This chapter provides overviews of academic course lists and maximizing course list efficiency, and discusses how to set up academic course lists.
Academic course lists form the basis of academic advisement. They are lists of courses or wildcard course lists. For example, an academic course list might consist of eight history courses. Course lists are used in academic requirements to identify which courses a student must select from to complete a graduation requirement.
You specify courses either by a unique course ID or by a wildcard indicator. For example, you can insert a row with the course ID for English 62, or you can set up a wildcard course list of all English courses, rather than manually entering each English course row by row.
To enhance performance, establish the fewest number of sequence rows. To increase efficiency, you can use a wide ranging wildcard followed by set operation theory to subtract smaller pieces. For example, you might establish undergraduate courses as 100- through 400-level courses and graduate courses as 500-level courses. Then, rather than use a course list with four course sequences of 1##, 2##, 3##, and 4##, it would be more efficient to use the wildcard course list at the subject level, or even the academic group level, and then subtract from the line detail item a course list of 500-level courses.
Using wildcard course lists is an efficient way to establish course lists. To maximize efficiencies, consider the highest level at which you establish a wildcard course list. For instance, if all psychology courses are acceptable to fulfill a requirement, enter Psychology in the Subject field rather than create course sequences with Psych 1##, Psych 2##, and so on.
When evaluating course lists, consider not only what you want to include in the list, but also what you do not want to include. If all but five of the courses in a subject are valid to be used, then using a wildcard course list at the subject level and subtracting a course list of five courses is more efficient than establishing a course list that details all of the valid course IDs.
See Creating a Course List Detail.
This section provides an overview of the steps for creating an academic course list and discusses how to:
Set up a course list description.
Create a course list detail.
Establish course list parameters.
Complete these steps to create an academic course list:
Enter the academic institution, career, program, plan, and subplan information for the new course list on the Course List Description page.
Establish the details of individual courses that comprise the course list on the Course List Detail page.
Indicate the course parameters for the course list on the Course List Parameters page.
Page Name |
Object Name |
Navigation |
Usage |
RQ_COURSE_LIST |
Academic Advisement, Academic Requirements, Define Course Lists, Course List Description |
Describe the course list. |
|
RQ_CRSE_LIST_DET |
|
Establish which courses comprise the course list. |
|
RQ_CRSE_LST_DPRM |
Academic Advisement, Academic Requirements, Define Course Lists, Course List Parameters |
Establish detail parameters for each course in the course list. |
Access the Course List Description page.
Access the Course List Detail page.
Click to retrieve and display the course sequence data, including the related detail parameters for the effective-dated row. When you access this component, the system loads only effective-dated rows, without any detail, to enhance performance for those course lists that have hundreds of course sequence rows. |
|
Course Sequence |
Indicates a unique component of the course list. Each sequence represents a course ID or a group of equivalent courses. The system assigns the numbers sequentially, but you can change them. Usually, courses in a course list do not have to be in a particular order. However, you must put courses in sequential order when you plan to assign the course list to a requirement line type of Sequential Restriction or Global Sequential Restriction. In those cases, enter the correct course order here so that the advising process requires the student to complete the courses in the course sequence that you specify. For example, students should take French 1, French 2, and French 3 in that order. |
Course ID |
Enter the ID that specifies the course needed to satisfy this course list. (Prompt on this field and enter search criteria to narrow the choices.) If a course ID contains multiple offerings, then any of the offerings attached to that course ID satisfies that course list. In addition, if a student takes two offerings in a course ID, then the audit allows both classes to count toward unit and grade point average (GPA) requirements. The classes are treated as separate courses. This field is unavailable if you select the WildCard Indicator check box. |
Include Equivalent Courses |
Select to have the system include in its evaluation both the course ID that you specify and all courses that are set up as equivalent to the selected course ID for this course list. If you select this check box, then these fields become unavailable: Term, Associated Class, and Topic ID. If you select the check box, the advisement engine must search the database for any valid course equivalencies, even if no equivalencies exist for this course ID. Therefore, clear the check box if the course ID has no equivalents. Clear this check box to further narrow your course parameters with the Term, Associated Class, and Topic ID fields. For example, you may specify not only the course ID, but also the term in which the specific course must be taken. |
Term |
Enter the term in which the student must take the course that you specify in order for the course to be used in this course list. Leave this field blank to return all values. |
Associated Class |
Enter the associated class number, of the course that you specify, that the student must take for the course to be used in this course list. For class associations, indicate a term to prompt off valid values. Leave this field blank to return all values. Note. You cannot enter 9999 because this special associated class number can be associated with any other associated class number and is never an enrollment section. |
Topic ID |
Enter the topic ID, of the course that you specify, that the student must take for the course to be used in this course list. This field prompts from the topics defined in the course catalog. Leave this field blank to return all values. |
WildCard Indicator |
Select to specify that the course is a wildcard course, and use additional variables to specify the course that you want to capture. Note. When this check box is selected, the remainder of the fields discussed in this section are available. |
Display Wildcard Courses |
Select to specify that a link appears below the course name in the course grid on the My Academic Requirements page. If this check box is cleared, then the wildcard course (subject and catalog number) appears in the course grid on the My Academic Requirements page but is not linked. Note. Note that this check box is available only when the WildCard Indicator check box is selected, and it applies only to advisement report based on advisement report types (not those based on transcript types) |
Academic Group |
Enter the academic group from the course catalog offering. Leave this field blank if any academic group is acceptable. |
Academic Institution |
Enter the name of the academic institution. |
Subject |
Enter the subject of the course offering. Leave this field blank if any subject is acceptable. |
Catalog Nbr (catalog number) |
Enter the required portion of the catalog number that is a 10-character field. Use the format NNNNAAAAAA, where the first four characters are numeric (leading zeroes are blank-padded) and the last six characters are an alphanumeric suffix. For example, a catalog number of 3## indicates that any 300-level course is acceptable, including 301A, because suffixes are ignored when a numerical wildcard is specified unless a suffix value is exclusively indicated. In another example, a catalog number of 3##B would accept only 300-level courses with a suffix of B. In a third example, a catalog number of 321* indicates that 321, 321A, and 321B, but not 321AB, are acceptable. You can use a wildcard in any position in the field. When you use wildcards, the system does not check equivalent courses. (This is an efficiency constraint.) Note. The Catalog Nbr field does not support ranges of numbers. However, you can establish multiple detail lines. For example, in one detail line
you can use a wildcard for 100-level courses, and in a second detail line you can use a wildcard for all 200-level courses. |
Report Description |
Enter a description that you want to display in the Description field of the course grid on the My Academic Requirements page. The report description also appears on the .pdf advisement report under available courses. If the field is left blank, then message catalog text, View Course Details, appears in the Description field on the course grid on My Academic Requirements page. On the .pdf report, the subject and catalog number appears under courses available (if applicable). Note. This field is only for use if your institution generates advisement reports based on advisement report types (not transcript types) |
This table provides an overview of how the system processes different wildcard values:
Catalog Number |
Results |
# |
The search retrieves all courses with a single-digit catalog number and any number of alphanumeric characters (letters) following the digit. For example, the search engine would pick up 1ABCD. |
* |
The search retrieves all courses with no numbers and a single alphanumeric character identifier. The system assumes that this value is preceded by four blank spaces, which are represented by NNNN. |
#* |
The search retrieves all courses with one digit followed by one alphanumeric character. |
### |
The search retrieves all catalog numbers up to three digits, including any characters that follow the numbers. |
##W |
The search retrieves all one- and two-digit catalog numbers that are followed only by the character W. |
You cannot place alphabetic characters before numeric characters. The format must be NNNNAAAAAA, where N represents a numeric character and A represents an alphanumeric character. Specifically, four numeric characters must precede all alphabetic characters.
If the Academic Group, Subject, and Catalog Nbr fields are blank, then the system includes all courses in the academic institution in the course list. If the Academic Group and Subject fields are blank but the Catalog Nbr field is populated, then all courses matching that catalog number are included in the course list, regardless of academic group or subject area. If only the Subject field is populated, then the system selects any course within that subject.
Access the Course List Parameters page.
Example
In this example, the Exclude In-Progress Credit check box is not selected. To fulfill the English composition requirement, a student must have a minimum of six units and two courses from ENGLCOMP 100 and ENGLCOMP 200.
If the advisement processes dictate that in-progress coursework can fulfill course unit requirements, GPA requirements, or both, then you should not select the Exclude In-Progress Credit check box. Note that the advisement report indicates whether the English composition requirement is satisfied by in-progress work, thus alerting the student, the advisor, or both that the requirement is not entirely satisfied and will not be satisfied until the course is successfully completed.
To build this requirement, first create an academic course list that references ENGLCOMP 100 and ENGLCOMP 200. On the Course List Detail page, insert one row for each course. On the Course List Parameters page, do not select the Exclude In-Progress Credit check box.
Next, create an academic requirement that references the course list. On the Course List Parameters page, enter a Min Units/Course field value of 2 and a Min Grade Points/Unit field value of 6. On the Line Item page, enter a line type of Course Requirement. On the Line Item Detail page, enter a line detail type of CLST and enter the course list.
Create an academic requirement group that references the academic requirement that you created or attach the academic requirement to some preexisting academic requirement group. On the Requirement Group Detail page, enter a group line type of Requirement and reference the academic requirement.
When you run a degree audit report, the requirement appears as satisfied (not bolded) on the audit report. The report also provides a note that the courses used to fulfill the requirement are still in progress. If the courses reported are fully graded, then a note pertaining to in-progress courses is not needed and does not appear in the report.