With registration for the Spring semester approaching, it is imperative for students to know what classes remain for them to complete their degree programs. 

To make sure students are enrolling in the correct classes, they meet with their faculty advisers. Previously, students would consult a Curriculum Advising and Program Planning (CAPP) online degree audit.

However, since October of 2017, Missouri Southern faculty have implemented an auditing system to measure students’ academic progress, known as Degree Works. 

This new system expands upon those of CAPP, which determined where students were in their programs, what they needed to complete, and showed previous courses and success in the program to date. 

When CAPP was the primary evaluation format, students would have to take steps to generate a success report each time they wanted to check their degree report. 

However, with Degree Works, just by logging into LioNet, students can access an updated version of their degree progress by clicking on “Degree Evaluation (Degree Works)” within Student Quick Links. 

Degree Works also automatically updates, so every time a student checks it, it has the most recent information relevant to their degree success. 

“It really helps [students] to have an idea. It gives them a really good idea of how much longer they have in reality,” said Mariah Callari, academic records specialist (A-G) and Missouri reverse transfer coordinator. 

“There’s a function where you can click ‘registration checklist’ and it filters everything out but the things you have left,” Callari said. “That’s the type of thing you want to use when you’re going to see your adviser.”  

Callari said students can print out the listing or attach it to an email, so it’s a lot more streamlined. 

Another feature of Degree Works is that it is color-coded, which shows students what they have completed and what must be completed within the degree program and makes it a lot more legible/understandable.

Students can generate “what-if” reports if they wish to change their major or add a minor, and determines what additional classes they would need to do so. 

Faculty and staff are also able to add notes on the Degree Works evaluation to aid other faculty or staff members working with the respective student during registration throughout their education. 

Callari said this is helpful if a student is involved in multiple departments for reasons such as minors, and keeps anyone else working up to date in the students’ progress. 

Included in this evaluation format are three GPA calculators, designed to calculate semester and overall GPA. This can help a student calculate the path it would take to achieve a desired GPA.