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Course Description

Enter course descriptions in #courseadmin

The #Manager organising the course is responsible for the course description which should reflect the content that the #Trainer plans to teach. The course description also provides the basis for the course announcement to the mailing list, as it contains the date, title, location, and an overview describing the course. All course descriptions are written in English (UK).

Depending on the date of the course, course descriptions are displayed either in:

  1. Upcoming training courses when the first day of the course precedes today’s date
  2. Past training courses when the Friday following the last day of the course has passed

The course information is also scraped automatically and displayed in the ELIXIR TeSS portal.

Confirm date and course title with trainers

Once a #Manager has been assigned a course, he/she should confirm with the #Trainers the course and the date(s) they will be giving it. The course description is entered in #courseadmin as soon as the basic information about the course is known. The procedure depends on whether the course has been given before or whether it is a new course (see below)

IMPORTANT After this initial step, if there are any changes, these should immediately be updated in:

  1. #courseadmin
  2. the coordination-tasks-list.xlsx.
  3. Outlook SIB Training shared group Calendar.
  4. For instance, an additional #Trainer should be entered in #courseadmin (so that the number of #Trainers involved in courses can be determined). In some cases, these changes will require modifying the course description and notifying registered #Participants or applicants by mail. This is done when a course is cancelled or switched to streaming at the last-minute.

Course description for repeated courses

If the course is a new instance of an existing course, a copy of the latest instance of the course is created using the Copy option of the Link for the existing #courseadmin instance.

The following fields should be reviewed and changed, if necessary (it is wise to Save the changes as you go along to ensure you do not need to re-enter the modifications):

  1. In Course basic info:

    • Unless requested by the #Trainers, the Course title of the course remains the same. Major words are capitalized, and most minor words are lowercase. Example: In “First Steps with UNIX for Life Scientists,” all the words except with and for are capitalised.

    • The Course title alias is modified such that the first day of the course, abbreviated YYMMDD (where YY is the year, MM is the month and DD is the day), precedes a course title abbreviation. The course title abbreviation consists of capital letters and should have a maximum length of 5 characters. If the course has been given before, please use the same course title abbreviation as the previous instances. Example: If the last instance of the course had the alias “20220504_PYTFS”, the next instance of the course which starts on November 23, 2022, will be “20221123_PYTFS”.

    • If an External course URL is entered, then the title of the course will be linked to the URL.

    • If the course will be given by different #Trainers, the trainer field is modified. The full name of each #Trainer (Firstname Lastname) is indicated and separated by commas. Example: “Alex Carter, Jamie Morgan”.

    • If the course is being organised by a different #Manager, the Organiser is modified.

    • The Start date of the course is entered.

    • The End date of the course is entered. IMPORTANT The date of the course must be added to the Outlook SIB Training shared group Calendar.

    • The Cancellation deadline is entered. This is set to 1-2 weeks before the start date for regular courses, and to 1-3 working days before the start date for free online courses. In cases where a minimum number of #Participants must be ensured for the course to take place, this is set to 2 weeks following the announcement that the course is open for registrations.

  2. In Course location, if the course will be given at a given location, or in a different format (classroom vs. Streamed), the City is modified.

  3. In Administrative stuff:

    • The Maximum number of #Participants may be modified if requested by the #Trainers. Note that this field is not displayed online but is used to determine when to start putting applicants on the waiting list and when to close the course.

    • SIB Web should initially be set to No.

    • Web Registration should initially be set to No.

    • If Fee is set to Yes, the Course price (default) and Course price (for-profit) should be modified if the course length has been modified (Start date and End date above).

    • Course Reg. Status should initially be set to Upcoming.

    • Number of hours should be modified if the course length has been modified (Start date and End date above).

    • ECTS should be modified if the course length has been modified: Start date and End date above (See ECTS credits).

  4. In Description and requirements:

    • The Learning objectives should ideally be reviewed to see that they follow Bloom’s taxonomy.

    • The Prerequisites > Technical may need to be modified if the format of the course has changed or if the version of programs used in the course has changed. This should be checked with the #Trainers beforehand.

    • In the Application section, the fees should be modified if it has been modified in the Administrative stuff.

    • In the Application section, the cancellation deadline is set to the same day as in the Cancellation deadline set in the Course basic info.

    • The Venue and Time may need to be modified if the format of the course has changed. A full day course generally starts at 9:00 CET and end at 17:00 CET, with a 1h lunch break and two 15 min coffee breaks. (Free online courses can start at 15:00 CET and end at 18:00 CET to accommodate #Participants living in the Americas).

    • In the Additional Information, the coordinator’s name may need to be modified if the #Manager is different from the last instance of the course.

  5. In SIB web tags, if the #Trainers have changed or if the course description does not include any, these should be modified or added, respectively.

  6. Click on the PREVIEW button to generate the course description in a new browser tab. Review the course description. Any typos and inconsistencies spotted should be corrected and the modifications saved. The course description may be exported in PDF format and sent to the #Trainers so that they can review it and indicate if there are any changes to be made.

  7. Once the course description is finalized, SIB Web should be changed to Yes. The course description will be displayed in the Upcoming courses page.

  8. The course description displayed online should be reviewed to ensure there are no error.

  9. Update the coordination-tasks-list.xlsx.

Course description for new courses

If the course is a new course, the option New course should be selected from the COURSES menu at the top left.

The course description is entered in #courseadmin as soon as the basic information about the course is known. It is wise to Save the changes (blue Save button at the bottom of the page) as you go along to ensure you do not need to re-enter the modifications. The minimum information that should be included before displaying the course is:

  1. In Course basic info:

    • Course title. The title should be brief but appealing. Courses for beginners can start with “First steps with”. If the course is to be streamed append “ - streamed” to the title.

    • The Course title alias is entered. Ideally, it should use letters of the title in a way that it is possible to guess what the course is. Example: 20220504_PYTFS for First Steps with Python in Life Sciences

    • The Trainers’ name should be entered. The full name of each #Trainer (Firstname Lastname) is indicated and separated by commas. Example: “Ethan Blake, Olivia Bennett”.

    • The name of the #Manager should be entered as the Organiser.

    • The Start date of the course is entered.

    • The End date of the course is entered. IMPORTANT The date of course must be added to the Outlook SIB Training shared group Calendar.

    • The Cancellation deadline is entered. This is set to 1-2 weeks before the start date for regular courses, and to 1-3 working days before the start date for free online courses.

  2. In Administrative stuff:

    • SIB Web should initially be set to No.

    • Web Registration should initially be set to No.

    • Course Reg. Status should initially be set to Upcoming.

  3. In the Description and requirements:

    • Copy and save in a local file the contents of this field as it is automatically generated with the latest format. You can use this local file to start preparing the course description.

    • Replace the contents of the field with the text “More details will follow.”

  4. Click on the PREVIEW button to generate the course description in a new browser tab. Review the course description. Any typos and inconsistencies spotted should be corrected and the modifications saved.

  5. SIB Web should be changed to yes.

  6. Update the coordination-tasks-list.xlsx.

The next step is for the #Manager and the #Trainer to define the course content.

Finalize course description

As soon as possible, but no later than 2 months before the start of the course, the course description should be updated, completed and verified, in #courseadmin.

  1. In Course location, the City is entered (for in person courses) or the text “Streamed from” followed by the location is entered (for streamed courses).

  2. In Administrative stuff:

    • The Maximum number of participants may be entered if requested by the trainers. Note that this field is not displayed online but is used to determine when to start putting applicants on the waiting list and when to close the course.

    • If Fee is set to Yes, the Course price (default) and Course price (for-profit) should be entered. Use the Start date and End date to calculate the number of days. Multiply by 100 CHF/day for the default fee and 500 CHF/day for the for-profit fee.

    • Number of hours should be entered. Usually count 7 h/day of course, as this value does not include breaks.

    • If there will be an exam or evaluation, the ECTS should be entered. For each day of course, 0.25 ECTS should be counted, and the appropriate number entered based on the Start date and End date (Design the course)

  3. In Description and requirements, replace the text “More details will follow.” with a full description written following concertation with the #Trainer.

  4. All fields are required. Ensure that all the fields have been filled in (See Enter the course description in #courseadmin)

  5. Click on the PREVIEW button to generate the course description in a new browser tab. Review the course description. Any typos and inconsistencies spotted should be corrected and the modifications saved.

  6. The final course description should be exported in PDF format and sent to the #Trainer so that he/she/they can review it and indicate if there are any changes to be made prior to displaying it in the SIB web site. This can be done by creating a PDF from the preview page.

  7. Once the course description is finalized, SIB Web should be changed to yes.

  8. Update the coordination-tasks-list.xlsx.

The next step is to open and announce the course.

Courseadmin:

With only a few exceptions, the fields in #courseadmin are mandatory. They have a reason to be there. For instance, the field Metadescription, maximum of 150 characters, is needed for the Google indexing. The SIB web tags are needed for the search in the SIB website. See Metadata mapping.