Course Catalog

Tool Search: Course Catalogs

A Course Catalog is a high level organization of all course masters in a specific school. A high school might have a different course master for each grade level. Those course masters makes up the catalog. Fields marked with a checkbox on this editor cannot be changed on the course, and MUST be managed through the Course Master.


Screenshot of the Course Catalog tool, located at Grading & Standards, Grading & Standards AdministrationCourse Catalogs


Administrators can lock certain settings when creating a course catalog. This reduces differences across the district and provides a more uniform approach to curriculum.

When a field is locked on the Course Catalog, that field is IMMEDIATELY locked for all courses linked to a Course Master in that Course Catalog, but Course Master data is NOT pushed to that field until the individual Course Master is saved.

Course Master Workflow

Click here to expand...
StepCampus Location
1.Grading and Standards > Course Catalogs
2.Assign the Course Catalog to the school.System Administration > Resources > School
3.Create Course Masters for the district.Grading and Standards > Course Masters > Course Master Info
4.Add Grading Tasks to the Course Master.Grading and Standards > Course Masters > Grading Tasks
5.Add Standards to the Course Master.Grading and Standards > Course Masters > Standards
6.Add Categories to the Course Master.Grading and Standards > Course Masters > Categories
7.Add Assessments to the Course Master.Grading and Standards > Course Masters > Assessments
8.Establish Grade Calc Options for the Course Master.Grading and Standards > Course Masters > Grade Calc Options
9.Push the Course Master to the Courses.Grading and Standards > Course Masters > Course Master Info > Push to Courses
10.

Copy Course Master information to other Course Masters.

Grading and Standards > Course Masters > Course Master Info > Copy
11.Use the Push ALL Course Masters tool to update the Course Catalog with the latest Course Master data.Grading and Standards > Push All Course Masters
12.Use the Push ALL Courses tool to update all courses in the selected calendar with the latest Course data.Grading and Standards > Push All Courses

Create New Course Catalog

  1. Select the New icon.
  2. Enter the Name of the Course Catalog. Note that Course Catalogs must have unique names.
  3. Mark the Select All/None checkbox to mark ALL checkboxes on the Course Information, NCES Data and Description editors as locked. Or, leave unmarked to choose which fields are locked.
  4. Click the Save icon. The new catalog appears in the Course Catalog tree.
 It is highly recommended that districts use different course numbers in different course catalogs. For example, a course catalog used in the high school should have different course numbers than the course catalog that' is used in the middle school.


Screenshot of the catalog tool with the New Course Catalog button highlighted. New Course Catalog


Lock Fields on a Course Catalog

Any field that displays on the Course editor can be locked to limit edits made by other users. When locked on the Course Catalog, attributes for Grading Tasks and Standards remain editable on both the Course Master and Course. However, deletion of existing data on the Course (assigned grading tasks, assessments, etc.) is NOT possible, even if the user has the correct tool rights.

When an item is marked to be locked, changes made to the Course Master are pushed to the courses in the selected calendars. Items that are locked cannot be modified on the Course, with the exception of the following. Behavior for locking these fields is noted below:

  • Assessments - when locked, information copies forward and is pushed, but changes can be made to assessments at the course level.
  • Terms - when locked, information from the Course Master is pushed to courses, but changes can be made at the course level.
  • Schedules - when locked, information from the Course Master is pushed to courses, but changes can be made at the course level.
  • Period - when locked, information from the Course Master is pushed to courses, but changes can be made at the course level.

Lock Fields

  1. Select which catalog to set lock properties.
  2. Mark the Select All/None checkbox to lock ALL fields. Fields can also be marked one by one (see step 5). 
  3. If editing of grading tasks and grading standards needs to be limited, mark the (Lock editing of) Grading Tasks/Standards checkbox.
  4. If editing of categories needs to be limited, mark the (Lock editing of) Categories checkbox.
  5. If editing of assessments needs to be limited, mark the (Lock editing of) Assessments checkbox.
  6. If editing of grade calculation options needs to be limited, mark the (Lock editing of) Grade Calc Options checkbox.
  7. Composite Grades can be locked separately from the rest of Grade Calc Options.
  8. If not all of the listed fields need to be locked, mark the fields that do need to be locked through each of the available editors.
  9. Click the Save icon when finished. The changes are saved.

Locked data displays in gray text on the Course editor, and changes can only be made through the Course Master. There is also a note on the Course editor that indicates it is linked to a Course Master.

In this example, the Number, Name, State Code and Subject Type/Core Academic Class fields are marked as locked on the Course Catalog Editor. On the Course Master Detail, changes can be made to those fields. On the Course Editor, those fields display in gray text and cannot be edited.

Three-part screenshot highlighting Course fields on the catalogs tool and those same fields as editable on Course Master Information and locked on Course Information. Locked Fields on Course Catalog, Course Master, Course Editor

Create a New Course Master from the Course Catalog

Course Masters can be created from the Course Catalog view; however, the adding of the Grading Tasks, Standards and Assessments must be done in the Course Masters toolset.

  1. Select the New icon.
  2. Select the Course Catalog to which this new course master belongs.
  3. Enter the Number of the Course Master.
  4. Enter values for the remaining fields on the editor. 
  5. Click the Save icon when finished.

Information can be saved at anytime. Users can enter values for one editor at a time and save after each one, or enter all values at once and save at the very end.

See the Course Masters article for detailed information on adding data to course masters.

Add a Course Catalog to a School

Tool Search: School Information

This is Step 2 in the Course Master Workflow.

After the Course Catalog is created, the School editor must be updated to recognize the school is using a Course Catalog.

  1. Navigate to School Information and select the applicable school.
  2. Select the Course Catalog from the dropdown list.
  3. Click the Save School icon.

Screenshot of the School Information tool with the Course Catalog-Master List field highlighted. School Detail - Course Catalog Selection