Advising Technology and Tools

Advising Technology and Tools

Below are tools advisors use to serve students on a daily basis. Select one and learn more about what this tool is, how to get access, associated training, and details even an experienced advisor might not know about.

The Advising Report is a summary of a student's academic statistics. While it looks like a transcript, it is not. It provides advisor a term-by-term review of courses taken/attempted and grades earned, so the advisor can quickly scan, for example, the number of times a student repeats a course or fails a course. Advising reports are also used during the term academic status review (i.e., the review process for warning, probation, and dismissal) and are obtained via a batch process.

Additionally, the Advising Report will display this helpful information:

  • Displays the student's preferred name
  • Test results: ACT/SAT, English placement, Math placement, Foreign Language placement
  • Previous institutions attended (it will also indicate if a degree was earned)
  • Term-by-term and summary of GPA and Deficiency Points
  • Term-by-term display of academics status (warning, probation, dismissal, reinstatement)
  • Dean's list
  • A summary of academic program(s) (college) and plan(s) (major, minor, AOI, etc.)

Access
Access to the Advising Report is granted along with SIS.

Training
Advising units generally describe this document (and its use) during their on-boarding process. There is now training on this topic available through Central Advising in the Office of Student Academic Success - Transition and Academic Growth, please reach out to advising@osu.edu to find out when the next session is planned. Additionally, Kris Wethington.2 put together documentation (these are updated from prior versions):

Helpful Tips

  • Most of the data on the Advising Report is a snapshot of the student's data in the SIS as of the exact moment you run it. Ultimately it is outdated as soon as it is done running. With regards to program/plan/sub-plan data in the summary section, there are rules that determine when this data gets associated with the term summary data (this data is located on the left side of the report) on the advising report when it runs. Essentially, a student's CPP stack data will display for a particular term when the change was made on the first day (or before) each term.

CollegeSource online is a tool advisors user to obtain course descriptions for the courses a student is seeking take at another institution and transfer to Ohio State, or attempting to apply, after the course has already transferred, to his/her degree program.

Access
No need to request access; it's a public resource.

Training
.docx documentation

TES (Transfer Evaluation System) is another CollegeSource product that does require a log-on. It has more versatile search functions for looking up course descriptions than the standard CollegeSource product.

Access to TES is granted when you register for your TransferologyLab account or by emailing registrar@osu.edu.

A demo of how to use TES is included in the Transfer Credit training offered by Central Advising in the Office of Student Academic Success - Transition and Academic Growth. Pre-recorded demo videos are available and can be shared on request. Email advising@osu.edu for information on when the next training is scheduled or to receive access to the pre-recorded videos.

One of the most important tools students and advisors use in degree planning is the Degree Audit, which also includes the Transfer Credit Report. A student can use Buckeye Link to run a degree audit, which provides an evaluation of how all the courses they have completed are used to meet both general and major area course requirements. An advisor can also run this report using Buckeye Link, but most often run the report through the SIS from a student's Student Services Center (Student).

Access
Advising units are responsible for requesting access for new advisors.

Training

Helpful Tips

  • Default programs are updated each morning, usually before 9 am. If you make a change to a students primary program in the SIS, today, for example, the Degree Audit WILL NOT reflect this change until approximately 9 am the following day.
  • Minors are updated instantly. If you add (or delete) a minor in the SIS, today, for example, the Degree Audit WILL reflect the change if you immediately re-run the Degree Audit on the same day. The same goes for course adjustments, grade changes, etc.
  • Transfer credit is handled through the Degree Audit, and then the transfer evaluators post from the Degree Audit to the SIS. As an example, let's say that a departmental representative faxes a request to the Transfer Credit Center to change a course from Chem G000.01 to Chem 1100. The transfer evaluator makes the change in the Degree Audit and it immediately is reflected on the Degree Audit and Transfer Credit Report when you run another report. However, the SIS is updated around 4:30 in the afternoon each day, so in practice, the impacts of posting/changing transfer credit (e., change in rank, etc.) won't be reflected until the following day. This process is true, both for changes in evaluation and new credits being posted.

TransferologyLab (a CollegeSource product) is a free web-based tool for transfer information. Using this system, you can obtain accurate information about how courses will transfer and apply to a degree program. You will need an account to use this tool. There is a student version called Transferology.

Access
For Advisors: www.transferologylab.com

In order to access this tool you must, first, request an account. The request is sent to the Office of the University Registrar (registrar@osu.edu), who will notify you within 24-hours once your account has been created.

Training
Central Advising in the Office of Student Academic Success - Transition and Academic Growth includes a demo on how to use TransferologyLab in the Transfer Credit training they offer to new advisors. They also have pre-recorded demo videos available upon request. Email advising@osu.edu if you want to know the date of the next training or to get access to the video demos.

CollegeSource training information:

Access
If you are a new advisor looking for access to the SIS, please contact your supervisor.

Training

  • If you are a new advisor who just was granted access, you should have received an email with instructions; training is completed through Carmen. If you do not have this email, please visit https://registrar.osu.edu/staff/training.asp
    • Further training can be arranged by contacting the appropriate unit.
  • If you are an experienced advisor who needs to be reminded how to do something, please visit the registrar's help resource.
  • In addition to what you receive during your formal training, there is helpful SIS information on the online advising encyclopedia. This requires a password, separate from your Ohio State shibboleth login; please email peltier.15@osu.edu.

Important Reminder

Before getting access to the following: SIS (the Advising Report comes with SIS access), Degree Audit and Transfer Credit Report, and AdvisingConnect; you need to complete the training below. After you complete both, please ask the person designated in your unit to formally submit the access request.