Academic Scheduling Overview Logging In
Overview
Log into Coursedog at app coursedog com (http://app.coursedog.com) with your institutional email address and password.
You will be redirected to your MyCLU login page.
Coursedog works with most browsers, but Google Chrome is recommended.
Homepage
Overview
After logging into Coursedog, you will be directed to either a product menu (if you have multiple Coursedog products and haven't defined a default product) - where you can click "Scheduling" - or you will be taken directly to the Academic Scheduling Homepage.
Homepage Anatomy
Three Lines - Regardless of your location in the platform, you can select the three parallel lines in the upper-left corner to view the main menu.
Name/Logo - Regardless of your location in the platform, you can select the logo/Your Institution's Name to return to the home page.
Left-Hand Nav- Use the main menu on the left to navigate between the different modules.
Resources Widget- Click this to search our help center for articles or to submit a support ticket without leaving our platform.
Help Center- This will open our help center in a new tab.
Notification Center - Click here to view any requests where you're a participant.
Grid/Coursedog Product Navigation- If your institution has purchased additional Coursedog products, and any of them are assigned to you, you can navigate to them here.
User Profile - Navigate here to view your Account Settings (this is helpful if you want to change your name, password, default term, default views,
and notification preferences) or Log Out.
Timeline - This timeline contains key dates for the current scheduling term and its associated phases.
Departmental Status - This section of the home page provides a high-level overview of departments you are associated with.
Account Settings
Overview
If your institution schedules multiple terms at once and you'd like to define a default term to appear when you log in, you can do that in Account Settings (accessible via the User Profile - #8 in the above screenshot).
If you don't specify a default term, the current scheduling term will be used as the tailback.
You can also set notification preferences and reset your password under Account Settings.
Instructors
Overview
If permissions allow, you can view and/or edit an instructor's information and status, assigned courses, teaching load and more in their profile.
Learn More
Viewing & Editing nstructor Profiles (https://coursedog.my.site.com/support/s/article/lNSTRUCTORSViewingEditinglnstructorProfiles67fd949e2e2f8)breaksdown the Instructors tab.
Faculty Preference Forms
Overview
You no longer need to sort through emails from faculty requesting times and rooms for their sections because Coursedog automates this process. Preferences can be collected through an online form (and delivered to instructors via a shared link).
Faculty preferences are surfaced when making manual scheduling assignments but also impact room assignments in the Section Optimizer.
Section Dashboard Overview
PATH: Academic Scheduling> Section Dashboard
Overview
Your institution's schedule is built in the Section Dashboard.
You will want to ensure courses are properly configured before you make section configurations and/or assignments.
When you navigate to the Section Dashboard, you can choose from four potential tabs/views: Sections, Courses, Calendar, and Departments. Anytime you are editing your schedule, make sure you are viewing the intended term. You can change the displayed term by clicking into the listed term in the top left of the screen (highlighted in red in the below screenshot).
Sections
The "Sections" tab will list all available sections for the displayed term.
If you are a department scheduler, it may be filtered down to just your department's sections.
Additionally, it is possible that your institution has set a default view that will impact the filters and columns displayed.
From this page view you can also view course and section information; view conflicts; add, edit, or cancel sections; add courses from your Course Inventory; view rule violations; and create, save, and export views.
For integrated schools, best practice is to not edit, delete, or add courses (other than via Course Inventory) in Coursedog.
Courses
Within the "Courses" tab you can view all courses that exist within the given scheduling term.
The display columns (Actions, Course Code, Course Name, Section Count, and Departments) are fixed.
Within this view you can add course filters and search (similar to the Sections page) in order to return the desired course results. All available actions you can take will be surfaced under "Actions".
Calendar
View the schedule in either a traditional calendar view, list view (organized by day and time), or room view (see each room's assignments broken down by day and time).
Departments
You can view all Departments you have access to here.
This view provides an overview of Department status, which indicates where each department is within their scheduling process ("Status" column), department name, associated schedulers, course count, section count, conflicts, and available actions (e.g. "Validate Schedule" and "Show Sections").
Additional Section Editing Features
Overview
When viewing a section, you will also have the ability to view its change history (via an activity tracker) as well as Section Demand Analytics.
Activity Tracker
When you open a section to view/edit it, the modal will include an "Activity Log" tab.
, This records editing activity for a section by capturing all changes made to the section within Coursedog or as a result of a merge. Some users might also see an SIS Sync tab to the right.
Adding, Editing & Deleting Sections
PATH: Academic Scheduling> Section Dashboard> Sections
Overview
To add a section, click"+ SECTION".
To edit a section, click the section to open it.
Deleting sections in Coursedog is NOT supported for all schools, and the option is generally turned off for most Department Schedulers.
If you see a yellow alert triangle next to a section, that means it is in violation of a rule; you can see what the violation is by hovering over the triangle.
Core Section Details
Overview
The order in which you configure sections and make assignments will vary based on your institution's processes and the fields your admin added to the Section Template, but many institutions prefer to configure all core section details (e.g. relationships, credits, enrollment settings, room preferences, etc.) before assigning instructors, meeting patterns, and rooms.
Relationships
Relationships are used for defining time and/or room connections between sections.
It's important to set up section relationships prior to assigning meeting patterns and rooms, as relationships can impact those assignments.
Whether relationships are created by Department Schedulers or Admins varies from institution to institution.
You can view/add/edit/delete
relationships in two different places: the Relationships Dashboard
(Academic Scheduling > Relationships) and directly in the Section
Dashboard (Academic Scheduling > Section Dashboard). However, what
you can see and do - and where - will depend on your institutional
practices as well as permission settings configured by an
Admin.
You can view/add/edit/delete
relationships in two different places: the Relationships Dashboard
(Academic Scheduling > Relationships) and directly in the Section
Dashboard (Academic Scheduling > Section Dashboard). However, what
you can see and do - and where - will depend on your institutional
practices as well as permission settings configured by an
Admin.Credits
Depending on your school's configuration, you might or might not need to fill out the credits field in order to assign a meeting pattern. The Credit Hour field varies depending on whether or not the class is a Fixed or Variable Credit class.
Enrollment Capacity
Make sure all of your sections have a designated enrollment capacity. This will help ensure that the room you later select for the section is large enough to hold all enrolled students.
Room Preferences
If you define room preferences for a section, that will make it easier for you to assign rooms that fit the section's needs.
Assigning Meeting Patterns
PATH: Academic Scheduling> Section Dashboard> Sections> (Open Section)
Overview
Meeting Patterns refer to class days and times (i.e., MWF 10:10-11:25am). There are two possible types of meeting patterns: Standard and Custom.
Standard Meeting Patterns refer to prebuilt, recommended day and time combinations that maximize classroom space while promoting efficient student schedules.
Custom Meeting Patterns refer to day and time combinations built for sections that cannot meet during standard meeting patterns.
Validating & Submitting Your Scheduling
PATH: Academic Scheduling> Section Dashboard> Departments
Overview
Prior to submitting your schedule you must resolve any remaining warnings.
When you click "Validate Schedule" next to a section, you will be directed to the Validate Schedule Modal, which displays all section and meeting pattern rule violations and conflicts in one place so you can review and resolve them.
If the section has allowable conflicts that cannot be resolved, you can submit Rule Exceptions Requests, which will allow your schedule to be submitted with conflicts.
After you have completed your schedule and resolved any warnings, you can submit it.
Note that schedule validation IS NOT a process for Deans/Department Chairs to review the content of the schedule.
Note that schedule validation
IS NOT a process for Deans/Department Chairs to review the content of
the schedule.Making & Viewing Requests
PATH: Academic Scheduling> Requests
Overview
All requests can be tracked using the Requests Dashboard.
This dashboard replaces in-person, email, and phone requests, and allows all requests to be securely stored in a single location.
You can filter and sort this dashboard and save your view so you don't have to recreate it later.
There are two types of requests in Scheduling: Rule Exception and Section Change.
Workflows
Once you submit a request, it will be routed to the right person(s) for approval via a "workflow". Workflow participants can be notified via email whenever a request is routed to them.
Workflows and workflow notifications are generally configured by an Admin.
Reports
PATH: Academic Scheduling> Reports
Overview
Coursedog provides a wide variety of out-of-box reports to help analyze sections, conflicts, instructors, times, departments, rooms, bottlenecks, and enrollment.
Reports can serve as a useful reference during schedule planning.
The Reports Dashboard includes the option to export many different reports (typically in CSV format).
