Western
Illinois University
Macomb, IL
1) Trying to summarize
what DARS means to our campus in one sentence is next to impossible. Some
of the most personally satisfying times, however, is when I see a student
during registration with their WARD report (Western's audit) in hand deciding
what they will take next semester and knowing that I had a hand in making
that tool available to them.
2) The use of DARS at Western
has brought about many changes. Our catalog has been edited to actually
say what it meant to say years ago. This was done so that the rules we
use in WARD (Western's audit) will truly state the requirements the student
must complete. All of the "un-written" rules and interpretations
have now been spelled out so the students knows what is expected of them
whether they are looking at a WARD report or in the catalog.
3) Graduation checkout
has been greatly simplified since Western started using DARS. At the end
of the semester, all students expected to graduate have a WARD report
(Western's audit) run for them. If the report says all requirements are
satisfied, they graduate. No questions. Those that aren't complete usually
indicate a missed exception or some mis-registered courses. The increase
in complete reports, though, show that students are better understanding
what is required to graduate, thanks to DARS.
4) DARS has made it possible
to inform students close to graduation about registration errors before
a mistake cost them another semester's tuition. After pre-registration,
a WARD report (Western's audit) is run for all students that have indicated
they will graduate after the next semester. For those students that will
not have met all requirements by that time, a letter is mailed with their
WARD report explaining the changes they should make. This has made it
much easier for the students to graduate in a timely fashion with fewer
problems.
Timothy John Adams
Data Processing Analyst II
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Ohio State University
Columbus, OH
DARS has been available
at Ohio State University for over 15 years. Within recent years it has
been thoroughly integrated into the advising process. Academic advisors
and students rely on the DARS reports, that can be accessed over the Web,
to monitor progress toward graduation and make decisions about registration
each quarter. The audits are also extremely valuable for providing "what
if I changed my major" information. The colleges that use the degree
audit as a graduation certification document report great efficiencies
in that process.
Kathy Newman Gall
Associate Registrar
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University
of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT
DARS has provided a valuable
advising tool to the University of Utah.
Linked into PeopleSoft, our DARwin program is accessed through the web
by both students and departmental advisors.
Ron A Muncey
Principal Systems Analyst
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