Data Sources

The following is a description of all the data sources for this application and how frequently data is refreshed from each source.

Administrators

A list of deans, chairs, and program coordinators is received from the Provost's office annually and loaded into the application.

Banner

Data is exported from Banner into this application daily at 5 AM. The following types of data are included:

  • Courses
  • Course sections
  • Course instructors
  • Departments, schools, and colleges
  • Programs
  • Student enrollment in course sections
  • Student enrollment in programs, majors, and minors

A daily snapshot is saved showing the total enrollment count for every course section.

Blackboard

All Blackboard data is updated in real time. Data about courses, course content, and enrollments are pulled directly from the Blackboard cloud database every time you view a Blackboard-related report.

Event data describing student usage of Blackboard is saved in real time with a delay of less than a minute. The kinds of events tracked include logins, content views, assignment submissions, and discussion posts. The data is granular to such a level that we can determine "Student A viewed the Course Syllabus file on September 1 at 2:13 PM and again on September 2 at 8:39 PM".

Budget Book

The Budget Book is used to determine which instructors belong to each school. This data is loaded annually.

CIP Codes

CIP codes are based on the official list published by the NCES on the IPEDS website. Both CIP 2010 and CIP 2020 codes are loaded and linked together using the CIP 2010-2020 Crosswalk.

Course Catalog

When a new course catalog is published, a list of program pages is compiled manually. Then this application looks at each course listed on each program page. The course is connected to the program either as a requirement or an elective based on the heading indicated on the program page.

The application also reads the course description for every course in the catalog. The course description is used to determine the course's prerequisites and co-listings.

Course Evaluations

Students enter course evaluation responses directly into this system. While course evaluations are in progress, responses are not anonymized. Responses can only be viewed by global administrators and by the school chair and dean who oversee a specific course section.

Once course evaluations close, responses are irreversibly anonymized and made available to instructors. The course evaluation data for a section is only visible to the section instructor, the school chair and dean who oversee the section, and global administrators.

Global administrators in this context include Testing Services staff and the Provost.