Course Data Standard

Intended Audience and Contact Information

Contact	Chief Data Officer, Office of the CIO
Intended Audience	Internal UBC
UDM Domain	Academic
Applicability	Credit, Non-Credit
Data Standard ID	DG0048

Change Log

Standard Version Date	Change Log
2024-04-15	1.0 New version supersedes former standard known as 'Course Definition Data Standard'.

Definitions

A Course of Instruction is a base unit of instruction covering particular subject matter that has been submitted to the appropriate Curriculum Approving Body for review. This is also referred to as a Course.

A Course Component is a constituent part of a course that can be associated with its own Instructional Format, and is represented as a separate Learning Instance related to the Course.

A Course Offering is a Course of Instruction that has been approved by the appropriate Curriculum Approving Body and made available for scheduling during one or more Academic Periods.

Purpose

This standard aims to achieve consistency around the data collected for Course - which is inclusive of Course of Instruction, Course Component and Course Offering - for staff and administrators, and the format in which it is collected and stored.

Courses for academic credit must be approved by the relevant Curriculum Approving Body before they are entered into the system. For academic credit courses, Category 1¹ proposals (for new courses and substantial changes to existing ones), or Category 2¹ proposals (for less substantial changes to or closing of existing ones), must be initiated by a Faculty or a Unit within a Faculty acting under delegated authority of a Faculty or a Unit within a Faculty, and must be approved by the respective Vancouver or Okanagan Senate before being implemented.

¹Refer to A Guide to Curriculum Submissions for UBC Vancouver and A Guide to Curriculum Submissions for UBC Okanagan for more information on Category 1 and Category 2 Proposals.

This standard is derived by UBC and applies to all applications collecting Course data. Exceptions are listed in the Dispensation section.

Standard

Course of Instruction Attributes

The following are the data elements and accepted values associated with creating a Course of Instruction:

Data Element	Definition	Applicability	Format
Course First Available	The first date a course can be offered after it has been set-up in the system.	Credit	YYYY-MM-DD
Course Last Available	The date that controls when to retire the course version.	Credit	YYYY-MM-DD
Curriculum Approving Body This attribute is referred to as Allowed Locations in Workday.	The Senate that approves the course.	Credit Non-Credit	Reference List See the UBC Senate and Other Curriculum Approving Body Data Standard for accepted values.
Academic Level	The level in which a course is offered.	Credit Non-Credit	Reference List See the Academic Level Data Standard for accepted values.
Academic Unit	Refer to the Academic Unit Standard section of the Internal Organization Name Data Standard.	Credit Non-Credit	See the Internal Organization Name Data Standard for more information.
Course Subject Code	The subject code for the course.	Credit Non-Credit	Credit: AAAA_<CurriculumApprovingBodyAcronym> Where: AAAA = 2, 3, or 4-alpha Non-Credit: AAAAA (5 Alpha)
Course Number	The academic level of a course.	Credit Non-Credit	Credit: 3 digits For Special Topic Variable Credit (STVC) Course Number, use: <3digit><SpecialTopicName> See the Course Number section for accepted values. Non-Credit: 4 digits
Course Code This is referred to as Course ID in Workday. This attribute does not exist in the Lifelong Learning Information System and is concatenated using multiple attributes.	The combination of Course Subject Code and Course Number.	Credit Non-Credit	Credit: <Course Subject Code><Course Number> Non-Credit: <Course Subject Code>_<Curriculum Approving Body><Course Number>
Course Title	The full title of the course.	Credit Non-Credit	See the Course Title and Abbreviated Course Title section for accepted values.
Abbreviated Course Title	A short form of the Course Title. This title displays on transcripts with limited space.	Credit Non-Credit	See the Course Title and Abbreviated Course Title section for accepted values.
Grading Basis	The evaluation schemes available for an instance of a course.	Credit	Reference List See the Grading Basis section for accepted values.
Course Description	Conveys the general topic of a course. The description provides a general idea of the subject and focus of the course without being so specific as to require frequent changes (e.g., with new advances in the field of study or new instructors). The concept of Vectors may be included in the course description and will be represented in square brackets: [a-b-c] where: a = numeric hours of lectures b = numeric hours of laboratory c = numeric hours of tutorial	Credit Non-Credit	Text
Course Public Notes	The field where additional administrative details that are visible to students can be entered for a course. There is no intention to use this field at this time and it therefore will be left blank.	Credit Non-Credit	Text
Course Private Notes	The field where additional administrative details that are not visible to students will be entered for a course. This field will be used to indicate, if applicable, the course’s variable credit values for other systems to access via integration. Notes from the existing Curriculum Management System will also be converted into Private Notes.	Credit	Text See the Course Private Notes Guideline for more information.
Prerequisite Course	A course that a student must complete prior to registering for the selected course.	Credit Non-Credit	Credit: <Course Subject Code> Non-Credit: <Course Number>
Corequisite Course	A course that the student must complete prior to or take concurrently with the selected course.	Credit	<Course Subject Code>
Equivalent Course	A single course listed as equivalent or duplicate in the academic calendar.	Credit	<Course Subject Code>
Course Equivalency Group	A grouping of Equivalent Courses. A Course Equivalency Group can be used to group together courses that can be used interchangeably for Academic Requirements, Prerequisite Courses, Corequisite Courses, or grade replacement.	Credit	See the Equivalent Course attribute
Course Equivalency Start Date	The first date that the Course Equivalency Group is valid.	Credit	YYYY-MM-DD
Course Equivalency End Date	The last date that the Course Equivalency Group is valid.	Credit	YYYY-MM-DD
Equivalency Usage	The category that describes the way in which the courses listed in a Course Equivalency Group are considered to be equivalent. One or more Equivalency Usages can be selected for a single Course Equivalency Group.	Credit	Reference List See the Equivalency Usage section for accepted values.
Maximum Units (Credits)	For a Learning Opportunity, the maximum total number of credits that can be earned for the course. For a Learning Instance, the maximum number of credits that can be offered.	Credit	Numeric
Minimum Units (Credits)	For a Learning Opportunity, the minimum number of credits that can be earned for the course. For a Learning Instance the minimum number of credits that can be offered.	Credit	Numeric
Allow Partial Credits	An indicator that permits a specific credit value to be defined on a given instance of a course section for the Academic Records of students. This option is only displayed if configured at the course definition level. This is used for variable credit courses only.	Credit	True/False
Available Delivery Mode	The valid Delivery Modes for a Course of Instruction that can be applied to a child Course Section during the scheduling process. UBC will be selecting all Delivery Modes when implementing a course in Workday.	Credit	See the Course Section Data Standard for more information.
Special Topics Name	A course offered in which the subject matter or content may vary within the specific section across terms as indicated by the Course title and description.	Credit	A – Z
Default Offering Percentage	If more than one Academic Unit offers this course, this specifies a percentage for each unit that must total 100%.	Credit	Numeric
Repeatable	Indicates whether a course can be repeated by a student.	Credit	True/False
Repeat Maximum Attempts	The number of times students can repeat the course to receive credit.	Credit	Numeric
Repeat Maximum Credits	The maximum number of credits students can earn for repeating the course.	Credit	Numeric
Course Credit Basis	Indicates if the Course is for Credit or Non-Credit.	Credit Non-Credit	Reference List See the Course Credit Basis section for accepted values.

Course Component Attributes

The following are the data elements and accepted values associated with creating a Course Component:

Data Element	Definition	Applicability	Format
Instructional Format	The method in which the course can be delivered.	Credit Non-Credit	Reference List See the Instructional Format section for accepted values.
Course Component Contact Hours	Number of instructional contact hours for the course component.	Credit	Numeric
Combination Format Contact Hours	Number of combination format contact hours.	Credit	Numeric

Course Offering Attributes

The following are the data elements and accepted values associated with creating a Course Offering:

Data Element	Definition	Applicability	Format
Course Offering Effective Start Date	The first date that a specific version of the Course Offering is considered to be active.	Credit	YYYY-MM-DD
Course Offering Effective End Date	The last date that a specific version of the Course Offering is considered to be active.	Credit	YYYY-MM-DD
Projected Registration This is also referred to as Projected Enrollment in Workday.	The estimated number of seats from all Course Sections for a specific Course Offering that will be filled via Student Registration. This field will be populated using data from the Scheduling system. This attribute can be used for location usage analysis.	Credit	Numeric
Contact Hours	Please contact the Enterprise Data Governance Team for more information.	Credit	Numeric
Manually Manage Waitlist Promotion	An indicator for a waitlist process whereby a student on the waitlist is registered by an administrator into a course section.	Credit	True/False
Course Tag	The label applied to a course for operational or reporting purposes.	Credit	See the Course Tag Name Guideline for more details.
Course Tag Category	The grouping of Course Tags based on a common administrative purpose.	Credit	Reference List See the Course Tag Category section for accepted values.
Course Offering Fee	The tuition fee set for a particular Course Offering within a specific Academic Year.	Credit	Numeric
Waiver Eligibility Indicator	Indicates that a tuition waiver can be used toward covering the cost of the Course Offering.	Credit Non-Credit	True/False

Course Number [Credit]

The course number is denoted with 3-digits ranging from 000 – 999 with the exception of Special Topic Variable Credit (STVC) Course Number which will have the Special Topic Name embedded as a suffix. The following are the accepted values for the course number of a course.

UBC Course Number Format	Transfer Credit Course* Number Format	Description
000 – 099	Not applicable	Non-credit prerequisite for a credit course
100 - 199	1ST	Undergraduate level
200 – 299	2ND
300 – 399	3RD
400 - 499	4TH
500 – 599	5TH	Graduate level
600 – 699	6TH	Graduate level
700 - 999	Not applicable	Clinical specialty certifications and diplomas, as well as courses created for Clinical residences.

*A transfer credit course is a learning instance created on a learner's record for credits attained outside of UBC as input to all requirements and regulations associated with but not limited to admissions, program planning, progression and registration.

Course Title and Abbreviated Course Title

See Data Entry In Free-Form Text Fields for more guidelines on data entry.
The following rules are to be applied when providing a title or abbreviated title of a course:

The course title must be Senate approved.
Special characters, including the use of indigenous characters, are allowed.

Grading Basis

The following are the accepted values for Grading Basis of a course:

Accepted Value	University Glossary Term	Definition
Graded	Graded [Grading Basis]	Allows letter grades for academic standing.
Pass/Fail	Pass/Fail [Grading Basis]	Granted where no grade is assigned and excluded from calculation in all averages. Pass (P) denotes satisfactory completion of the requirements of the subject; credit granted where applicable. Fail (F) denotes Fail standing. Honours (H) denotes honours standing. Honours (H) can only be used for courses that are labelled with the Course Tag “Honours/Pass/Fail”.
Audit	Audit [Grading Basis]	Granted to students who have been officially approved as having audit status. These students are expected to complete all course requirements except the final exam, and may be given Fail (F) standing if their performance is not satisfactory.
Credit/D/Fail	Credit/D/Fail [Grading Basis] This is also referred to as Credit/Non Credit [Grading Basis] in Workday.	Grading policy available to students in direct-entry undergraduate programs of study that supports: Exploration of other subjects outside a student’s program of study Emphasized learning and academic exploration of the new and unfamiliar Exposure of students to a broader-based curriculum Courses taken for Cr/D/Fail will not be counted toward grade average calculations. The standings are awarded for the following percentage grades: Cr: 55% or higher D: 50-54.9% F: less than 50%, or below the passing grade For courses where the passing grade is higher than 50%, (e.g., 60%), only Cr or F will be awarded.

The following crosswalk should be used to map Workday delivered Grading Basis values to the UBC
Grading Basis values:

Source (Workday Value)	Target (Standardized Value)
Audit	Audit
Credit/Non Credit	Credit/D/Fail
Graded	Graded
Pass/Fail	Pass/Fail

Instructional Format (under review and not final)

The following are the accepted values for instructional formats of a course.

Accepted Value	University Glossary Term	Definition (Under Review)
Lecture	Lecture [Instructional Format]	An oral presentation intended to present information or teach students about a particular subject.
Discussion	Discussion [Instructional Format]	Communication of opinions, ideas, and perspectives related to the coursework, readings and assignments.
Experiential	Experiential [Instructional Format]	Learning-by-doing at the core of the educational process and stimulates reflection and reasoning based on concrete transformative events, for example, field trip, practicum, exchange, work placement. This does not include Clinical and Internship instructional formats.
Independent Study	Independent Study [Instructional Format]	A form of educational activity undertaken by an individual student with little to no supervision.
Laboratory	Laboratory [Instructional Format]	Involves practical projects done in small groups under the direction of an Instructor.
Recitation	Recitation [Instructional Format]	A direct, teacher-centered approach in which the teacher asks specific short answer questions with a specific answer in mind.
Research	Research [Instructional Format]	A teaching and learning concept that encourages students to assume the role of researchers.
Seminar	Seminar [Instructional Format]	Smaller classes that are of an interactive format. They encourage discussions and sometimes involve presentation work.
Studio	Studio [Instructional Format]	An approach to teaching that can be used to replace the standard lecture approach. Key features include: fewer lectures, group learning, collaboration and cooperative learning.
Thesis	Thesis [Instructional Format]	A scholarly paper that is typically used to sum up learned knowledge in a master's program. Graduate schools often require a thesis for students in research-oriented degrees to apply their practical skills before culmination.
Workshop	Workshop [Instructional Format]	An assembled group of people who share a common interest or problem. They meet together to advance their knowledge/skills of a subject through study, research and discussion.
Service Learning	Service Learning [Instructional Format]	Teaching and learning method that integrates community service activities into academic curricula.
Clinical	Clinical [Instructional Format]	A portion of a health profession's program, which is conducted in the health care/practice environment.
Internship>	Internship [Instructional Format]	The placement of students in a work environment to enable them to acquire professional experience. This is usually done under an arrangement by which a student works in a company or organization for a limited period of time.
Combination Instructional Formats	Combination Instructional Formats [Instructional Format]	There are 4 combinations allowed: Lecture Discussion Lecture Laboratory Lecture Seminar Laboratory Seminar
Project	Project [Instructional Format]	An assignment which demonstrates learning of key components of an individual course or program of courses.

Equivalency Usage

The following are the accepted values for Equivalency Usage:

Accepted Value	University Glossary Term	Definition
Academic Requirement	Academic Requirement [Equivalency Usage]	Indicates that a course in the Course Equivalency Group can satisfy the academic requirements for any one of the other courses listed in the same Course Equivalency Group.
Enrollment Requisite	Enrollment Requisite [Equivalency Usage]	Indicates that a course in the Course Equivalency Group can satisfy the Prerequisite Course or Corequisite Course requirements for any one of the other courses listed in the same Course Equivalency Group.
Grade Replacement	Grade Replacement [Equivalency Usage]	Indicates that the grade for a course in the Course Equivalency Group can be used in place of the grade for any one of the other courses listed in the same Course Equivalency Group. The replacement of the grade of one of the courses within the Course Equivalency Group for another in the same group is applied based on the Course Repeat Policy rules.
Maximum Unit	Maximum Unit [Maximum Unit]	Indicates the maximum number of credits that can be counted towards any one of the courses in the Course Equivalency Group.

Course Tag Category

The following are the accepted values for Course Tag Category:

Accepted Value	University Glossary Term	Definition
Administrative Shell Course	Administrative Shell Course [Course Tag Category]	The category that indicates the course acts a system placeholder for the purpose of holding registration and/or fee assessment for a student. Courses that would use Course Tags in this category include, but are not limited to: Co-operative Education courses, Exchange courses, and courses in which a student is registered but for which they will not receive credit.
Community Service Learning	Community Service Learning [Course Tag Category]	The category that indicates the course has a Community Service Learning component.
Course Level	Course Level [Course Tag Category]	The category that indicates the academic year level of the course. For example, 100 Level, 200 Level, etc. Course Tags in this category are used to classify courses that correspond to a specific year level for Academic Requirements and for students to search for Course Sections.
Course Standing Type	Course Standing Type [Course Tag Category]	The category that identifies courses where a specific Course Standing or Grading Basis must be applied. For example, a course tagged with the “Honours/Pass/Fail” Course Tag enables use of the Honours (H) standing within the Pass/Fail Grading Basis.
Transcripts	Transcripts [Course Tag Category]	The category that identifies courses that should not be included on the Official Transcript.
Variable Credit and Special Topic	Variable Credit and Special Topic [Course Tag Category]	The category that identifies variable credit courses that have an added special topic for each Academic Year.
Transfer Credits	Transfer Credits [Course Tag Category]	The category that identifies courses that were created in the system to facilitate the assignment of transfer credit. Course tags in this category are hidden from students, but are still visible to staff.

Course Credit Basis

The following are the accepted values for Course Credit Basis:

Accepted Value	University Glossary Term	Definition (under review)
Credit	Credit [Course Credit Basis]	The course has been approved by the Okanagan Senate or Vancouver Senate to lead to a UBC Academic Credit Credential or UBC academic credit standing.
Non-Credit	Non-Credit [Course Credit Basis]	The course has been approved by the appropriate UBC Curriculum Approving Body to lead to a UBC Non-Credit Credential.
Not Applicable	Not Applicable [Course Credit Basis]	The course has not been approved by a Senate-designated UBC Curriculum Approving Body to qualify for any type of credential or standing from UBC. For example, UBC Affiliate College programs and courses are considered neither Credit or Non Credit as they do not lead to a UBC academic credit credential or UBC non-credit credential.

Compliance

The above standard must be complied at every stage of the data lifecycle with the exception of any dispensations (see Dispensation section).

All applications must collect data as recommended in this standard.
Enterprise Data Integration must adopt this standard.

Reference Data Compliance for Data Integration

The use of accepted reference data values in this standard for data integration among applications must comply with the enterprise integration pattern of leveraging the reference data common service API (Application Programming Interface) published in UBC MuleSoft Exchange.

Any application that intends to access real-time, case-level reference data should have the application owner or manager complete and submit a Request API Access form.

MAPPING OF INVALID VALUES FROM SYSTEM(S) OF RECORD (SOR) TO COMMON SERVICES

A common service can only accommodate standard reference data enumerations that are available in the SoR as approved by the Data Governance Steering Committee or Data Trustee.

A reference data value that does not match any of the standard reference data value enumerations is considered 'invalid'. Any records from a SoR containing an invalid reference data value for a given data element or attribute must be mapped as an 'empty' value in common service(s). Where a reference data value may potentially have the same meaning as a standard enumeration but named differently in the system of record can be corrected to match the appropriate standard enumeration. Please consult with the EDG team in such cases.

Additional Reference Data values in a SoR that are not part of the standard reference data enumerations are to be omitted in the common service.

Dispensation

Legacy systems are exempt from this data standard. As systems are replaced, adoption of this standard is required. Examples of legacy systems are:

Student Information System (SIS)

In Workday, and any applications consuming Course Definition data from Workday, the formats for:

Data Element	Definition	Format
Course Subject Code (prior to July 1, 2005)	The subject code for the course.	AAAA Where: AAAA = 2, 3, or 4-alpha
Special Topics Name (historical)	A course offered in which the subject matter or content may vary within the specific section across terms as indicated by the Course title and description.	Hyphen (-) 0 - 9

For any compliance questions or requests for a temporary dispensation, please contact the Enterprise Data Governance Team.