Advisory Committee Meeting Notes
January 22, 1999

Members Present

Sam Bassitt, Vice President for Instruction, Lima Technical College
Chris Dalton, Vice President, Planning & Budgeting, Bowling Green State University
Barb DeYoung, Senior Budget Analyst, Ohio State University
Ralph Gutowski, Director, Budgeting, Planning and Analysis, Miami University
Rosemary Jones, (Committee Chair), Director, Institutional Planning & Evaluation, Cuyahoga Community College
Eric Kornau, Chief Information Officer, Cincinnati State Technical & Community College
Marsha Krotseng, Associate Provost, Cleveland State University
David Lindsley, (Committee Vice Chair), Associate Vice President, Academic Affairs, University of Toledo
Nancy Scott, Vice President & Dean for Enrollment Management & Student Affairs, Kent State University
Darrell Winefordner, Associate Provost for Budget and Planning, Ohio University

Members Not Present

Wynette Barnard, Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Strategic Planning, Lakeland Community College
Robert Hallier, Vice President, Business and Finance, Stark State College of Technology
Joan Patten, Research Associate, Institutional Planning & Research, Sinclair Community College

Ohio Board of Regents (Regents) Staff Present

Chris Doll, Financial Data Area Analyst
Harold Horton, Director of Information Systems and Research
Jay Johnson, Manager of Enrollment Data Area
Don Langford, Research Analyst
Andy Lechler, Senior Analyst
Mary Martin, Administrative Assistant
Stephanie McCann, Faculty-Staff Data Area Analyst
Rich Petrick, Vice Chancellor, Budget and Information Systems
Jackie Seevers, Administrator, Information Systems and Research
Rob Sheehan, Director, HEI Project

Guests

Denise Krallman, Instructional Research Analyst, Miami University
Cindy McQuade, Assistant Director, Inter-University Council
Nancy Zajano, Director, Legislative Office of Education Oversight

Handouts

Draft HEI Advisory Committee Meeting Notes, November 6, 1998
Final Report Data Access Subcommittee
HEI Draft Data Access Flow Chart
Draft Planning Support Indicators (PSI)
Draft Privacy Data Access Policy
HEI Version 1.1 Effective Fall 1999 Submissions
Draft Form for Request for Access to Restricted Data
Discussion Points for Part Time Faculty Survey
Data Reality Checks

Agenda Review

Introduction and welcome of new representative from Cleveland State University, Marsha Krotseng, and the new Regents Information Systems and Research Director, Harold Horton.

Approval of November 6, 1998 Meeting Notes

Committee members approved the November 6, 1998 meeting notes without additions, deletions, or changes.

Subcommittee on Data Access Final Report

Jones thanked the committee, which consisted of Krallman, Miami University, Knight, Bowling Green State University, and Patten, Sinclair Community College, all of whom Jones felt were a good working team.

HEI Data Flow Chart

Jones indicated the Data Flow Chart was developed by the subcommittee and it recognizes two major levels. She reviewed the chart and indicated it is subject to change. Gutowski inquired about legitimate educational guidelines/interest. Sheehan indicated the campuses are responsible for safeguards and should have defined them already. Zajano asked who are the authorized users. Jones informed the group that it had not been decided yet, but had been recommended that there would be two authorized per campus. There was discussion that access would not be the same with each individual or campus and this needs to be considered.

HEI Draft Privacy Approval Form

Sheehan informed the group that the process for issuing the Privacy Access Form must be maintained. Horton developed the privacy form, policy of access to data, and data responsibilities and use documents. Those who have access now have to go back and complete this form, including liaisons. Liaisons will still make changes on the Web, with a form completed for each person. Sheehan said if access is broadened a new form will be needed. Horton emphasized the importance of campus employees understanding the policy of FERPA, (Page 2 of the form) where an explanation of process and responsibilities is explained. Lindsley indicated there is nothing on the form that explained how or who approves or denies access. Horton agreed this needed to be added. Sheehan said by February 26, 1999, the process should be in place for training. Gutowski inquired about the tracking system for this information.

Follow-up Report on Regional Meetings

Seevers informed the group that two regional meetings have been completed and the third is scheduled for January 29 in Toledo. The format of the meeting has been changed due to feedback on the evaluation forms from the previous meetings. The meeting on the 29th will have breakout sessions in the afternoon with the analysts to give attendees an opportunity to discuss areas of concern.

Sheehan indicated that Regents will demonstrate a student enrollment query (restricted access), course enrollment query, Aggregated Enrollment (AE) file, and downloading the queries to Excel.

Planning for Query Training

Sheehan said the query training will be held February 26, 1999 at Columbus State Community College for liaisons only at this time. A second training will be April 2. He will report back to the committee after the first session. It was suggested to the campuses that only two people per campus should be selected for training. The committee will stay with that number for now.

Jones said the meeting with the two year campuses' Chief Instructional Officers will be February 18, before the training in case a presentation needs to be made for them. Copies of the memo, including the liaison training, will go to academic officers, liaisons, and presidents

Jones indicated she is concerned about the security of the data and the students. The committee needs to take access issues slowly and recognize some campuses are anxious and some aren't.

Gutowski asked why attendees cannot have people go back and train other staff on the campuses. Sheehan said he will take this as a suggestion. There was more discussion about the number of people to be trained. Jones said it should be set at a two person limit for a six month trial period.

Horton indicated that if someone accessed a query and it was misused by a data person, they would be in violation of FERPA. Sheehan said Regents will stay at two trainees per institution at this time. Members should send in their suggestions and guidance.

Jones said the meeting with the provosts is February 18, before the training. Copies of the memo will go to academic officers, liaisons, and presidents.

Recent Enhancements to HEI

The Identifier Change (IC) file has some technical problems and Sheehan said he will report to the committee on it at a later date.

Download capability of files for campuses is now available to liaisons and data reporters. It is important to download results with edits, changes, and deletions. Sheehan downloaded one of the institution's course enrollments as an example to show how it can be returned in an Excel spreadsheet.

Rapidly Developing Enhancements

Regents needs to determine how to handle campus requests for students enrolled at one institution when courses are being taken at another institution. Transfer tracking will be discussed by the committee when more data are available.

HEI Version 1.1 Effective Fall 1999 Submissions

Regents is proposing a field be added to HEI fall submissions in the Student Entrance (SE) file. The field would show where students were enrolled before attending the current institution. A question was raised if this would be worth the cost to campuses.

Jones indicated she wasn't sure students understood the difference between transfer and transient. What is their entering status; are they degree seeking students? Jones recommended not adding another code now. She agrees that additional coding is needed, but not at this time, or until Regents has more background information.

Data Anomalies

Sheehan indicated HEI is getting ready to go public with some queries. The committee needs campuses' input to help understand these anomalies. What can Regents do to solve this problem? Headers need identified and sent to liaisons. Sheehan suggested calling the liaisons in for a meeting and Gutowski agreed that it needs to be presented to them. Winefordner suggested training the liaisons on Lechler's defined problem areas at the same time. Sheehan said the training will be held during a single session February 26.

Recommendations from January 22, 1999 Advisory Committee Meeting

Answer question (now) for non-campus access, at least for IUC and LOEO.
Focus February 26, 1999 meeting on campus liaisons with one per institution for an all day session.
Focus on training to include:

Review security role of liaisons. Distribute and review security forms.
Review FERPA and related responsibilities for data access.
Review query capabilities of HEI.
Review reprocessing of obtained FERPA queries.
Determine agenda for subsequent campus training.

Subsequent campus training to include:

In addition to liaisons, two representatives to be trained per campus (including regional campuses).
Review FERPA and related responsibilities for data access.
Review query capabilities of HEI.
Review reprocessing of obtained FERPA queries.

After first or second training, consider train-the-trainer model for query training.
Consider campus liaisons as point persons for campus quality. Focus February 26 meeting, in part, on review of data quality spreadsheets and necessary follow-ups on data elements.
Letter to go out (ASAP) on the February 26, 1999 training.
Transfer tracking report now focuses on transfers out. Actions include:

Create similar transfer in report.
Create report of students who attend institution A and graduated from institution B.
Create report of students who attend institution A and transfer hours from A to B. (Note: Does "transferring institution" on Alternative Credit (AC) file match up with our codes?)
Note distinction between students and occurrences.
Remove "transfer" from all text and use "consecutive enrollment".

Determine how to handle campus request for: Students enrolled at institution A and what courses are being taken at institution B.
Return to transfer tracking when more data are available.
Cumulative hours and quality points earned. Do not change HEI census data until Regents knows why discrepancies occur. Prepare SSNs of zero hours and points earned and ask for campus responses.
Go with Transfer Module (TM) file submission. Who prepares specs?
Create data reporters users group. What does this mean? Meetings?

The next Advisory Committee Meeting will be March 19, 1999 at the Ohio Board of Regents, 30 East Broad Street, 36th. Floor, in the Board Room.

Meeting adjourned at 3:10 p.m.

Notes submitted by Mary Martin.

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