Peer Sharing: Overview and Management
This article provides an overview of the Peer Sharing functionality within TES® as well as instructions for adding and removing institutions as peers.
Articles in this series:
- Peer Sharing: Overview and Management
- Peer Sharing: View Peer Equivalencies
What Is Peer Sharing?
Peer Sharing is a feature that allows TES® Administrators to designate other TES-subscribing institutions as peers for the purpose of seeing how these colleges and universities are evaluating courses and other learning experiences for transfer and award of credit. Institutions can use this information as a reference point when evaluating credit or advocating for practice and/or policy changes. System colleges can also use this feature to collaborate with one another on statewide transfer and articulation. Up to six institutions can be added as peers.
If an institution has opted into Peer Sharing, when viewing a course description through the Course Finder, users with either the ACCESS EQ, CREATE EVAL or CREATE EQ user right can select the Peer EQ button to be taken to the Peer Equivalency page.
If multiple courses have been selected through the Course Finder, the user will need to select the Peer EQ button next to each individual course to view the equivalencies to each.
Within the Peer Equivalency page, the user will see a list of the colleges and universities the institution's TES Administrator has chosen as peers and how each has evaluated the selected course. It's important to note that any equivalency that contains this transfer course (i.e., a many-to-many or many-to-one) will appear within this list. Only active equivalencies not hidden from the TES Public View will display.
If no active non-hidden equivalencies exist, the institution's name will appear, but the COURSE CODE, TITLE, and UNITS fields will be blank. The arrow to the left of the institution name will also not appear.
PEER INSTITUTION Name of college or university |
COURSE CODE Course identifier (often structured as a subject + number) Includes all courses from the institution's data set: those from the institution's official catalog and User Added Home Courses |
TITLE Name of the course (a brief label) |
UNITS Credit value of the course (educational systems vary; this number could represent semester, quarter, unit, or other credit types; may not be populated for User Added Home Courses) |
When equivalencies are noted, the user can select the arrow to the left of the institution to see further information on the EQUIVALENCY DETAIL page.
BEGIN DATE First day on which the equivalency is effective Format: (MM/DD/YYYY) If no Begin Date is entered, the equivalency is considered effective from the “beginning of time” (or at least since the course was created) |
END DATE Last day on which the equivalency is effective Format: (MM/DD/YYYY) If no End Date is entered, the equivalency is considered effective into the future. |
PUBLIC NOTE Notes to display in the Public View Maximum length: 1,024 characters |
Course Information When optional data is not provided by the institution, the field name will not appear. Code Institution course identifier (often structured as a subject + number) Title Name of the course (a brief label) Description Summary of the content of the course Units Credit value of the course (educational systems vary; this number could represent semester, quarter, unit, or other credit types) Lecture Hours (optional) Number of credit hours assigned to instructor presentation (a portion of the total credit hours of the course) Lab Hours (optional) Number of credit hours assigned to laboratory work (a portion of the total credit hours of the course) Other Hours (optional) Additional hours assigned to the course, outside of lecture or laboratory Prerequisite (optional) Requirement that must be met prior to taking the course Corequisite (optional) Requirement that must be fulfilled while the course is taken Recommended (optional) Additional coursework or skills that should be acquired before taking the course Offered (optional) Term(s) in which the course is typically scheduled Grade Basis (optional) Scale or options under which the course will be evaluated (ex. A-F, CR/NC) Department Faculty by which the course is taught or attributed to Source catalog Name of the academic publication the course was sent for evaluation from Course tag(s) (optional) Institution-supplied code attached to a course, used to facilitate system and statewide transfer; generally applied to core or general education requirements |
Schools designating an institution as a peer will have a limited view of the institution's equivalencies, as shown above. Equivalencies cannot be viewed en masse. Only active equivalencies not hidden from the Public View will display. PRIVATE NOTES, CREATOR, EQUIVALENCY LOG, and EVALUATION LOG field details will not be visible.
Institutions opting to participate in Peer Sharing who are not already using the TES Public View may wish to utilize the PUBLIC NOTE field in order to communicate stipulations or restrictions around the transfer of credit/equivalency decisions to institutions that have selected the college or university as a peer.
Since Peer Sharing is a research and collaboration tool intended for optional use in informing transfer evaluation decisions, institutions will only be able to access peer equivalencies when viewing course descriptions through the Course Finder.
Participation
To use Peer Sharing, institutions must opt-in to this feature. Colleges and universities with TES® Public View usage of greater than 100 log entries between April 18 and May 18, 2023, will automatically be opted-in by CollegeSource.
By participating in Peer Sharing, the TES Administrator is agreeing to allow the institution's equivalencies to be viewed by users at other colleges or universities that have designated the institution as a peer. Users at the TES Administrator's school can also view equivalencies of schools that the Administrator has identified as a peer.
Peer Sharing is not reciprocal:
Suppose CollegeSource University and Red Lantern University both opt-in to Peer Sharing.
- CollegeSource University adds Red Lantern as a peer.
- Red Lantern University will not be able to view CollegeSource University's equivalencies unless Red Lantern University also adds CollegeSource University as a peer.
- CollegeSourceSource University and Red Lantern University both add each other as peers. At a later time, CollegeSource University removes Red Latern from its peer institution list.
- CollegeSource University will no longer see Red Lantern's equivalencies. Red Lantern, however, will still be able to see CollegeSource University's equivalencies.
Opt-In
To opt-in to Peer Sharing:
- Go to the Manage menu.
- Select Peer Management.
- Toggle the On button to the right of Peer Sharing.
- Review the information presented.
- Select Yes to agree to participate.
Opt-Out
Institutions can choose to opt-out at any time if so desired. To do so:
- Go to the Manage menu.
- Select Peer Management.
- Toggle the Off button to the right of Peer Sharing.
- Review the information presented.
- Select Yes to disable Peer Sharing.
Peer Management
Add Peer Institutions
To add a college or university as a peer institution:
- Go to the Manage menu.
- Select Peer Management.
- If not yet opted into Peer Steering, see the instructions above under "Opt-In".
- Within the INSTITUTION SEARCH box, enter the name of the college or university the institution is interested in adding as a peer.
- The U.S. Schools toggle is selected by default.
- If needed, select Non U.S. Schools or All to broaden the search.
- Select Search.
- Institutions that have opted to participate in Peer Sharing will have a plus sign (+) to the left of the institution name.
- If an institution does not have the plus sign next to the name, it has not opted-in and cannot be added as a peer.
- Select the plus-sign (+) to add the institution to the PEER INSTITUTION(S) list.
Once selected, institutions will appear under the PEER INSTITUTION(S) list to the right of the INSTITUTION SEARCH. The number of peer institutions listed will display, along with an indication of the maximum number of peer institutions a user/college or university can add (e.g., 1 of 6).
Repeat these steps for up to 6 institutions.
If searching for one's own institution in the INSTITUTION SEARCH box, the TES Administrator will note a plus sign (+) does not display to the left of the college or university's name. While Peer Sharing has been activated, an institution cannot add itself as a peer.
Remove Peer Institutions
To remove a school from the PEER INSTITUTION(S) list:
- Go to the Manage menu.
- Select Peer Management.
- The PEER INSTITUTION(S) list will display all current peer institutions as selected by the TES® Administrator.
- Select the x to the left of the institution name to remove it from the list.
The institution name will no longer appear in the PEER INSTITUTION(S) list. The count (e.g., 1 of 6) would also adjust:
Additional example of equivalency information in the EQUIVALENCY DETAIL screen. Users can see the BEGIN DATE and PUBLIC NOTE supplied by CollegeSource University (JP). User Added Home Courses are also included in the equivalency.
