Create a New Course

This document provides a basic overview of eSD’s process for adding courses. The eSD Course Catalog is organized by school and scheduling year. This allows the system to maintain accurate historical records of courses while allowing updates to current courses and creation of new courses for current and future years. During School Setup, users can choose to copy forward the Course Catalog from a prior scheduling year. Once School Setup is completed, go to Courses to update these courses and add new courses to the course catalog. New courses can also be added for a future Scheduling Year prior to School Setup, if desired.

Required Permissions: Module: Scheduling > Courses > Courses

Where to Start

Go to Scheduling.
Select Courses. The courses menu opens by default.
Select New to create a new Course.

Required Fields

Course # - This field contains the course number (e.g. ENG102) as determined by the school. Each course and mini course must have a unique course number and cannot contain a leading 0. Course numbers are alpha numeric and can be up to 8 characters.
Course Type - Course Types denote categories of courses, typically by length and whether the course is graded, and can be used to filter information when generating course reports in eSchoolData. In addition, course types are used to identify courses when creating Attendance Letter Jobs, generating sections using the Study Hall Wizard, using Placeholder courses and defining Parent/Student Portal Course Request Entry options. Course Types are created in System > Scheduling > Course. Users can override the Course Type at the class section level, if needed, to specify a different Delivery Method.
Course Name - This field serves as the internal label for the course, and it will be viewable to district staff members only. The field has a limit of 90 characters.
Priority - This field serves as the default priority for all student requests created for the course. The eSD Sectioner uses priority to determine the order students will be placed into classes. Required requests are fulfilled first, elective requests are fulfilled second, and optional requests are fulfilled last. Priority is also a factor in certain Scheduling Reports.
Credits - Indicates the number of credits that can be earned upon course completion. Credits are created in System > Scheduling > Course.
EOY Credit - This field is a factor in End of Year calculations, and is typically used in a Middle School. If no EOY Credit is entered for a course, the End of Year calculations will use the Credits value. EOY Credit does not replace the Credits in Grade Reporting calculations. Note: When EOY Credit is used, course Credits are often 0 and EOY Credit is 1.
PCM 1 - Partial Credit Multipliers are used for weighting courses that are in progress and can be used in Marking Period Totals and Honor Roll calculations, and when courses in progress are included in Class Rank calculations. The PCM1 and PCM2 fields for courses are restricted to 2 decimal places.
Fees - Indicates any fees associated with the course.
Grade Group - Grade Groups allow schools to define separate sets of allowable grades for different groups or types of courses. A course can be associated with only one Grade Group.
Grade Restriction - This field allows users to restrict by grade level the students who are being scheduled into the course. Leave blank for no restrictions, or select the grade(s) that will be allowed to take the course. Exception: When the Course Type is Study Hall, all grades in the Grade Restriction field are automatically selected, because Grade Restrictions are required for the Study Hall Wizard. Users can narrow the selection if desired. Grade Restrictions, when applied, also limit course availability for Parent/Student Portal Course Requests.
Average Seats - The course’s average seats will become the default entry in the Max Seats field in newly created sections. Users will have the ability to modify this number on a section-by-section basis. The average seats can be up to four characters in length.
Average Special Needs Seats - This field allows users to define the maximum number of special needs (SN) students the sectioner and walk-in scheduler will enroll in each class and resource class. A course’s average SN seats will become the default entry in the Available Special Needs Seats field in newly created sections. Users will have the ability to modify this number on a section-by-section basis. SN seats are a subset of the overall maximum seat capacity. For example, a section is set up with 25 max seats and 5 available SN seats. In this example, 25 would be considered the overall seat cap. Out of those 25, no more than 5 seats can be filled by SN students.
Display Name - By default, the value in this field is copied from Course Name. It can be edited to be a different value. This field serves as the external label for the course, and it will appear on all correspondence and reports.
Core - This field allows districts to differentiate between required and core courses.
Department - Courses must be associated with a department. A course’s department will be used to match staff members to sections when the eSD Builder is used.
Seat Time - A value between 0 and 99.99 must be entered for informational purposes.
PCM2 - Partial Credit Multipliers are used for weighting courses that are in progress and can be used in Marking Period Totals and Honor Roll calculations, and when courses in progress are included in Class Rank calculations. The PCM1 and PCM2 fields for courses are restricted to 2 decimal places.
Link Code - Link Codes allow users to create link courses together by applying the same course link to multiple courses. Course Links are created from System > Scheduling > Course.
Subject - Courses must be associated with a subject. A course’s chosen subject can drive other features within eSD, including the Teacher Interface and Mass Course Request tools.

Optional Fields

Description - The Course Description field has a limit of 1000 characters. This field is intended for a more detailed description regarding the course content.
Course Prerequisites - Narrative description of course prerequisites, displays on Parent/Student Portals. Also displays when defining Course Request prerequisites.
NCES Course # - This optional reference field can be used to list the corresponding course number found on nces.ed.gov.
State Course # - This value is needed for the course to be included in the state reporting extracts and for the Regents exemption script to be applied appropriately.
Curriculum - Curriculum defines which set(s) of Learning Standards are available for association with teachers’ Connect Gradebook assignments. A course can be associated with only one Curriculum. Curriculum are created from System > Scheduling > Curriculum.
Selected Comments - This setting controls the number of selected or “canned” comments teachers can enter for Progress Reports, Report Cards, Elementary Report Cards and/or Standards-Based Progress Reports/Report Cards. Comments are created from System > Grade Reporting > Comments, and flagged for the applicable grade reports.
Typed Comment - This setting controls a teacher’s ability to enter free-text comments on Progress Reports and Report Cards.
Course Level - Course Levels denote degrees of difficulty for a course, and can be used to assign course weights or add-on points in the Grade Reporting module. Course Levels are also used in the Grade Conversion Table for Alpha Grade and/or GPA conversions. Course Levels are created in System > Scheduling > Course.
Progress Report Grade Entry - This option will enable teachers to display students’ cumulative grades on progress reports.
BOCES Portal - what does selecting this option do? Make the course available for selection on the BOCES portal? Something else?
Display Weighted Assignment Average - This option controls the availability of the Weighted Assignment Average column in the Teacher Connect Progress Report screen.
College Credit - Number of college credits that students enrolled for college credit can earn. Course must also be flagged as College Course in Course Options.
Allow Alpha Grade Conversion - The system can convert grades on progress reports and report cards to alpha grades when this option is selected in conjunction with the Print Alpha Grades option for progress reports and report cards. This setting does not affect transcripts.
College Credit Course Setting - This is the location where students are taking Dual-Credit courses. Options are BOCES, College, In District, Other District, Other.

For Standards-Based Report Cards and Standards-Based Progress Reports, the option to include Typed and/or Selected Comments is controlled by the individual Standards-Based Template settings, while the number of Selected Comments to be included (and availability of specific Selected Comments) are controlled by the Course Settings.

Course Options

Gifted - Selecting this box will apply the gifted designation to the course for state reporting purposes.
No Marks - Selecting this box disables grade entry for any classes for the course. A teacher will not be able to enter Marking Period grades for the course. The course will not show on the Marking Period Summary report.
Yearly Averages - Selecting this box will include the course’s grades in all Averages calculations on Grade Reports: Marking Period Averages, Cumulative Marking Period Averages (YTD and Overall), Final Averages, and Semester Averages.
Class Ranks - Selecting this box will include grades for the course in class rank calculations.
Marking Period Totals - Selecting this box will include the course when running the Marking Period Totals.
Transcripts - Selecting this box will display the course on transcripts.
Honor Rolls - Selecting this box will include the course in honor roll calculations.
National Honor Society - Informational only, allows users to designate courses to be reviewed for NHS candidacy.
Attendance - Selecting this box will allow users to take attendance for the course.
PRC (Permanent Record Card) - Selecting this box will display the course on the PRCs in eSD (This does not correspond to the PRCs from Access).
Offered Course - Selecting this box will include the course in all reports and enable users to enter course requests. Leaving the box blank will prevent users from entering student course requests for the course.
Print on Matrix - Selecting this box will print the course on matrix reports, including the Potential Conflict Matrix and Matrix Schedules.
Print on Schedule - Selecting this box will display the course on a student’s schedule.
Junior Honor Society - Informational only, allows users to designate courses to be reviewed for JHS candidacy.
Midterm - Selecting this box will allow users to include a Midterm grade in the teacher gradebook as well as including the course in the Marking Period Grade Search Report when filtering for midterm grades.
Final Exam - Selecting this box will allow users to include a Final Exam grade in the teacher gradebook as well as including the course in the Marking Period Grade Search Report when filtering for final exam grades.
Honors - Selecting this box will apply the honors designation to the course for state reporting purposes.
Advanced Placement - Selecting this box will apply the advanced placement designation to the course for state reporting purposes.
Career and Technical - Selecting this box will apply the career and technical designation to the course for state reporting purposes.
International Baccalaureate - Selecting this box will apply the international baccalaureate designation to the course for state reporting purposes.
College Course - Selecting this box will apply the college course designation to the course for state reporting purposes. The College Course option must be selected in order to identify which students are receiving Dual/Concurrent Credit. Specify the number of credits in the College Credit field.
Credit Recovery - Selecting this box will apply the credit recovery designation to the course for state reporting purposes.
Summer School - Selecting this box will apply the summer school designation to the course for state reporting purposes.
Early Warning - Allows districts to utilize Early Warning Maps in primary buildings and bypass the need to flag the course for Transcripts

After setting Required Fields as needed, select Save to create the course, or scroll down the menu to add additional information to the course.