Course Master Information
Last Modified on 03/10/2025 10:07 am CDT
Tool Search: Course Master Information
A Course Master defines course elements of courses from a district level, so all schools are using the same number and naming convention for courses, as well as the same setup for grading. Course Catalogs need to be created first before creating Course Masters. A Course Catalog is a collection of that is then attached to the school. Changes made to the are also applied to the courses at the schools if fields have been locked.
Course Master Information
Courses that exist prior to creating Course Masters are not automatically linked to the newly created Course Master.
Course Master Workflow
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| Step | Campus Location |
|---|
| 1. | Create Course Catalogs for the district. | 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 |
Like the Course Editor, the Course Master Info tool is organized into the following sections:
Some fields may be localized and therefore may not be defined in this table.
Course Master Detail
The Course Master Detail editor contains the basic fields for the course master. These fields, including those that may be state specific, are also included on the Courses tab in the Course Information editor. For Course Masters, the selection of a Course Catalog is required.
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Field | Description | Ad hoc Field Name |
|---|
Number
Required | This number is used for identification, searching, and making requests. It will appear on student schedules and transcripts.
Spaces are not allowed at the beginning or end of this field. Numbers or letters can be entered.
Course numbers must be unique for each Course Master in each school. | courseInfo.courseMasterNumber |
Name
Required | A more descriptive identifier, the course name is visible in many places in Campus and can be up to 30 characters in length.
Spaces are not allowed at the beginning or end of this field. | courseInfo.CourseMasterName |
Standards-based | This checkbox indicates if this course will be graded using a traditional grading scale or aligned with a standards area. | This fields is not available in Ad hoc. |
Active | This checkbox indicates if the course is active and therefore available for requests and scheduling. | This field is not available in Ad hoc. |
Exclude from State Reporting
| When marked, course information is not included in any state reports. | courseInfo.stateReportExclude
Reports a value of zero (0) when the checkbox is not marked or a value of 1 when the checkbox is marked. |
External LMS Exclude | If a district is sharing Campus data with an external learning management system, this checkbox can be used to exclude specific records from being shared.
This designation also applies to all Courses associated with this Course Master. If the Exclude checkbox is marked for the School or Calendar associated with this Course Master, that designation also applies to this Course Master. | courseInfo.externalLMSExclude Returns a value of 0 if the checkbox is not marked; returns a value of 1 if the checkbox is marked. |
Course-Only Curriculum | Marking this checkbox prevents teachers from aligning assignments aligned to sections in this course to sections in any other courses.
Normally, teachers can align an assignment to any section they teach, including those in multiple sections. This option restricts that ability; if an assignment is aligned to a section in this course, only other sections of the same course can be selected in the Section Selector of the assignment. | courseInfo.courseOnlyCurriculum Reports a value of zero (0) when the checkbox is not marked or a value of 1 when the checkbox is marked. |
Subject Type | A field that indicates whether the content of the course is considered Core (Secondary), Elementary, Special Education, or none of these (N/A). | courseInfo.subjectType |
Core Academic Class | When Subject Type is Core Academic Subject Area (CORE), this field appears with a dropdown list of Secondary Core content areas. | courseInfo.coreSubject |
State Code | A code given to a course that is used in state reports, up to 20 characters long. The entered value can be numbers or letters, decimals or special characters.
See the Responsive Scheduling and Course Management section for this field's impact on responsive courses. | courseInfo.statecode |
Department | This dropdown list contains the departments set in System Administration that can be used to organize courses. Assigning a department to courses helps in the organization of the schedule. When using the scheduling wizard or when searching by department, all courses in that department will be grouped together. | courseInfo.departmentName |
Schedule Load Priority | Indicates priority that should be given to the course during scheduling. | courseInfo.priority |
Max Students | Displays the maximum number of students that can be scheduled into the sections of the course. This field is also on the Section editor; it only needs to be populated in one location (either on the Course editor or the Section editor).
Only positive, whole number values can be entered.
When using the Scheduling Board to load course sections OR when loading requests for students using the Walk-In Scheduler, this field MUST be populated with a value that is greater than zero. | courseInfo.maxStudents |
Terms | Indicates the number of terms one instance of the course will cover, such as a semester long course that lasts for two terms in a four quarter schedule.
For Academic Planning this field is used to calculate the credit a student will receive for this course. This field should not be blank or have a value of zero.
This field, along with the Schedules and Periods fields, needs to be populated in order to accurately reflect a student's requested units. | courseInfo.terms |
Schedules | This field indicates the total number of period schedules in which the course will meet.
This field, along with the Terms and Periods fields, needs to be populated in order to accurately reflect a student's requested units. | courseInfo.schedules |
Periods | Indicates the number of periods in one day a course is taught.
This field, along with the Terms and Schedules fields, needs to be populated in order to accurately reflect a student's requested units. | courseInfo.periods |
Sections to Build | This field indicates to the Scheduling Board how many sections of this course will exist. | courseInfo.sectionsToBuild |
Preferred Room Type | Lists the type of room in which this course can be scheduled. Room types are created in the Attribute/Dictionary.
See the Rooms article for more information. | courseInfo.roomType |
GPA Weight | This field indicates that the course contributes to the student’s cumulative GPA calculation. It indicates the impact of the course score in GPA calculations relative to other courses.
For example, a school’s score group is on a standard 4.0 scale. A course has a weight of 2. For a student that receives an A (4.0), the GPA value will then equal an 8, thus inflating his calculation. Most often, this field is set to a 1. If the course does not contribute to the GPA at all, leave the field blank. | courseInfo.gpaWeight |
Bonus Points | This checkbox indicates if bonus points will be used in calculating GPA. | courseInfo.bonusPointsAvail |
Transcript | This checkbox indicates if the course will appear on student transcripts. | courseInfo.transcript Returns a value of 0 if the checkbox is not marked; returns a value of 1 if the checkbox is marked. |
Required | This checkbox indicates if the course is required for graduation. | courseInfo.required Returns a value of 0 if the checkbox is not marked; returns a value of 1 if the checkbox is marked. |
Type | The options available in this dropdown can be edited in the Attribute Dictionary and provide additional filtering fields in Ad hoc Reporting. | courseInfo.type |
Course Level
| The options available in this dropdown can be used to indicate level of work demonstrated by that course. It may use a state-defined set of codes or have a state-specific name (like Honors or AP Course).
This field is used in eTranscripts. If districts are using the PESC format for eTranscripts, this must be included. | courseInfo.level |
Responsive | Indicates the course allows responsive offerings to be created and scheduled.
See the following for more information: | courseInfo.responsive Returns a value of 0 if the checkbox is not marked; returns a value of 1 if the checkbox is marked. |
Activity | The options available in this dropdown can be used to indicate that the course is being used to track an activity such as an athletic team or extra-curricular. It may use a state- or district-defined set of codes. | courseInfo.activityCode |
Homeroom | This checkbox indicates that this course functions as a homeroom.
This field is used in scheduling and attendance reports, functions as a sort option when scheduling courses for the next school year. It also causes the teacher's name to print on the Report Card. | courseInfo.homeroom Returns a value of 0 if the checkbox is not marked; returns a value of 1 if the checkbox is marked. |
Allow Student Requests | Indicates that students caurse through the Portal. When this is not marked, the course displays in the Course Catalog search results with a message that courses can only be added by a counselor, and students are not allowed to request this on the Portal. See the Student Course Recommendations article for additional information.
This is used in the Academic Planning process. | courseInfo.requestable |
Allow teacher requests/recommendations | Checkbox indicating that teachers are able to recommend students for this course. When marked, teachers assigned tool rights can suggest courses for the student using Teacher Course Requests and Student Course Recommendations. Additional logic is included with this.
See the Teacher Course Requests article for additional information.
Student Course Recommendations are used in the Academic Planning process. Teacher Course Requests are used in the Scheduling process. | courseInfo.allowTeacherRequests Returns a value of 0 if the checkbox is not marked; returns a value of 1 if the checkbox is marked. |
Hide Standards on Portal/Campus Student | This field hides the standards assigned to a course master from being viewed on the Portal and Student App.
Standards still display for teachers in Campus Instruction. This checkbox is pushed to courses. | This field is not available in Ad hoc. |
Repeatable | Courses marked as repeatable can be chosen by students multiple times to add to their academic plan.
This is used in the Academic Planning process. | courseInfo.repeatable Returns a value of 0 if the checkbox is not marked; returns a value of 1 if the checkbox is marked. |
Attendance | Indicates if attendance will be taken during this course. | courseInfo.attendance Returns a value of 0 if the checkbox is not marked; returns a value of 1 if the checkbox is marked. |
Positive Attendance or Unit Attendance | Indicates if attendance recorded for this section is in the form of positive attendance, in which the teacher tracks how long students work in a given course area.
If the Positive Attendance Preference is set to No, this field is used as an indicator. If the preference is set to Yes, additional logic is turned on, allowing schools to enter positive attendance data for these courses. | courseInfo.unitAttendance Returns a value of 0 if the checkbox is not marked; returns a value of 1 if the checkbox is marked. |
Expected Hours | When the Positive Attendance Preference is set to Yes, this field displays, indicating the total number of hours of attendance a student enrolled in this class is required to have. Hours can be entered as whole numbers or as decimal numbers up to 6 characters (1000.25, etc.). A maximum value of 8760 hours can be entered. | courseInfo.expectedHours |
Online Learning or Distance Learning
| The options in this dropdown can be used to Indicate the type of online learning used to offer the course. It may use a state-defined set of codes.
This field is used to populate the same field on the Course Section editor. | courseInfo.distanceCode |
Comments | Area provided for comments related to this course. | This field is not available in Ad hoc. |
NCES Data
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) collects and analyzes data related to education. Codes are used in the collecting and processing of data that facilitates the exchange of information to ensure uniform values. In Campus, these codes are assigned to courses on the Course tab, the Course Masters tool and used in the Course Catalog. These fields are also available in the Ad hoc Reporting Filter Designer when generating reports using the Course/Section Data Type.
NCES and SCED options are not editable in the Attribute Dictionary as this is a nationally standardized set of codes. These codes are marked to copy forward by default with newly created calendars.
Although these are National codes, states have a say in what NCES information reports. Because of this, some districts may see different codes for a Subject Area. For example, a state has a SCED Course Identifier of 008: IB Language A (English), but the National requirement is 008: English as a Second Language.
Details of the Course Master can be added in the Description editor, including a summary of what that description is. Details can be entered using the WYSIWYG editor. Information is visible in the Course Catalog and can be viewed by students registering for courses (Course Registration) and planning courses (Academic Plan) in Campus Student, and by counselors adding courses using the Walk-In Scheduler and when building Academic Plans with students.
Changes to this description can only be modified from the Course Catalog.
Course Master Information - Description Editor
Custom Data Elements Editor
The Custom Data Elements editor lists a series of checkboxes, dropdown lists and text entry fields where users can lock certain custom fields with the selected value. When these fields are locked, the values cannot be changed where the data is viewed (i.e., the Courses tab).
Available elements vary between districts and schools. It is the decision and discretion of each building and site to add these elements to best suit the needs of that site.
Course Master Information - Custom Data Elements
The locking of fields can only be pushed to one year at a time. There is no All Years option, but saving can be done multiple times with a new year selected each time. Information can be pushed to past, current or future years.
When viewing the information on the Courses tab, the fields populated and locked on the Course Master appear populated and attempts to remove the entered values cannot be completed.
Lock Custom Data Elements
- Mark the custom data element that should be locked (meaning values cannot be changed at the Course level, but can be modified in the Course Master).
- Select the appropriate value for that element.
- Click the Save icon.
- On the Search tab, set the dropdown option to Course Master.
- Enter the search criteria to locate the Course Master.
- Click the Go button. Matching results appear, with the name of the catalog in which the Course Master exists.
- Select the desired option and modify the Course Master as needed.
Search for Course Masters
Locked Fields from 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.
Push to Courses
Any changes made to the Course Master need to be pushed to the courses. Use the Push to Courses option to do this, which will mass update all of the courses in the selected Course Master to have the same information - Grading Tasks, Standards, Categories, Grade Calculations, etc.
Data must be LOCKED in order to push information to courses. Marking fields as locked is done at the Course Catalog level. Custom Course elements have a corresponding lock field on the Course editor.
Users need at least W (Write) rights to Course Master Info in order to use this feature.
Push to Courses
Choose the school year and calendar to which updated Course Master information should be pushed and which data should be pushed and click the Push button. At the end of the process, the number of updated courses displays. Click the OK button to acknowledge this update.
When data is pushed from the Course Master, Course level Grading Tasks and Standards are overwritten when the same task name and term mask are set. Course level Grade Calc Options are updated with the new data.
Course Master data can be pushed to any calendar for a school associated with the Course Catalog. Calendars may have varying numbers of periods, terms, schedules, etc. The number of periods, terms, and schedules from the Course Master pushes to the destination courses up to the number the destination calendar has. A validation message displays when the Course Master has more terms, periods, and/or schedules than the receiving calendar. The maximum value pushes to the courses.
Save
Course Master Information
NCES Data Fields
Course Master Information - Custom Data Elements
Search for Course Masters
Push to Courses
