Roster: Manage Courses and Classes

We allow flexibility in how you plan to define your class names that are seen in the UI and on reports for students and teachers. HMH systems such as ThinkCentral use the classname as the primary key and must be district unique. If you choose a field that changes (or changes the order of the text in the field), you could see an old class name cause a deactivation and a new class be created which could result in some loss of data.

For OneRoster API or CSV, you can use any of these fields in defining a custom formula (fields are case sensitive):

For OneRoster API or CSV, you can use any of the following commonly used fields in defining a custom formula (fields are case sensitive).

sourcedId

title / name

 

If needed, additional class name fields are allowed. Click to view.

 

To use any of the fields above, it needs to be placed in curly brackets; for example:  {title}

Anything added to the formula that is NOT inside the curly brackets will be treated like a string text constant if using a combination of multiple fields and/or string text.

Note: These are the only fields we support at this time. We do not support metadata fields, custom fields, or partial fields of existing values. Additionally, if you use a field that can change, it is possible that new classes can/will be created in systems like TC and HMO.

 

●      Can I use "Term" or "Course" or "Period" as part of my class name formula?

At this time, we recommend the default values, but custom formulas are allowed for any field in the standard that can be found in the class object. Since some Platforms use classname as the primary key, fields like Term, Course, and Period can have a negative impact if something changes to these fields after initial load; this is because the system treats the change as a removal of the old class and a creation of a new one. For example: An entry of Period = “T1,T2, T3” sent today vs. the entry “T3, T1, T2” sent tomorrow (when treated like a text string) creates a change in the class name.

 

●      When is it appropriate to append school year to the formula?

Districts that may decide NOT to mass deactivate each year or wish to see data across multiple school years often find it helpful to append the school year to the class name formula.

 

●      If a user attends classes across multiple schools but is only listed in one school in the user file/object, what will happen?

If a user is tied to classes that span multiple schools, we automatically enroll the user in all associated schools for those classes regardless what the user object has listed in the user data set for orgSourcedIds. This aligns with the IMS standard and expectations of standard use.

 

●      Can I filter what data is sent to Ed vs NWEA vs other platforms?

At this time, HMH Rostering Service does not support the filtering of course/class data to respective programs. Users are rostering their SIS data and then allowing platforms like NWEA and Ed to access that HMH Rostering Service centralized data store to eliminate data redundancy where you utilize license assignment on who has access to what content on each platform.   

 

●      I do not have the same users on Ed that I do on NWEA. How can I manage this?

HMH supports a centralized district data store that supports all your rostering data needs to power Ed, NWEA, and Flight so you do not need to roster data differently to each platform. If you wish to restrict access to a platform, you can limit access based on the users to whom you provide SSO access; if you want to restrict access to program content, you can do so based on the users to whom you assign licenses.  

 

●      Can I use a field from the OneRoster Course object in my class names?

At this time, we only support the use of field names from the class object. See the supported fields section in the tips area above.

 

●      If I filter on courses, will the filter show in the “Most Recent Import” files?

No, the download of the most recent import files will show all data sent from your rostering provider and will not limit the data based on filters that you set in the rostering wizard. This is needed for troubleshooting all data sent; filtering out data would limit any troubleshoot abilities. The course filter is applied at the time the rostering data is being sent to the platforms, which is after the storing of the data that was sent.

 

●      What if your class names are not unique for ThinkCentral or Holt McDougal Online?  

ThinkCentral and Holt McDougal Online require unique class names for each teacher. If your class names are not unique across all class IDs for a given teacher, the following occurs:

–      In TC, the classname is the primary key, so if it is not unique, all classes with that class name are combined and you could end up with 50+ students tied to the class regardless if they have different class local IDs. It is always best to make sure your class names are unique.

–      In HMO, the class name will be automatically changed to “Classname +(Auto-UniqueID)”.

For recommendations of class name formulas, see Tips for Creating Class Names.

To manage your courses/classes:

 

1.    Determine the class naming convention that works best for your organization to ensure that your class names are unique.

Example: You have a teacher that teachers 4 sections of Math.  The {title} field is called “Algebra 101”. If you left it as {title}, your file contains 4 classes all called "Algebra 101" and with the constraints of some legacy systems such as ThinkCentral and Holt McDougal Online, you may get some random values attached to these class names in order for it to load. If you leave the default, your teacher and students will see:

○      Algebra 101 – 123456789012345678901233421

○      Algebra 101 – 123456789012345678901232314

○      Algebra 101 – 123456789012345678914321332

○      Algebra 101 – 123456789013213213213131444

Warnings & Recommendations:

–      Changing the Class Name fields after data has been loaded can lead to removal of old data and creation of new data.

–      The object {title} alone is NOT RECOMMENDED. This is because title on its own is often not district unique, which can cause issues as ThinkCentral and Holt McDougal Online use the class name as the primary key. You can run into data inaccuracies in TC or multiple auto-generated class names in HMO. Best to always append a unique value that you are familiar with to include with the title field.

–      For districts with exceptionally long class titles and sourcedIds, you may wish to put sourcedId + title for your formula. That way, if a system truncates at 75 characters, you still have a unique classname. This formula is a bit harder for teachers and students to “recognize” but at least the class will load and be available for use.

–      If you choose a field such as subject or periods, the value is recognized as text and may be changed in some systems such as ThinkCentral and Holt McDougal Online, which results in deleting and creating new classes all the time. HMH recommends a field that does not change, which is why title + sourcedId is most recommended.

 

2.    Type an object in the Class Naming Convention field.

 

3.    If you do not want to filter your import data based on courses, select No. Do not filter courses. and then click Next to continue.

 

4.    If you want to filter your import data based on courses (and any classes linked to those courses) that you select, do the following: –      Select Yes. Filter courses. A Filter Courses area appears with a list of your organization's courses.   –      Locate and select the courses for which you want to import data by doing any of the following: ○      Search for a course by typing any or all of the course name in the Search box and click the magnifying glass icon . ○      Sort the list by clicking a column header, for example, COURSE TITLE or COURSE CODE. ○      Scroll through the list.   –      When you have selected all the courses for which you want to import data, click Next.