In this section:

Overview

The EchoSystem defines a course as an academic subject being taught and captured over a period of time, such as a term, and then taught and captured again during a different period of time or term. Courses defined in the EchoSystem are effectively a container for sections , while sections  (called "modules" in Great Britain) are the actual offerings of the course during a particular term.

For example, a course name might be "Introduction to Economics" with an identifier of "ECON101", with three sections configured as ECON101-001, ECON101-002, and ECON101-003.  

Echo360 understands that the word "course" has different meanings at different institutions. We recognize that the meaning given to "course" may not suit every institution, particularly those outside the United States. The explanation given here is designed to show how a "Course" works within the EchoSystem hierarchy.

Add a Course

1. Navigate to Schedule > Courses.
2. Click Add. The Add New Course page appears as shown in the figure below.
   
3. Enter the details as follows: 
   
   • Name - The Name for the course that will appear in the ESS as well as in the EchoCenter.
   • Identifier - An abbreviated identifier for the course, such as ECON101 or ENG330. This also appears in the ESS and the EchoCenter.
   • Organization - Select the organization to which this course belongs.

   • EchoSystem Identifier - The globally unique identifier (GUID) used by the EchoSystem Server (ESS) to identify the object. The ESS automatically assigns this ID to each object in the system. You may use this identifier when making API or other system calls. See API Documentation for further explanation.

   • Alternate Identifier - The globally unique identifier (GUID) used by a learning management system (LMS) or LDAP or other external system to identify the object. Entering an Alternate ID is optional, but allows you to use the external system's GUID (not the EchoSystem Identifier) when making API or other system calls. See API Documentation for further explanation.

     The Alternate Identifier must be unique for each ESS object type but you can use the same ID for different types. For example, you can have a course with an Alternate ID of ECON101 and a Section with an Alternate ID of ECON101. This is useful if the external system recognizes courses and sections as the same object type whereas ESS does not.

4. Click Save.

You may sometimes want to add many courses all at once or to change properties of many courses. You can do this efficiently by using the Import Courses feature, using a spreadsheet program such as Excel to generate a CSV file for import.

Delete a Course

When you delete a course, the following objects are also deleted:

• All schedules associated with the course.
• All sections associated with the course. Both current sections (sections that occur during the current term) and past sections (sections associated with a previous term) are deleted.
• All Echoes associated with the course.

Users associated with the course are not deleted. For technical details on what happens when you delete a Course, see Deleting Objects from the System.

Procedure

1. Navigate to Schedule > Courses. The Courses page appears.
2. Click the course you want to delete.

   

3. Scroll to the middle of the page and click Delete.
4. Check the box to confirm that you want to delete the course and associated objects.  

   

5. Click Yes, Delete.

6. Notice the following: 
   
   • A message at the top of the page confirms that the item has been deleted.
   • The course and its associated objects are removed.

For technical details on what happens when you delete a Course and how to confirm complete deletion, see Deleting Objects from the System.