Appendix

Transfer Courses and the Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI)

All changes to existing transfer courses or addition of new transfer courses should consider how the courses relate to the Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI).

The IAI, developed by the Illinois Board of Higher Education, the Illinois Community College Board, Transfer Coordinators of Illinois and five 22-member faculty panels, identifies common curriculum requirements across associate and baccalaureate degrees and across institutions in order to facilitate student transfer. The IAI consists of two components:

1. Illinois Transferable General Education Core Curriculum (GECC)
2. Illinois Baccalaureate Major’s Recommendations

The Illinois Transferable General Education Core Curriculum (GECC)
The Illinois Transferable General Education Core Curriculum identifies the common general education coursework. The GECC consists of 38-41 credit hours of courses represented by five categories:

1. Communications
2. Mathematics
3. Life and Physical Science
4. Humanities and Fine Arts
5. Social and Behavioral Sciences

To benefit from the IAI, students need to complete the entire 38-hour GECC prior to transfer.

The Board of Higher Education's policies on transfer asks that all community colleges incorporate the Illinois transferable General Education Core Curriculum into their requirements for AA and AS degrees. Community colleges may also adopt requirements that are beyond the minimums contained in the Core Curriculum to differentiate between degrees. [IBHE policy, 1994]

IAI General Education Core Curriculum Course Criteria and Conditions
[IAI guidelines, May 2001]

The foundation skills of communication, critical thinking and analysis/synthesis, quantification, computer use, and the use of resources (e.g., the library) should be embedded in every general education course.

General education courses should also be broad in scope rather than narrowly focused and should not require prerequisites (except high school preparation or when part of a multi-course sequence).

While several courses within the General Education Core Curriculum are designed specifically to “recognize and engender respect and value for human diversity”, each discipline area should, as much as possible, throughout all of its courses incorporate authors, sources and topics that expose students to cultural diversity.

IAI and General Education at Moraine Valley
Moraine Valley was one of the first Illinois community colleges to incorporate the GECC in its AA and AS degrees. All 38 hours of Moraine Valley’s general education core is composed of IAI approved courses. A course cannot count toward the 38 hours of general education unless it receives IAI approval. A faculty member seeking to develop a course intended to count toward general education for an AA or AS degree should begin the process by reviewing the IAI general education course descriptions. Current course descriptions for all IAI GECC courses are available on the IAI website at
www.iTransfer.org in the Educator’s FACT section under Course Management. A list of all MVCC courses currently approved for general education is available at this site. Approved IAI courses are also identified in the Moraine Valley catalog. (Be sure to note that the catalog indicates both courses approved for general education and courses approved for specific majors.)

Beyond the 38-hour general education core, Moraine Valley has incorporated a 3 hour “Additional Degree Requirement” which is used to distinguish between the AA and AS degree. Typically, an AA students will take the additional course from the Humanities and Fine Arts or Social and Behavioral Sciences categories and an AS student will take the additional course from the Mathematics or Life and Physical Science categories. The MVCC “Additional Degree Requirement” does, however, include some courses that are not IAI intended general education. See the current Moraine Valley catalog for more information.

The Illinois Baccalaureate Majors’ Recommendations
The Illinois Baccalaureate Majors' Recommendations (iTransfer Majors) describe courses typically taken by freshmen and sophomores for a specific major. Currently, IAI has developed recommended curricula for 28 majors. The major course recommendations are meant for students who are undecided about a transfer school. Students who already know where they will transfer, should follow the requirements for that specific school instead of the IAI major recommendations.

Moraine Valley is participating in 27 of the IAI majors. The only major that the college does not participate in is Agriculture. Participation does not mean that we offer all of the recommended courses for any of the majors. The college’s level of participation for each major varies according to how many courses we have approved for that specific major.

The Transfer Majors section of the Moraine Valley college catalog includes the majors and specific recommended Moraine Valley courses that have been approved by IAI.

Each IAI major recommendation explicitly encourages community college students to complete an AA or AS degree prior to transfer- except for some majors that recommend an AFA degree and some that articulate with the AAS degree.

A complete listing of IAI majors and the related course descriptions are available at the IAI website www.iTransfer.org in the “Majors” section. A list of all MVCC courses currently approved for each major is available at that site. IAI approved major courses are also identified in the course descriptions section of the college catalog.

Like with the development of general education courses, faculty developing courses designed to transfer in a specific major should begin by reviewing the course descriptions for the specific major on the IAI website. It is not required that a specific major course be IAI approved; however, IAI approval is desired when possible. Such approval is important to clarify transferability of courses for students. IAI approval for major courses may also have an impact on course enrollment (only IAI-approved courses are listed in the Transfer Majors section of the catalog).

The IAI and Associate in Applied Science Degrees
The IAI can benefit Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degree graduates in two ways. First, all AAS degree graduates must complete at least 15 semester credits in general education courses. Students who choose their general education from the IAI approved courses are better prepared for transfer if at some time in the future they choose to do so.
Second, some Baccalaureate Majors' recommendations--clinical laboratory science, manufacturing technology/machining, and nursing, for example--build on the AAS degree.

Receiving IAI Approval
Moraine Valley does not approve courses to be added to the general education selection for the AA, AS or AFA degrees until IAI approval has been received.

When a course intended for transfer is developed or revised, the faculty member should include the appropriate information for IAI approval on the course syllabus that is submitted for approval to the Moraine Valley Curriculum Review Process.

IAI requests that all syllabi include the following components:

• Course prefix/number and title, number of credit hours and contact hours, and studio or laboratory hours, if applicable
• Catalog description including any prerequisites (General education courses should not require prerequisites except high school preparation or when part of a multi-course sequence.)
• Course goals and expected student learning outcomes
• Topical outline
• Method(s) of evaluating student performance, including the number, length and type of writing assignments, if applicable. (This requirement has recently been strongly emphasized - especially by the Humanities and Fine Arts Panel.)
• Text(s) used and required reading lists, if applicable
• Date the syllabus and any supportive materials were prepared
• Delivery system, if nontraditional

Each IAI panel (there are currently 33 panels representing the 5 general education panels and the 28 major panels) may also have additional requirements. Those requirements are available on the website at www.iTransfer.org in the FACT section under Panel Management.

Following approval through the Moraine Valley curriculum review process, the syllabus is submitted, by Moraine Valley’s Transfer Coordinator, to the specific general education or baccalaureate major panel which will review whether it matches the description to which it is being assigned and either accept or reject it, providing a reason for the rejection.

IAI panels generally meet only twice each year – once in fall semester and once in spring semester so it is important to have syllabi ready for submission early during the semester.

Courses intended to be implemented in fall semester need to have a complete syllabus ready for submission to IAI by February 1 in the preceding spring semester. Courses intended to be implemented in spring semester need to have a complete syllabus ready for submission to IAI by September 15.

Once the appropriate IAI panel approves a course, approval becomes effective the term it was approved. Courses ended by the panel will be effective on May 15 of the following academic year. [Steering Panel, April 2001, Technical Task Force Revised July 2002]

Help is Available!
Your department chair/dean may provide additional information regarding the IAI. The Dean of Counseling, Advising and Multicultural Student Affairs, serves as the official Transfer Coordinator for Moraine Valley and therefore directs all course articulation, including IAI articulation. The Dean and the Transfer Information Specialist can provide assistance regarding IAI.

Additionally, Moraine Valley has several faculty members who serve on IAI faculty panels. These panel members are a great resource for knowing more about what each panel is looking for. When developing a course that will be submitted to one of the following panels, it is recommended that you confer with the panel member early in the curriculum development process.

Moraine Valley IAI Panel Members/Contacts 2007-2008