Course Catalog and Schedule Rules

Please note course sections are created from the Course Catalog. To offer a new course, it must be approved via the course approval process before a section can be created. Additionally, please note that if Human Resources has not entered an instructor into the system, we are unable to attach that instructor to a course.

General Course Information

New, Updating, and Inactivating Current Courses

Information on adding, updating, and inactivating courses is available on the Creating, Revising, and Inactivating Courses page.

Special Topics Courses

Each course name and number has one course description. For Special Topics courses, you may want to state, “Topics may vary. Please consult with the department for additional information” for the course description. You may also include a URL, which will allow interested students to access your website directly from the on-line course descriptions that are posted in the online GA and schedule. Please note that we can tailor individual short titles for each course section in the schedule of course offerings. These will appear on the Course Schedule and on student transcripts.

Distribution Credit

As part of the annual distribution credit roll-call each year in March, the Office of the Registrar requests of each academic dean’s office their proposed distribution credit designations for the upcoming academic year. Distribution credit for the upcoming academic year is then assigned accordingly. Please Note: This official request from the Office of the Registrar is only made once each year in March for the upcoming academic year.

Text Formatting

Course Catalog information is stored in Banner in plain text format. Therefore, we are unable to apply italics, bold, bullets, specific fonts, special characters, or accents.

Schedule Rules and Definitions

Field Comments Req’d Example
Course Name & Number Will appear exactly as it does in the catalog (GA). If the course does not yet exist in the catalog, a New Course Form must be submitted before the section is created. X ANTH 200
Course short title (Section only) Limited to 30 characters. Changes to the section title will post in the course schedule, but will not change the catalog (GA) title. Two sections of the same course may have different titles. INTRO TO STUDY OF LANGUAGE
Credit hours The credit of a section cannot differ from the catalog (GA). X 3 credit hours
Section 001
Days MWF
CRN Five-digit course reference number unique to each section each term. 20232
Time Should adhere to standard time blocks. 8:00-8:50am
Instructor The primary instructor is the main instructor responsible for the course. If only one instructor is listed for a course, then he/she is the primary instructor. If you do not know the instructor's ID number, please include complete name, including middle initial.
Enrollment Cap The number of students who may register for a section. For closed and permission required courses, keep the enrollment cap to 0. 20
Group Enrollment The number of students who may register for a cross-list group; enrollment of cross-listed courses cannot exceed the cross-list cap. 20
Permission Required To require permission during ESTHER registration enrollment caps will be set to 0. If a course is listed as Instructor Permission Required or Department Permission Required, the course will require instructor or department permission prior to registration. Students must submit a Special Registration form to add these classes.
Cross-listed Courses Courses which are cross-listed and offered Spring 2008 (ANTH/LING 200); does not include equivalencies (i.e. LING 200/400). LING 200
Part of Term Three options exist for this section “Full Term”, “1st Term”, and “2nd Term” (excluding Jones School and MLS). All sections default to “Full Term” unless indicated otherwise.
Grade Mode Standard indicates letter grades (default). Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory indicates S/U grading; for graduate level and non-graded lab courses only. Grade mode cannot vary between sections of a course. Standard

Catalog Rules and Definitions

Registration Restrictions

  • In order for registration restrictions to apply to an offering of a course (section), the restrictions must be applied to the course at the course level as well as the section level. When adding or revising a course, restrictions must be included on the New Course Request Form or the Course Change Form.
  • Please note that if a registration restriction is listed, ESTHER registration may not be available. Students may have to submit a Special Registration Form to enroll in the course; approval signatures are required.
  • Following are the registration restrictions from which you may choose:
RESTRICTION ENFORCED VIA ESTHER NOTES
Instructor/Department Permission Required Yes ESTHER registration is disabled and the enrollment cap is set to zero. Students must complete a Special Registration Form (Undergraduate or Graduate), have it signed, and return it to the Office of the Registrar.
Registration Restriction Yes ESTHER checks to verify whether the student meets the registration restriction; if not, registration is not permitted. The following restrictions are available: School, Major,Year of Study (based on hours, not matriculation term), Student Level, Degree/Program
Co-requisite(s) Yes ESTHER checks to verify whether the student is registered for the co-requisite course; if not, registration is not permitted.
Pre-requisite(s) Yes ESTHER is set up to verify whether the student meets the pre-requisites so registration is permitted. This restriction is listed in Course Catalog and Course Schedule.

Cross-Listed Courses

Detailed information on cross-listing can be found on the Cross-Listed Courses page.