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Chapter 4: The ARTS Appendix

Last Revision: 02/23/06

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Chapter Summary

This chapter will explain how the ARTS Appendix is used in ARTS processing, and how to create and edit the Repeatable, Crosslisted/Similar courses, and Translated courses tables. These tables are used by ARTS to determine whether a course can be used multiple times within a requirement, and whether a course can be substituted for another course. They are very powerful tables that can save time whenever course changes need to be made. See "Configuring the Requirements and Course Lists" back in Chapter 3 for instructions on how to change the Appendix settings within a degree.

Requirements and the Appendix

It is possible for each set of degree requirements to have its own Appendix, but only as far as the Translated Courses table is concerned. The requirement list has two fields that you can change; the Catalog field and the Appendix field. The Catalog field determines which Catalog the Appendix table resides in, the default being "Library". The Appendix field determines the name of the file within the Catalog, the default being "Appendix". The default Appendix tables are all stored within one file in the Library directory called Appendix.app. It is recommended that you use the default Appendix tables for as many of your requirements as possible in order to keep things as simple as possible. NOTE: The Crosslisted and Repeatable Courses Tables are now centralized, and you can only save changes made to these tables if you are an administrator.

Creating a new Appendix

If you wish to create a new Appendix, you need to make sure that the Grade Table exists for your ARTS configuration (see later in this chapter for information about editing and creating the Grade Table).

The Repeatable Courses Table

ARTS processing normally does not count repeated courses in processing unless it is specifically directed to do so by the Repeatable Courses table. This table is used for courses that can be taken multiple times to satisfy a requirement. An example would be a graduate project or a band course.

Editing the Repeatable Courses Table

To edit the Repeatable Courses Table, do the following:

1. Go to the main ARTS menu, and select "Setup", "Degree Definition", then "Appendix Editor". The Appendix Editor Selector screen will appear (see Fig. 4.1).
2. Click on the "Repeatable Courses" radio button. Use the "Catalog" and "Appendix File" drop down lists to select the appropriate appendix you wish to edit. Currently, there are no other appendices in use besides "Appendix" in the "Library" catalog, so you should be able to leave these dropdown lists alone.
3. Click on "Execute". You should now see a screen pictured in Fig. 4.2.



Fig. 4.1--Appendix Editor Selection Screen with Repeatables Selected.



Figure 4.2--Repeatable Courses list screen.

4. The Repeatable Courses list contains four columns of data, which are described here:
   
   
   • DEPT. This field contains the department code of the repeatable course in the table. The wildcard department "*ALL" can be used to signify that any department will match this entry.
   • CRS#. This field contains the course number of the repeatable course in the table. The wildcard character "*" may be used to match against anything in a specific character position.
   • MAX. This field contains the maximum number of hours that the course may be repeated without penalty. This includes only repeated hours, not the hours for the original time the course was taken. Default for this field is 99.00.
   • USE. This field determines how repeated courses are used to satisfy requirements and calculate GPA's. If a course has been repeated the following codes determine how to use it (default is "A"):
     F (First): Use hours and grade from original time course was taken only.
     L (Last): Use hours and grade from last time course was taken only.
     B (Best): Use highest grade occurrence only.
     A (All): Use all occurrences.
   
   If you wish to edit a course, use the mouse or up and down arrow keys to navigate the cursor to the course you wish to edit and press "Enter". Edit the information in each field as necessary, pressing "Enter" after each entry. If you wish to add a course, you simply click on the "Add" button or press "Insert" or "End". This will clear a space for your new course. Press "Enter" to begin entering your data. Press "Enter" after each field is complete. NOTE: It doesn't matter where you enter a course in this list, because all courses are automatically sorted alphabetically after each entry. After you have completed your data entry, click on "Save/Exit" or press "F10" to save your work and exit. If you want to exit without saving, click on "Cancel" or press "Esc" and click "OK" to exit without saving.

To print the Repeated Courses Table, simply click on "Print".

The Translated Courses Table

The Translated Courses Table is a handy tool that enables you to update course titles without having to go through each individual requirement and change the course titles within each individual course listing. The table keeps the old course titles active, so students with older course titles in their transcripts can still have those courses count. The table also translates new course titles into the old titles, and ARTS will then plug them into the appropriate requirements corresponding to their old titles.

Editing the Translated Courses Table

To edit the Translated Courses table, do the following:

1. Go to the main ARTS menu, and select "Setup", "Degree Definition", then "Appendix Editor". The Appendix Editor Selector screen will appear (see Fig. 4.3).
2. Click on the "Translated Courses" radio button. Use the "Catalog" and "Appendix File" drop down lists to select the appropriate appendix you wish to edit. Currently, there are no other appendices in use besides "Appendix" in the "Library" catalog, so you should be able to leave these dropdown lists alone.



Fig. 4.3-- Appendix Editor Selection Screen with Translated Courses Selected.




Figure 4.4--Sample Translated Courses Table.

3. Click on "Execute". You should now see a screen pictured in Fig. 4.4. The left side of the table contains courses that do NOT exist in your course list. The right side contains courses that DO exist in your course list. You can choose to update the course lists and put the old course on the left side, or you can choose not to update your course lists and put the new course on the left side. The Translated Courses list contains eleven columns of data, which are described here:
   • Dept. This field contains the department code for the course that is not in your course list, most commonly the "new" course. The wildcard code "*" may be used to indicate more than one department.
   • Course#. This field contains the course number for the course that is not in your course list. The wildcard code "*" may be used to indicate that it is the same as the original course number.
   • Grade. This field contains the grade number for the course that is not in your course list. The wildcard code "*" may be used to indicate that it is the same as the original grade.
   • Location(L). This field contains the location code of the course being translated. It can be used to select only transfer courses for translation. The wildcard code "*" can be used to indicate all courses. Transfer course locations include "2" for two-year colleges, "4" for four-year colleges, etc.
   • From Term. This field contains the earliest term for which the translation is effective. ARTS will only check courses for translation if they were taken between the "From" and "To" term dates. The default for this field is "2002", which is the beginning of time for ARTS.
   • To Term. This field contains the latest term for which the translation is effective. ARTS will only check courses for translation if they were taken between the "From" and "To" term dates. The default for this field is "9999", which is the end of time for ARTS.
   • Dept. This is the department code that exists in your course list. The wildcard code "*" may be used to indicate more than one department, or that it is the same as your original department.
   • Low Crs#. This is the low range of the course number that exists in your course list. The wildcard code "*" may be used in any character position to indicate a match with any character in the course. For example, "**JS" will match any course with "JS" in the third and fourth positions. If wildcards are not used any course between the low course number and the high course number will match.
   • High Crs#. This is the high range of the course number that exists in your course list. The wildcard code "*" may be used in any character position to indicate a match with any character in the course. For example "**JS" will match any course with "JS" in the third and fourth positions. If wildcards are not used any course between the low course number and the high course number will match.
   • Grade. This field contains the name of the grade group that contains the grade of the course to be translated. This is assumed to be a valid group in the grades table. The wildcard code "*" may be used to indicate all grades.
   • Mark. Enter "Y" in this field if you want this course to be marked with a "~" on the transcript listing when the course is translated. Enter a "N" here if you do not want the course to be marked. This field can be a helpful debugging tool when you are troubleshooting course translation within ARTS forms.

     If you wish to edit a course, use the up and down arrow keys to navigate the cursor to the course you wish to edit and press "Enter". Edit the information in each field as necessary, pressing "Enter" after each entry.

     If you wish to add a course, move the cursor to the space below where you want the new course and press "Insert" or click on "Add Row". This will clear a space for your new course. If you wish to add the course onto the end of the list, press "End". Press "Enter" to begin entering your data. Press "Enter" after each field is complete. After you have completed your data entry, press "F10" or click on "Save and Exit" to save your work. If you wish to exit without saving, click on "Cancel" or press "Esc" and then click "OK".

To print the Translated Courses Table, simply click on "Print".

The Crosslisted Courses Table

The Crosslisted Courses table is used for courses that are taught in different departments or have different course numbers, but are treated as the same or similar during the degree audit process.

Editing the Crosslisted Courses Table

To edit the Crosslisted Courses table, do the following:

1. Go to the main ARTS menu, and select "Setup", "Degree Definition", then "Appendix Editor". The Appendix Editor Selector screen will appear (see Fig. 4.5).
2. Click on the "Crosslisted Courses" radio button.
3. Select "Crosslisted Courses" using the radio button, and click on "Execute".

Figure 4.5--Sample Crosslisted Courses Table Selector Screen.

The Crosslisted Courses list contains nine columns of data, which are described here:

• Type. This is the way ARTS treats the courses that are crosslisted with each other. "X" means true crosslist; ARTS treats these courses as identical to each other. "S" means similar. The crosslisted courses are considered to be different courses, but similar enough to be counted as a repeat if more than one is taken.
• From Term. This is the first term that this crosslist group is in effect.
• To Term. This is the last term that this crosslist group is in effect.
• Course. This field contains the department code and course number for each crosslisted course. Up to twelve courses can be entered for a single group.

Figure 4.6--Sample Crosslisted Courses table.

If you wish to edit a line of courses, use the mouse or the up and down arrow keys to navigate the cursor to the course you wish to edit and press "Enter". Edit the information in each field as necessary, pressing "Enter" after each entry. If you wish to add a line of courses, move the cursor to the space below where you want the new course and click on "Add Row" or press "Insert". This will clear a space for your new course. Press "Enter" to begin entering your data, and press "Enter" after each field is complete. After you have completed your data entry, click on "Save and Exit" or press "F10" to save your work and exit. If you wish to exit without saving, click on "Cancel" or press "Esc" and then click on "OK" to exit without saving.

To print the Crosslisted Courses Table, simply click on "Print".

Crosslisted Courses table Search Feature

The Crosslisted Courses table has a built-in search feature that lets you search for a specific course within the table. The search will only produce the first occurrence of the course, however, so its power is limited. To search for a course in the table, simply type in the Department and Course number that you are searching for at the lower right-hand part of the screen (see figure 4.7). Press "Enter" or click on "Find". The program will then automatically begin searching, and the cursor will appear next to the first occurrence of the course that you are searching for, if it exists in the table. If it does not exist, a dialog will appear stating that it was not found. If more than one instance was found, a dialog box will appear stating how many were found, and the "Find:" button will become a "Find Next:" button.

Figure 4.7--Sample Search within Crosslisted Courses table for "PSYC 0260".