Course Inventory Consultation Recommendations

OHIO BOARD OF REGENTS

Harold Horton Memo Re: Course Inventory Expert Consultation Notes, March 15, 1999

To: Course Inventory Expert Pilot Group and HEI Liaisons
From: Harold Horton, Information Systems and Research Director, Ohio Board of Regents
Date: March 15, 1999
Re: Course Inventory Expert Consultation Notes

I have attempted to summarize below the conclusions and recommendations that came out of our Course Inventory Expert System Consultation on February 22, 1999. Please feel free to send me any comments or feedback with regard to these notes. As you continue to evaluate the CI Expert system, please do not hesitate to contact Chris Doll (614-728-8858 or cdoll@regents.state.oh.us) with any questions or additional recommendations.

We are in the process of implementing some of the recommendations provided by you at the consultation. We will notify campuses in the very near future when the enhanced version of the CI Expert System is moved into production.

Consultation Conclusions:

1) The CI Expert System is a useful tool that can assist campuses with the assignment of course levels and subject codes in a more consistent fashion statewide. However, it must be recognized that the course inventory statewide is imperfect and not all judgements/rationale can be captured in the CI Expert System. Campus staff and Regents staff will work collaboratively to enhance the effectiveness of the CI Expert System, as well as, to continuously identify inconsistencies in the course inventory. Campuses will practice with the current version of the CI Expert System to evaluate new and current courses, and will communicate any ambiguities to Chris Doll, Regents Analyst. Regents staff will use the decision rules contained in the CI Expert System to identify anomalies in the course inventory and communicate these to campuses. In addition, Regents staff will incorporate where necessary these decision rules into the primary and summary edits of the Course Inventory (CI) submission file.

2) When errors or inconsistencies are identified in the course inventory, campus staff should make necessary changes to course levels and subject codes in CI file submissions.

3) In terms of using the CI Expert System to conduct official course audits: Campuses would like more time to evaluate the logic and decision rules contained in the CI Expert System. In addition, campuses would need time to use the CI Expert System for detailed analyses on their own course inventory, as well as time to use the CI Query to do comparisons with other campuses' course inventories.

4) Regents staff will schedule additional CI Expert system training at the Regents or on-campus if requested.

Consultation Recommendation of Changes to CI Expert System:

CI Expert System Stage One:

1) Reword first capsule from "Is your institution a four-year university?" to "Is the predominant use of the course in a 4 year or 2 year program?"

2) Clarify three classifications of ESL courses: a) Basic DEV ED ESL course (V level); b) Advanced ESL courses which are not DEV ED (GS level) and c) Teaching Method ESL courses (Bach level).

CI Expert System Stage Four:

1) Allied medicine: Regents need to include Youngstown State as an institution having a dietetics program.

2) Business Admin/Economics: We need clarification on the first question dealing with courses that serve a "variety of major programs in Business and Economics".

3) We need to clarify the use of the term "majors" used in various disciplines. It was suggested that we reword to "students in the major".

Other Recommendations:

1) Provide a link on the front page of the CI Expert System to the handout entitled "What is the CI Expert System".

2) Provide html targets from the CI Expert System to the exact location in the glossary.

3) Include a definition of the word prerequisite in the glossary.

4) Provide an abbreviated list of related subject codes for the academic discipline that is selected by the user and incorporate a word search within the list.

Return to CI Expert System Home Page

http://regents.ohio.gov/hei/ci/Documentation/ciexpsysconsultrec.html
Last updated April 14, 1999