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Agilegrad advising program ready for MHCC activation
The Advocate
In response to accreditation report recommendations made over the past three years, Academic Advising is preparing to launch a new online degree evaluation program Tuesday.
"We will be throwing a kick-off party Monday as well, from 10 a.m. to noon in the College Center," said Christie Weigel, MHCC Career and Academic Group Advising Coordinator.
Robert Cox, MHCC dean of student services, said, "This is not an alternative to D.A.R.S," the Degree Audit Reporting System that students and advisers use to better plan courses for desired degrees.
Instead, the program called Agilegrad is meant to be used in conjunction with D.A.R.S to better help students evaluate their degree and determine which classes they expect to be registering for in their MHCC future.
"Mt. Hood is one of only two colleges so far that have signed up for this service" said Cox.
The program allows a user to enter a desired MHCC degree and then lists details about all the courses eligible for that degree.
The Agilegrad website says the program "helps prioritize classes so that students can make informed decisions on what courses are of highest priority on a quarter by quarter basis."
"You can find out what classes you need to take, like D.A.R.S., but Agilegrad will tell you what terms your classes are offered." said academic adviser David Arguella.
Preliminary student test groups have shown promise for the program and participants were encouraged to give criticism.
Instructors have also been in on the process. "We have had a couple of training sessions for MHCC instructors to get familiar with the program. It's new for everyone," Weigel said.
The package is an online-based program which will be accessible via the MHCC website, or through the Agilegrad website www.agilegrad.com.
The addition of Agilegrad was made after MHCC was evaluated in Fall 2007 by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), who determines the college's accreditation status.
According to an MHCC advising report published in November, the college was required to improve in four areas, one of which was academic advising.
A "fundamental need" listed in the report stated the college needed to "acquire and use contemporary advising technology to integrate student educational plans."
A recommendation for Agilegrad was made in this stipulation.
The Advocate reserves the right to not publish comments based on their appropriateness.