Create and Schedule a Course
- Robert Lenk
- Sarah Marciniak
- Miranda Thomas
About courses
Courses are individual curricula offerings for your students, such as MTH 101: Introduction to Math. Students register for the courses, may be billed for them and receive grades.
All courses are stored in in the course catalog semester within Campus Cafe. This catalog acts as a repository for course information.
Individual classes offered each semester are created by copying courses from the catalog to a specific semester. While the course information such as title and description come from the catalog, this and other information may be changed to accommodate changes to a specific class offering such as adding a topic to a class description. For example, MTH 201: Topics in Math, the study of vectors. Each semester, you’ll likely also need to confirm or change the course instructor, location and meeting time, among other information.
Adding, editing and deleting courses is done through Course Finder.
Prerequisites
Create a catalog semester. We recommend using code 999999 and naming it Catalog Semester. (You must add a course to the catalog semester before adding it to a live semester)
To schedule a course in any semester, the semester must have a registration control record.
Create exam codes if courses are associated with specific final exam periods.
Required permissions
Module | Number | Description |
|---|---|---|
Registration | 93 | Search, add, edit or delete courses |
Registration | 294 | Course codes |
Registration | 355 | Course extra info |
Registration | 762 | Course prerequisites |
Create and schedule a course video tutorial
Create a new course
Go to Registrar > Course Finder.
Click Add Course.
In Course Semester, select the Course Catalog semester.
In Course Number, enter the full course code e.g. MTH101. Campus Cafe recommends no spaces. The maximum length of the course number is 12 characters.
In Course Section, enter 1. The maximum length of the course section is 5 characters.
Click Add.
The tabs across the top allow you to enter information about the course. See details in the below section. Enter the information and click Save.
Schedule a course offering (section)
Once a course is added to your institution’s catalog, you may schedule it during a specific semester.
Go to Registrar > Course Finder.
Click Add Course.
In Course Semester, select the academic period during which the course will be offered.
In Course Number, enter the full course code e.g. MTH101.
In Course Section, enter a number associated with this specific offering. For example, 01 for section 1.
Click Add.
The tabs across the top allow you to enter information about the course. See details in the below section. Enter the information and click Save.
Course information
Course information is stored on 10 tabs.
Course tab
Section | Field | Description | Set When Creating New Course in Catalog? |
|---|---|---|---|
Class Information | Class Title | Appears appears on the transcript as the title of the course. If more than 30 characters are used and the “two up” or two-column transcript is used, then the title will be wrapped onto a second line. | Yes |
Class Information | Seat Limit (Class Size) | Default number of seats in the class. Users with certain security may still register. Other registration options such as waitlisting will not affect the class size field. | Optional |
Class Information | Seats Used | Read only. The number of enrolled students. | No |
Class Information | Base Class Size | Read only. This is the seat limit. | No |
Class Information | Sub Semester | Typically used to control registration and grade entry. For example, in the fall term 201710, there is a sub semester that runs from September 1 to October 15 (term 1) and another sub semester that runs from October 16 until December 1 (term 2). By setting up these sub semesters, you can control when student can register for classes (Registrar > Registration Control) and when faculty can enter grades for each sub semester (Registrar > Grade Control). | No |
Class Information | Begin Date | If left blank, the date defaults to the semester start date. However, if this class has a start date that differs, enter it here. Campus Cafe also supports asynchronous courses and the student enrollment record can have a further override of the start date for that individual student. | No |
Class Information | End Date | If left blank, the date defaults to the semester end date. However, if this class has a end date that differs, enter it here. Campus Cafe also supports asynchronous courses and the student enrollment record can have a further override of the end date for that individual student. | No |
Class Information | Course Length (in Days) | Actual number of days the course meets. If entered, this number will be used to calculate the end date for a student in asynchronous mode and is calculated from the individual student’s start date. | Optional |
Class Information | Instructor 1 | Who is teaching the course | No |
Class Information | Instructor 2 | Who is teaching the course | No |
Class Information | Clock Transfer Course | Indicates the course is used for transferring in clock hours earned at another institution or from another program at your institution. Related documentation. | Yes |
Class Information | Year Long | If selected, allows faculty to enter a year long grade. | Optional |
Class Information | Cross List Root | Campus Cafe supports cross listing of courses, allowing you to have several courses listed in different departments that appear on the same roster for grading and teaching purposes. The seat count for the consolidation will be contained in the root course. Any “satellite” courses must contain the cross-listed root course name. | Optional |
Class Information | Syllabus | Assists in tracking the version of the course curriculum being taught by the specific section of the course. Codes set in Registrar > Syllabus Codes. | No |
Credits/Hours | Credits/CEUs | Default credits or continuing education units (CEUs) for the course. This is copied to the student enrollment record and can be overridden on an individual student enrollment. Used in GPA calculations, degree audits, credit totals, and searches. The maximum number supported is 9999.99. | Yes |
Credits/Hours | Min Credits/CEUs | Minimum credits that can be assigned to an enrollment. | Yes |
Credits/Hours | Max Credits | Maximum credits that can be assigned to an enrollment. | Yes |
Credits/Hours | Contact Hours |
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Credits/Hours | Min Hours | The minimum contact hours that can be assigned to an enrollment. | Optional |
Credits/Hours | Max Hours | The maximum contact hours that can be assigned to an enrollment. | Optional |
Credits/Hours | Contact Hours Override | Not in use. | No |
Credits/Hours | Lab Hours | The hours for labs or skills separate from the academic teaching. There are options on the grade report/transcript to calculate separate grade averages for lab/skills achievement. | Optional |
Associations | Site | Where the course is offered. This can be a physical or a virtual site. For example, you may have site 1 as day, site 2 as evening, and site 3 as online. Using custom control WEBREGSITE, you can constrain students to only see their courses during registration (e.g. site 1 day students would only see site 1 courses). | Optional |
Associations | Division | Contains the superior administrative unit overseeing the course. For example, College of Liberal Arts. This is available on the course listing and rosters as a filter. | Optional |
Associations | Department | The administrative unit associated with the course (i.e., Math). This is available on the course listing and rosters as a filter. It is also used in the permissions system to govern departmental access to rosters and students. A faculty member or administrator can be designated as belonging to a department (faculty maintenance) or multiple departments using the multiple department maintenance function. | Optional |
Associations | Program Initials | Used to enter the first two or three characters of the course number. For example, AC = or ACC for accounting courses based on custom control WEBCRPLEN. It is available as a filter on the course listings. | Optional |
Grading | Grading Method 1 | Used to set the type of grades a student may receive for the course. For example, setting this to PF Pass/Fail will restrict final grades to those on Quality Point Maintenance indicated as Pass/Fail. STParm RCGRMD controls these options; do not remove option PF. | Optional |
Grading | Grading Method 2 | For courses that permit multiple grading schemes, select an additional method. | Optional |
Grading | Grading Method 3 | For courses that permit multiple grading schemes, select an additional method. | Optional |
Grading | Credit Status | Designate if a course bears academic credit. Non-credit courses can be specified with this field. | Optional |
Class Status | Class Cancelled | Designate a class as cancelled to prevent further registration. The Multiple Student Course Drop function can be used to unenroll students from canceled courses. | No |
Class Status | Enrollment/Catalog Status | Designates the status of an enrollment or catalog. This field may contain the following options: closed, allow over-enrollment, or catalog inactive. If closed, registration will be unavailable unless an override is provided. For example, some institutions temporarily close a course to save space for a preferred group that might register a week later. Allow over-enrollment permits registration to continue even if a course is full without affecting the base class size. If catalog inactive is selected, the course will not be presented as a target course when posting transfer or test credit. This value is also selected to assist with searching the catalog semester, limiting the results to currently active courses. | No |
Related Functions | Activity Trigger | This trigger can be used to generate activity tracking records when an enrollment is added to a student subject to the hold enrollment tracking field. | No |
Related Functions | Hold Enrollment Tracking | If this box is selected, the activity tracking will not be generated for the course for the student until the hold enrollment tracking box is unchecked on the student enrollment record. | No |
Related Functions | Gradebook Group ID | The ID of the gradebook group for the course. When the course is added to a student’s record, a gradebook will be generated for that student based on the records set up in the gradebook maintenance on the registrar menu. | No |
Related Functions | Transcript Footnote Code | This field can contain a footnote that will appear on the transcript for the specific course. | Optional |
Related Functions | Sign Up Now Form | Choose a form to allow individuals to register for the class directly without an existing person record or application submission. Refer to Sign up form documentation. | No |
Location tab
Field | Description | Set When Creating New Course in Catalog? |
|---|---|---|
Days | Select the days of the week the class meets. | No |
From | The start time of the class meeting. | No |
To | The end of the class meeting. | No |
Room | The room the class meets during that day and time. | No |
Suffix |
| No |
Override Conflicts | Select to allow the same room to be scheduled at the same time for multiple classes. | No |
Exam Code | Select the final exam associated with the class. This assists with exam scheduling and reporting. | No |
Exam Room | The room where the final exam occurs. | No |
Prerequisites tab
Campus Cafe supports prerequisites that require a student to have taken or be taking a specific course prior to enrollment provided proper permissions are set.
If creating a new course in the catalog, we recommend you set these if applicable.
See prerequisite documentation for details on these functions.
Corequisites tab
Corequisites are classes that the student must take simultaneously as the course in which they are attempting to enroll. Campus Cafe supports up to five courses that a student must enroll in during the same semester.
If creating a new course in the catalog, we recommend you set these if applicable.
See corequisite documentation for details on these functions.
Codes tab
The codes tab allows additional information about a course. Many of the selections may be set by institutions using STParms.
Section | Field | Description | Set When Creating New Course in Catalog? |
|---|---|---|---|
Class Characteristics | Lab | Choose to indicate a lab section. If custom control GPA_LABS, Sequence1, Parameter 1 is set to N then courses indicated as a lab will not appear on the transcript or be included in the GPA. | Optional |
Class Characteristics | Instruction Method 1-3 | Classify the modality of instruction. Classes with OL as Instruction Method 1will not appear on the calendar view of the class schedule and will only appear on the grid view. Values set in STParm RCIMXX | Optional |
Class Characteristics | Class Level Restriction | Choose to restrict the class to students associated with a specific class level, e.g. freshman, sophomore, junior or senior. The restriction will allow students in that level and higher levels to register for the class. The system will use the class level unless custom control WEBUSEASSU is set to Y, in which case the system will use the assumed class level. | Optional |
Class Characteristics | Remedial Code | Informational field to classify a course as remedial. Values set in STParm RCRMCD | Optional |
Class Characteristics | Certification | Informational field. Separate from major maintenance. Values set in STParm RCCTCD | Optional |
Class Characteristics | ADA Compliant | Informational field to denote courses that may have special ADA compliance. Values set in STParm RCADAC | Optional |
Class Characteristics | Core Curriculum | Informational field. Values set in STParm RCCORC | Optional |
Class Characteristics | Funding Status | Informational field. Values set in STParm RCFDST | Optional |
Class Characteristics | Course Contract Type | Informational field. Values set in SParm RCCCTY | Optional |
Grading | Repeat Rule | If this field is not blank, a student may repeat the course for credit. The selection impacts the earned credit/GPA. Permission #381 controls whether the user may override the repeat rule during registration. A user will be allowed to register for a course additional times regardless of the repeat rule/permission if the prior attempt has a failing grade. If the repeatable flag is blank (--choose one--) the course may not be repeated. Courses that were dropped with no grade or have a W grade are not treated as previous attempts for the purpose of this rule. Custom Control RG900BA, Sequence 1, Parameter 3 controls whether transfer courses are considered when checking for repeats. If the student attempts to enroll in the course again, the system will prompt the student that he or she has exceeded the enrollment limit for the course. Permission 381 controls whether the student may override this prompt and enroll. Permission 561 controls whether a staff member may override this prompt and enroll the student. If the student is registered for the course again, the system will count only one attempt in total earned credits and the GPA. Custom Control RG900BA, Sequence 1, Parameter 1 controls whether the class representing the highest grade or the class in the highest (most recent) semester is factored in to the GPA. To allow a specific student to count multiple attempts in earned credits and GPA, check the Repeat Threshold Override Flag on the Enrollment Detail page for the student's course. | Optional |
Grading | Alternative Grade Semester | Set for the class to use a specific quality points listing (grade scheme) rather than the one associated with the semester in which the class is scheduled. If this field is blank, the regular quality points 0 semester is used. The numeric value in the alternate grade semester is added to the constant 999990 to indicate the semester for the quality points for this course. If this field contains a 1, the quality points from semester 999991 will be used to calculate credits taken, credits earned, cumulative GPA, etc. | Optional |
Grading | Exclude From GPA | Removes the course from GPA calculations for all students enrolled in course. | Optional |
Grading | Exclude From Transcript | Removes the course from the transcripts of all students enrolled in course. | Optional |
Grading | Exclude From Degree Audit | Removes the course from the degree audits of all students enrolled in course | Optional |
Grading | Exclude From Grade Comments | Removes the course from the grade reports of all students enrolled in course | Optional |
Visibility | Hide Course in Public Course Listing | Removes course from public course search. Permission #657 determines whether the logged in user respects this. | Optional |
Visibility | Hide Course in Private Course Listing (Student) | Removes course from student class search. Permission #657 determines whether the logged in user respects this. | Optional |
Visibility | Hide Course in Private Course Listing (Non-Student) | Removes course from faculty/staff class search. Permission #657 determines whether the logged in user respects this. | Optional |
Learning Management System | LMS Category | Supports the Moodle-Campus Cafe API. The course category in Campus Cafe set should match the course category in Moodle. Options set through STPARM LMSCAT | Optional |
Learning Management System | LMS Course Code Override | The Brightspace and Canvas learning management system (LMS) integrations by default create a new course/section in the LMS for each Campus Cafe section. To have student enrollments from multiple Campus Cafe course sections all flow into a single course in the LMS, for Brightspace, enter the Brightspace Course Offering Code of the Brightspace course in this box. For Canvas, enter the Canvas SIS ID number of the Canvas section in this box. Not supported in Moodle. | No |
Learning Management System | Exclude From LMS Integration | Select to exclude this section from an integration with Brightspace or Canvas. This section will not be created in Brightspace or Canvas and students enrolled in this section will not be enrolled in this Brightspace or Canvas section. Not supported in Moodle. | No |
Custom Information | Enrollment Code 1-4 | Informational fields. Values set in STParm RGENCD | Optional |
Other | Retention Rating | By default each absence in this classwill add 1 to the student's retention score. (A higher score equals a higher risk of dropping out.) Adjusting this value will change the value of each absence. | Optional |
Other | IPEDS Code | The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System code. | Optional |
Other | CIP Code | NCES Classification of Instructional Programs code. | Optional |
Other | TOP Code | California community college Taxonomy of Programs code. | Optional |
Other | Course Degree Audit Limit Type | Specify the type of course (e.g. workshop, physical education). The degree audit may be configured to limit the number of courses by type that apply toward a student's degree requirements. | Optional |
Other | Roster Enr. Comment Code Entry |
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Other | Attendance Method |
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Faculty pay info tab
The faculty pay info allows institutions to store information about the class instructor’s pay.
Field | Description | Set When Creating New Course in Catalog? |
|---|---|---|
Pay Type | Institution defined value that may include such options as “contract,” “per student,” etc. Values set in STParm RCPYTP | No |
Amount To Pay | Dollar amount of compensation | No |
Pay Rate % | If faculty to receive a portion of total compensation | No |
Length of Session | Informational | No |
Pay Level | Informational | No |
Quantity of Sessions | Informational | No |
Min. Enrollment: | Minimum number of students required to run class. For informational purposes only, no effect on registration. | Optional |
Hours Towards Cert | Informational | No |
Billing/refund tab
You may have a class that doesn’t follow your normal tuition and fees refund policy. For example, maybe a travel course requires students to drop far earlier to receive a refund than your traditional on-campus courses.
The global billing refund rule is found by going to Admin > Semester Date for the semester with a 0 site number and no major specified. The billing/refund panel on the course allows the ability to specify an alternative number of days or dates than the global rule.
For charges to be reversed, the student’s course enrollment must have a withdrawal date and withdrawal final grade. Dropped enrollments are always refunded at 100%.
Only per course fees from the fee panel, or per course charges in a billing rule with a proc type of T and a Not Reversible Code of B, C or S are eligible for automatic refund processing.
The billing rule can be specified in a number of days or a specific date.
If using the number of days method, the days are calculated from the begin date of the course to the date of withdrawal (with the begin date of the course not counting towards the days.
Courses starting on May 1, 2023 would only be eligible for a 100% refund until 8 days (5/9/23 would be 8 days since the first day is not counted).
So for a course which starts on 5/1/23:
100% refund through 5/9/23 (up to 8 days)
70% refund 5/10/23- 5/16/23 (9-15 days)
60% refund 5/17/23-5/23/23 (16-22 days)
50% refund 5/24/23-5/30/23 (23-29 days)
0 Refund after 29 days.
If you key in specific dates the refund would be as follows:
100% refund through 5/9/23
70% refund 5/10/23- 5/16/23
60% refund 5/17/23-5/23/23
50% refund 5/24/23-5/30/23
0 Refund after 29 days.
Exclude from Bill Matrix: If checked, this course will not apply to a billing rule with the Per Credit or Course set to per course or per credit. The course will apply if the Per Credit or Course is set to Flat Fee on All and will be factored into the minimum or maximum credits required for a billing rule to apply.
Fee panel tab
If a specific course or course offering has fees separate from your normal billing rules, you may enter them here. For example, perhaps you have a course that includes a special fee to pay for a field trip. These fees will be charged in addition to the normal tuition.
The course must be saved before adding fees.
To add a fee
Below are simplified instructors. For details, see setting up course fees.
Choose the fee Type. Values are delivered with Campus Cafe and can’t be changed.
Choose the Bill Code (transaction code) for which the fee will appear on the student bill.
Choose a Billing Site to apply the fee (optional). For example, if only students at your main campus are charged this fee.
Optionally, choose an effective date.
Enter the Amount of the fee
Click Save Fee.
Extra info tab
The extra info screen allows additional descriptive information about the class.
Field | Description | Set When Creating New Course in Catalog? |
|---|---|---|
Course Description | Defines the details the course, typically, from the academic catalog. Appears in class search when the course code is selected. | Yes |
Comment 1-3 | Optional free-text area to provide additional information. Comment 1 will appear on the class search depending on permissions assigned to the user | Optional |
Course dates tab
Each date the course meets is shown on this calendar. The calendar updates nightly. To force an update, run Course Dates Creation. You may hover over the exception records to see more information about the exception.
Course exceptions allow institutions to add a off-cycle meeting time to a class. For example, a class may meet Monday and Fridays but also one specific Wednesday.
Exceptions also allow you to to add more than two instructors to a course section.
Prevent or allow exceptions to be created
If custom control ATTEND_VAL Seq 1, Parm 6 is set to N, a course exception may not be scheduled to meet at the same time as the root course or another of the course's exceptions. For example, if MATH314 Section 1 is scheduled to meet January 5 to March 30 on Tuesdays from 9am to 10am, you may not schedule an exception for MATH314 Section 1 to meet on a Tuesday between 9am and 10am that falls between January 5 and March 30.
To allow exceptions at the same time, set custom control ATTEND_VAL Seq 1, Parm 6 is set to Y.
Create course date exception or add additional instructors
To create a course exception, the course itself must exist in the course catalog and be scheduled to a specific semester.
Go to Registrar > Course Finder.
Click Add Course.
In Course Semester select the semester in which the course exception is being scheduled.
In Course Number enter the full course code e.g. MTH101
In Course Section enter the section number. e.g. 01
In Course Exception enter a number or letter to identify the exception. e.g. A
Click Add.
To add an additional meeting time, on the Course tab enter the Begin Date and End Date as the date the class meets off cycle
To add additional instructors, on the Course tab enter instructors in the Instructor 1 and Instructor 2 box. These instructors will have the course appear in their Faculty dashboard and list of courses.
Click Save.
