[ARCHIVED] Can courses belong only to one term?

[asadler]

Can courses belong only to one term?  Does this mean that every new term a teacher must create/import a new course?

What is the easiest way to set up the term and grading schedule?  Should I make 4 terms, each with their own specific grading period that matches the term length?

[James · Accepted solution]

 @asadler  

Courses must belong to exactly one term, even if it is the default term.

The term doesn't have to mean much of anything, depending on how your institution sets things up, and some institutions don't use terms at all. Terms are a convenient way of organizing courses that are running at approximately the same time, but instructors may be able to go in and change the dates on the course to override those for the term.  Terms are also used as a filter, so you can quickly identify this year's algebra course from the one you taught last year. The terms are set up to control access to a course and if you have a defined calendar for your school, you probably want to use terms.

Courses holds content and that content often has due dates. When you have groups of students with different due dates, you should create a different course. Things just work a lot easier when you do that rather than trying to reuse a course over and over with different students and different due dates. Remember that a course must have a term associated with it, so if you have a calendar that you follow, changing the terms when you change the courses make sense.

Grading periods are different than terms. A term can have multiple grading periods in it. I teach at a college and courses run for one term (fall, spring, or summer). We do not use grading periods. If a high school had students in classes for an entire year, then that would be one term with (perhaps) quarters as grading periods. If the high school allowed students to take semesters and change enrollments over Christmas break, then I would use two terms, one for fall and one for spring.