How does the new ASK tool affect existing declarations (done in the old requirements)?
It doesn't. Declarations made prior to Jan 19, 2018 are under the old requirements and are not supported by the ASK-based contracts. ASK-based contracts are only available for declarations in the new requirements.
How does a current concentrator (on the old requirements) make changes to their concentration?
Students declared under the old requirements should be able to continue to use ASK (and paper contracts) as they did before. ASK internally tracks which requirements were in effect when a declaration was created.
What am I looking for when I review a program plan?
You are looking for the hierarchical boxes to have either green icons or open-red circles with warning triangles
- Green icons indicate that the requirement is satisfied by the selected courses (the shape differs depending on whether the course is completed, in progress, or intended).
- Open red circles with warning triangles indicate that selected courses need to be checked manually --- they are either not identical to the requirement as formally stated or the requirement allows one of many courses.
- Intermediate courses in pathways may have green icons and warning triangles. Usually, this would indicate that a student is substituting intermediate courses from the old requirements into the new pathway requirements (which is fine while we are in transition).
Warning triangles do not propagate upwards through the hierarchy, so if you see a requirement that lacks a green icon, check whether there is a warning triangle on a course within that requirement. If there is no warning triangle, then the student has left some part of the requirement unpopulated.
What are we doing for students whose intermediate courses were chosen for the old requirements, and don't satisfy the pathways?
Have the student declare with the pathway that meets their 1000-level courses. They should drag some intermediate courses into the slots for the pathway (even if they don't match the required ones). As long as they satisfy the overall intermediate courses for the new requirements, we will accept the substitution. You can then approve the declaration to formally accept the substitution within ASK.
Can I hide the pathway and other requirement options that aren't used in a declaration?
Yes, this is called “sifting mode”. You can turn it on from the main declaration page.
Part of the requirements seem to be missing. For example, a student is doing a pathway but there is no area for intermediate courses.
You probably have sifting mode turned on, and the student didn't populate the intermediate courses, so those areas aren't showing. Given that intermediate courses are checked in two parts of our requirements, but can only be counted once towards the course total, intermediate courses in pathways show checked by default to students. This will lead some students to overlook this part of the requirement when they first declare.
How does an advisor approve a course to get rid of the warning triangle?
When you approve the declaration, all courses with warning triangles will be marked as approved and the triangles will disappear.
How do I override ASK when a student has a unique situation and permission to substitute a non-standard course?
Have the student populate the requirement with the non-standard course and approve the declaration.
Why do some areas say “0-2 credits”?
Our requirements need to count intermediate courses in two places: the intermediate courses requirements, and the pathway requirements. The “0-n” configurations in the pathways are what let us record the same course two places, while only counting it once (in the intermediate courses section). The same issue applies to the ScB capstone course.
What do the icons mean?
Roughly:
- Open red circles mark requirements with missing components
- Open green circles mark courses in which the student is enrolled but hasn’t completed
- Closed red circles with X inside mark courses for which the student did not get credit
- Closed red circles with dashes inside mark courses that the student has not taken or has dropped
