Subject and Subject Requirements Tables
Relevant Definitions
Subjects are families of classes. For example, Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II are all in the subject of Math. Schools can define any subjects they need, and identify any class as belonging to that subject area. Subjects are mainly used to assist the administration in checking the student is meeting requirements when creating a plan .
Subject requirements are the number of units in total required in a subject area by a regulatory organization. For example, the NCAA may require 4 years of English and 3 years of math. The University of California may require 4 years of English and 4 years of math. The NCAA subject requirement for math is 3 years, the University of California subject requirement for math is 4 years. For University of California, the subject requirement is 4 years, the subject is math. Note: sometimes requirements are described in 'years' of study, sometimes in credits, and sometimes in units.
Templates are records that specify the sequence of classes to be taken under the plan. One plan will have multiple templates associated to that plan, each representing a class that must be taken to meet the plan's requirements. A template is a model of a student enrollment record. A template record specifies the class name, the corresponding curriculum, and the term the course should be taken in. PEMS copies all the template records associated with the student's plan to create the enrollment records for that plan. Enrollment records are copies of the template records that are associated with a specific student term (who and when).
Data Relationships
Note that subjects are not associated directly with plans. The subject requirement is the table that links the various subject to the plan and also specifies the number of units in that subject the plan requires.
The template records are linked to the subject requirements when the subject requirement is selected in the template record. The number of units in the template's associated class record contributes to the total required in the subject requirement record. It will take multiple templates to complete a subject requirement.
Subjects Table
The subjects table has only the name field. The administrator can enter unlimited subjects. However, a class record may only be linked to one subject record. Curriculum records are not linked to subject records. A curriculum may be used to fulfill different subjects depending on the plan.
Use Case | Environmental Science - one class may fulfill two different subject requirements
For example, Environmental Science may be frequently used to meet the Biological Science requirement or the Physical Science requirement, but not both. There would be two class records. One called Environmental Science that is linked to the subject of biology and another that is linked to the subject of physical science. However there is just one Moodle course, so there is just one curriculum record. The curriculum therefore does not specify a subject, and is not related to subject records.
Subject Requirements Table
Units required - the number of units required for the associated subject under the associated plan.
Name - concatenation of subject, plan, and unit information.
Units planned - the number of units in the plan that meet this subject requirement.
Transcript name - the subject requirements are listed in the transcript to create the block of information discussed in the Programs of Study Function. The transcript name is how the subject requirement should appear on the document, as the concatenation name is not convenient for printing.
Action Items JAN 2023
Enter data for transcript names - this is blank in most records, should be very similar to subject names if not exactly the same. Consider adding automation to default to subject name.
No automation has been enabled for Units planned, the sum of the units in the template records also associated to this subject requirement.