Course Management

Overview

Courses are the fundamental building blocks of educational programs in Mapademics. Each course represents a distinct subject or area of study that can be part of one or multiple academic programs. Courses serve as containers for course sections, where the actual teaching and skills analysis happens. In Mapademics, courses have a hierarchical structure:

Programs contain multiple courses
Courses contain multiple sections
Sections have instructors and syllabi where skills are extracted

Before You Start

To manage courses effectively, you’ll need:

Administrator or Editor permissions in your organization
Understanding of your academic structure - which programs courses should belong to
Course information - names, codes, and descriptions
Time estimate: 5-10 minutes per course

Creating Your First Course

Step 1: Navigate to Courses

From your Mapademics dashboard, click Courses in the main navigation
You’ll see the courses overview page with all existing courses in a table format
Each course shows its name, course code, number of sections, and associated programs

Step 2: Add a New Course

Click the Add Course button in the top right corner
A new course row will appear in the table with the default name “Untitled Course”
The system automatically creates a “Main Section” for each new course

Course Information Management

Basic Course Details

You can edit course information directly in the courses table or by clicking the edit button to access the detailed course page. From the Courses Table:

Course Name: Click in the name field and type directly to rename your course
Course Code: Enter a standard course code (e.g., “MATH 101”, “CS 201”)
Changes save automatically as you type

From the Course Detail Page:

Click the pencil icon next to any course in the table
This opens the comprehensive course management interface where you can:
- Edit course name and code
- Add detailed course descriptions
- Manage program associations
- Work with course sections
- View course statistics

Course Descriptions

Navigate to the course detail page by clicking the edit button
In the Course Information section, find the Course Description field
Use the text area to provide:
- Course objectives and learning outcomes
- Prerequisites or recommended background
- General scope and content overview
- Any special notes or requirements

Program Associations

Courses can belong to multiple academic programs simultaneously, allowing for flexible curriculum design.

Adding Programs to a Course

From the course detail page, locate the Programs section
Click on the programs dropdown to see all available programs in your organization
Select one or multiple programs where this course should appear
Click Save Changes to confirm the associations

Managing Program Relationships

Multi-Program Courses: Courses can serve multiple programs (e.g., a Statistics course might serve both Business and Psychology programs)
Course Ordering: When you associate a course with a program, it automatically appears in that program’s course sequence
Flexible Structure: You can add or remove program associations at any time

Course Sections Management

Every course contains one or more sections. Sections are where the actual teaching happens and where skills are analyzed from syllabi.

Understanding Sections

Default Section: Every course starts with a “Main Section”
Multiple Sections: Add sections for different instructors, semesters, or teaching approaches
Section-Based Skills: Skills are extracted and stored at the section level, not the course level
Instructor Assignment: Each section can have a different assigned instructor

Adding Course Sections

From the course detail page, locate the Course Sections panel
Click Add Section to create a new section
Name your section (e.g., “Fall 2024”, “Online Section”, “Prof. Smith’s Section”)
Assign an instructor if desired
Upload section-specific syllabi for skills processing

Section Management Features

Section Selection: Use the dropdown to switch between different sections
Default Section: Mark one section as the default for the course
Section Deletion: Remove unused sections (requires confirmation)
Skills Tracking: View skills extraction progress for each section

Skills Processing for Courses

Skills extraction in Mapademics happens at the course section level. Here’s how it works:

Syllabus-Based Skills Extraction

Upload Syllabi: Each course section can have its own syllabus document
Batch Processing: Select multiple courses (and their sections) for skills processing
AI Analysis: The system uses AI to analyze syllabi and extract relevant skills
Review Process: Extracted skills go through a confidence-based review process

Processing Multiple Courses

From the main courses table:

Select Courses: Check the boxes next to courses you want to process
Choose Process Syllabi: Click the “Process Syllabi” action button
Select Sections: In the modal, choose which sections to include in processing
Start Processing: Confirm to queue the skills extraction job
Monitor Progress: Track processing status on the Background Jobs page

Course Statistics and Monitoring

Each course provides valuable statistics and monitoring capabilities:

Course Overview Stats

Section Count: Total number of sections in the course
Program Count: Number of programs this course belongs to
Last Updated: When course information was last modified
Skills Status: Processing status for section syllabi

Real-Time Updates

Live Processing Status: See which sections are currently being processed
Skills Updates: Real-time updates as skills are extracted and validated
Background Job Integration: Seamless connection to the job monitoring system