Course Maintenance on SaturnWEB
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE
This guide is for entering course data on-line in Saturn. A number of the key fields are selected here.
Further guidance on the content of programme specifications is available in the Quality Manual. If you
have further questions or comments, please contact programme-specifications@nottingham.ac.uk.
Course Maintenance on SaturnWEB ................................................................................................. 1
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE ................................................................................................................. 1
Finding a Particular Programme Specification Record ......................................................................... 1
Section A1, A2, A3 ........................................................................................................................ 4
Section A4 Type of Course .............................................................................................................. 4
Section A5 Mode of Delivery ........................................................................................................... 4
Section A6 Programme Accredited by ............................................................................................... 4
Section A7 Relevant QAA Subject Benchmarking Groups .................................................................... 4
Section B Educational aims ............................................................................................................. 5
Section C Supplementary Regulations .............................................................................................. 6
Section C1 Criteria for Admissions ................................................................................................... 6
Section C2 Course Structure ........................................................................................................... 7
Section C3 Assessment Criteria ....................................................................................................... 8
Section D Programme Learning Outcomes ........................................................................................ 9
Finding a Particular Programme Specification Record
Go to https://saturnweb.nottingham.ac.uk/nottingham/ and log on. If you are not a registered user,
click the Register button and follow the instructions.
Click Continue. In the Main Menu, click on Course Maintenance.
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Select the session for which you would like to search, e.g. 09/10
You can either search for a course record using the UCAS/Course Code or a keyword from the title.
Type in either the code or the title keyword where indicated and click Search.
You will now be presented with all course records matching that search. Select the record that you
would like to view or amend by clicking on the Info button.
This will bring up the following screen:
This page gives you some
summary details on the
programme, the qualification aim,
code, administering School/Dept,
and the start date. If you want to,
you can view a class list for a
particular year by using the
section to the right hand side
(pictured below).
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These flags are used to indicate whether
the programme should be published so
students can see the specification at
http://programmespec.nottingham.ac.uk/
nottingham/asp/course_search.asp (this
is only available to view for a limited
number of people).
You can use these buttons to view the
specification (opens in another
window), edit the specification or copy
it to another programme (for example
from a full time version to a part time
version). Please be aware when
copying that not all data will transfer
across, thus some of it will have to be
copied manually.
You can now choose to view the programme specification by clicking on View Programme Specification
or you can edit it by clicking on Edit Programme Specification.
If you have chosen to edit the programme specification you will now be presented with a screen which
contains Section A of the programme specification.
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There is a menu at the top of the page listing links to other sections and a drop-down list listing each
section of the programme specification.
To scroll between pages throughout the programme specification, use the
buttons.
and
Section A1, A2, A3
These sections are the Title (A1), Course Code (A2) and Schools Responsible (A3). This information is not
editable by Schools. Please contact the Academic Services Division Curriculum Management Team if this
information is incorrect.
Section A4. Type of Course
Subject titles of awards indicate whether the course is:
 Single subject (with title naming a subject or related subjects)
 Joint (with title naming two distinct subjects as ‘x and y’)
 Major/Minor (with title naming two distinct subjects as ‘x with y’ or similar)
 Multidisciplinary (with title listing three distinct subjects)
Section A5. Mode of Delivery
This section is the Mode of Delivery. Please note that there should be a separate programme specification
for each mode of delivery.
Section A6. Programme Accredited by
Specify the accreditation type/level and give the name of the professional accrediting body if appropriate
(e.g. 'Institution of Civil Engineers'). If you need to add an organisation to this list please contact
programme-specifications@nottingham.ac.uk
Section A7. Relevant QAA Subject Benchmarking Groups
Select from a drop-down list and click Add. You can add more than one subject benchmarking group.
There is a free text box to add further information (max 255 characters per entry).
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Section B. Educational Aims
This section appears in the form of a bullet-pointed list. Each bullet point can carry up to 1500
characters and the number of bullet points you may add is limited to 20 but the Curriculum Team
advise that normally we would not expect to see more than 10.
Schools may
,
and
bullet points.
You must take care to save each bullet point as you add it, using the Update button to save. If you
add bullet points without using the Update button to save, then they will be lost when you move on to
the next page. You can either type this text straight in or cut and paste it from another
document but if you choose to cut and paste, please save the information as text only first
in the Notepad application to ensure that your text is copied accurately.
Use HTML mark-up to add bold, lists-within-lists and special characters. See HTML Formatting for
Saturn Web: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/AcademicServices/Documents/Curriculum-ManagementDocuments/HTML-Formatting-Text-in-Saturn-Web.doc
You can add the code into another application (e.g. Word) first; but note that if the HTML coding text
is being pasted in from the other application, the word length available will be affected as formatting
in Word will translate as additional characters in Saturn.
NB If you exceed the character limit you will get the following error message: "The
following errors occurred · Educational Aims is blank or exceeds the character limit" and the
text you have already entered will disappear.
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There
-
are three further sections to be filled in on this page:
Outline Description of Course
Distinguishing Features
Further Information
These should be fairly straightforward to complete, although again please note that you may need to
use HTML tags to format your data.
Section C. Supplementary Regulations
Section C1 Criteria for Admissions
There are two parts to section C1. The first is non-editable text for entry requirements. Please check
these and if you see any difficulties contact the Admissions Office to update. Please be aware that this
information does feed through to the online prospectuses.
The second is a free text box for further information, maximum 8000 characters.
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Section C2 Course Structure
Click Next or use the drop-down box at the top to select Section C2 - Course Structure.
The course structure is constructed of groups of modules, which the students either must take or must
select from. The module semesters do not appear here as they will be taken directly from the module
records at the point of processing/publication, to ensure that there are no discrepancies as have
appeared in the past. The module credit values are as those on the module record. The credit
minimums and maximums for a group and whether the modules in it can be compensated can be
specified here. There is also the option of adding further descriptive text to the alternative and
restricted groups.
There are four types of module groups:
o
Compulsory Modules - only one compulsory module group can be added per stage of a
course and all modules in it must be taken by students, so no credit minimums/maximums
are required and there is no free text field.
o
Alternative Modules - groups of modules students must choose from/between. There must
be more than one group and the relationship between the groups will automatically be an
either/or relationship. There must be more than one alternative group for the relationship
to work. Credit minimums/maximums and free text are available against these groups.*
o
Restricted Modules - group(s) of modules students must choose a number of credits from.
There may be any number of restricted groups that you choose. Multiple groups will
automatically have an and relationship. Each list should not contain active modules totalling
over a maximum of 150 credits. Credit minimums/maximums and free text are available
against these groups.
o
Additional Module Choice Information – this is a free text field to specify any modules which
cannot be covered in the group types above. It is recommended that as much information
as possible be included in the compulsory/alternative/restricted groups as this will
significantly improve the utility of the data for timetabling, module registration, marks
processing, etc.
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Editing module groups:
1. Adding groups - click on the Add Group button in the relevant section. Add the credit
minimum/maximum*1for the group if applicable. Add modules one by one (enter the module code
where indicated and click Go) and indicate whether these are compensatable or not by ticking the
box if they are. Enter any free text for the group (where available).
2. Editing groups - click on the Edit Group button in the relevant section and you will go through to a
screen where you can edit the group credit minimums/maximums* and free text. You can also
delete a module, edit whether it is compensatable or not, or add a new module to the group.
3. Click Previous to take you back to Section C of the programme specification.
Section C3 Assessment Criteria
This section is used to state the assessment and progression regulations for the programme, including
compensation regulations, marking criteria, borderlines policy, etc. Please note that all supplementary or
course regulations should be read in the context of the relevant University General Regulations, either
First or Higher Degree, and any applicable Faculty Regulations. Please refer to this information on
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/current/regulations/.
You can enter text into the boxes with the headings Progression Information and Degree Information. You
can either type this straight in or cut and paste it from another document but if you choose to
cut and paste, please save the information as text only first in the Notepad application to
ensure that your text is copied accurately. Please note that again you may need to use HTML tags to
format your data. There is a limit of 6000 characters for each box.
You can set the course weightings and degree calculation model where available. Please make sure it adds
up to 100%.
You may add any other information into the Other Regulations field, but there is a character limit of 5000
characters.
Please remember to click Update at the bottom of the page, otherwise your data will be lost when you
navigate away from the page.
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*Credit minimums and maximums will be interpreted in the following way:
-
No credit minimum or maximum entered: group text will indicate that students must take all modules in the group
-
Same credit minimum (x) and maximum (x) entered: group text will indicate that x credits must be taken from group
-
Different credit minimum (x) and maximum (y) entered: group text will indicate that a minimum of x and a maximum
of y credits must be taken from the group.
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Section D. Programme Learning Outcomes
You will see a list of programme learning outcomes, grouped under four headings: Knowledge and
Understanding, Intellectual Skills, Professional/Practical Skills and Transferable/Key Skills. Each skill has a
bullet point in the View screen. (NB in the Edit facility you will not see the bullet points.)
Each Learning Outcomes sub-section has an introductory box into which you may add introductory text if
you so wish (max 1500 characters).
Each learning outcome/skill has a separate box under Points. There is a character limit of 1500 characters
per entry. You can
,
or
. Be careful to Update each one in turn as you make
your changes. You will not be able to save the entire page if you make your changes all in one
go. You can either type this text straight in or cut and paste it from another document but if
you choose to cut and paste, please save the information as text only first in the Notepad
application to ensure that your text is copied accurately. Please note that again you may need to
use HTML tags to format your data. There is a limit of 6000 characters for each box.
NB: Please note that for each Learning Outcomes sub-section, if there are no entries in the
Points boxes, the text from the Introduction box will not feed through to the View screen.
You can add details of Teaching and Learning methods and Assessment methods for the Learning
Outcomes. You can either list separate Teaching and Learning methods and Assessment methods against
each subsection of the Learning Outcomes, OR you may do this in one block at the very bottom of the
Learning Outcomes page.
If you have any queries about any of the above please email programme-specifications@nottingham.ac.uk.
Last updated November 2015
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