Add a course to the District or School catalog

Complete the following steps to add a course to the district catalog:

1. Create the course in the District view in the District course catalog.
2. Add the new course to one of the following:
• Current school course catalog
• Build year’s course catalog

Note to Massachusetts districts: Use the Exclude from EPIMS and SCS checkbox to omit a course with a subject code from the Massachusetts EPIMS and SCS exports. This omits the entire course from the exports. You may need to add the Exclude from EPIMS and SCS field to your field set and/or template. See Massachusetts State Reporting–Administrator Setup Guide. You can also omit a schedule record for a specific staff member by using the Exclude from EPIMS checkbox in the Schedule Master Teacher record. This omits just the staff member from the export.

Note: If you do not want to offer a course next year, you can remove it from the district course catalog (District view, Schedule tab, Courses side-tab) by selecting its checkbox and then clicking Delete on the Options menu. Note that a district course cannot be deleted if school courses refer to it.

Create the course in the District view in the district course catalog:

1. Log on to the District view.
2. Click the Schedule tab.
3. Click the Courses side-tab.
4. On the Options menu, click Add.The course detail page appears.
5. Use the following table to enter information in the fields on the General sub-tab:

6. Field	Description
   School Year	To add the course to the current schedule: Enter the current school year. To add the course to the build year’s schedule: Enter the build year. The build year is the year after the current year. To add the course to the school course catalog in the Build view: Enter the build year. The build year is the year after the current year.
   Master type	Click this drop-down to select one of the following course types: Class: For this type of course, attendance is taken, grades are entered, and a transcript record is created. Eighty-five to ninety-five percent of courses have a Master type of Class. Activity: This course type is a way to fill a hole in a student's schedule without giving them a study. For example, Student Council or sports. Duty: This course type is similar to Activity, but it is a way to fill a hole in a teacher's schedule (such as study hall monitor or bus duty). There is no attendance, roster, or grading. Lunch Package: This course type offers a way to get your requests in for a student without manually typing a bunch of numbers (for schools not using online course requesting). For example, if all sixth graders in your middle school take the same five core subjects, creating a Master type of Packagewill save a lot of time when entering requests. Planning: Use this course type to create sections for teachers for common planning time. Select this course when you create a Teacher Common Planning rule when building the schedule. Program Recess Study: This type of course works directly in conjunction with the study hall loader. For courses with a Master type of Study, it is possible for your school's schedule builder to put students in this class, but it is easier if the Aspen scheduler does it automatically.
   Number	Type a course number. Note: Course numbers must be unique within the district course catalog. For example, you can not have course number 010 for an English course at the high school and course 010 for a gym class at the middle school. Each number can only be used once. One way to resolve this issue is to use letter prefixes, such as HS010 and MS010. There is a 10-character limit.
   Allow repeat	Select this checkbox to allow students to take this course more than once.
   Equivalent content code	Click this drop-down to select one of the following (optional): English Fine Arts Foreign Language Math Physical Education Science Social Studies These selections are from a reference table. You can add codes to suit your needs. Only add an equivalent content code to courses in the catalog that are equivalent to each other, but do not both add credits toward a graduation requirement. Example: You add an English 10 equivalent content code to both English 10 and English 10 Summer. A student who is getting credit for English 10 cannot get additional credit toward graduation by also taking English 10 Summer.
   Description	Type a course description.
   Short description	Type a short course description that can be used in field sets and reports. It is also used on Pages.
   Summary	Type a summary of the course.
   Department	Click  to select the department responsible for this course. Note: This is important for both teacher assignments and room assignments and can be useful for querying.
   Credit	Enter the credit for this course. Note: This field is very helpful for course requesting when students are required to earn a specific number of credits, and for graduation requirements. The system will calculate the number of credits requested.
   Weight	Enter the weight for this course.
   Academic level	Click this drop-down to select a value, such as Honors or AP. Note: These fields come from the Academic Level Codes reference table. Be careful when assigning an academic level that has a state code of 04, Post Secondary. These courses must actually earn college credit, not just be an advanced placement course.
   School level	Click this drop-down to select one of the following: Adult Elementary Infant Intermediate Junior Middle Preschool Primary Secondary Note: A selection is not required, but this information is good for filtering and querying.
   Grade level	Enter the grade level for this course.
   Include in GPA grade point average	Select this checkbox to include the grade earned for the course in the student's GPA. Note: The following five fields – Credit, Weight, Academic level, Grade level and Include in GPA – all impact GPA.
   Hide from attendance	Select this checkbox if you want to prevent staff from taking period attendance for this course.
   Honor roll type	Click this drop-down to make a selection. If you have honor roll qualifications defined, which honor roll(s) include this course in its computation.

6. Click Save.
7. Click the School sub-tab:

8. 

8. Do one of the following:
• To allow schools to see the course:
1. Click the School visibility type drop-down, and select Include.
2. Click Add.
3. Select the schools to have visibility to this course, and click OK. Only the selected schools can use this course.
• To prevent schools from seeing the course:
1. Click the School visibility type drop-down, and select Exclude.
2. Click Add.
3. Select the schools that will not have visibility to this course, and click OK. All schools, except for the selected schools, can use the course.

9. Click Save.
10. Click the Requirement sub-tab:

11. 

11. Click Add. If this course will be a requirement for programs of study, define them here.
12. Click Save.
13. Click the Requisites side-tab.
14. On the Options menu, click Add:

15. 

15. Define the pre-requisite and/or co-requisite courses for this course, if any.
16. Click Save.

Now you have to add the course to the school catalog.

Add the new course to one of the following:

• Current school course catalog
• Build year’s course catalog

Note: This also requires you to add the new course to the Build view.

To add a new course to the current school course catalog:

1. Log on to the School view.
2. Click the Schedule tab.
3. Click the Courses side-tab.
4. Click  to make sure Current Year is selected.
5. On the Options menu, click Add. The Course pick list appears:

6. 

6. Click the Course Catalog drop-down to select the current school year.
7. Click the School Level drop-down to select the school level that was defined for the course in the district catalog. If no level was defined, click All.
8. Select the checkbox for the course you want to add.
9. Click OK.

To add a new course to the build year’s course catalog (next year’s schedule):

1. Log on to the School view.
2. Click the Schedule tab.
3. Click the Courses side-tab.
4. Click  to make sure Build Year is selected.
5. On the Options menu, click Add. The Course Pick List appears:

6. 

6. Click the Course Catalog drop-down to select the current school year.
7. Click the School Level drop-down to select the school level defined for the course in the district catalog. If no level is defined, select All.
8. Select the checkbox for the course you want to add.
9. Click OK.

10. Note: After you add the course in the school catalog, click  to make sure Build Year is selected in order to see the newly added course in the list.

To add a new course to the school course catalog in the Build view:

1. Log on to the Build view.
2. Click the Courses tab.
3. On the Options menu, click Refresh.