Topics Map > Academic Year Planning

Academic Year Planning - Overview

A guide on the basics of using the Academic Year Planning page.

Academic Year Planning is where you can view all courses that will be offered in a certain term and update each course with planning data. 

This page is similar to Timetable Planning in terms of the tasks you can accomplish. The main difference is the view in which courses are displayed. Academic Year Planning is most useful when you need a comprehensive, easily searchable list of all courses offered in a given term. Timetable Planning is most useful when you are further along in the process of course planning, as it enables you to view courses organized by day and time, and you can check for course conflicts. 

You can access the Academic Year Planning page from the IPT navigation menu on the left. 

IPT home page with navigation menu on left. Academic Year Planning link is highlighted in red, with a giant arrow pointing to it

In this guide

How are courses displayed?

The Academic Year Planning page uses a table format to list all Fall and Spring courses in a given academic year. You can select the academic year from the dropdown list at the top of the page. Select “Refresh Data” to ensure the page updates after your selection.

Academic Year Planning page with several courses shown in table

If you need to view Summer courses, access the Summer Planning page from the IPT navigation menu.

To include independent studies in the course list, select the “Show Independent Studies” checkbox just above the table. 

Academic Year Planning page with "Show Independent Studies" checkbox highlighted in red

Compare SIS data and IPT planning data

Below “Show in Table,” select the “Planning” radio button if you want to view IPT course planning data only. Select the “Both” radio button if you want to view both SIS data and IPT course planning data together.

Academic Year Planning page with radio button grouping "Show in Table" highlighted in red

In the tables, please note that any courses with the letter T in parentheses are listed in SIS only (T = timetable, referring to SIS). 

Courses that are not listed in SIS but have IPT planning data associated with them will be shown with the letter P in parentheses (P = planning). 

Any courses that are listed in SIS and also have IPT planning data will be shown with both P and T in parentheses.

Course shown in table with "PT" to the right of the course number. Two instructors are listed on right, one with "P" before name and one with "T" before name

If the instructor listed in SIS is different from the instructor assigned in IPT, these differences will be indicated in the Instructor column, with a T before the instructor assigned in SIS and a P before the instructor assigned in IPT.

Meets With and Cross-Listed courses

Both Meets With and Cross-Listed courses will be indicated by a black flag icon in the “MW/X-List” column of the planning table. To see the other section that a course is combined with and whether it’s a Meets With or Cross-Listing, hover over the flag icon with your mouse to make the course info appear as a tooltip. 

Course with black flag icon is shown in table. Mouse cursor is hovered over it and tooltip appears that reads "Meets With: course 896-801-043"

For help with setting up a Cross-Listed course association in IPT, refer to Academic Year Planning - Add cross-listed courses

Indicating a Meets With section must be done through the Course page. For more information, refer to Part 2 of Course page - Add course planning data

View tags

Tags may be assigned to identify the type of course or the specific program a course belongs to.

Courses with Tags may appear with an asterisk (*) to the right of the course number in the planning table. (This depends on the color-coding settings applied by your IPT administrator. If your IPT administrator has not set tags to appear color-coded, you will not see these asterisks in Academic Year Planning. For more information, refer to Admin Tools - Create and manage course tags.)

Course number with asterisk on right. Asterisk is hovered over with mouse cursor, revealing tooltip that reads "Social Welfare Title IV-E Core"

You can hover over the asterisk with your mouse to make the Tag info appear as a tooltip. 

View or edit an existing course

To open a Course page, you must have Curriculum Management permissions, which can be set by your IPT administrator.

Select the specific course number you’d like to view or edit. It will be a blue hyperlink. 

Course listed in table with course number link highlighted in red

Note: You must specifically select the course number link — if you select other links associated with the course, such as the instructor’s name, that will open the Instructor page rather than the Course page.

For comprehensive help on how to change or add data in the Course page, refer to the following articles:

Need more help?

Add a new course

For comprehensive help with adding a new course or entering additional course data, refer to Course page - Add course planning data

Add a course release (buyout)

For help with adding a course release, refer to Academic Year Planning - Add a course release (buyout).

Add or edit instructor data

For help with adding an instructor or placeholder to the IPT system list, refer to Instructor Management - Add an instructor or placeholder to system list.

For help with editing an instructor’s information, refer to Instructor Management - Edit instructor data.

For more help with managing instructors, refer to Instructor Management - Overview.



Keywords:
ipt, instructional planning tool, overview, academic year planning, academic, academic planning, year planning, academic year plan, course, course planning, course page, course edit page, edit course, course details 
Doc ID:
147940
Owned by:
Daniella P. in Instructional Planning Tool Reference
Created:
2025-01-30
Updated:
2025-02-27
Sites:
Instructional Planning Tool Reference