New online program to advise students

By Katie De Boer
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer

Students will soon be able to initiate their own degree progress under a new on-line advising system that will be implemented next year.

In spring 2005, the new Degree Progress Summary (DPS) will make its debut, allowing students to access unofficial transcripts and view the exact classes they need to meet graduation requirements.

Academic advisers currently use the DPS program to help students understand what they need to graduate. However, the program will be opening to students and will allow them to visually see an up-to-date analysis of their major.

Margie Merryfield, a biology and chemistry professor and academic adviser at Cal State Long Beach has worked on the DPS committee for four years and said the program is very user friendly, allowing students to easily access the program through the "My CSULB" Web site.

Merryfield said there will still be some "debugging and converting procedures," to look for possible glitches, but that the program will greatly assist students with the advising process.

When students enter "My CSULB" they will be directed to the home page. The home page will display an icon for the Degree Summary Report. When clicking on the icon, students will first view their academic program history, which will show their intended major.

Next, it will show classes the student has taken so far. For transfer students, the report will show all the transfer credit and the credit that will apply towards their major. The report will also list the general degree requirements and credit requirements and will include the amount of upper division units, CSULB units and the student's cumulative GPA. It will also show if the student has taken the graduation writing assessment test, which should be completed no later than the end of the term that the student reaches 65 total baccalaureate units.

The next part of the report will show the remaining general education requirements, including the required capstone courses. At the end of the report it will show what courses the student has completed and what courses they need to complete in their specific field of their major.

Merryfield said the DPS program will give students more control over their progress, while allowing them to make sure they are receiving proper credit for their classes. Overall, it will enrich the time students spend with their advisers.