SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTOMATING COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

1 . A method of collecting submission information in an academic institution comprising:

developing a common language for all information within the academic institution;

identifying the submission information for submission to accreditation board;

retrieving the submission information; and

transmitting the submission information to the accreditation board.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein developing a common language comprises:

reviewing accreditation board requirements; and

creating list of designations for use in the common language based on the accreditation board requirements.

3 . The method of claim 2 wherein developing a common language comprises:

determining a list of synonyms between list of designations and the information within the academic institution; and

selecting an entry from the list of synonyms to represent all information of that type.

4 . The method of claim 3 wherein developing a common language further comprises:

aligning terminology describing information of that type with the selected entry.

5 . The method of claim 4 wherein aligning terminology comprises:

re-naming all previous stored information of that type with the selected entry.

6 . The method of claim 4 wherein aligning terminology comprises:

naming all new information of that type with the selected entry.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein identifying submission information comprises:

reviewing the accreditation board requirements;

selecting submission information relating to the accreditation board requirements; and

determining if the accreditation board requirements has been met by the submission information.

8 . The method of claim 1 wherein identifying submission information comprises:

receiving request to retrieve submission information based on selected criteria.

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the selected criteria is based on accreditation board requirements.

10 . The method of claim 9 wherein the selected criteria is based on the common language.

11 . The method of claim 1 wherein retrieving submission information comprises:

searching a database for all information associated with accreditation board requirements.

12 . The method of claim 4 wherein retrieving submission information comprises:

searching a database to determine all information associated with at least one entry in the list of synonyms; and

retrieving all information determined to be associated with at least one entry in the list of synonyms.

13 . A system for automating collection of information in a teaching environment comprising:

at least one database storing the information;

a processor for receiving a request for submission information and for retrieving submission information based on accreditation board requirements from the at least one database;

wherein the information stored in the database and the accreditation board requirements are aligned with a common language.

14 . The system of claim 13 further comprising an external interface for communicating with a user.

15 . The system of claim 13 wherein the processor further transmits the retrieved submission information to a designated entity.

16 . The system of claim 15 wherein the designated entity is a user or an accreditation board.

17 . A computer program product comprising a computer readable memory storing computer executable instructions thereon that when executed by a computer to perform the method steps of claim 1 .