Introduction to Academic Scheduling for New Users

Overview

• Whether your institution is new to Coursedog’s Academic Scheduling solution or they’ve been using Coursedog for years but you’re a new admin or end user, you’ve come to the right place. 

• Use this page to understand the net benefits of Coursedog, why your institution is using it – and how you can get better acquainted with the product. 

 

Why Coursedog

Overview

Coursedog’s Academic Scheduling solution enables institutions to deliver student-centric schedules with:

• Section and meeting pattern rules to reduce errors and keep schedulers aligned with your institution’s business practices and policies. 

• Built-in alerts to help you recognize and resolve conflicts and bottlenecks. 

• Faculty preference forms that are easy to create, send, collect – and view when making assignments. 

• Dynamic workflows that ensure section edit, rule exception, and schedule validation requests are all seen by the right people before being approved or rejected. 

• A requests dashboard that allows you to easily view and vote on those requests. 

• A wide variety of out-of-the-box reports to help analyze sections, conflicts, instructors, times, departments, rooms, bottlenecks, enrollment, and integrations – many of which can be used for schedule planning. 

• Best-in-class SIS integrations (we can sync changes in real-time). 

 

Case Studies

Customers using Coursedog’s Academic Scheduling solution have reported: 

• 60% fewer scheduling bottlenecks.

• 14% reduction in overfilled sections. 

• 1000+ hours saved on scheduling.

• 100% reduction in manual SIS data entry. 

• Read a few of the related case studies: 

  • • How NAU Reduced Scheduling Conflicts by 60% to Support Student Progression

    • Minnesota State Community & Technical College's Path to Equitable Scheduling
    • Catawba Goes All In: Unifying Systems to Streamline Operations and Elevate Student Success
    • John Carroll Empowers Administrators With Integrated Academic Operations
    • Oklahoma State University Adopts Data-Driven Scheduling to Elevate Student Success
    • Hawaii Pacific University Grows Graduate Enrollment by 200% with the Time They Saved Using Coursedog
    • Building Back Trust in the Scheduling Process at Lake Michigan College

   

 

Testimonials

Check out this video to see what our customers have to say about Coursedog. 

How Your Role Impacts What You See & Do

• Admins/Super Admins are generally the ones setting up your User Interface (UI). 

• How they set up things (e.g. which fields they put onto the Section Template) and which roles they assign to which users – and how they assign permissions to those roles – impacts what all other users can see and do in the platform.

• Anytime you can’t see or do something you need to, reach out to your institution’s admin. 

 

Introductory Materials for all New Users

• Check out the entire "Welcome to Coursedog" section of our Knowledge Base, particularly:

  • Academic Scheduling Overview

  • Academic & Event Scheduling Overview (Video)

  • The Academic Scheduling Process (Video)

  • Logging Into Coursedog

  • In-App Help

  • Changing Email Notification Frequency

• Not all institutions handle support tickets the same way, but anyone who can submit a support ticket via our Help Center should be familiar with the following (ask your admin if you aren’t sure this applies to you): 

  • Using Our Help Center

  • Submitting Tickets

  • Monitoring Your Tickets

• Our product walk-throughs, including: 

  • Academic & Event Scheduling Overview

  • Scheduling Process Overview (High-Level)

  • Academic Scheduling Overview Video (Detailed)

  • Academic Scheduling Rule/Policy Enforcement

  • Capture & Leverage Instructor Preferences Seamlessly

  • Handle Requests for Exceptions with One Click

  • Offer the Right Courses, Seats and Sections with Reports & Analytics 

  • Space Utilization

 

Additional Resources for Admins Only

• An Admin’s Guide to Academic Scheduling – This provides an overview of nearly all admin-level configurations but is especially helpful for admins getting Coursedog set up for the first time. 

• Preparing for a New Term – Reference this is your institution has already had at least one term scheduled in Coursedog and you’re not sure what to do for subsequent terms. 

• Navigating the Integrations Hub (Video)

• Check out Beginner's Guide to SIS Integrations for a high-level look at integration basics. 

• Role-Based Access Control Overview (Walk-Through)

• Section Rules Overview (Video)

• How Our Products Interact

• How Product Releases Work

 

Additional Resources for Department Schedulers

• A Department Scheduler's Guide to Academic Scheduling

  • This is a high-level summary of how schedulers use Scheduling, with links out to more detailed articles.

  • Admins should check this out too so you can see the downstream impact of your configurations.