SECTIONS FILE: OVERVIEW

The Sections file contains detailed information about the individual sections, labs, discussion groups, and subsections for each course offered in a given semester. This data is entered on the Update Sections window. To do this, click on the Sections button in the lower right-hand corner of the Semester Course Update window OR use the application functions “sections” option found on the menu bar at top of WUCRSL’s main screen.

All sections, labs, discussion groups, subsections, etc. for a course are edited on the Update Sections window. The upper portion of the window displays all sections, labs, etc.; the highlighted or selected section or lab is the one for which detailed information is displayed in the lower portions of the window. The details of the selected section/subsection are visually divided into three work areas or regions or panels:

  • one for general section information
  • one for day/time schedule info
  • one for instructor information.

SELECTING A SECTION

To select a section for editing, click on that entry from the list in the upper portion of the box.

CREATING A NEW SECTION

To create a new section, click on the NEW button on the vertical actions toolbar on the left hand side. Then enter field information according to standards described on the following pages.

The list displayed in the upper portion of the Update Sections window contains details about each section, lab, etc. When you select one of the sections or subsection lines in the top portion of the window, then the areas below will display that particular section or subsection’s corresponding detail information in full. The main selection line in the upper portion of the window includes the following information:

  • Section/lab/disc/subsec number or letter
  • Days and times of class meeting
  • Building and room location of class meeting
  • Instructor name
  • Exam schedule code
  • Section status code: (ok, new, chg, del, ddd)

COPYING SECTIONS (WHEN CREATING NEW SECTIONS)

If you have a course with MANY sections, you may find it convenient to use the COPY SECT button on the left vertical tool bar. This button lets you COPY any section you previously entered. To copy a section:

  • Select/highlight the initial section in the top portion of your sections page.
  • Click on the “Copy Sect” button. When you use this button, the selected section’s details and field information are auto-copied and a NEW section line is added to the top portion of the page.
  • Enter a new valid section number and proceed to input any other changes for the new/copied section.

Some people use this option over and over for their department’s many sectioned independent studies courses.

DELETING SECTIONS

  • Select and “open” the specific section.
  • Use the “X” button on left vertical toolbar to mark the section for deletion.

See additional documentation on general deletion process found under Curriculum File.

Also, be sure to communicate with your dean’s office before deleting sections. Each school has its own policy for how deletions should be handled.

MULTI-TIMES AND/OR MULTI-INSTRUCTORS

If a class is taught with either multiple time patterns and/or multiple instructors, there are options on the screen’s left side vertical tool bar to allow you to add a day/time and/or (use the Add Days icon) add an instructor (use the Add Instr icon). When these are utilized, you will then see more than one line of information displayed for the individual section or subsection. You may need to use the scroll bar on the right-hand side of the display area if there are more sections, labs, or instructor detail lines.

SECTIONS FILE SCREEN DATA FIELDS

All courses offered in a given semester may be accessed from the Semester Course Update window. In addition, each course having a record in the SEMESTER course update window will also have at least one record in the SECTIONS file in order to contain the detail information for the course. The following course information is entered and updated in the sections file:

  • Top area is a selection area in which you select a specific section or subsection or lab (with which to work)
  • Left half of screen contains the general section info (i.e. section #, exam codes entered by Dean’s, section type, enrollment limits, etc.)
  • The Middle to Top right portion of screen is for schedule info (i.e. day & time patterns, bldg, etc)
  • The bottom right portion of screen is for instructor info
Example: Update Sections Screen

STATUS FIELD [“OK”, “new”, “chg”, “rnw”, “del”, “ddd”]

This is a display only field located at the top right of the screen. The status field on the Section screen functions identically to the status field found on the Curriculum and Semester update screens, except the meaning applies to specific section records.

  • OK Indicates the section is fully approved “as is.” The ‘ok’ status is required for all sections that should represent current sections in a department’s semester offerings. The ‘ok’ status is also required for students and instructors to see courses on the web, to be open for registration and/or for courses to print in the course book.
  • NEW Indicates that this is a brand new section that has just been added. New sections require Dean’s office review and approval (once the Dean reviews the courses and clicks on the “approve” option). Once approved, the status changes from ‘new’ to ‘ok’.
  • CHG There are two reasons why a section might have a status of “CHG.”
    • a change was made to a previously approved section (a section that had a status of OK). Only changes to fields labeled with red text will switch a status from “OK” to “CHG.” Examples of red fields on the Sections page include the Sub-Semester field, Exam Code Field, Day and Time fields.
    • indicates that a previously existing section rolled forward from one semester to the next. For example, when Spring 2009 sections rolled forward to Spring 2010, all of those Spring 2009 sections that had a status of “OK” rolled forward into Spring 2010 with a status of “CHG.” This allows the dean’s offices to review all sections and make final approvals.
  • DEL Indicates a section that has been deleted by a department because it is no longer going to be part of a department’s semester offerings. A section maintains is ‘del’ status until that deletion is approved by the Dean’s office. Once approved, the status changes from ‘del’ to ‘ddd’.
  • DDD Indicates that a section marked for deletion (‘del’) by a department has had that deletion approved by a Dean’s office.
  • RNW Indicates that a section has been renewed (reinstated) from deletion (either ‘del’ or ‘ddd’). This proposed “renewal” is awaiting the Dean’s office approval. Once approved, the status changes from ‘rnw’ to ‘ok’.

Some (but not all) changes you make to the fields of approved (courses with a status of ‘ok’) are viewed as being more significant than others (in terms of impacting enrolled students and web views). Significant fields have been predetermined by your Dean’s office. In order to assist you in identifying significant fields, WUCRSL has marked these fields with red text. If you make a section change to a significant (red text) field, the status for that section will go from ‘ok’ to ‘chg’, indicating a change has been made to the record. A section marked with a ‘chg’ status must await the Dean’s approval in order to have the status set back to ‘ok’. Be sure to verify the status of your sections after making any changes. Significant fields in the Update Sections screen (marked with red text) are:

  • Sub Semester
  • No. (section number)
  • Type (sections, lab, discussion, etc)
  • Start date
  • End date
  • Day
  • Begin (class start time)
  • End (class end time)

Note: Most fields, like the instructor field information, will always remain available for updates, even after final approvals are done by the Dean’s. It is only during a brief publication production period that departments may be “locked out.” Your dean’s office will provide you with information about restrictions during course listings publication.

SECTION/SUBSECTION INFORMATION

SUB-SEMESTER (aka Sessions)

A Sub-semester is used to indicate a period of time that is smaller than the regular Semester, but is still part of a Semester. If, after you read through the descriptions below, you have questions about which sub-semester to use, contact the registrar of your school or the Office of the University Registrar.

The following sub-semesters are listed in the order you fill find them in WUCRSL.

  • Regular – selected for all conventional courses, where classes are held during the full duration of the normal semester date span. The vast majority of courses are “Regular.” May be used in the fall, spring, summer and YR semesters. Session ID = 1
  • Mini-A and Mini-B – used by Graduate Business. Many (but not all) courses in the MBA program are taught in 8-week sessions referred to as Mini-A and Mini-B. The Mini-A term generally covers the first half of a Regular semester and preceeds Mini-B. May be used in the fall, spring, and summer semesters. Mini-A Session ID = 2, Mini-B Session ID = 3
  • Law Term – used by Law to indicate that courses meet for a standard period of time, but that do not follow the regular academic calendar. May be used in the fall and spring semesters. Session ID = 12
  • Shortcourse – used for courses that have a non-standard date timeframe. Courses that meet for a very short period of time during a full semester are typically assigned this subsemester. These courses have add, drop, and change dates that are based on when the class actually meets. The last day to add and/or drop is the first day of the shortcourse as listed on the Section record. For example, if a shortcourse runs from 3/12/18 – 3/16/18 during the spring 2018 semester, the last day to add or drop is 3/12/18. May be used in the fall, spring, summer and YR semesters. Session ID = 11
  • Summer 1 through Summer 5 – sub-semesters are only available to select during summer semesters. These are typically used only by University College, but may be used by other schools as well. However, all enrollment rules and dates (last day to waitlist, add, change or drop) are set by University College. Only used in the summer semester. SU1 Session ID = 4, SU2 Session ID = 5, SU3 Session ID = 6, SU4 Session ID = 7, SU5 Session ID = 8
  • 8-Week 1 Session – used by University College, created in spring 2008 for fall and spring 8 week courses. 8-Week 1 is used for courses meeting the first 8 weeks of the semester. Regarding Session Controls and refund schedules, students have 8 days from the start of the session to drop with a “Drop” or register for the session. Students have 4 weeks to withdraw. May be used in the fall, spring and summer semesters. Session ID = 13
  • 8-Week 2 Session – used by University College, created in spring spring 2008 for fall and spring 8 week courses. 8-Week 2 is used for courses meeting the second 8 weeks of the semester. Regarding Session Controls and refund schedules, students have 8 days from the start of the session to drop with a “Drop” or register for the session. Students have 4 weeks to withdraw. May be used in the fall, spring and summer semesters. Session ID = 14
  • Intersession – Created in spring 2009. Used by schools who run courses between semesters (Law and grad BU are two good examples) where the start date is prior to the actual semester start date. For example, the spring 2016 Intersession start date is 1/1/202016, whereas the regular spring semester begins on 1/19/2016. The fall Intersession start date should always be August 1st, the spring Intersession start date should always be January 1st and the summer Intersession start date should always be May 1st. The start and end dates for the Intersession sub-semester can be changed. May be used in the fall, spring and summer semesters. Session ID = 15
  • EMBA Fall, Spring and Summer Sessions – Used by Business. Created because Student Financial Services (SFS) moved into Direct Lending on Title IV loans and requested that the EMBA students’ course registrations in SIS use the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters (rather than YR) so that the corresponding loan periods for these students can more easily be mapped to enrollment for verification at disbursement. EBMA FL Session ID = 16, EBMA SP Session ID = 17, EBMA SU Session ID = 18
  • Law Term ED – Used by Law. ED stands for Early Drop. Last day the system will allow anyone to drop themselves. May be used in the fall and spring semesters. Session ID = 22
  • Law Term ND – Used by Law. ND stands for No Drops. Students will not be able to drop with a D or W. Drop with D and Drop with W dates are set to 01/01/1900. May be used in the fall and spring semesters. Session ID = 19
  • Law Term SED – Used by Law. SED stands for Special Early Drop. Last day the system will allow anyone to drop themselves. May be used in the fall and spring semesters. Session ID = 21
  • Law Term Summer 1 – Used by Law to control drops for early summer law courses. May only be used in the summer semester. Session ID = 23
  • Law Term Summer 2 – Used by Law to control drops for mid and later summer courses. May only be used in the summer semester. Session ID = 24
  • Online Law: Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring sub-semesters – Used by Law to support the Online Law LLM program, regular start and end dates as noted in the SIS Session Controls table. Only used in the YR semester. OLaw-W Session ID = 25, OLaw-SP Session ID = 26, OLaw-SU Session ID = 28, OLaw-FL Session ID = 29
  • Online Law Summer Immersion – Used by Law to support the Online Law LLM program, variable start and end dates as noted in the SIS Session Controls table. Only used in the YR semester. Session ID = 27
  • Online Law Shortcourse – Used by Law to support the Online Law LLM program, variable start and end dates as noted in the SIS Session Controls table. Only used in the YR semester. Session ID = 33
  • Online Law Winter Immersion – Used by Law to support the Online Law LLM program, variable start and end dates as noted in the SIS Session Controls table. Only used in the YR semester. Session ID = 34
  • FSAP – Used by undergraduate Arts & Sciences for their Freshman Summer Academic Program. Only used in the summer semester. Session ID = 35
  • LLI 4-Week, 8-Week and LLI Shortcourse – Used by University College and the Lifelong Learning Institute for its courses. Only used in the YR semester.
  • Law Intersession ND – Used by Law to so that students registered in certain intersession courses cannot drop themselves at WebSTAC. May be used in the fall and spring semesters. Session ID = 48
  • BU Grad Term – Used by Graduate Business. These courses may begin 1-2 weeks after the start of the regular term, but they run until the end of the term. This session type helps to better control add/drop and wait dates. May be used in the fall and spring semesters. Session ID = 49
  • Non-SIS Course – This session should only be used after consulting with the Office of the University Registrar. Created March 2019 to indicate courses that are being listed in WUCRSL but are not official academic courses. These “courses” will flow into Canvas. Students in these courses are automatically enrolled via a provisioning process built by WUIT. The “Non-SIS Course” session is set-up to prevent students from adding, dropping or waitlisting at WebSTAC. Examples include the Math Placement Exam (L24 0PL) and New Student Orientation: Understanding Academic Integrity Policy (I50 0AIP). These courses are not intended to appear Official Transcripts. However, it’s not the session that determines this, it is the usage of the Special Audit grade type that keeps courses, regardless of session, off of the Official Transcript. Session ID = 55
  • Brown Term ND – Used by the Brown School. Created May 2019 to ensure students are unable to make any changes through WebSTAC. Able to enter variable start and end dates, just like with a shortcourse session. This is accomplished by setting all of the control dates to dates in the past (1/1/1900). Session ID = 57
  • Delayed Regular – this sub-semester was created in 2020 to accommodate the delayed-start semester in Fall 2020 due to the pandemic. This sub-semester is in use in SP21 but should not be used after SP21 unless the university decides to have both a ‘regular start’ and a ‘delayed start’ semester in the future. Session ID = 17
  • Delayed U College – this sub-semester was created in 2020 to accommodate the delayed-start U. College semester in Fall 2020 due to the pandemic. This sub-semester was not used in SP21 because University College followed the Delayed Regular session that semester. This sub semester should not be used again unless the university decides to have both a ‘regular start’ and a ‘delayed start’ semester in the future and U. College wants to have it’s own sub-semester. Session ID = 18

Obsolete Sub-Semesters

  • Law Term Neg – OBSOLETE. Used by Law. Neg stands for Negotiation. Last day the system will allow anyone to drop themselves. Applied to Dean Syverud’s Negotiation class. In October 2016 the Law School indicated this sub-semester is no longer being used.
  • Semester Online – OBSOLETE. Originally created to support the semester online program for undergraduates. This program was discontinued after the summer 2014 semester.

SECTION NUMBER (“NO.”)

  • Sections must be identified with 2-digit numbers (01, 02, etc).
  • Labs, discussion groups, and subsections must be identified with alphabetic characters (A, B, etc).
  • Every course must have at least one section. Labs/subsections/etc. without at least one section are not allowed. (See related documentation for section “type” immediately below.)

SECTION TYPE (Section, Lab, Discussion, etc…)

Indicate the type of section being offered by clicking in the box and selecting the appropriate Type from the drop-down list.

Types include:

Section

  • Section – A method of instruction where a group of students meet together with an instructor (or instructors) to complete the requirements of a formal instructional offering identified by a specific subject and course number.

Sub-section Subsections include laboratory, recitation, discussion subsections that are supplementary and are scheduled to meet separately from the lecture portion of the course. These include:

  • Laboratory – A hands-on, workshop component of a class. Most often attached to science, engineering and pre-med classes. Common science classes with labs include Chem, Physics, Biomedical Engineering.
  • Discussion – often also called “Recitation.” A small interactional meeting that combines formal presentation, review and interaction between the students and an instructor, and it is usually combined with a lecture as the primary component. Discussion sections are often lead by assistants to instructors (IAs) and teaching assistants (TAs) to supplement a lecture. IAs/TAs will review the lecture, expand on the concepts and usually allow for question-and-answer time.
  • Sub-Section – similar to Discussion.
  • 4-Week, 6-Week – Should only be used by the Medical school.
  • Research – Obsolete.

There are a few rules about course types:

  • All courses must have at least one primary class session identified as a “Section” and assigned a 2-digit number as mentioned above. All sections (01, 02, etc) should have a section type of “Section.”
  • A class need not have any “subsections” (i.e. subsections, labs, discussion breakout groups, etc).
  • A course can have multiple sections and/or subsections.
  • “Research” should no longer be used. If it is, it can only be used as a type for subsections, labs, etc. If “Research” is used as the primary section type on a course (where the section is identified with a two-digit number like 01 or 02), that course will not be available to instructors in EGrades. For the most part, this section type is rarely used.

Note: Students cannot enroll in a subsection/lab/etc without first enrolling in the main section number.

EXAM CODE

The exam code box indicates the final exam period for a specified section.

  • Final exam information is included as part of Course Listings. Instructors can see final exam days and times in WebFAC. Students can see final exam information on their WebSTAC class schedules.
  • Final exam dates and times are determined by the days and times that sections regularly meet during the semester. For example, a MWF class that meets from 11:00am – 12:00pm will have its final exam on day 4 of the exam period from 10:30am – 12:30pm. Group final exams operate differently. A group final exam includes all sections of a course regardless of when the various sections meet during the semester. For example, both sections of Math 131 (Calculus I) take their final together at the same time, on day 1 of the exam period from 3:30pm – 5:30pm.
  • Final exams may only be held during the final examination period. Final exams should not be held during the Reading Period.
  • The final exam room assignment may not be the same as the regular classroom assignment and are subject to change.
  • Not all courses conclude with a formal in-class final exam. Final critiques, papers or projects may be given in lieu of or in addition to a formal seated final exam.
  • Final exam days and times are scheduled by each school.

Department users can select the following exam codes. Note: not all codes below are available users in all schools.

  • Auto Assign Exam Code: Used for A&S and EN courses.
  • Exam Last Day of Class
  • Final Critique
  • Law Final
  • No Final
  • Paper/Project/Take Home – used for papers and projects hat are due in lieu of an actual sit-down final. Paper/Project/Take Home exams should be due on the date of the regularly scheduled final and should not be due during the Reading Period.
  • See Department
  • See Instructor

As is currently the case, department users are NOT able to enter exam codes with associated dates and times (as indicated with Roman numerals).

Users are able to change a scheduled final exam (Roman numeral exam code) to Exam Last Day of Class, Final Critique, No Final, etc.

Users are NOT allowed to switch directly from Exam Last Day of Class, Final Critique, No Final, etc. to a scheduled exam day and time (Roman numeral exam code).

Users are NOT allowed to switch from one scheduled exam day and time to another (from one Roman numeral exam code to another Roman numeral exam code).

The “Exam Code” field is “red” field. That is, changes to this field by departmental users, must be approved by the appropriate dean’s office. Updating this field will change the section status from ‘ok’ to ‘chg’. As always, it’s best to alert your dean’s office if you make a change to this field, so that the change can be approved right away.

The default exam code value for all NEW courses is “Default None.” Even though this seems odd (because of the name), all new sections with “Default None” will be assigned a final exam day and time in A&S and EN. If you do not want a new section to get assigned an exam code, you must go to the “Exam Code” field and update that field to Exam Last Day of Class, Final Critique, Law Final, No Final, Paper/Project/Take Home, See Department, or See Instructor.

START DATE AND END DATE

For all conventional courses, where classes are held during the full duration of the normal semester date span, these fields should be left blank (i.e. 00/00/00 should display). Do not enter anything into these fields for routine full semester courses. However, entering specific start and end dates are critical for:

  • Shortcourses, Summer V, certain EMBA subsemesters, certain Law subsemeters, Intersession courses: where begin and end dates are staggered over the course of a term.
  • Start and End dates should be entered in the mm/dd/yy format.
  • In order to enter start and end date, you first need to put a check in the box “Allow change of start and end dates by checking this box.”

Example: Shortcourse with start and end dates

INSTR VER DT

This is a display only field and is NOT editable from this window. This field automatically receives a date stamp after each section/subsection has been “connected” or “linked” with the instructor and after that information has also been verified as accurate by the 4th week of the semester using a special Instructor Verification option within WUCRSL.

ENROLLMENT LIMIT

The enrollment limit is used for registration. The enrollment limit determines the number of students who may register for a particular section of a course.

A few things to remember about enrollment limits:

  • If this space is left blank, the system will default to 999 allowing unlimited registration.
  • An enrollment limit of 0 prevents students from registering online for a specific section/lab/etc.
  • Some departments set a limit at ZERO intentionally, in order to control registration administratively.
  • A ZERO enrollment limit can have varying results depending upon the settings of the “Allow Wait” and “Process Wait” fields. (See documentation on those fields below.)
  • If an enrollment limit is ever increased online, while there are already students on the wait list, then (within minutes) those “wait-listed” students will begin to be placed into the available enrollment positions, assuming the “process wait” field is set ‘on’.

REQUIRED SEATING

This field is used to indicate the number of classroom seats realistically needed for a class section or subsection. For schools that participate in the automated computer based bulk “pooled” classroom assignment process (i.e. currently only A&S, Eng, and U. College), this field is utilized to assign classes to appropriately sized pooled classrooms. If the “Auto assign room?” field is turned on (see documentation below) a classroom will be assigned (at a designated point in time after final course approvals) which has AT LEAST as many seats as specified in this “required seating” field.

====Note====: A required seating figure of 0 gives no information to the room scheduling program; therefore a course with 0 in required seating will not get a room. This is also the case if 999 is placed in the field; there is not a classroom on campus that will hold 999 people, therefore the scheduling program will not be able to place this class in a room.

Other schools or departments wishing to participate in the computer based bulk scheduling process, should contact the Office of the University Registrar for further details.

CURRENT ENROLLMENT

This field indicates the number of students currently enrolled in a class section or sub-section. The number of students allowed to enroll in a section is controlled by three factors: Enrollment Limit field, the Allow Wait and Process Wait fields.

Note: The word “OVER” is displayed when a section or subsection has an Enrollment Limit or Current Enrollment greater than the seating capacity of the assigned classroom for that section. In the example be-low, the Enrollment Limit is 112 students and the Current Enrollment is 84 students. The room assigned to that section is only large enough to accommodate 80 students. In this example, 4 students will not have seats in the assigned classroom. Therefore, WUCRSL displays the warning message “OVER” in red letters. If you see this warning message, you will need to either adjust your numbers in WUCRSL or call the Classroom Scheduling Manager in the Office of the University Registrar.

ALLOW WAIT

A checkmark in this box allows students to be added onto a waitlist when the enrollment limit for this section/lab has been reached. If this box is blank, then once a class fills up, subsequent students trying to register will NOT be offered the option of being added to a “waitlist”.

How the “Allow Wait” field works in conjunction with “Enrollment Limit” field – IF “0” is entered as the Enrollment Limit, but the Allow Wait field is turned OFF, then a student will see the following message when trying to register for the course  “Warning: Enrollment for this course is controlled by the academic department. Contact the office for further information.”

IF “0” is entered as the Enrollment Limit, and the Allow Wait field is turned ON, then the student will see the following message when trying to register for the course  “Section has no available seats and there are X people on the wait list. Do you want to be added to the wait list?” If the student says yes, then he/she is added to the bottom of the waitlist.


====PROC WAIT==== (Process Waitlist) A checkmark in this box triggers a process that automatically enrolls people in off the waitlist, moving students from the waitlist (if one exists) into the class (if one or more spots have become available). In addition, if there is a checkmark in this box, then the system knows to “process” and “honor” the waitlisted students first, placing other subsequent registrants at the end of the waitlist (assuming “allow waits” is also checked.) Students on the waitlist “process in” based on the order in which they were added to the waitlist (from earliest/first on the waitlist to latest/last on the waitlist). If departments want specific people on a waitlist to be automatically enrolled (say person #4 and person #6 on the waitlist), they have to contact their dean’s office to have those students administratively enrolled. Automatic waitlist processing only looks at who is first on the waitlist and enrolls that person, moving down the waitlist to the next person as spaces become available.

How does the “Proc Wait” field works in conjunction with the “Enrollment Limit” and “Allow Wait” fields?- This field works in cooperation with the “Allow Wait” field and the “Enrollment Limit” fields documented above. If the “Proc Waits” box is blank, students on the waitlist will NOT be enrolled in the class overnight should spots become available.

Students can not bypass a waitlist if they try to register for section that has open seats, and also has a waitlist. For example, let’s look at a class that has an enrollment limit of 10 students. When 10 students enroll, the class becomes full. If “allow waits” is checked, subsequent students who try to register, will only be allowed to go on the waitlist. Let’s also say that “process waits” is unchecked (meaning the system will not automatically enroll students from the waitlist when currently enrolled students drop.

If a class is full, with 10 enrolled students and has a waitlist of 5 students, but “process waits” is unchecked, what happens if one of the enrolled students drops? Under this scenario, the enrollment limit is 10, the current enrollment is 9, and there are 5 students on the waitlist. Because “process waits” is unchecked, the first person on the waitlist will not get automatically enrolled into the one open seat. The good news is that a student, who is not on the waitlist, will also not be able to enroll, even though there is one open seat (remember, there are 9 currently enrolled students and the enrollment limit of 10). Any students who tries to register under this scenario will go on the bottom of the waitlist. When a section has a waitlist, students cannot sneak in under the radar and fill open spaces.

====WAIT LISTED==== (Waitlist) This field indicates the number of students currently waitlisted in a class section or sub-section.

AUTO ASSIGN ROOM?

As of June 2016, this field is obsolete. Its functionality was replaced with the implementation of the Domain field. See BUILDING.2C_ROOM_AND_EMS_DOMAIN.

The Yes/No switch here controls whether or not this particular section/lab/etc. is to be assigned a pooled classroom by the computer/auto scheduler (i.e. software called Schedule25). A “No” here indicates that you are going to self-assign the course to your own room OR you are content in leaving the room assignment as “TBA”. EACH section/subsection has its OWN “auto assign room” field to control whether or not a room assignment is needed. (NOTE: An additional “auto assign room” field exists on the main Semester Course Update page/screen/window. That particular field does NOT control room assignments. Pay attention, instead, to the “auto assign room” field found on the specific section/subsection screen as documented here.

Room assignments are made for courses with “auto assign room” set to “Y” at designated points in time as announced by the Office of the University Registrar. Traditionally, fall semester courses are assigned classrooms by late July and spring semester courses by early December. Once assignments are made, then the building and room numbers will auto-appear on-line in the section page’s room fields AND they will be visible through WebSTAC/WebFAC as well.)

Currently Arts & Sciences, University College and Engineering make use of the “auto scheduler” for class-room assignments; other schools interested in utilizing pooled rooms should contact the Office of the University Registrar.

Reminder for the new semester: The prior semester’s “auto assign?” settings are carried over at the start of each new semester. However, any class which has the “auto assign?” switch set to “YES” will initially display a “TBA” in the building/room assignment field until the new semester assignment has been made. Those classes with “NO” in the “auto assign?” switch will initially show the SAME classroom in the building/room field which someone last self-assigned (and this should be changed if the room can no longer be used).

COURSE EVALUATIONS

Implemented in summer 2016, these fields help manage the Course Evaluations system known as Blue. Here you can select evaluation templates and see eval start and end dates.

Choose Eval Template or Exclude

  • This is a REQUIRED field.
  • In order for a section to be evaluated a Primary Template selection must be made.
  • The selection of Exclude will cause the section not to be evaluated for the given semester.
  • The template chosen in this field will be the one used by students when they evaluate a course.
  • Once template selections are in place, they roll-forward with other section information.
  • A template selection is required for all new sections.

Eval Period Start Date, End Date

  • The Start Date is when evaluations will be available for students. The End Date is the last day evaluations will be available.
  • The dates will automatically default to the standard evaluation range based on the subsemester selected for each section.
    • Subsemesters with standard set dates like regular, mini-a and law term are assigned set eval periods.
    • Subsemesters with variable dates like shortcourses, and summer sessions are assigned eval start and duration periods based on the strat and end dates of each section.
      • It is often the case that evals for sections with variable start and end dates will open five days before the first day of class and stay open for 8 days. For example, if a weekend shortcourse runs from 11/12 to 11/13, the eval period would be 11/8-11/16. The eval period would open 5 days prior to the first day of the course (11/8) and stay open for a duration of 8 days (11/16).
  • The eval start and end dates fields function as override fields when needed. However, eval dates should only be manually changed by a WUCRSL user in the rarest of instances. Contact the Office of the University Registrar before manually changing eval dates.


Use Midterm Eval

  • Very few schools/programs use Midterm Evaluations.
  • These schools/programs have their own rules for when Use Midterm Eval should be set. As of October 2016, only two programs use midterm evals, the Brown School and the College Writing Program.
  • All other schools/programs should leave this dropdown set to Exclude.
  • This field will default to “Brown Mid-Semester” for all fall and spring Brown sections. It will default to Exclude for all other sections.

SECTION DESCRIPTION

A field used to add brief supplemental descriptive text specific to individual sections or subsections. The text is publicly visible at Course Listings.

This is not a required field. Many people ignore this field, unless they have an important textual message that they want to display to students.

====URL==== (COURSE SECTION)

The full website address for an instructor’s specific course section can be entered here. The specified web page is “brought up” automatically when enrolled students click on the field from within WebSTAC when viewing the course from their WebSTAC schedules. If one wants a website to be world viewable for a whole group of sections related to a course, then one must put a single URL in the URL field found under the SEMESTER COURSE UPDATE screen, as that URL will then be “clickable” from within the university’s general world-view web based course listings screens.

DAY

Indicate the day(s) of the week on which the class meets by clicking in the box for a drop-down menu of weekday combination options.

  • If no meeting time has been set, enter TBA or simply click on the adjacent TBA button.
  • Use the ‘Add Days’ icon to add a second meeting pattern
  • Use the ‘Del Days’ icon to delete a meeting pattern.

BEGIN AND END [TIMES]

Indicate the beginning and ending times the class will meet, using an a.m./p.m. designation.

  • For a drop-down list of standard times, click in the Begin box and make your selection from there.
    • There exists a Dean’s’ approved list of recommended standard class times for which courses should be offered. Through a cooperative effort of selecting standard class times, we are able to build a better schedule for students, making better time and facilities utilization.
  • Whenever possible, encourage instructor to follow the recommended day/time patterns. In addition, try to schedule a fair percentage of departmental classes in non-prime times in order to help assure enough spaces will be available on campus to meet the demand.
  • WashU requires all fall and spring classes scheduled in University-managed (pooled) classrooms to adhere to a standard set of meeting days and times. Ensuring that courses meet during approved days/times is beneficial to the University as it allows for a greater distribution of classes throughout the day, reduces the number of course time conflicts for students, reduces the number of courses that must have enrollments capped due to room size, and facilitates better matches of rooms with instructors’ teaching needs. If an instructor needs to meet outside of the standard teaching days/times, a petition for an exception must be submitted, as outlined below. Petitions will be considered by the University Scheduling Review Committee.

BUILDING, ROOM AND EMS DOMAIN

If you know the location where a class section is going to meet you can enter it in the Building and Room fields. When you enter a building and room other than TBA or See Instructor, you must have permission to use that building and room at the time specified. Entering a building and room does not automatically ensure that the building and room have been reserved for your class. You must still reserve the building and room in whatever manner is appropriate. That could mean getting the room reserved in someone’s Outlook calendar, a Google calendar or in the scheduling software system known as EMS.

EMS Domain

EMS is the name of the room reservation software that, in June 2016, replaced R25/25Live (the system that was used in the past for reserving pooled classrooms).

  • The word “domain” is an EMS term. It refers to the WU school or area that will be using EMS to reserve academic classrooms for classes. Because these domains reserve classrooms for classes in bulk, they need the help of a room reservation software like EMS.
  • The six school/area domains defined in WUCRSL are: Brown, Business, Engineering, Law, Pooled (OUR) and SamFox.
  • The buildings and rooms each domain reserves using the EMS software are linked to that domain.
    • For example, classrooms in Hillman Hall exist in two separate domains. Some of the classrooms in Hillman Hall (e.g. rooms 110 and 270) are reserved by the Brown School and some of the classrooms in Hillman Hall (e.g. rooms 060 and 070) are pooled classrooms and therefore are reserved by the Office of the University Registrar (OUR).
    • The classrooms scheduled by the Brown School exist as part of the ‘Brown School’ domain and the classrooms scheduled by OUR exist as part of the ‘Pooled OUR’ domain.
  • There is one additional domain into which all other buildings and rooms are linked. It is labeled the “No EMS Domain.” Any building or room that is not reserved using the EMS software is included in the “No EMS Domain.” For example, buildings and rooms in the Taylor Avenue Building at the Medical School are in the “No EMS Domain.” This doesn’t mean that rooms in the Taylor Avenue building aren’t still a part of the Medical School, it just means that because the rooms are not being reserved using EMS, they are designated in WUCRSL as being in the “No EMS Domain.”

Entering a building and room for which you have permission to schedule

Here’s an example… the Philosophy department has a conference room, Wilson 104, into which it sometimes schedules small classes, instead of using pooled classrooms. To assign Wilson 104 to a section, follow these steps.

  • Navigate to the appropriate section in WUCRSL
  • Go to the schedule record portion of the Section window where you enter days and times. You will see the following for new sections or any time you add a new day/time combination:
    • Building = None
    • Room = Blank
    • EMS Domain = SELECT
  • Next, go to the Building and Room fields and enter the building and room you have permission to schedule. In this case, Wilson 104.
  • When you add Wilson 104 to the schedule record you will notice that the EMS Domain gets populated automatically with “No EMS Domain.”
  • The reason the EMS Domain gets populated automatically is because there is a table inside WUCRSL that matches buildings and rooms to domains.
  • So, the trick is to start by entering the building and room first and not the EMS Domain. If you add the EMS Domain first, you will be forced to choose the building and room, which is an extra step.

NOTE: in 2020 a new building code called “Remote” was created to indicate that a course was being taught fully on-line. This was in the context of the pandemic when many courses moved to on-line only. This code should not be selected after SP21 unless the university continues to offer “Remote per COVID-19” as an Instruction Type (course format).

Requesting that a Section be Scheduled into a Pooled Classroom

The instructions below describe how to ensure that you properly identify sections that need to be assigned to pooled classrooms by the Office of the University Registrar.

  • Navigate to the appropriate section in WUCRSL
  • After you enter a standard day and time, go to the EMS Domain field and choose the “Pooled OUR Domain.”
  • Click the “Yes” button when you see the “Do you want to change the building to TBA?” message.
  • After you set the EMS Domain to “Pooled (OUR)” and click the Yes button on the “Change building to TBA” pop-up box (as above), the Bldg., Room, EMS Domain and EMS Assigned checkbox gets set for you automatically, like this:
  • The EMS Assigned checkbox is set by WUCRSL. It is not a box you will ever manually be able to check on your own. It gets checked automatically when the building is TBA, the room is blank and one of the five domains (Brown, Business, Law, Pooled (OUR) and SamFox) has been chosen. Essentially, it is the flag that triggers EMS to find a classroom for a section’s schedule record.

ROOM FEATURES/AUDIO VISUAL AND SEATING NEEDS FOR POOLED CLASSROOMS

  • Room features are a list of room attributes (audio visual equipment and seating style layouts) that users can select for sections going into pooled classrooms.
  • The room feature requests added to course sections should be based on the teaching needs of the instructors.
  • As has always been the case, requests for room features are considered preferences during the classroom scheduling process completed by the Office of the University Registrar (OUR). OUR makes every effort to honor room feature preferences.

CPI (CAMPUS PLANNING INTERFACE) – Adding Pooled Room Feature

All pooled rooms come equipped with default features including blackboards, a computer, dvd player, a data projector, and an internet connection. Therefore, you only need to use the CPI if you need to add room features beyond the default room features.

The following room feature preferences are available in the CPI:

  • ALC-Flexible Seating, Standard AV (48 seats max): active learning classroom with seats that are easily moved into various seating configurations, similar to the way in which movable tablet chairs can be moved around. Rooms like this have the standard pooled classroom audio visual components (internet, computer, dvd player, screen). There are only a few pooled rooms of this kind, the largest of which has 48 seats. Please only select this feature if you are certain a faculty member prefers this set-up. It may not be possible to fulfill all requests for this preference.
  • Blu-Ray Player: Plays high definition discs. A blu-ray player can play a regular dvd, but a regular dvd player cannot play a blu-ray disc.
  • Document Camera: Also known as digital overheads or doc cams, are real-time image capture devices for displaying an object. A doc camera is able to magnify and project the images of three dimensional objects as well as transparencies. They are like high resolution cameras.
  • Interactive Board: Formerly referred to as a SmartBoard. A system that includes an interactive whiteboard, a computer, and projector. A projector connected to the computer displays the desktop image on the interactive whiteboard. The whiteboard accepts touch input from a finger, pen or other solid object. The components are connected wirelessly or via USB or serial cables.
  • Video Conferencing: A means to conduct a conference between two or more participants at different sites by using computer with software, microphone(s) and camera(s). There are only 7 pooled rooms that have this feature so only chose it for a course when it is needed for an entire semester. If you have a class that only need video conferencing for one or two days, the Center for Teaching and Learning (formerly the Teaching Center) has Skype kits that can be checked out.
  • Seating – Fixed Non/Movable: Seating arrangement in which tables and/or chairs are affixed to the floor and cannot be moved.
  • Seating – Movable Tablets: Seating arrangement in which individual desks are set up in the room. This arrangement easily allows students to move around and get into small groups.
  • Seating – Seminar Table: Seating arrangement in which one table is set-up with chairs placed on all sides. The table can be a square or a rectangle.
  • Seating – Senate Style Tables: Seating arrangement in which there are rows of tables with chairs.
  • Wheelchair Access: Classroom with entrances and exits designed for those in wheelchairs or with other mobility issues.
  • Windows – None: Classroom without windows.

DIFF EXAM ROOM

This field is filled in by Dean’s offices IF needed. Dean’s enter “N” (or leave blank) to indicate exam will be held in the regularly assigned classroom (i.e. same room where the class will be held for the semester). If “Y” is entered, then a different classroom has to be used (probably due to a scheduling conflict or because the instructor requested a special room). When a “Y” is entered, a field will display on the screen so the other building and room can be entered.

PRIMARY INSTRUCTORS

Every section and subsection of a course must have an instructor associated with it. It is the responsibility of the departmental user to select and connect instructors. Instructor names are housed in a list that is compiled from the Human Resources system. This list is available to you in WUCRSL. This process of “connecting” (aka “linking”) instructors to courses serves a variety of very important functions:

  • It creates the link which allows instructor members to view class rosters via WebFAC
  • It allows instructors to send emails to students from rosters found in WebFAC
  • It allows instructors to enter grades electronically via E-grades
  • It allows instructors to use Canvas
  • It creates the linkage with Course Evals
  • It eliminates the need for paperwork to communicate this information to various administrative offices of the University
  • It provides the Office of the University Registrar with reliable information about instructor relative to classroom assignments, EGrades, etc.

CONNECTING INSTRUCTORS TO COURSES AND ENTERING INSTRUCTOR INFO

  • From the course Section window, click on the ‘HR Link’ button in the Instructor box for a list of the instructor members from your selected areas or department(s).

Example: Instructor Search
  • Scroll through this list and click on the name of the Instructor associated with the particular course section/lab
  • Click the ‘Select’ button on the bottom of the pop-up box
  • To narrow the number of names you may need to scroll through, you may instead type in the instructor’s last name in the “Search by last name”
  • Be sure to double check your instructor selection
  • After doing this, the selected instructor’s “lastname + comma + firstname” will appear on the instructor key “HR Name” field
  • For those sections in which you don’t yet know the Instructor, or for new Instructors not in the departmental list (i.e. not yet appointed in HR), select [TBA] from the drop down list
  • Use the SAVE icon at left to save work and re-display screen to reflect your update
  • When this is done, the instructor is said to be “linked” or “connected” to the course. This means the instructor can subsequently use WebFAC to view on-line rosters for his/her courses, PLUS he/she can then use “Canvas” and/or “E-grades” when needed
  • If an instructor is NOT “linked” (i.e. her last name and first name are NOT in the “HR Name” field), then she will NOT see her courses online
  • If you cannot yet “link” the instructor, (perhaps because the instructor isn’t yet officially appointed and/or appearing in the list), then you can still at least enter his or her last name in the “Print Name” field (see below). Contact the Office of the University Registrar to have an instructor added to the list.
  • Note about Instructor Titles: Instructor titles come from one of two sources, Human Resources or the Office of the University Registrar. Most instructors names flow into WUCRSL from HR. In those cases, the titles are those associated with instructor appointments. When the University Registrar’s office adds instructors to the drop down list on an ad hoc basis, those instructors all get listed as Class Support. WUCRSL doesn’t care about titles. The only person who sees the titles are WUCRSL users. The WUCRSL titles don’t appear anywhere (not on the web, not in course listings, not in Canvas, not on rosters, etc…) and have nothing to do with the type of privileges one has. As long as instructors are linked properly, there will be no problems. The WUCRSL HR list sometimes has people listed multiple times, sometimes with outdated titles. The list also contains people who no longer work at the University. It’s not a clean list, but it doesn’t have to be. This is just one of the quirks of WUCRSL. Again, only WUCRSL users see the titles and they are not always correct. It’s the linking that is the key to what access people have, not their titles.

ADDING, CHANGING, DELETING MULTIPLE INSTRUCTORS

  • Use the ‘Add Instr’ button on the actions toolbar (on far left icon column) when you need to add more than one instructor for a given section/lab
  • Use the ‘Del Inst’ button to remove instructor from your list. You always need at least ONE line/record of instructor field info
  • Pay very close attention to the instructor(s) that is/are currently being displayed in the lower right portion of the window. IF an instructor name (in a series of many instructors) is NOT displaying, then you should use the vertical scroll bar buttons (to the right of the bottom instructor fields) to re-display the instructor for which you are looking. Once displayed, you may then choose to edit or delete the instructor
  • Do NOT simply rely on selecting/highlighting the instructor line at the TOP of the section/subsection window. When deleting or editing instructor info, you MUST also be absolutely certain that the correct instructor info is displayed before proceeding with any further instructor update options
  • Once the instructor is highlighted, the “Del Inst” button will be able to properly remove that selected instructor from the list. Make sure you re-adjust the “% of effort” field, and “master/grader” fields as needed, followed by RE-SAVING each time

PRINT NAME

The Print name field indicates how an instructor’s name will appear in the Course Listings book and online in WebSTAC. You may edit this field. Normally, just the last name is used here. If you don’t yet know who will be teaching the class, you should enter ‘staff’ or ‘TBA’.

Typing the instructor’s name in the Print name field, while not selecting that instructor from the HR list, DOES NOT ‘connect’ that instructor to that course. An instructor is NOT fully “linked” and he/she will not see his/her their courses online in WebFAC, EGrades or Canvas.

To properly “link” an instructor to the course you MUST click on the “HR Link” button by the instructor name area on the screen as further explained in the above paragraphs. Likewise, if you do leave TBA in the “Printname” field, make sure you have also selected TBA from the “HR Link” button, such that “TBA” is also showing in the “HR Name” field, otherwise someone else could inadvertently be “linked” to the course.

DESCRIPTION

The Instructor Description field allows a department to include additional information about an instructor, like an appointment title, etc. However, this field is usually left blank. The text in this field will appear in the Course Listings publication report run out of WUCRSL. The text in this field doe NOT appear in the web Course Listings. The text in this field will roll-forward from semester to semester.

MASTER, GRADER, EVALUATE and % EFFORT

The Master, Grader, Evaluate and %Effort fields indicate which instructor (when there is more than one) is responsible for certain tasks.

  • Master: aka Section Leader, is in charge of the section. This person can enter EGrades, but not approve them so they become live in SIS or WebFAC/WebSTAC.
  • Grader: can enter EGrades and is the person officially responsible for “approving” grades at EGrades so that grades become visible to administrators in SIS and students at WebSTAC.
  • Evaluate: checking this box indicates that an instructor should be evaluated in the course evaluations process along with the course.
    • When an instructor is added to a section, the Evaluate checkbox is checked (set to Yes) by default.
  •  % Effort is the percentage of effort attributed to each instructor. The percent effort must total 100%, regardless of the number of instructors linked to a section. An instructor may be listed with 0% effort, 100% effort or any % effort in between.

There must always be one instructor marked as “master” and one as “grader”. Often, the “master” and the “grader” are the same person.

Note: The “Grader” is the one viewed as empowered to “approve” any grades entered via EGrades. Any linked instructor, including the “Master” and “Grader” can enter EGrades, but only the “Grader” has the power to approve the grades. Grades are not official and do not show up in WebSTAC or SIS until approved by the “Grader.” All instructors receive an email notification once the designated “Grader” has approved the final grades.

INSTRUCTOR SEQUENCING NUMBER

There is also an instructor sequencing number at the far left side of the instructor area (i.e. the number inside the small box). If the section/lab/etc has only one instructor, then this sequence number should be 1. When there are multiple instructors, this sequencing number indicates whose name should be listed first in Course Listings. If you choose to ignore this field, leaving each entry with a value of “1”, the instructors will print out in alpha order (based on the contents of the “print name” field) in WUCRSL. Only enter values in this field if you want to re-sequence the instructors to display in a specific non-alpha order.

SUPPORT PERSONS (AIs, TAs, Staff Support and Undergraduate TAs)

There are two groups of people who can be linked as support persons:

1. Instructors/Staff/Graduate Students

2. Undergraduate Students

General Notes About Support Persons

  • The Support Persons panel/area on the sections screen (beneath the primary instructor panel area) is for entering individuals who help out in the class (like Assistants in Instructions), but who are NOT actually teaching the course.
  • Click the “add support” icon on the left vertical tool bar to add support persons.
  • Support persons do not appear in the web course listings.
  • WUCRSL will not allow you to link the same person as both an instructor and support person.

How do the names of the support people get into WUCRSL so you can link them?

  • Faculty/Staff/Graduate Student names flow into WUCRSL from SIS or HR.
  • Undergraduate Students are included in the WUCRSL list automatically based on the presence of an open major program record. Undergraduate students must be Wash U. degree seeking students in Architecture, Art, Arts & Sciences, Business, Engineering, and Beyond Boundaries. Undergraduates who are on leave or have graduated cannot be linked as UGTAs. An undergraduate may not be enrolled in a course for which he/she is also an undergraduate TA. An undergraduate can either be an enrolled student OR an undergraduate TA for the same course, but not both.

REGARDING CANVAS: All of the settings that WUCRSL users enter in order to make sure instructors, support people (AIs, TAs, undergraduate TAs, etc.) get the access they need for Bb are exactly the same for Canvas (Blackboard’s replacement as of fall 2019). The only thing that may be confusing is that some of the labels in WUCRSL appear to only allow access to Bb, including labels like BB Grader, UGrad BB Grader and Access Bb Gradebook. However, using these settings will work for getting people into Canvas. These very specific Bb labels will be updated soon so that they no longer only reference Bb. This section will be updated more specifically to reference Canvas soon.

Go to WUCRSL Roles and Canvas Features to read about how the roles you select in WUCRSL impact the features and permissions available to people in Canvas.

Instructors/Staff/Graduate Students as Support People

There are five different role types that can be assigned to instructors/staff/graduate students who are listed a support people:

  • Assistant in Instruction: used for current graduate students in a Masters or PhD program, A&S, Brown, EN, etc. Staff should not be listed as AIs.
  • BB Grader: for graduate students only. This person has access to the grade center for submitted assignments, can send emails and has access to the Canvas gradebook. This person cannot update Canvas course content). Using this label works for getting people in this role into Canvas.
  • Mentor: used for an instructor/faculty member as a mentor when she/he is mentoring a graduate student who is linked as a primary instructor.
  • Study Away: rarely used but when it is, it is for staff who are providing study abroad/away help. OBSOLETE – DO NOT USE THIS ROLE
  • Support: for instructors/faculty/staff who may be assisting with the course. Students should not be linked as Support.
  • Teaching Assistant: mostly replaced by the existence of the AI. May only be used for graduate students. Most areas of the University use the AI designation in place of TA. Check with your dean’s office if you are unsure which designation to use.

Support persons may be granted specific access to certain tasks beyond the permissions that the roles above allow. The additional access areas are:

  • Enter EGrades: Allows you to designate whether any support person can enter grades through the EGrades system. Undergraduates cannot be given access to WebFAC or EGrades.
    • Even if you allow support people to ENTER grades, they cannot be granted final grade “approval” privileges. Only the primary instructor designated as the “Grader” can make final EGrades approvals.
  • Access Bb Gradebook: Allows you to designate whether the support person use the Canvas grading tools. (The BB Grader has this access by default.) Using this label works for getting people this role in Canvas.
  • View WebFAC Grades: Allows you to designate whether the support person has access to view grades in WebFAC. Undergraduates cannot be given access to WebFAC or EGrades.
  • Evaluate: When the Evaluate checkbox is checked, Assistants in Instruction, Teaching Assistants or Undergraduate Teaching Assistants will be included in student course evaluations. The default behavior for the Evaluate checkbox is for support persons to be unchecked (not evaluated).

Additional Notes on Support persons

-The AI and TA roles can only be used for current graduate/professional school students (those with a current open MP) and the SUPPORT role is used for instructors/staff. The AI/TA role and SUPPORT role have the same default permissions in Canvas. Read more below for specifics.

-A support person with the “BB Grader” role gets the “Access Bb Gradebook” flag set by default. This person has access to the grade center for submitted assignments, can send emails and has access to the Canvas gradebook. Additional EGrades and WebFAC permissions may be granted. Using this label works for getting people in this role into Canvas.

-A support person with the “Assistant in Instruction” (AI) or the “Teaching Assistant” (TA) support role has access to update Canvas course content automatically. This person may or may not be given access to the Bb or Canvas gradebook. If an AI or TA needs the Canvas Gradebook, the “Access Bb Gradebook” checkbox must be checked (turned on). Additional EGrades and WebFAC permissions may also be granted.

-All other support roles can be granted access to EGrades, Bb Gradebook and View WebFAC Grades.

-For any Support Person you will see an Evaluate checkbox. Checking the box indicates that person should be evaluated along with the course by each student. When a support person is added, the box will default to unchecked.

Below is a chart of the default and extra permissions allowable by Support role.

Enter EGradesAccess Bb GradebookView WebFAC Grades
Assistant in InstructionCan be set to Yes or NoCan be set to Yes or NoCan be set to Yes or No
BB GraderCan be set to Yes or NoSet to Yes by default. Cannot uncheckCan be set to Yes or No
MentorCan be set to Yes or NoCan be set to Yes or NoCan be set to Yes or No
Study AwayCan be set to Yes or NoCan be set to Yes or NoCan be set to Yes or No
SupportCan be set to Yes or NoCan be set to Yes or NoCan be set to Yes or No
Teaching AssistantCan be set to Yes or NoCan be set to Yes or NoCan be set to Yes or No


Undergraduate Students as Support Persons (teaching assistants)

Undergraduate Teaching Assistants are also referred to as “UGTAs.” The WUCRSL list of UGTAs only includes current undergraduate students (those with an open major program) who are degree seeking students from Architecture, Art, Arts & Sciences, Business, Engineering, and Beyond Boundaries. Undergraduates who are on leave or have recently graduated cannot be linked as UGTAs. An undergraduate may not be enrolled in a course for which he/she is also an undergraduate TA. An undergraduate can either be an enrolled student OR an undergraduate TA for the same course, but not both.

Please check with your school if you have specific questions about training UGTAs or if you need additional guidance on how UGTAs should be used.

Adding a UGTA

When you attempt to add a UGTA, you will first need to choose the correct list of names based on the role of the support person you want to add. There are two radio buttons from which to choose, Faculty/Staff and Undergraduate TA. Choose Undergraduate TA.

Undergraduate TA (UGTA) Role Types

After you select the name of the UGTA from the list of all possible undergraduates, you must select the type of role that the selected UGTA is supposed to fill. There are two different role types that can be assigned to undergraduate TAs:

  • Ugrad BB Grader (description below). Using this label works for getting people in this role into Canvas.
  • Ugrad TA (description below)

-An undergraduate assigned the “Ugrad BB Grader” role gets the “Access Bb Gradebook” flag set by default. This person only has access to the Canvas gradebook and the Grade Center. This person has the ability to download and grade student work submitted via Canvas Assignments. This person cannot add or delete Canvas course content, or email enrolled students. A “Ugrad BB Grader” cannot access a course if it is unavailable to students. Additional EGrades and WebFAC permissions are not allowed. Using this label works for getting people in this role into Canvas.

-An undergraduate assigned the “Ugrad TA” role has access to update Bb course content automatically. This person may also upload files, post announcements, use the online attendance feature, or email students enrolled in the course. This person will not automatically be able to see, or download, submitted work or grades in Canvas. However, this person may also be given access to the Bb Gradebook, if necessary. If an Undergraduate TA needs Bb Gradebook access, the “Access Bb Gradebook” checkbox must be checked (turned on). Additional EGrades and WebFAC permissions are not allowed.

-“Enter EGrades” and “View WebFAC Grades” cannot be checked (turned on) for any undergraduate support role because undergraduates are prohibited from using EGrades and WebFAC.

Enter EGradesAccess Bb GradebookView WebFAC Grades
UGrad BB GraderCannot be set to YesSet to Yes by default. Cannot uncheckCannot be set to Yes
UGrad TACannot be set to YesCan be set to Yes or NoCannot be set to Yes

WUCRSL ROLES AND CANVAS FEATURES

Go to WUCRSL Roles and Canvas Features to read about how the roles you select in WUCRSL impact the features and permissions available to people in Canvas.

SECTION URL

Adding a URL to the Section record URL field benefits registered students. Registered students will see the course number listed as a hyperlink from the their “Class Schedule” within WebSTAC. Clicking on the course number from the “Class Schedule” will take registered students to the website for the URL listed in the Section record.

Web addresses does not need to include the “http://” in order to work. For example www.google.com is an acceptable format for WUCRSL.

SYLLABUS URL

Adding a Syllabus URL will impact the section display in the online course listings website. When entered, a line item on the web course listings will appear as a hyper link. When the link is clicked, students will be taken to the syllabus.

Web addresses must include the “http://” in order to work. For example http://afas.wustl.edu is an acceptable format for WUCRSL, but afas.wustl.edu is not.

As of January 2018, the best option is to load syllabi directly into Syllabi Central, https://acadinfo.wustl.edu/syllabus/admin/default.aspx