CLAS implements new advising system

By Jesse Rangel

Monday, October 5, 2009

Students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences have a new tool to help them better choose a route to graduation.

The graduation positioning system, or GPS, is a service launched by the college last week to guide students through planning for a major.

Kim McNeley, assistant dean of student academic services, said the system was a way to take information from services such as the new online advising tool and present it to students. The GPS tailors the information given to the student according to the student’s year, sending the information directly to the students through academic notices visible in the Kyou portal. One of the first steps of the GPS involves a worksheet to help determine which disciplines a student should explore.

McNeley said one of the goals presented for the GPS was for students to explore 15 different majors in their freshman and sophomore years. She said that general education requirements currently cover about 10 majors, but that it was important for students to explore other areas.

photo

Nick Gerik

McNeley also said the college wanted to tell students how important it was to get the English and math requirements out of the way early. She said students who took the math requirement early in their college careers tended to have higher grade point averages.

“In the college, we expect you to do your English and math,” McNeley said. “What we know is that students will want to put off that math as long as possible. But we also know that’s not good for them.”

McNeley said the GPS would cover a list of topics from exploring majors to how a summer job could support a student’s major. She said the college would be tracking which students opened academic notices, so it could make sure students knew what was expected of them.

“You can study at KU at the undergraduate level for years and years and years; we have lots and lots to offer,” McNeley said. “On the other hand, it’s our job to make sure that you’re being purposeful.”

Zach McAdams, Eudora freshman, said he checked his GPS academic notice Thursday. He said he scanned through it but needed to spend some more time looking over it.

“It helps you track your goals,” McAdams said. “It’s shows you what your major is, what you want to do.”

McAdams has not declared a major, but he said he was not yet sure how the GPS would help him choose a major.

Bailey DeReus, graduation adviser for the college, said it would be a good way to get more students informed about what they needed to do before graduation.

As another benefit, students who check their academic notices will be eligible to enter a drawing for a Garmin global positioning system. DeReus said the college developed the drawing for the global positioning system because it wanted to tell students about the new tool.

“It was kind of a unique thing,” DeReus said. “People are using GPS more and more, so we thought it was kind of a fun collaboration between the new tool that we have and alerting students what is available in their portal.”

— Edited by Abbey Strusz

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