Diplomas/Graduation Requirements In Sept 14, 2021 Update
I saw that in today's release notes that it goes into Diploma's being available in the Grades section. I see the other updates have come through, but I still don't have access to the new Diploma/Graduation Requirement feature. As a school we use Blackbaud ID so we have met that requirement. Was that update only for those in the EAP? Or should that be available to everyone now?
Comments
-
When I read the announcement, I understood it to be released for everyone. I'm not seeing it in my school, either.
1 -
I messaged Ben about this earlier today, and he got back to me in 5 minutes telling me that the diploma requirements is not a part of LMS. He referred me to Jacqueline Koca. I emailed her immediately asking about this - I have been waiting for this enhancement since we transitioned from EE 4 years ago - but have heard nothing.
Scott2 -
We are in the same boat - I have been waiting for this feature since we transitioned from Education Edge 5 years ago...when we got OnCampus/OnRecord at that point, we were told the plan was for it to be done in the next year. So I have been anxiously waiting for this for many years!1
-
The other thing I was thinking of is that maybe I couldn't see it if I wasn't in the “Diploma Manager” role, but under roles I don't see Diploma Manager either. I was hoping Diploma manager was there and I would need to add the role and it would work, but I don't have that role available yet.
1 -
I thought of that as well. Still no word from Blackbaud...
Scott0 -
Hey everyone, Paul from Blackbaud here. We ran into some last-minute release issues on Monday and had to hold off on releasing this feature to K-12 schools. I'll let you know as soon as we have an ETA, but the developers are doing some work behind the scenes right now to make sure this feature releases properly.
2 -
Hi @Chris Felinski @Scott Chrysler @Brian Gray,
I noticed you are mentioned still no word from Blackbaud concerning the Diplomas/Graduation Requirements. I want to see if I can understand a little more in hopes of pointing you in the best direction to get an answer to your question.
I did see this blog in the Community, but it didn't mention Diplomas. Is there a posting from a Blackbaud Staff Member in the Community about the Diplomas that you could comment on?
If not, did you see this announcement within the product release notes in the newsletter or within the product itself?
In harmony,
Elizabeth
0 -
Hi Elizabeth - it was here in the K-12 weekly feature update: https://webfiles.blackbaud.com/files/support/helpfiles/education/k12/panel/content/bb-k12-new.html#Academics
Diploma requirements
Diploma managers can use Requirements to add requisites to Diplomas or Areas of Study that a student will need to complete.
To add or edit Requirements for a specific diploma or area of study, go to the Grades menu and select Grading setup. Select Diploma to modify Diploma Requirements, or select Area of study to modify Area of study Requirements. Select the name of the Diploma or Area of study to see a list of requirements.
To add a Diploma requirement, select the plus sign (+). In the Requirement details area, enter a Type, Name, Minimum credits needed, and Process order. Optionally, select General Elective Requirement to indicate that credit exemptions from other requirements can be applied toward this requirement. Open the Course selector tab to select courses that can fulfill the requirement. You can add courses one at a time with + Add course, or you can select multiple courses with + Bulk add courses. Under the Groups tab, you can specify how the included groups can be used to complete the requirement.
To add requirements for an Area of study, open the Area of study tab and select an area of study. Select the plus sign (+). The process is similar to the process for adding Diploma requirements.
For a complete explanation of these features, including details on how credits are processed toward requirements, see the help topics Diplomas and Requirements.
2 -
You want to make sure users who need to access it have the Diploma Manager role. After I assigned myself the role, logged out, logged back in - the Diploma option appeared.
2 -
Thanks, Jamie.
That is new since 8:00 am CDT which is when I checked for the role this morning.
Scott1 -
I know it definitely wasn't there on the day of release. Seems that someone forgot to "flick the switch" for the role
0 -
I see it now as well - this looks to be pretty powerful!1
-
We're excited to finally have this feature out to you all!
I am sorry for the confusion around the release and we've taken steps to prevent it occurring for future SIS releases.
I look forward to hearing how Diplomas works for each of your schools and, as it is a new feature, don't forget to add ideas to the Idea Bank if there is anything that you would like to see added on or adjusted!Thanks so much!
Jacqueline
Product Manager, SIS0 -
Jacqueline -
Thanks very much for the follow up. It looks and feels very similar to the system that was in EE which was effective.
My one question as I venture down setting all of this up is: Is there a way to globally associate the diploma type to group of students?
The support article (https://www.blackbaud.com/support/helpfiles/education/k12/panel/content/sc-degree-overview.html?Highlight=add%20requirements%20to%20a%20diploma) reads:
Associate a diploma with a student"You can associate a diploma with a student through the requirements section of their academic profile. To learn more about adding diplomas to students, see ."
A search for "associate diploma" returns 3 responses which do not address the association process directly.
Thank you, ma'am. Have a food weekend.
All the best,
Scott
0 -
The system looks quite powerful so far, although I'm noticing that I made some unfortunate early decisions about crediting that are now coming back to bite me (our terms are funny - semester + intensive + semester + intensive, with year courses just sitting in the semesters). Looks like I'm going to have to do a lot of cleanup to use this well.
I'm figuring a good deal out, but I'd love to know if anyone has examples of diplomas that are built out, either from this new system or from what you had in EE. What are the Requirements Groups for? I get Course Groups - so I can have a science requirement that needs one biology from X courses, one chemistry from Y courses, and one physics from Z courses - but there are some other things I'm struggling with. Are Requirements Groups just overarching categories like “Core Academics” vs. “Electives”?
I'm going to post a few ideas once I can figure out why it's not recognizing my login ? but otherwise it's fun trying some stuff out. Learned fast to be accurate/specific since it doesn't appear that you can edit the groups once they are created. Another idea!
1 -
As I have played around with the diploma feature, I have stumbled across a couple of issues.
The system is not recognizing a substitution course if it is a transfer course. It permits me to enter the transfer course and save the substitution, but the requirement is not recognized as completed. I have even run the Process feature, and the credit is still not recognized.
The other interesting aspect of the transfer courses is that in the “Other coursework” section the transfer course is listed by the Equivalent Course name that was entered when adding the transfer course. I really think it should be listed under the actual name of the course and indicate the school where that credit was earned.
I would think that if a transfer course was entered and the Equivalent Course name selected for it was one of the courses that also fulfills a requirement, the system would automatically make that association and mark the requirement as complete.
The substitution option appears to be working fine if you are a substituting a requirement with a course taken at our school. However, I have also found a limitation with this function. At times, we will permit students with learning differences to substitute the required 1.0 credit in level III of a world language with a different course. Very often they choose to replace it with two art courses that are worth 0.5 credit each. The substitute feature permits me to enter two course in the substitute input box, but once the first 0.5 substitute credit is entered and the appropriate level III language course is entered in the For box, that level III course is not available to select again for the next 0.5 credit.
It also appears that once the system has decided to use a course to fulfill a requirement, it does not permit you to re-assign it to another requirement. I discovered this attempting to use an art course that the system assigned to fulfilling a portion of the student's arts requirement to fulfill a substitution role for level III of a world language.
I could not find any support documentation for the “waiver/exempt/substitute” functionality. I am curious as to why the “For” course is labeled as “- Inactive” and the functionality of the Reuse* box.
How do you delete a diploma from a student's record?
Last item - once you have clicked on the Requirements tab on a student's record, you are “trapped” there - no other tabs for the student are available.
All the best,
Scott
1 -
David Gillespie -
Groups are used to create sub-requirements for a requirement.
For example, we require students to complete through level III of one world language. So I do not want a French I credit counting towards one of the three Spanish credits. So under the main requirement World Languages, I have a French Group and a Spanish Group.
Though I have found minimal documentation in the knowledgebase, there are very helpful guides via Training Resources which you can access via the down button to the right of your name in the top right corner of your screen.
As for my complete build out -
For my Requirements Groups, I have:
English
Math
Science
Social Studies
World Languages
Physical Education
The Arts
Courses of Choice
I have 21 different requirements. I need to be very specific because the great state of Louisiana has specific courses that must be taken to meet the requirements for big state scholarship.
English: English I
English: English II
English English III
English English IV
Math: Algebra I
Math: Geometry
Math: Algebra II
Math: Pre-Calculus
Science: Physical Science
Science: Biology
Science: Chemistry
Science: Advanced Science
Social Studies: World History
Social Studies: Western Civilization
Social Studies: U.S. History
Social Studies: Civics
World Languages
Health & PE: Health & PE I
Health & PE: Health & PE II
The Arts
Courses of Choice (which I flagged as a General Elective Requirement)
I have added every single course in our upper school curriculum to the Courses of Choice list, but I am curious if by selecting the General Elective Requirement if any course that is not linked to previous requirement will automatically go there whether it is selected in the course selector or not.
Hope that helps.
Scott
1 -
I found how to delete a diploma from a student.
I am experiencing issues with the use of Groups. As I mention in my response to @David Gillespie I use them in our World Language requirement. I have associated all of the French courses to the French group and all of the Spanish courses in the Spanish group. I have the groups set up: Requirements are fulfilled when “the specific number of groups is complete” = 1 and Credits to complete each group “same for all groups” = 3.
When I assign the diploma to a student who has taken both French I and Spanish but completed the requirement with Spanish I, II, and III - it shows the requirement complete with French I, Spanish II, and Spanish III.
I will contact support about this tomorrow, but I wanted to keep the development team in the loop.
Scott
0 -
Hey Scott,
I see where you said there are useful guides under training resources (using the dropdown by your name). Can you point me to the guides on setting up diplomas. I played around with it yesterday but I would love to know WHY i want to use the different parts of the set up. Example: why would I want to use groups or what is the best practice for setting up the course requirements. The documentation they provide in knowledge base is pretty useless because it doesn't give you any scenarios to explain why you want to set certain things up. Telling us how to set it up doesn't help if we don't know how to use it or how all the parts connect. Your post is a great starting point though! Thanks!
Vanessa
1 -
Hey Vanessa Noe -
I just typed diploma in the search box after clicking on Training Resources, and it returned this:
https://webfiles.blackbaud.com/files/support/helpfiles/education/k12/full-help/Content/search.html?q=diploma
I found the articles very helpful, but this system is also very similar to the one I worked with in EE, so I had a head start.
I think the "why" has to do more with each individual school's needs. For example, it would have been easy for me to set up the Math requirement as one requirement that if fulfilled when 4 credits are completed - English I, English II, English III, and English IV. But since the great state of Louisiana specifies a student must have Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II to receive the college-bound diploma, I chose to delineate the mandatory courses to help students, advisors, and families plan their 4-year course of study.
Because the state only mandates two credits in the same world language without specifying particular courses, I used the Group feature under Requirements to assure that both credits earned we in either French or Spanish not one in french and one in Spanish. (FYI - The Group feature is not properly functioning for me in my current set up so I need to contact support about that.)
I am currently playing around with Areas of Study to see if I can add more detailed guidance within our diploma requirements to help students and families track meeting the specific course requirements for Louisiana's TOPS scholarship. I am also in the middle of letter writing season for the seniors, so I am splitting time.
Let me know if you have an y additional questions.
All the best,
Scott1 -
I am following this thread because I am running into all of these issues as well. The transfer course issue seems to be the biggest obstacle right now. I agree with Scott that the actual course name should show and the system should recognize that the equivalent course name is fulfilling the requirement. It would be helpful to have documentation on the Exempt/Waive/Substitute with examples of why you would use them. i.e. why would I use Exempt vs. waive? I am also not understanding how exactly the “general elective requirement” box is working??? I set up a requirement for our arts courses and clicked the General Elective requirement box thinking that then once the one required arts credit was fulfilled that the rest of the arts courses the student may have taken would spill over into my general electives category. which we require 3 credits of any electives from any department. This did not work as I thought it would, but I also may not have the drop down for the courses correct (the box next to the course that has “this requirement and requirement inside this diploma”, etc)
There also needs to be a way to bulk assign diplomas to students (if there is a way, I cannot figure it out). I know that I will have to go into each student's requirements to tweek stuff, especially for transfer students, but going into each student individually to assign the diploma would be a tremendous amount of work. With this being a new product it is difficult to tell if I am not setting it up correctly or if there are still parts to this that are not working as intended. I looked for a recorded webinar on this but could not find any help except what is in the knowledgebase which basically just tells you how to push buttons to set the stuff up but no reasoning or explanation on how to set it up to work for your requirements. So anyone that has had some success with diplomas, feel free to add some tips and tricks to this thread please
1 -
Vanessa Noe -
My understanding of the General Electives flag is that is that if named course is not being used to fulfill another requirement, it get assigned to fulfill the General Electives requirement. Once the General Electives requirement is filled, the additional courses are sent to the Other Coursework category. By flagging the arts requirement with the General Electives flag, I believe you are permitting any course taken that is for a requirement that is already filled can be used to fulfill that requirement. Try this:
Uncheck the General Electives flag in your arts requirement
If you do not already have a Requirement Group for your "3 credits of electives for any department", create one. I call ours Courses of Choice.
In this Requirement Group, check the General Electives box and should pull in those extra credits.
For all of our courses, I have them flagged "Only this requirement" and my credits are all landing appropriately. I believe this might cause an issue if later develop the Area of Study for the state scholarship.
As for Exempt/Waive/Substitute - I have chosen to only use Substitute because the student still needs to earn a total of 24 credits to earn our diploma. Playing with each, when I select Exempt or Waive for the requirement, the system just "skips over" that requirement. I still need the student to earn that credit, it just does not need to be that required course. Using the example I mention earlier about waiving a student's third year of world language, though technically it is being waived or the student is exempt from French III, the student still needs the credit, so I substitute French III with a course that is in the General Electives bin.
I think Exempt and Waive accomplish the exact same thing in the system. As higher ed also uses a different version of K12, my hunch is there are two different labels because "exempt" and "waive" might have different meanings that they need to track.
Scott
1 -
Scott,
This link was very helpful. I searched the knowledgebase and got nothing. I think I will forever be confused on where to find help documents in blackbaud! Keep us posted about the groups because it isn't working for me either. It is pulling french and spanish credits together to satisfy the group instead of one or the other. I specified under the groups that the french group could not be used to satisfy credits from the spanish group (and vice versa) but it isn't working as I think it was intended??? and also let me know if you figure out how to apply a diploma to multiple students in bulk! Thanks for your help!!
Vanessa
0 -
Vanessa Noe -
I have a support case open regarding the group issue. It is being sent to engineering as "it is not functioning as intended." The same with using transfer courses as substitutes.
As for bulk assigning - not an option. Need to suggest the idea in the idea Bank.
Scott1 -
Idea for bulk assignment:
Idea for bulk processing:
And Scott has more ideas in there for reporting and status indicators.
0 -
I have been following this post and wondering if you have heard anything from your support case as to whether or not the issue with groups has been resolved.
We have a requirement of reaching Level III within one of two language choices. I have created a Modern Languages requirement group and listed all of our French and Spanish Courses within the course requirements and assigned them to a French or Spanish group. My group settings are to Requirement fulfilled when specified # groups (1) is fulfilled and 3 credits within each group.
When looking at the audit page, there is no way for a student or advisor to see these group differentiations, nor can I see a way to track this on my end with this setup. I had reached out to support a while back and was told that groups were in effect, useless at that particular point in time, as they were not functioning. I am hoping that this has been resolved as course selection for next year is just around the corner and this would be a useful tool for admin and students alike.
Michelle
0 -
Michelle -
I apologize for the late reply, but I just now had the opportunity to check if the issue I had been experiencing with groups was resolved.
It has been!
We have the same requirement in world languages at our school - a student must complete through level III of one world language. My test student began with world languages in French but shifted to Spanish. The world language group now ignores her French grade and counts only her three Spanish grades to fulfill that requirement. Her French grade has been moved to our “Courses of Choice” requirement which is flagged as the General Elective Requirement.
Hope that helps.
All the best,
Scott
0 -
Scott,
That is great news!
Unfortunately, we have decided not to go forward with using this feature, at least for this year. Our curriculum can be quite customizable and our Academic Dean and others fear that it will not track properly. I'd still prefer to use it over spreadsheets though!
As an example, along with needing to reach level III of a language, we have a similar process for math. Students need three years of math. For many, this means reaching Algebra II, however, for those who are on an accelerated path, they could potentially need to reach AP Calculus AB to earn their three credits, which for the vast majority of our students would be a course in the Choice/General Elective category. Would it work to keep all math classes in our math requirement, plus math courses past Algebra II in the Choice/General Elective requirement so that those who need it as a core requirement can have it count toward their math requirement, and those who might take it as an elective can have it go toward their overall credit count? We are trying to reduce the need for using more than 2 diploma types - one for domestic students, and one for English Language learners.0 -
Michelle Grab -
You can completely do that with your math courses.
The system fills requirements via the Process order you set for each requirement. So long as you set your "general electives" requirement to process last, and the "general electives" requirement can be fulfilled by all of the courses in your curriculum, any course taken that is not used to fulfill a previous requirement would be used to fill the general elective requirement.
So in your case with math. Students are required to have 3 credits. Suzy Mathwiz took Algebra I in 8th grade, geometry in 9th grade, and Algebra II in 10th grade - her math requirements for your school would be completed. When she takes pre-calculus in the 11th grade, since that credit is not needed to fulfill the math requirement, it will be used to fill the "general electives" requirement. The same would happen with her calculus grade in 12th grade. You just have to be sure that pre-calculus and calculus are recognized by the "general electives" requirement.
An additional note on this. When the diploma feature was first released, if multiple courses could be used to fill that requirement, it would use the highest grades to fulfill the requirement. So if Suzy Mathwiz had earned a B+ in geometry, but then earned an A in pre-calculus, the pre-calculus "grade" would fulfill the requirement and the Algebra I grade disappeared. This is why I included every course that earns credit at our school in the "general electives" category as well as its discipline category. This was the reason the "group" feature was not functioning properly when the diploma enhancement was released.
Hope that helps.
All the best,
Scott
1
Categories
- All Categories
- 6 Blackbaud Community Help
- 206 bbcon®
- 1.4K Blackbaud Altru®
- 394 Blackbaud Award Management™ and Blackbaud Stewardship Management™
- 1.1K Blackbaud CRM™ and Blackbaud Internet Solutions™
- 15 donorCentrics®
- 357 Blackbaud eTapestry®
- 2.5K Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT®
- 646 Blackbaud Grantmaking™
- 561 Blackbaud Education Management Solutions for Higher Education
- 3.2K Blackbaud Education Management Solutions for K-12 Schools
- 934 Blackbaud Luminate Online® and Blackbaud TeamRaiser®
- 84 JustGiving® from Blackbaud®
- 6.4K Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®
- 3.6K SKY Developer
- 242 ResearchPoint™
- 118 Blackbaud Tuition Management™
- 165 Organizational Best Practices
- 238 The Tap (Just for Fun)
- 33 Blackbaud Community Challenges
- 28 PowerUp Challenges
- 3 (Open) Raiser's Edge NXT PowerUp Challenge: Product Update Briefing
- 3 (Closed) Raiser's Edge NXT PowerUp Challenge: Standard Reports+
- 3 (Closed) Raiser's Edge NXT PowerUp Challenge: Email Marketing
- 3 (Closed) Raiser's Edge NXT PowerUp Challenge: Gift Management
- 4 (Closed) Raiser's Edge NXT PowerUp Challenge: Event Management
- 3 (Closed) Raiser's Edge NXT PowerUp Challenge: Home Page
- 4 (Closed) Raiser's Edge NXT PowerUp Challenge: Standard Reports
- 4 (Closed) Raiser's Edge NXT PowerUp Challenge: Query
- 778 Community News
- 2.9K Jobs Board
- 53 Blackbaud SKY® Reporting Announcements
- 47 Blackbaud CRM Higher Ed Product Advisory Group (HE PAG)
- 19 Blackbaud CRM Product Advisory Group (BBCRM PAG)