Step 2 - Add the Units that make up the Course as Core or Elective
This page provides instructions on how to add core and elective units to a Course Outline in Paradigm.
Overview
Creating a Course Outline and adding constraints to the units can be complicated. To make the task as easy as possible, you will need to ensure that all the Base Units that contribute to a course have already been added to Paradigm. Adding all the core and elective units is the first step of the Course Plan Rules that focus on positioning units on the screen. This makes managing course constraints and rules simpler for an administrator. This article will guide you on how to add core and elective units in the Course Outline.
Data Entry Notes
A constraint can only be added to the Course Plan once. For example, if it has been added as a Core Unit, you cannot also add it as an Elective Unit. Only the first constraint will appear in the Course Plan.
As you add more columns to the grid, it will become more difficult to view the course outline grid on mobile devices.
When adding a unit to the outline, Paradigm uses the Base Unit record Id when searching for the unit to add. If your institution is using the same Unit Code and only changes the Unit Name when creating a new Base Unit record in Paradigm, always search for the Unit Code and add the intended/required Unit Id. If you plan to make both units with the same unit code appear on the Course Plan, you can add additional constraints to one of the units, see Adding Constraints section.
Add all the core and elective units to the course outline as the first step, before trying to setup any pre-requites or corequisite rules, as doing so will make the process easier to follow.
Base Unit records with the field Exclude Sessions on Course Plan enabled, will prevent sessions for the units from appearing as available options on the Course Plan.
For units that are offered in different modes of delivery, e.g. Online or On-Campus, only add the Base Unit record in the Outline, and ensure that you create one Scheduled Unit record for each mode of delivery and their sessions, as required.
BE ADVISED:
It will be useful to have an existing test student within the system whom you can enrol in the new course to visualise the course plan as you proceed to build and refine it.
Prerequisite Records
Before following the instructions below, please note that the following conditions have been assumed to be true:
The Base Course record already exists for the outline that you want to create, see Add a Base Course
All Base Units that you want to associate with the Base Course have already been created in Paradigm, see Add Base Units
Workflow
How to Add Core and Elective Units in a Course Outline
Video Tutorial Link: Course Outline-Add Core and Elective Constraint Type
Step 1: Load the Base Course record for the Outline that you are creating
Choose Course > Search menus on the side.
Enter one or all of the following search criteria: Course Id, Course Name, Course Level, and Course Status.
Click the SEARCH COURSE button. This will return a list of courses that meet your searched criteria (if the name and Id are not entered exactly the same as the Course Id that has been recorded in Paradigm).
If you have many course records in Paradigm and need to find a specific one to edit, use the Filter Box to reduce the number of items in the list of courses. Type a part of the course name that matches what you are searching for, to make it easier to find the course id that you need.
Once you’ve found the course record that you're looking for, proceed to Step 2.
Step 2: Add the Units that make up the Course as Core OR Elective
(1), (2) With the Course record loaded in the system, choose Courses > Outline menus on the side.
(3) On the Course Outline page, click the ADD CONSTRAINT button.
NOTE:
You have the option to select the COPY SELECTED CONSTRAINTS button if you have other existing courses with the same constraints that you want to apply to this new course.
(4) Go to the UNIT SEARCH Form section and search for the unit you want to add to the course outline as a core or elective unit. Enter either the unit code, unit name, etc.
(5) Click the SEARCH UNIT button.
Once you’ve found the unit that you want, click the Add as Unit button
Do you have units that can be delivered in different modes? e.g. Online or On-Campus? read more here.
(6) Fill out the EDIT COURSE OUTLINE DETAILS Form section below. Select Core Unit or Elective Unit as required for the Constraint Type field. Enter the Display Code value as explained in our article on Grid Positioning.
Refer to the following guides for filling out the fields:
Constraint Type
This field will define the unit. Set this field to either Core Unit or Elective Unit, so that it will be displayed in the Course Plan
Display Code
Indicates the table cell address where the unit appears in the table on the Student Course Plan page (you can arrange your contents by checking on the next page: Customise Content on the Course Plan
Description
This is displayed in the first column under the Course Name of the student’s Course Plan screen. This is helpful in organising your outline as discussed in detail in this article: Customise Content on the Course Plan
More details on the other fields that are shown when adding a Course Outline can be found here.
(7) Click the SAVE OUTLINE CONSTRAINT button.
NOTE:
Repeat the same steps to add another unit and remember to be mindful of setting values in the Constraint Type and Display Code fields. Start with Step 3 by clicking the ADD CONSTRAINT button again. This will clear the details of the most recently saved Constraint details, and allow you to begin with blank data fields.
Student Course Plan View
After adding the core and elective units, you will see a list of all the units added under the (Courses > Outline) COURSE OUTLINE section (as shown in the screenshot below); and
in the (Student > Course Enrolment > Course Plan) Student Course Plan screen, the same details will be displayed like this (see the below screenshot).
Alternatively, you can watch the demo clip below on how to create a basic Course Outline:
Video Tutorial
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