Concourse - Syllabus Management

What is Concourse?

Concourse is an online centralized syllabus management system that provides a common organization and is integrated within CourseDen. Course syllabi are required to include institutional level policies and Concourse allows for easy integration within your D2L course offerings to include the necessary components of a syllabus.

Some of the key features of Concourse include:

  • Consistent Structure: Each College has its template with standard college language. The template also includes the required institutional level policies found on the Vice President for Academic Affairs (VPAA) website: Common Language for Course Syllabi.
  • Easy Updates: Making changes to your syllabus is similar to editing in MS Word.
  • Mobile Access: Formatted for the small screen, Concourse makes it easy to have all your course information at your fingertips, anytime, anyplace, and on any mobile device.
  • Account Integration: Faculty can access Concourse through D2L.
  • Accessibility: Concourses is compliant for Students With Disabilities and conform to Section 508(b) and WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
  • Content Migration: Faculty are able to import information from previous semesters into their current syllabus.

Users are able to log in to Concourse with their UWG credentials.

Concourse Login Portal

Concourse Procedure Overview

The procedure below outlines the process in which syllabi are constructed through Concourse. 

  1. Departments create course schedules in Banner.
  2. VPAA’s Office updates the institutional template 8 weeks prior to the start of the semester.
  3. Colleges update college templates 8 weeks prior to the start of the semester.
  4. Courses are imported into Concourse 4 weeks prior to the start of the semester through a Banner feed.
  5. VPAA’s office will set instructor permissions after feed is complete.
  6. Faculty (course instructors) will be given access at least 4 weeks prior to the start of the semester to edit their syllabus.

Components of Concourse

The fundamental unit in Concourse is the college template, which refers to a syllabus that contains common language required by the institution for all syllabi.

Some colleges have specific required components while others just use the institutional components. The syllabus is layered, meaning, information is provided in layers by different sources. Some elements on the syllabus are generated behind the scenes through Banner feeds and in Concourse, and other elements are added by the instructor.

Course Layers

Course information is layered, meaning:

  • The basic syllabus layout, information for all college syllabi, is created in the University of West Georgia institutional template and entered into the template by the VPAA’s Office.
  • Information specific to each college (college mission/vision, accreditation requirements, etc.) is housed in the college template and entered by the VPAA's office when updates are received from the college-level representative.
  • The next layer is information that is imported from Banner to Concourse. This includes the following items:
    • Course Number, Title, and Section
    • Semester
    • Credit Hours
    • Course Description
    • Prerequisites and Corequisites
  • The last layer is instructor specific and includes the following items:
    • Contact Information
    • Meeting Times
    • Materials
    • Outcomes
    • Evaluation
    • Assignments
    • Schedule
    • Course Policies and Procedures
    • Additional Items

Section Syllabus

Approximately 4 weeks prior to the beginning of the semester, the section syllabi are created through a system-generated process. During this process, faculty are assigned to the syllabi for the courses they are scheduled to teach, with the necessary permissions to add information specific to their section.

Faculty are required to update their section syllabus prior to their section start date shown in Banner.

Faculty Training and Support

Virtual Training

Schedule to be determined; additional information on future virtual training will be provided at a later date.

Training Video

Faculty are encouraged to review the Concourse Training Video (YouTube) before creating their syllabus.

Concourse Troubleshooting

If you are experiencing any technical issues with Concourse in regards to the software or CourseDen, then please contact UWG Online (chat/email/phone)

online@westga.edu

678-839-6248

http://uwgonline.westga.edu/

Monday - Thursday, 8am-8pm

Friday - 8am-5pm

Concourse Resources and Guides