Adding and editing program requirements in CourseLeaf CIM
Program Requirement Elements
If you are creating a proposal for a new program, you can use a the Programs Requirement Template with pre-built tables. To use the template, select the “Propose New from Existing Program” option in the New Program Proposal form and select “Program Requirements Template”:
A programs catalog description must include all the requirements to complete the program, and a department may not require students to complete requirements not articulated in the catalog. Most programs have a set of core courses - specific courses that must be passed.
Most also have additional required courses that give students some flexibility in how to satisfy requirements. For example, a program may require a student to complete a minimum number of credits from a list of courses (see Fig. 1B). Alternatively, students may be required to complete one or more courses from two or more groups of courses (Fig 1C).
Other Course Requirements
Related Courses
Several UConn schools and colleges require students to complete credits in related courses as defined by the department, though this requirement goes by different names in different schools. Departments can require students to choose from a list of specific courses, or more broad categories, such as any course in a particular subject area.
While many departments publish their related course requirements outside the catalog, going forward departments are requested to publish these lists in the catalog.
Writing in the Major and Information Literacy
As part of the university’s Common Curriculum, undergraduate students must complete a writing in the major and an information literacy requirement. Departments must indicate in catalog requirements which courses satisfy these requirements.
Concentrations
Requirements for programs with concentrations must:
List all requirements required to complete the concentration;
Indicate whether students are required to declare a concentration or whether concentrations are optional; and
How requirements for students who declare a concentration differ from those for students who do not.
Program Requirements in CIM
Program requirements can be edited when submitting a proposal to edit an existing program or to add a new program. Once the proposal is fully approved, the updated requirements are automatically published in the catalog when the next edition is published. See Managing Program Proposals in CourseLeaf CIM.
Expectations for Proposers
Because editing program requirements in CIM can be complex at times, proposers will not be expected to become experts in using the system - the Registrar’s Office will ensure that all course lists and other details are built properly and follow best practices. However, it is important that the intent and structure of requirements in program proposals is clear.
To that end, proposers should:
Ensure that all headings are structured correctly, with subheadings using the correct heading level. For example, Heading 2 should be followed either by Heading 3 (to indicate a subheading) or by another Heading 2 (to indicate the start of the next section); it should not be followed directly by Heading 4.
Ensure that course requirements are clear and legible to anyone reviewing the proposal.
Ensure that only existing courses are added to program requirements (see Adding Course Lists and Identifying Courses in the Page Body Editor for tools in CIM to ensure courses are active).
If a course added to program requirements is to be a newly proposed course, that course proposal should be bundled with the program requirements. If the course is an existing one but for which changes are proposed (such as a title or number change), add the course using its current number, and the update will be made once the course proposal is approved. In this case, those proposals should be bundled as well.
Editing Program Requirements in CIM
The interface used to edit program requirements in CIM is called the Page Body Editor (Fig. 2). The interface is similar to many WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) text editors, but it also contains tools to integrate course data into the text of program requirements.
Identifying Courses in the Page Body Editor
To ensure that courses embedded in the text of program requirements are recognized as courses, use Insert/Edit Database Field (#1 in Fig. 2).
To use this feature, first highlight the text referencing the course:
Once the text is selected, click the Insert/Edit Database Field button on the toolbar. When this is successful, a blue box and the title of the course will appear with the selected text.
Please note that the subject and catalog number must match exactly in order for the link to be successful. For example, if you try to link MATH 1132 without the Q, you’ll get an error message:
Adding and Editing Course Lists
Add a Course List
To add a course list, select Insert/Edit Formatted Table (#2 in Fig. 2) and then select “Course List” from the dropdown menu:
Open an Existing Course List
To open an existing course list, double-click the list anywhere within the blue box surrounding the list.
Editing Course Lists
Adding a course list and editing an existing course list use the same interface.
Courses can be added in two ways. The first way is to select the subject from the dropdown field near the top of the window (#1 in Fig. 3), select the course, and then select the right arrow (#2) to move it over to the list. The second way is to type the subject and catalog number in the Quick Add box (#3) and select “Add Course.” If the subject and number you’ve added don’t match an existing, active course, you’ll see a “Course Not Found” note in the course list:
Course Sequences
To indicate that students must complete two or more courses in a sequence, add the first course to the course list, select it, and then type the second course in the Sequence field:
In the course list, the second course will be indented on a second line and will be linked with an ampersand (see Fig. 4).
When creating course sequences, you will likely need to manually edit the number of credits for the full sequence. When you add a course to a course list, the number of credits automatically populates, but it does not adjust automatically when sequence courses are added. As you can see in Figure 4, a red box appears around the credit total of the sequence because the total number of credits in the sequence should be 8.
To adjust the number of credits, select the first course in the sequence and update the Credits field to the total number of credits in the sequence:
Cross Reference Courses
The Cross Reference field should be used for cross-listed courses or for W and non-W versions of the same course. To add a cross reference, add the course(s) to the Cross Reference field like you would a course in a sequence. In the course list, the two courses will be separated by a “/” character:
Or Class
To indicate that students may choose from two or more classes, select the first course and type the second course into the Or Class field. If the two classes have different numbers of credits, indicate the minimum and maximum separated by hyphen in the Credits field.
Sum Hours
To indicate the total number of credits for all courses in a course list, select the Sum Hours checkbox:
Complex Course List Features
There are a number of course list features - such as headings and subheadings, comments, indentation, and footnotes - that will not be covered in this article. The Registrar’s Office may add these features to your course lists if appropriate once the proposal reaches the Registrar stage. If you would like assistance in adding these features yourself, please contact registrarcurriculum@uconn.edu. You can also see the Course List help article on the CourseLeaf help site (login required).