TABLE OF CONTENTS
Understanding Program Maps and Their Role in Scheduling
How Program Maps are Used in Course Demand Projections (CDP)
Inferred Maps vs Degree Maps
Related Articles
Understanding Program Maps and Their Role in Scheduling
What is a program map?
Degree Maps, or pathways, help you define the path students need to follow in order to complete a program of study. They can drastically improve student and institutional outcomes, as a cohesive academic plan empowers students to stay on track and realize their academic visions.
For tips and best practices, see 5 Hidden Barriers to Look For When Creating Academic Program Maps.
Why are program maps relevant to scheduling?
Program maps are a key part of student-centric scheduling.
Referencing the recommended pathway for students to complete their program of study can provide key insights into student needs.
By identifying which courses students are likely to take to meet program requirements, Schedulers can ensure the schedule is aligned with demand and avoid creating barriers to completion.
How Program Maps are Used in Course Demand Projections (CDP)
Where are Program Maps referenced in Course insights?
There are three different ways Program Maps are referenced in CDP. All three are accessible via Courses > Select a Course.
The below features reference the program maps that are configured within “Student Mapping”.
Requirements
Students Overview
Completion Matrix (if using Inferred Maps)
Time Conflicts
These features help Schedulers to identify which courses students may take to meet certain requirements, and when they should be scheduled to avoid introducing conflicts for students.
To learn more about each of these features, review Navigating the Courses View.
Inferred Maps vs Degree Maps
- What’s the difference between Inferred Program Maps and Degree Maps?
- Should I use Inferred Maps or Degree Maps?
- What is the impact to my CDP insights if I use Inferred Maps vs Degree Maps?
- Are any Degree Map configurations not desirable or permitted for use in CDP?
- Maintaining Program Maps After Go-LiveHow do I maintain Program Maps After Go-Live?
What’s the difference between Inferred Program Maps and Degree Maps?
In Coursedog we have two different flavors of program maps: Inferred Program Maps generated in CDP and Degree Maps managed in Curriculum Management.
Degree Maps might also be referred to as “Actual Program Maps”.
To learn more about each, check out Understanding Inferred Program Maps and Programs: Degree Maps.
CDP requires one of these two program maps to be associated with a program via “student mapping” in order to produce the three insights listed above.
Should I use Inferred Maps or Degree Maps?
If your institution has the concept of Degree Maps, and has already created them inside or outside of Coursedog, it is strongly recommended that you use these for CDP. The reason is two-fold:
You will not need to maintain Inferred Program Maps in addition to your Degree Maps, which is time intensive.
Degree Maps that are already shared with students and advisors are more likely to inform student demand.
If your institution does not have Degree Maps created, then inferred maps are a great option.
If your institution has Degree Maps created for some, but not all programs, you can take a hybrid approach and use both.
Note, if you do not partner with Coursedog on Curriculum Management, you can still leverage Degree Maps for CDP.
What is the impact to my CDP insights if I use Inferred Maps vs Degree Maps?
CDP will identify whether a student has likely met a requirement or not differently based on whether an Inferred Map or a Degree Map is referenced.
Because Inferred Program Maps are generated using degree audit data, each inferred map generated requirement line has an associated requirement code.
These requirement codes are compared to students’ degree audit data to determine whether or not it has been met.
If a requirement is manually added to the inferred map, this requirement will not be associated with a requirement code. In these cases, the same methodology will be used as that used for Degree Maps.
Because Degree Maps are not integrated, their requirement lines are not associated with a requirement code.
CDP determines whether or not a student has likely met a requirement by comparing the associated course(s) to the student’s courses applied collection.
If the course is found, the system will assume the student has met the requirement.
The student matrix view is only available for programs that reference Inferred Program Maps at this point in time.
Please note that it should not be considered a source of truth, and your institution’s degree audit is the most up-to-date, accurate reflection of where students are in their degree progression.
Are any Degree Map configurations not desirable or permitted for use in CDP?
CDP only supports clear and concise configurations of Degree Maps that present a narrowed down course progression for students. The goal of a Degree Map is to drive clarity for students around the course progression that will help them to graduate on time. As such, it is best practice to limit their course options to those that will lead to the most likely success. Doing so also makes it easier to predict demand when scheduling.
There are a few allowable configurations of Degree Maps in the Curriculum UI that are not permitted in CDP. If a Degree Map from Curriculum is associated with students via Student Mapping, and the Degree Map has unsupported configurations, this will throw an error and the map will not be able to be referenced.
We cannot support more than 2 layers of logic in static course sets e.g. OR, AND
Degree Map requirements that reference a course set can ONLY reference that course set, they cannot include an additional course or greater than one course set.
An exception to this is to pair a course set with a generic requirement if you’d like the generic requirement to display on the catalog.
The following case is ALLOWED, but this requirement line will be ignored:
We cannot support course sets with > 100 courses
It is recommended that any instances of the above are resolved before uploading to Coursedog.
Maintaining Program Maps After Go-Live
How do I maintain Program Maps After Go-Live?
Overview
The below outlines the recommended cadence for making changes to Program Maps after go-live.
The recommendation is broken out based on whether you leverage Inferred Program Maps or actual Program Maps.
If you use a combination of both, review both sections.
Inferred Program Maps
Existing Program Maps
If there are changes that need to be made to existing Inferred Program Maps, it is recommended that you make these adjustments either when they are approved in your curricular workflow, or once per year, depending on whichever is easier for you.
Please note that because versioning and effective dating is not functionality that exists for Inferred Program Maps, any changes that are made to the maps will be immediately reflected in CDP insights.
It is VERY important that you LOCK Inferred Program Maps after edits are made.
Net-New Program Maps
If a new program is approved and you need a net-new Inferred Program Map, you should re-run the Inferred Program Map calculations in order to produce an inferred map for the associated program goals.
NOTE that you should validate that all existing inferred maps are LOCKED if you do not want their data overwritten. Otherwise, existing maps will be re-generated.
When the new inferred map is generated, requirements might look sparse given they are created based on what students have historically applied to the given program. If the program is new, there might not be enough data to generate a robust map. In these cases, you can add requirements to the map manually.
You can similarly add new program maps as they are approved or once per year. If you do it once per year, there may be more initial program requirements automatically generated.
Degree Maps in Curriculum
If you use Coursedog Curriculum Management
It is recommended that Degree Map adjustments go through the program approval workflow.
Changes should happen at the same cadence of program review, requests, and approvals.
If you do not use Coursedog Curriculum Management – It is recommended that you upload changes to program maps via CSV once per year.