March 7, 2002
MyGradProgram eliminates paper, improves lives
An ambitious project in the Graduate School, making extensive use of the Web and e-mail, is eliminating more than 38,000 pieces of paper each year.
More important, the project is improving the lives of graduate students and those who work with them, Graduate School officials say. The biggest procedural change has been in the doctoral committee system, but major improvements are occurring in other areas of the Graduate School, with a host of proposals still on the drawing board.
The project, MyGradProgram (http://www.grad.washington.edu/mygradprogram/) began with an initiative several years ago to streamline the administration of graduate education and improve communication among the school, departments, graduate program administrators, and graduate faculty, according to John Drew, director of computing and information resources for the Graduate School. The project is a collaborative effort, involving the staff of Computing & Communications and representatives from many academic departments.
A process improvement team, headed by Associate Dean Betty Feetham, spawned two action teams, one focused on developing an online master’s degree application, and the other on the doctoral supervisory committee system. “One thing we learned,” Drew says, “was that we were not always communicating well. The right people were not getting the right information at the right time. More often than not, it’s the students who are the victims of that failure.”
The Graduate School’s role is chiefly in quality assurance, and this mission is carried out through the academic departments, particularly in working with graduate program assistants and graduate coordinators. “We’re faced with issues of diversity and complexity in applying our policies and programs. A lot of communication has to occur,” Drew says.
The first process change, in 1998, was putting Graduate School admissions applications online. This year, an estimated 78 percent of Graduate School applications are being received electronically, eliminating 13,500 printed forms a year.
Already, this system is being used to track the status of applicants. Graduate program administrators and Graduate School counselors can scan the MyGradProgram system and let applicants know when an application is complete or when needed pieces of information are missing.
But this innovation is just the beginning: Departments will be able to enter/load admissions decisions directly into a future version of MyGradProgram. Plans also are under way to integrate the process of applying to individual programs as well as to the Graduate School. Eventually, MyGradProgram will include a forms design feature, so that department-specific information can be gathered at the same time that a student completes the Graduate School application.
The next project of MyGradProgram, a seemingly simple innovation, had a very visible effect. Hordes of master’s candidates used to descend upon Gerberding Hall over a period of two weeks because the Graduate School required that all students submit a degree request in person. They would clog the hallways and occupy the attention of any available staff in the school.
No more. In December 2000, requests for master’s degrees went online, available to students through MyUW. “We realized we needed to offer services that were time and place independent,” Drew says. “We have students in Bothell and Tacoma, as well as those who enroll through distance learning.” The online master’s application has been a huge success. It has eliminated the processing of 10,000 printed forms a year.
This change had a major effect on the lives of staff in the Graduate School. Work that occurred over a few weeks could now take place over an extended period of time. Most important, data entry was eliminated. Staff can now spend more time working directly with students who have particular problems or concerns, rather than shuffling stacks of paper.
But the biggest and newest process change has been in the creation of doctoral committees. Historically, this has all been done by hand, with the graduate program coordinator proposing the names of committee members, sending a memo to the Graduate School, followed by a review and the appointment of a Graduate School Representative from outside the department. All this information is entered in a database; letters are sent to the faculty and students. And there are frequent revisions as faculty members leave committees and new ones join. In all, the process generates 15,000 pieces of paper a year.
But since December, 23 departments have participated in a pilot project to go electronic. The appointment process, which used to take two weeks or more, is now accomplished in times ranging from one hour to a week. Changes in committee membership and the appointment of reading committees can occur instantly. In all cases, notification occurs automatically through e-mail that is linked to the online data management system. And all this information is available online.
“The faculty, staff and students are very happy with the changes,” says Julia Carlson, doctoral committee coordinator for the Graduate School. “We’ve created a system that provides multiple levels of access, depending upon what information people need to see, whether they are a faculty member, graduate program coordinator, or administrator in the Graduate School. For the first time, departmental staff can find out about all their faculty’s committee assignments in one location.”
So far the system has been used by over 70 departments to create 127 new committees, as well as 100 revisions to existing committees and reading committees. It has automatically generated 1,600 e-mail messages. By the end of February, the system was to be fully operational across all departments.
“And we’re really just scratching the surface of responsibilities that can be moved online,” Carlson says.
Among future projects could be sorting out the intricacies of health insurance for graduate students. Graduate appointees — for example, TAs — are eligible for a separate health plan from the standard student plan, but only for the duration of their appointment. “We could notify students when their status changes, so that they are aware of their current health coverage,” Drew says.
Other possible uses of the graduate student portal are: information and resources for students receiving their first appointment as teaching assistants; providing doctoral students with news about dissertation funding sources, and even links to electronic theses and dissertations. For department chairs, there could be a special view to assist with enrollment planning, program assessment, and recruitment award funding.
Drew and his colleagues are scheduled to present MyGradProgram at a gathering for graduate school administrators from around the country. It appears the program is well ahead of what is available at other major universities for students, faculty and staff.
