This document serves as an executive summary of the ongoing activities of the Standardization of Postsecondary Education Electronic Data Exchange (SPEEDE) Committee of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO). The AACRAO SPEEDE Committee was formed in the mid 1980's and has been very active since then in the coordination, development, and implementation of international exchange standards in United States and Canada by representing secondary and postsecondary education in collaboration with the standards setting body, P20W Education Standards Council (PESC). The Committee reports to the AACRAO Vice President for Information Technology (Group VI), Jim Bouse.
This report contains the 3rd quarter 2013 AACRAO SPEEDE Committee activities and efforts. More information about the AACRAO SPEEDE Committee and on-going activities can be found.
Committee Meetings & Conferences:
AACRAO SPEEDE Committee members serve in many capacities from conducting webinars, presentations, and roundtable discussions at various AACRAO national and regional conferences to participating and chairing various PESC workgroups to develop standards, implementation guides, crosswalks, and programming of crosswalks. Weekly conference calls occur every Thursday at 4pm ET with an average of seven (of ten) members to discuss workgroup updates, and other SPEEDE-related business.
This quarter's AACRAO meeting and conference activities included:
| Face-to-Face meetings | July 14th @ AACRAO Tech & Transfer (Tucson, AZ) |
| AACRAO Webinar | None conducted this quarter |
| National Conference Presentations | July 14 - 16 AACRAO Tech & Transfer Conference “ four presentations and one roundtable were conducted |
| *Regional Conference Presentations | None conducted this quarter |
*The AACRAO SPEEDE committee will make available to AACRAO state and/or regional groups (e.g. PACRAO, SACRAO, Middle States, etc ) the opportunity to conduct an EDX workshop and several presentations. The committee will be presenting four sessions at the Pacific ACRAO (PACRAO) conference in October 2013. If you are planning your 2014 regional conference and would like members of the SPEEDE Committee to present, please email your request to speede@aacrao.org as soon as possible and more information will be sent.
Quarter one PESC activities included participation in periodic conference calls for the following workgroups:
| Academic e-Portfolio | Canadian PESC User Group | Change Control Board | Common Data Services | Common XML |
| Electronic Authentication/ Authorization(EA2) | Education Record User Group | PESC Board | PESC Seal of Approval | Technical Advisory Board |
Committee Technical Activities & Efforts:
Texas Server Update
The University of Texas at Austin and the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) have been working closely together on the transition of the Texas Server to NSC. In October 2012, AACRAO made a public announcement that the National Student Clearinghouse will assume operation of the Texas Server which has been operated by the University of Texas at Austin for many years on the delivery of electronic documents (e.g. online applications, electronic transcripts). NSC is scheduled to assume full operation of the server mid-October 2013.
PDF Best Practices
The SPEEDE committee was tasked with developing a PDF best practices document to accompany the Electronic Transcript Task Force's Report that was published in 2008. A survey was sent out in spring 2013 and the results were compiled to create a list of six best practices for PDF transcript documents. The full report is now available on the AACRAO web site.
Thank you again to all that took the time to participate in the survey.
Crosswalk Development:
Final versions of all approved EDI and XML standards and crosswalks can be downloaded from the PESC web site (Standards & Workgroups section) at http://www.pesc.org/interior.php?page_id=86 and http://www.pesc.org/interior.php?page_id=219. All modifications to these standards are handled through the PESC Education Record User Group (ERUG) to create new up-to-date versions. More information on ERUG can also be found on the PESC web site at http://www.pesc.org/interior.php?page_id=188.
Membership:
There are currently ten members serving on the committee. We officially welcomed our 10th member, Susan Dorsey of University of Colorado Boulder in August. The committee welcomes your interest in becoming more involved in this AACRAO Professional Development Committee. To learn more you can:
| View the SPEEDE website | http://aacrao.org/About-AACRAO/committees/speede.aspx#.UVWNSDcW8_1 |
| Review SPEEDE Mission Statement, Objectives, and Goals | http://aacrao.org/About-AACRAO/committees/speede/missionstatement.aspx#.UVWM-jcW8_0 |
| Review current SPEEDE Members list | http://www4.aacrao.org/committees/?period=now&committee=SPEEDE |
| Still have questions or want to join? | Send email to speede@aacrao.org |
Other:
AACRAO SPEEDE Committee members are instrumental in submitting various items, questions, answers, etc. and contributing feedback to the AACRAO SPEEDE community via the SPEEDE-L list serv. If you are interested in signing up to receive emails regarding SPEEDE topics, go to http://www.lsoft.com/scripts/wl.exe?SL1=SPEEDE-L&H=LISTSERV.VT.EDU.
The AACRAO SPEEDE Committee has published the Electronic Data Exchange (EDX) Primer. The EDX Primer addresses the most commonly asked questions regarding electronic data exchanges, including matters relating to both traditional EDI standards and contemporary XML data standards as shaped by the P20W Education Standards Council (PESC). Written by the AACRAO SPEEDE Committee, the Primer compiles EDX-related technology and contact information resources, along with lists of Web site sources and state, provincial, and regional initiatives and mandates. More information may be found at http://www.aacrao.org/publications/publications_catalog/publications_catalog_technology.aspx.
This concludes the AACRAO SPEEDE Committee report for 3rd quarter 2013.