Course Planning

An overview, best practices, and the road ahead

Elizabeth Shuman, Beck Breetz,

Catherine Brunks, Ameir Ali & Vishal Saboo

Agenda

● Introductions

● Overview

● Best Practices

● Looking Back

● The Road Ahead

● Questions

Overview

Context

Building Blocks

The Big Picture

Schools:

Review & approve

plans

Comment on plans

Report on course

plan status and rigor

Set Up:

Import & Publish

Course Catalog

Import Student-

Course Data

Build and publish

Plans of Study

Configure Course

Planning Settings

Students:

Browse Course

Catalog

Create Course Plans

Review and finalize

plans

Scan Plans to

measure rigor

Planning With The End In Mind…

Planning With The End In Mind…

Planning With The End In Mind…

1. Subjects

2. Courses

3. Build Plan(s) of Study

Let’s Get Started!

Steps of Configuration:

Building a plan...

1. Subjects

2. Courses

3. Build Plan(s) of Study

Configuration

Check out this article for more details!

4. Adjust Settings

5. *Import Course History

After Configuration/Students Start Planning, you can...

Don’t forget about...The Big Picture

Schools:

Review & approve

plans

Comment on plans

Report on course

plan status and rigor

Set Up:

Import & Publish

Course Catalog

Import Student-

Course Data

Build and publish

Plans of Study

Configure Course

Planning Settings

Students:

Browse Course

Catalog

Create Course Plans

Review and finalize

plans

Scan Plans to

measure rigor

Best Practices

● Replaces Paper Course Plans

○ Provide initial framework/guidance for selecting your 4 year plan

○ Courses are built into the plans, unlike paper plans

○ Students can reference plan and course details as they move through high school

How Are Counselors Utilizing Course Planner?

● One Stop Shop

○ Student course data available in student folders

○ Simple place to capture counselor comments/edits

○ Track student course history (if data is imported)

● Partner tool

○ Conversations with students regarding colleges, majors, career and other

post graduate plans.

○ Can assist course scheduling using course plan exports.

○ Graduation plan tracking

○ Endorsement and Pathway tracking (TX)

Examples of Plans of Study

● IB Plans

● Career and Technical Prep

● Middle School Plans

● College Prep

● State Required Plans

○ High School and Beyond (WA)

○ A-G Plan (CA)

○ Endorsements and Pathway specific plans (TX)

● Foundation Graduation Plan

Best Practices

● Getting Started

○ Updated/accurate course catalog with unique course IDs

○ Gather a list of graduation requirements and course IDs

○ Assign one person to create and manage the plans

● Building a Plan of Study

○ Start with a foundation graduation plan

○ Add requirements

○ Descriptions/Instructions ● Duplicate/Customize Foundation Plan

Best Practices

Best Practices

● TEST TEST TEST

○ Test out each plan of study as a student

○ Verify all possible course options have been added to the POS

● Train the staff

● Student Rollout

○ Activate course planner tab

● Additional Features

○ Reports

○ Reviewing/Approving

○ Bulk Printing

○ Parent Signatures

Looking Back

Themes - Looking Back

● Efficiency - Bulk Reopen/Print, Course Search/filters, Counselor Workflow

● Usability - Maintaining Plans of Study, Ordering

Requirements ● Consistency - UI/UX Updates, Course Plan Layout, Print,

etc. ● Performance - Editing, Saving Course Plans ● Flexibility - Course Sequences, Exports

Looking Back

Jan 2015 Dec 2014

CPE 2015 project kickoff

● Bulk reopen ● New search filters ● Updated export

January 2015

● Bulk reopen ● New search filters ● Updated export

● Expanded export now includes: ○ Course plan title ○ Course name ○ Plan type (e.g. official or

draft) ○ Status (e.g. Approved, In

Progress, Awaiting School Approval, etc.)

○ Planned academic year ○ Student’s graduating class year

○ Assigned counselor ○ School name (for District CP)

Feb 2015

Feb 2015 Jan 2015 Dec 2014

CPE 2015 project kickoff

● Bulk reopen ● New search filters ● Updated export

● Bulk print ● Min. credit enforcement ● Updates to Family Connection

Scalability - Bulk Print

Scalability - Course Sequences

Increase of Groups or

Sequences of Courses

from 3 to 8

May 2015

Feb 2015 Jan 2015 Dec 2014

CPE 2015 project kickoff

● Bulk reopen ● New search filters ● Updated export

● Bulk print ● Min. credit enforcement ● Updates to Family Connection

May 2015

● Revamped Plan Approval ● Print Template Consistency ● Hiding Inactive Plans of Study ● Reordering Requirements

Efficiency - Course Plan Review

Efficiency - Hiding Inactive Plans of Study

Only active Plans of Study appear by default

Can reuse names from inactive POSs

Visibility - Reordering Requirements

Success by the numbers...

Total Plan Count Top States by Plan Count Plan Status by Graduation Year

Looking Forward

● Efficiency

○ Publishing Catalogs and Plans of Study

○ Updating Requirements across POS

● Extensibility

○ Plans that span across Middle School and High School

● Flexibility

○ Better handling for IB, Dual Credit, Transfer courses

○ Alternate Courses

● Connect Learning and Life

○ Link Plans of Study and Course Plans to Career Clusters or

other/external resources

Themes - Looking Forward

In Closing...

Personality & Interests

College

Career

Course Planning

Courtesy Note: Icons made by Freepik from Flaticon

In Closing...

Questions?