Testudo Curriculum Management
Training
Fall 2014
Welcome to our Training Session!
Thursday, November 20, 2014
To Get Started:
Please wake up your computers (button is on the lower left on back of monitor)
Log in using DirectoryID and Password, and Select your preferred Platform:
Mac Users:
a) Navigate to top right corner of desktop
b) Click the Magnifying Glass; type “Cisco”
c) Select Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility
Client
Windows Users:
a) Navigate to bottom right corner of desktop
b) Click the white triangle to Show Hidden Icons
c) Select the Cisco AnyConnect Icon:
From Cisco AnyConnect:
Type: vpn.umd.edu Click Connect
A pop-up window should appear. Under Group, select UMapps
Enter DirectoryID (username) and Password
Click OK
Background
• What is Testudo CM?
– Replaces current VPAC course proposal system
– Web application that integrates with SIS
– Automates workflow
– First step in SIS modernization using Kuali
• Who uses it?
– Everyone in the course proposal process
Demonstration
Training environment:
http://umd-cm-training.qa.umd.edu
(requires users to log in to VPN)
Download available through:
It.umd.edu
“Get Connected”
“VPN (Virtual Private Networking)”
https://www.itsc.umd.edu/MRcgi/MRTicketPage.pl?USER=&MRP=0&PROJECTID=
1&MR=11432
The URL for Testudo Curriculum
Management is http://cm.testudo.umd.edu.
This URL takes you to the main page, known
as the “Landing Page.”
To modify or retire
a course, first find
the course with
the find option.
Course Search Screen
Search Results:
Note that all courses, including
those that have been retired
(deleted), will be retrieved.
Double-click to open a course.
Version History:
View previous versions of courses
(based on SIS information).
Information is limited to SIS’s capacity
(i.e., no previous descriptions or rule
statements).
There are three
Course View screens
Version History:
This screen lists all versions of course. Each version has a start term
(indicating when the version became active) and an end term if
retired or superseded.
You can select two versions to see a side-by-side comparison.
Retired Courses:
Course status indicates if a course is retired (no longer active). Pilot courses (courses with
approval to be offered for only one term) will also appear as retired with the Start Term
and End Term being the same. An end term should be visible for any retired course. A
retired course can be modified. This is the process for submitting Pilot courses for
permanent approval, requesting an additional term for a Pilot course, or for reactivating a
retired course.
Course Actions Drop Down Menu:
Allows you to modify or retire an
active course or copy information
into a new course proposal.
To Modify Course, Select Edit.
Always start with Course
Information
You can
also
navigate
through a
proposal
using
these tabs
Take a moment to modify
your proposal title by adding
the Course Prefix & Number.
This will help reviewers to
identify the proposal later in
the process.
After modifying information,
summary screen highlights all
changes to original course.
Also will indicate any fields that
are required for the proposal
(marked with an asterisk) that
are missing information.
Once you are ready to submit your modified
proposal, select “Submit Proposal” from Proposal
Action Menu. If you decide not to submit, you
should cancel the proposal to remove it from your
list of current proposals.
For new course proposals,
select “Create a Course.”
Options available for
creating a course.
Course Prefix & Number are required to
submit proposal.
Proposal Title:
Will help you
find proposal
later. Be sure
to add Course
Number &
Prefix once it is
known.
Some VPAC website
elements have been
refined in meaning:
•Cross List: Courses
must be at same level
with same description
& title.
•Jointly (was “shared”):
courses at
undergraduate level
and graduate level.
•“Formerly” &
“Credit Will Only be
Granted For” will
remain.
Additional Information:
Helpful but not essential
information for the course:
•Information that was listed in
the course requisite area but
not having to do with the
course.
•Optional!
Course Prefix determines
the Approval Route for the
Proposal (linked to the
campus’s data table of
official campus units).
*Be sure to select the Add
to List button to confirm
your selection.
Current elements in
VPAC form that are now
grouped differently.
Allows for Fixed or Variable Credit
Allows for Standard Semester or NonStandard Term
The Contact Hour “Widget.” Information collected
in VPAC form but designed to provide more
information to user, such as when contact hours do
not add up to indicated number of credits.
System will let you know if the
hours are not enough for the
specified number of credits. Please
note: For existing courses, this
data is not currently kept in SIS and
so is being entered in the system
based on VPAC or SIS data.
Learning Outcomes are typically required
for new course proposals by VPAC.
In Testudo CM, Learning Outcomes can be stored and reused.
Use the search link to find stored learning outcomes.
Learning Outcomes can also be categorized. We are still determining the
best way to manage categories, which are optional. If you want to make
categories specific to your own department or program, we suggest
indicating your college and department/program in the category.
Searching for Learning Outcomes
You can select a Learning Outcome by
checking the box to the left. After hitting
Select, this Outcome will load into your
Learning Outcomes.
Please note: For some existing courses, learning
outcomes were imported from the VPAC database.
Course Requisites (the “Rules”):
For the most part, these are now “codified” (i.e.,
linked to a specific course, program, or curriculum
unit). Codifying will make registration checks possible
down the road when we start the enrollment phase.
By codifying rules and
linking courses to other
courses and programs, the
system will be able to run a
report on how a course
proposal could impact other
courses or programs. This
reporting function, called
“Dependency Analysis.”
You can choose
Free Form Text
to write in a
rule statement
that is not
listed. Note:
Minors,
Certificate
Programs, and
Living-Learning
Programs are
not codified,
but you can
type in as free
form text:
“Must be in
Civicus
Program.”
Many rules are “codified.” This allows data
of different kinds to be plugged in (courses,
grades, math eligibility, unit (for permission),
and academic degree programs).
Course drop-down menu allows
you to select a course, and
therefore form a link between,
the proposed course with
another course.
Rules Issues
• Permission of department specifies your department
(also known as the curriculum org).
• Notice that permission of department is in two places
(prerequisites for prerequisite checking or restrictions
for seat management).
• “Or equivalent” has been changed.
• “For Majors Only” now specifies a specific academic
program—taken from a list of major codes. New codes
were created to distinguish Master Programs from
Doctoral Programs.
• Suffixed courses and retired courses will no longer be
entered in as prerequisites.
Enter the term in which you want to begin
offering the course.
Pilot Course:
A “Pilot” course is what we are calling
courses that received a one term
exception pending formal approval. By
selecting the Pilot course option, the End
Term will automatically be populated with
the Start Term. Instead of sending through
the pipeline, department can call the
Scheduling Office for approval once
information is submitted in Testudo CM.
Collaborators Screen:
Allows you to add someone to either help you
edit, or review and provide comment (e.g., in a
situation where another department will be
providing a prerequisite they indicate their
approval by adding a comment).
You can use the link for the Directory search to
find a person’s Directory ID.
Supporting Documents:
The course syllabus (which is required
for new courses) can be uploaded from
this screen.
Summary screen for reviewing
proposal before submitting.
Proposal Actions
Once a proposal is submitted, the
proposer can withdraw the proposal.
The proposal can also be copied to a
new proposal if convenient.
For retiring a course, find
the course and then
select “Retire Course”
from Course Actions drop
down menu.
Modify the Proposal Title to include
the Course Prefix and Number.
Enter the End Term from the
dropdown menu.
Review Proposal:
Screen lets you review proposal. The Proposal
Actions drop down menu allows you to submit
proposal or cancel.
Course Approval Path
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Proposer
Department Curriculum Manager
Department PCC (Chair approves)
Department Chair
College Curriculum Manager
College PCC (Chair approves)
College Dean
Academic Affairs
VPAC
Scheduling Office
Departments and Colleges
provides a list of
authorizations to determine
who has approval authority
for the appropriate levels.
Workflow diagrams are now
available to be viewed
online:
http://provost.umd.edu/Ac
ademic_Planning/cm/index.
cfm
Action List:
Gives you a list of items that
require your attention.
Click on ID number to open
proposal.
Click on Log icon to see
where the proposal is in the
workflow.
Review Screen:
If you have edit authority
you can edit proposal.
Proposal Actions:
Beware of “Reject.” Reject
terminates the proposal. If
you are really looking for a
revision, either use “Return
Proposal to Previous Node”
or confer with proposer and
make edits to proposal
yourself.
Note: “Return Proposal to
Previous Node” will require
the proposal to go through all
of the subsequent layers of
review again.
Decision Rationale:
Optional for approving;
required for rejecting or
returning proposals to a
previous node.
Pilot Courses: Creating a Pilot
• Pilot courses are courses that have not be permanently
approved, but have been giving an exception to be
offered for one term.
• Pilot courses are now managed through through
Testudo Curriculum Management.
• Creating a Pilot: When requesting a pilot course for
the first time, you use the “Create a Course” to enter in
the essential information for a course.
• Once you submit that proposal, your curriculum
manager should contact the Scheduling Office for
processing. The Pilot Course does not have to go
through the workflow process.
Pilot Courses: Requesting an
Additional Pilot Term
• Requesting an Additional Term for a Pilot. If for some
reason the course proposal has not gone through the
VPAC process for permanent approval, you can request
another term.
• To request an additional term, you find the current
pilot course using “Find a Course,” then modify the
pilot. Change any information that needs to be
changed, but the essential information that needs to
be changed is the active term and end term. Submit
the proposal, then have your curriculum manager
contact Mike Colson at mcolson@umd.edu for
permission for an additional term.
Pilot Courses: Making a Pilot Course
Permanent
• Making a Pilot Course Permanent: When you are
ready to propose a Pilot Course for permanent
approval, use “Find a Course” to find the Pilot
Course, then modify the current version of that
course. Make whatever changes you need to
make (include Learning Outcomes and syllabus if
they were not included in the Pilot course
information), and select a new start term.
Uncheck the pilot box.
• Once you submit that proposal, that proposal
should go through the normal workflow.
New Procedure: Pilot Courses
By checking the Pilot Course box, the
Start Term automatically populates
the End Term field.
New Procedure: Changing a Course
Number or Course Prefix
In the old system, the procedure for
changing a course prefix or number
was to create a new course with the
new course prefix and number and
then delete the old course. Now the
procedure is to Modify the current
course and write over the Course
Prefix or Number. This will link the
two versions of the course in the
future.
Course Number Reuse Restriction:
Testudo CM will verify that a requested course
number is available. If the course number is
currently being used by another active course, the
system will warn you and prevent you from
submitting the course. To avoid confusion with
student records, we have a waiting period of 5
years after a course is retired before the number
can be used again. In some cases, a course
number can be reused before that time. Contact
Mike Colson for more information.
Warning!
Always cancel a proposal that you do not
plan to send forward!
Cancelling the Proposal:
Always cancel a proposal if you are not going to
move it forward. Don’t just return to the landing
page or click out of the system without cancelling,
because the system will keep the proposal in a
saved state. If the proposal is in a saved state, it
prevents anyone else (as well as yourself!) from
submitting a different proposal for that course.
The system locks down a course once there is a
proposal for it so that two competing proposals
will not go through the pipeline at the same time.
“Locked Course”:
Because the proposal for ANSC101 was not
cancelled, now the only course proposal action for
ANSC101 is to copy to a new course. If this
happens, look to see if you have a saved proposal
for ANSC101. If so, cancelling it should unlock the
course. If you do not have the saved proposal,
contact Mike Colson and he can find where the
proposal is in the system.
Dependency Analysis:
Allows you to see if a course is
related to other courses as a
prerequisite, corequisite,
recommended course, restriction,
or cross-listed or jointly offered
course. Also allows you to see if
the course is part of a defined
course set.
Start typing in the type-ahead
search box to search for the
course that you want to be the
target of your Dependency
Analysis. Once you select the
course, click on the “Go” button.
You can see the total
number of courses in
which the target
course is listed in a
rule statement (e.g.,
MATH 140 is a
prerequisite for 35
courses).
You can also see if the course is part of a defined course set. At this time, the only
defined course sets are for CORE and General Education courses.
Click on the
arrow to
expand the
information
about the
related course.
Please note that the expanded view
shows only the rule statement that
contains the target course. Click on the
“View Course” link for a complete listing
of the rule statements for that course.
Use the side bar to filter
your results. Here the
course set box is checked
and so only the course
set information is
displayed. You can press
reset to clear the filters.
Click on the “View Course Set” link to
view the courses in that course set.
View Course Set:
This view lists the courses that comprise a
selected course set. Please note that only
formally approved courses will appear in
the course sets (thus, suffixed-special
topics courses will not appear).
Resources
• Testudo CM Information website:
www.testudo.umd.edu/ks
– Includes an in-depth manual.
– A “Known Issues” document of known problems and
workarounds.
– Demonstration video on how to create a course.
• Central Point of Contact: Mike Colson,
mcolson@umd.edu. 301-405-5626.
• Questions can also be sent to: cmsupport@umd.edu
• Approval Workflow Diagrams:
http://provost.umd.edu/Academic_Planning/cm/index.
cfm