Course Tagging in ExploreCourses

What is Course Tagging?

For the purposes of this material, course tagging is a technology that permits designated staff to add tags to any course on behalf of a designated department so as to permit the creation of course lists for use by that department.

In other words, you can add tags for your department to any course so that you can extract, publish, or search a course list for any purpose that your department might find useful.

What are some uses of Course Tagging?

You can use course tagging to ...

• extract lists of courses for pasting to the Stanford Bulletin
• designate courses for Overseas Studies (with the permission of BOSP only) that satisfy degree requirements for students in your major
• publish course lists to your web site via the ExploreCourses web feed, or via a link on your web site
• maintain lists of courses for internal department use

If you can thinnk of a use for a course list, then that is something Course Tagging will support.

How do I get access to the Course Tagging functionality?

Staff must take a short Registrar training session that includes both policies and procedures. To register for a course, use this form.

Are there restrictions on Course Tagging?

You may tag any course for a legitimate purpose, but you may not tag a course for a purpose that is out of line with the course owner's prerorgatives.

For example, you may not tag a course to include in a course list for students who are not eligible to enroll in the course:

• you may not tag a GSB course for a non-GSB department if non-GSB students are ineligible to enroll in the course
• you may not tag a graduate level course for an undergradate course list if the course does not admit undergrads

It is the responsibility of any tagging department to determine if the tags they plan to apply to non-department courses are legitimate.

What's Next?

We are continuing to look at additional functions and possibilities for tagging. In the near term, we will develop the ability to import the tagging table into PeopleSoft both for archiving and future possible functionality purposes.

We are especially interested in assisting departments in using ExploreCourses and the tagging system to permit real-time display of courses on your web site.

We are available to talk with administrators and/or faculty about potential uses for the system; we'd be happy to brainstorm with you on any topic related to the publication and display of courses. Contact Stephen Arod Shirreffs at [email protected] if you have questions or want to schedule a meeting.

How do I report problems?

• Broken functionality: submit a HelpSU ticket.

• Suggestions for enhancements: send email to Stephen Arod Shirreffs at [email protected].