AIR Postsecondary Data Partnership Data Submission Course

Overview

Are you responsible for Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP) data submission? Join a free, virtual eight-week course to support PDP data submission. 

Designed for the professional responsible for your institution’s PDP data submission, the PDP Data Submission Course will walk participants through the process of submitting the PDP cohort and course data files.

The course includes weekly lectures, assignments, and optional office hours with the goal of uploading one year of cohort and course files to the National Student Clearinghouse FTP site. Course participants will also receive resources to use for future PDP data submissions.

Upcoming Session(s)

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Objective

By the end of this course, participants will successfully upload one cohort of the PDP cohort and course data file. In addition, participants will: 

  • Articulate the PDP submission process 
  • Understand the PDP cohort and course variables
  • Map the PDP cohort and course variables against institutional variables identifying differences in coding
  • Successfully clear validation errors from those data
  • Certify those data files
  • Successfully clear or override associated data quality check errors

Format and Time Commitment

  • 8 virtual 90-minute lectures, held weekly
  • Office hours will also be available
  • Weekly dedicated hours of institutional task time outside of virtual sessions (approximately 5–10 hours; specific time will depend on the state of the institution’s data)
  • In any given week, participants who do not complete the tasks can stop out of the course cohort. AIR will provide up to 5 consulting hours to help identify and address obstacles. When ready to resume submission, participants will return to the next course cycle to continue the process. There is no limit to the number of times an institution can pause and resume the course. 

Information Session

Qualifications for Participation

The PDP Data Submission course is designed for data providers at PDP institutions who are preparing to submit data to the PDP. To meet the course objective, participants should: 

  • Have a PDP FTP user account with experience logging in to it
  • Understand who owns different data at the institution and how to contact those individuals, or have access to all institutional data
  • Possess basic Excel knowledge and skills (ability to create formulas, sort, filter, etc.) 

Good Practices

To increase the likelihood of success, we encourage the participant to be:

  • The institution’s designated "PDP data provider" (or equivalent)
  • A member of the institution’s internal PDP working group

Weekly Course Topics

  • Week 1: The PDP Submission Process
    • Overview of the PDP submission process 
    • Course overview and expectation setting 
    • Accessing course materials  
  • Week 2: The PDP Cohort Data File
    • PDP first-year cohort 
    • PDP terms and years 
    • PDP cohort data file elements 
    • Task: Complete Cohort Variable Inventory
    • Supplemental resource: PDP Cohort Data File Planning and Upload  
  • Week 3: Creating the PDP Cohort Data File
    • Decisions regarding missing variables associated with the PDP cohort data file 
    • Recoding and reformatting variables associated with the PDP cohort data file 
    • Merging datasets 
    • PDP data file structure 
    • Naming and saving the PDP data file
    • Task: Download datasets related to the PDP cohort data file and construct the final data file 
    • Supplemental resource: PDP Sample Datasets, PDP Cohort Data File Planning and Upload 
  • Week 4: Submitting the PDP Cohort Data File
    • Submitting PDP cohort data file 
    • PDP data validation errors common to the cohort data file (validation errors = structural + field errors) 
    • Task: Upload PDP cohort data file and address all validation errors (structural and field errors) 
    • Supplemental resource: PDP Cohort Data File Planning and Upload 
  • Week 5: The PDP Course Data File
    • PDP course data file elements 
    • Link between cohort and course data files 
    • Task: Complete Course Variable Inventory 
    • Supplemental resource: PDP Course Data File Planning and Upload 
  • Week 6: Creating the PDP Course Data File
    • Decisions regarding missing variables associated with the PDP course data file
    • Recoding and reformatting variables associated with the PDP course data file
    • Reviewing how to merge datasets, the PDP data file structure, naming and saving the PDP data file
    • Task: Download datasets related to the PDP course data file and construct the final data file
    • Supplemental resource: PDP Sample Datasets, PDP Course Data File Planning and Upload 
  • Week 7: Submitting the PDP Course Data File
    • Submitting PDP course data file
    • PDP data validation errors common to course data file
    • Task: Upload PDP course data file and address all validation errors (validation errors = structural + field errors)
    • Supplemental resource: PDP Course Data File Planning and Upload 
  • Week 8: Completing the PDP Submission Process
    • Certifying PDP data files
    • Common PDP data quality check errors
    • Discuss the analysis-ready files and their purpose in error-checking and student success research
    • Discuss using the PDP dashboards for a final error check
    • Submitting an updated data file
    • Creating a plan to construct historical datasets for trends reporting
    • PDP submission window for future data submissions
    • Task: Certify PDP cohort and course data files; resolve any data quality check errors 

Participant Testimonial

"The course was incredibly timely and invaluable for me. It provided the knowledge and tools we needed to better understand and work with PDP data. The course materials were thorough and immensely helpful, equipping us to develop our own solutions in-house. I’ve already recommended this course to others, as it’s a critical resource for anyone working with PDP data. Thank you for providing such a useful and relevant course!" —Jennifer Garretson, Institutional Research Officer, Kent State University

Contact Us

Please email pdp@airweb.org with any questions you may have.