Configuration Options: Template Hierarchy Setup

Configuration Options: Template Hierarchy Setup

Synopsis

Linked syllabus templates support the quick and accurate dissemination of approved syllabus language throughout your Concourse system. With linked templates, you can add an item to one template, and it cascades down to all lower-level linked templates; linked templates reduce the time and effort required to populate and update syllabus content across your institution’s syllabi. It’s important that your template hierarchy be established thoughtfully in order to cascade content accurately, without overwriting content on lower levels. Your Concourse system can have one, two, or three template levels depending on your organizational structure, accreditation requirements, and other factors. Note that linked templates are only available in structured systems.

Key Terms

  1. Template: a course whose syllabus contains standard item content that will be cloned into non-template (i.e., live/section) syllabi; instructors and students are typically not registered to templates.
  2. Course: the artifact in Concourse that contains the syllabus.
  3. Feed: a data file that is used to migrate information from external systems to Concourse; feeds can be automated or processed manually.
  4. Syllabus: The main resource in a course in Concourse; the syllabus can be either structured or unstructured and contains course content, language, and policies. 
  5. Group Permissions: Each user group’s ability to view or edit syllabus content is managed by domain administrators at the individual syllabus level or en masse.
  6. End users: typically students, instructors, and other syllabus managers. End users typically engage with syllabi individually and do not need large-scale access to system data for management or reporting purposes.
  7. High-level users: typically academic leaders (e.g., deans) and IT staff (e.g., LMS admin) who need access to system and user data.
  8. Domain Permissions: the permission to view, manage, report upon, and/or modify syllabi for entire domains; four types of domain permissions are available: administer, edit, audit, and report.

Important to this Decision

Before making decisions about how your institution uses Concourse, you should consider how stakeholders, systems, timelines, and other factors are impacted. Review the important elements below to be better prepared to make changes to your Concourse configuration or implementation.
Key Players
Academic leaders and staff whose work is related to accreditation and compliance or the syllabus development process should be consulted when making this decision.
Consideration
The template hierarchy determines how syllabus content is inherited by lower-level templates and live/section syllabi cloned from the templates. Items can only be added at one template level, and if an item is added to a higher-level template later on, that item overwrites content on lower-level templates. It’s important to carefully survey your institution’s policies and how they apply to organizational units and courses to ensure that syllabus language appears at the appropriate template level to cascade appropriately within your organizational schema.
Timing
This decision is typically made during the implementation phase, but templates can be added or deleted afterward if your institution’s needs change.  The effort to add mid-level linked templates can be extensive; we encourage you to be circumspect and deliberate with this decision to avoid future technical debt.
Connected Systems & Locations
While higher-level templates are typically created manually, course templates may be created and populated with Course Feeds to expedite the process. To support accurate template creation and population, external IDs of templates should be created to match course data in the SIS. When live/section courses are created via Course Feed, the external ID of their corresponding course templates will appear in the CLONE_FROM_IDENTIFIER data field of the feed.
Method
To create a linked template manually, users with Create Courses permission should:
  1. Select Create in the main navigation menu.
  2. Select Clone Course.
  3. Search for the template to be cloned (the higher-level template to which the new template will be linked).
    1. Select +Advanced to open more search parameters.
    2. Narrow your search by domain to make it easier to find the correct syllabus to clone.
  4. Select Clone to the left of the template you wish to clone.
  5. On the subsequent page, fill out all data fields in the Required Information block.
  6. Select Is Template. If this option isn’t checked upon creation, it is not possible to link the new course to a template later.
  7. Select Clone.
  8. The resulting syllabus contains all the items from its higher-level linked template(s) and continues to inherit real-time template content updates. 
To create linked course templates via Course Feed, follow the instructions provided in Construct and Process System Data Feeds.
Motivation & Impact
Populating and modifying syllabus content via linked templates minimizes the amount of time and effort it takes to ensure that consistent, standardized language is applied institution-wide. Content can be added or changed on one syllabus and then cascade down to all corresponding syllabi; as a long-term result, your personnel are saved significant time on editing, checking for quality assurance, and reporting.

Configuration Options

Concourse provides different options for structuring the template hierarchy to support different institutional contexts. We recommend that you review these options carefully before deciding which option best meets your needs. 
  1. Option A: One Template Level (Institutional Template Only)
  2. Option B: Two Template Levels (Institutional and Course Templates)
  3. Option C: Three Template Levels (Institutional, Mid-level, and Course Templates)
If the choices below don’t fit your needs, reach out to Client Services for assistance.
Option A: One Template Level (Institutional Template Only)
  1. Approach: A single template is created for your institution; this template is cloned to create all live/section syllabi to which instructors and students are registered. Therefore, all items and content that appear on the Institutional Template, such as institutional policies, appear on live/section syllabi. Your institution can assign group permissions to live/section syllabi in such a way that instructors may or may not be able to edit copied template content that appears on their syllabi.
  2. Better For: This option is used most often by smaller institutions, institutions that do not have large amounts of required or preapproved syllabus content, and institutions that do not have formalized syllabus language readily available in other systems, like the SIS.
  3. Advantages and Disadvantages of One Template Level: The clear advantages of this template hierarchy approach are that it is very straightforward to maintain and requires the least human intervention. A disadvantage of this approach is that it does not allow you more granular control in targeting syllabus content selectively. In other words, all live syllabi at your institution are cloned from the Institutional Template and therefore all receive the same content. More specialized language cannot be applied based on discipline-specific accreditation requirements, for example. Opting not to use course templates also means that standardized course information has to be populated at the live/section syllabus level instead of cloning this content from a course template; for example, the course description must be added to the live syllabus, and such manual intervention does increase the likelihood of error.
  4. Effort: Institutional Templates must be created manually, so it takes just a few minutes to create a one-level template hierarchy. Populating and maintaining the one template hierarchy depends on the amount of content that you add to the Institutional Template and how often it is updated. Typically, one person is charged with maintaining the Institutional Template.
Option B: Two Template Levels (Institutional and Course Templates)
  1. Approach: An Institutional Template and a template for each course are created in your Concourse system. Course templates are linked to the Institutional Template and therefore contain the same institution-wide content as the Institutional Template (including real-time changes). Course templates are also populated with content specific to the course, such as course descriptions or learning objectives. All live/section syllabi are cloned from course templates, so they contain content added at the institutional- and course-level templates. Your institution can assign group permissions to live/section syllabi in such a way that instructors may or may not be able to edit copied template content that appears on their syllabi.
  2. Better For: This option is used most often by institutions that have approved institutional syllabus language as well as course-specific syllabus language readily available in other systems, like the SIS. Course templates may be populated manually or via feed, so it’s important that the organization’s IT and/or academic personnel also have the bandwidth for course template maintenance. 
  3. Advantages and Disadvantages of Two Template Levels: This approach to the template hierarchy can be fast and easy to maintain if you use Course Feeds and Item Feeds. The more manual intervention that your templates require, the more time, effort, and personnel must be involved. The main advantage with this approach is that you can standardize institutional syllabus content as well as course-specific content to minimize the amount of manual intervention that is required with live/section syllabi.
  4. Effort: After the Institutional Template is created manually, course templates can be created manually or via Course Feed. As a result, creating this hierarchy tends to be fairly quick and can be accomplished within a few minutes to an hour depending on template creation method and the number of course templates involved. Populating and maintaining the two template hierarchy depends on the method of population–either manually by course managers or domain users–or via Item Feed. If syllabus content is available in other systems, Item Feeds can be quickly generated and processed by one individual. If course templates must be modified by humans, this workload should be delegated accordingly within each academic unit’s purview to accomplish editing and reviewing in a timely manner; the manual process may take anywhere from a week to a month and involve numerous personnel.
Option C: Three Template Levels (Institutional, Mid-Level, and Course Templates)
  1. Approach: An Institutional Template, a number of mid-level templates, and a template for each course are created in your Concourse system. The Institutional Template contains items and content that apply to every course at your institution. Mid-level templates are linked to the Institutional Template, therefore receiving its content, and populated with content specific to a large group of courses at your institution, such as courses within the same college, school, or program. Items populated on mid-level templates might include program learning objectives. Course templates are linked to the appropriate mid-level template so they inherit all relevant content from both higher-level templates; course-specific information, such as the course description or materials, is added to this template level. All live/section syllabi are cloned from course templates, so they contain content added at all three template levels. Your institution can assign group permissions to live/section syllabi in such a way that instructors may or may not be able to edit copied template content that appears on their syllabi.
  2. Better For: This option is used most often by institutions that have a significant amount of formalized language that must appear on syllabi at different levels (oftentimes associated with domains, but not necessarily) or that expect very little instructor intervention in the syllabus development process.
  3. Advantages and Disadvantages of Three Template Levels: This is the most challenging template hierarchy to manage, but it also allows you the most granular control over the syllabus language across your Concourse system. Because each syllabus item can only appear on one template level, your Concourse team must work with academic stakeholders to determine what policies apply to the entire institution, what policies apply selectively to organizational units at your institution (e.g., Online, Graduate, College of Nursing), and what policies apply only to the course level so that items can be added and managed at the appropriate template level. Unsurprisingly, managing the different template levels requires significant overview and time if you opt to manage these templates manually. A major benefit of this approach, however, is that live/section syllabi tend to be carefully populated with accurate, approved language, and instructors have to do little manual editing to make their syllabi ready for students. As a result, syllabus preparation tends to take less time for end users and be more accurate for accreditation and compliance reporting purposes.
  4. Effort: This is the most time-intensive approach to template hierarchies in Concourse. Just like with the other approaches, the Institutional Template must be manually created; after that, mid-level and course templates can be created either manually or via Course Feed. Populating and maintaining all three template levels can be done manually, which requires significant time and effort from multiple personnel, or via Item Feed, which can be automated.

Post-Decision Changes

Your institution’s needs may change over time and you may need to make changes to your configuration settings. In other words, the configuration decisions you make during the implementation phase might not be as efficient five or ten years afterward. Review the guidance below to better understand how changing this particular decision may affect your Concourse system or deployment in the future.

While it is possible to change your template hierarchy down the line, it can be time-intensive and more complicated to add mid-level templates later on. If you aren’t sure whether you need an additional template layer, it may be a better idea to build the mid-level template and leave it unpopulated until it is needed. We recommend that you reach out to Team Concourse for a consultation prior to attempting any template hierarchy changes in your system. If you feel confident doing the operation yourself, please ask us to refresh the sandbox so you can do the work there first and confirm that you won’t lose important data.
Adding a Template Level
If your institution initially opts to use one or two template levels and later decides to add another level, there are two options: adding lower-level templates or  mid-level templates.

If your institution decides to add lower-level templates, you should:
  1. Determine what templates are needed (just course templates or mid-level templates too).
  2. Create new templates with a Course Feed to link them to the next-highest template level. If you use only an Institutional Template and wish to add two lower-level templates, you must create the mid-level templates first, linking them to the Institutional Template; next, course templates can be created, linked to the appropriate mid-level templates.
  3. Determine how the new templates will be populated.
    1. If the new templates will be populated via Item Feed, work with your IT department to generate, test, and eventually automate feeds.
    2. If the new templates will be populated manually by course managers or domain users, you should train these high-level users on their responsibilities and timelines.
  4. Determine and implement an approach for template quality assurance review. This may include assigning and training Domain Reporters.
  5. Work with your IT department to update Course Feeds so that the correct templates are cloned when creating live/section syllabi.
  6. Update initial group permissions to ensure instructors have the ability to edit or view content copied from templates.
If your institution uses an Institutional Template and course templates and decides to add mid-level templates, you should:
  1. Determine what mid-level templates are needed and how course templates will be organized under the mid-level templates.
  2. Review the content of existing course templates and confirm the method of population and maintenance. Note that if items are added to mid-level templates, this content will overwrite any content existing in that item for lower-level templates.
  3. If course templates only contain a few items and those items are populated via automatic feed, the best approach is to:
    1. Create and populate the mid-level template. 
    2. Process a mark for deletion feed to identify all course templates as candidates for deletion. Manually purge the courses.
    3. Create a Course Feed to create the course templates again, linking them to the appropriate mid-level template.
    4. Process Item Feeds as usual to populate the templates’ item content.
  4. If course templates contain content that is manually populated and modified, the best approach is to:
    1. Generate a Multi-Item Report of course template content.
    2. Use the CSV of the Multi-Item Report to create Item Feeds to populate these templates without manual intervention.
    3. Create and populate the mid-level template. 
    4. Process a Mark Course for Deletion Feed to identify all course templates as candidates for deletion. Manually purge the courses.
    5. Create a Course Feed to create the course templates again, linking them to the appropriate mid-level template.
    6. Process the Item Feeds you reverse engineered from the Multi-Item Report to populate the templates’ item content.
  5. Determine how the new mid-level templates will be populated.
    1. If the new templates will be populated via Item Feed, work with your IT department to generate, test, and eventually automate Item Feeds.
    2. If the new templates will be populated manually by course managers or domain users, you should train these high-level users on their responsibilities and timelines.
Removing a Template Level
If your institution initially opts to use three template levels and later decides to remove mid-level templates, you will need to recreate course templates and link them directly to the Institutional Template. To get started, you should:
  1. Confer with academic and accreditation stakeholders about whether archival versions of mid-level templates should be retained for posterity. If copies should be retained, you can:
    1. Rename the templates and their external IDs and relocate them to an archival domain or hide the templates in your system.
    2. Create a bulk download of extraneous templates. This process creates a PDF version of each syllabus in the designated domain so that the content of the syllabus can be accessed via other platforms moving forward.
  2. Determine whether content on mid-level templates should appear on the Institutional Template or course templates and then update the appropriate templates accordingly.
  3. Generate a Multi-Item Report of existing course template content.
  4. Use the CSV of the Multi-Item Report to create Item Feeds to populate the new course templates you will create.
  5. Process a Mark Course for Deletion Feed to identify all course templates as candidates for deletion. Manually purge the courses.
  6. Create a Course Feed to create the course templates again with the same course titles, external identifiers and other data, being sure to link them directly to the Institutional Template.
  7. Process the Item Feeds you reverse engineered to populate the templates’ item content.
  8. Update domain users and course managers about the change in content and if the scope of their template administration or management will change.
This process is almost never attempted by institutions that only use two template levels. If you currently use two template levels and wish to stop using course templates, you can:
  1. Hide course templates in your system.
  2. Update Course Feeds to clone the Institutional Template when creating live/section courses moving forward.

Related Topics

Before making a decision about setting up your template hierarchy, you should be familiar with some related issues and contexts. See the following articles for more information:
  1. Register for our asynchronous training course on Templates. It includes recorded webinars, handouts, and other resources.
  2. Need more background information about templates? Check out Course Templates Explained.
  3. If you need more guidance about what type of content should appear on different template levels, read over Designing Course Templates.
  4. We have several how-to articles about template functionality if you’re wondering how to manage templates; check out Create a Link Between Templates and Linked Course Templates for more information.

Tell Us About Your Experience

Did this article answer your question? If you made a decision like this for your Concourse instance, let us know how it turned out. If we missed something in this article or if you have a question that isn’t addressed in our Knowledge Base, let us know how we can help by reaching out to support@campusconcourse.com. 

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