Overview :: Checkbox data

Some information associated with programs is best representated as a list of choices that the maintainers may turn on or off for a particular program. We refer to this data as "meta data", because though it may not be visible directly on the program page itself, it affects how that program displayed, searched for, and edited.

The types of "meta data" include:

• disciplines
• program hierarchy
• careers
• subjects

Logged-in editors may view and edit them by scrolling to the bottom of a given program page.

Disciplines

The disciplines are the lists that appear on the main entry page of Program Finder, grouping programs according to faculty/school boundaries. Some programs, like double degrees, may have more than one discipline, but most have only one.

Fig 1. The selected disciplines for a program are visible only to logged-in people with edit access to that program.

Program Finder uses disciplines to decide who may edit which programs. For instance, people in the "Sciences" faculty program group may edit programs that have "Agriculture" or "Sciences" selected as a discipline. Double or combined degree programs may have editors in more than one faculty, and so editors must coordinate their efforts when editing these programs, to avoid clashes.

Because "discipline" controls who edits the program, changes to the selected options must be made with care, as you may inadvertently revoke your own rights to edit a program by removing it from the disciplines you have access to.

Fig 2. Discipines for a program may be edited by ticking or un-ticking the appropriate checkboxes. But do so with care, this affects editing rights on the program.

Program hierarchy

The program hierarchy affects how the program list pages are displayed, allowing for "child" programs to appear underneath the more general, top-level program.

Fig 3. Each program may have a list of "child" programs, that will appear nested underneath it in a list of programs.

Fig 4. Program editors may edit the list of "child" programs by scrolling to the bottom of the top-most program's page and clicking [edit].

When editing the program hierarchy, the program's existing "child" programs will appear first in a list. These may be deleted by ticking the checkbox and clicking the [Delete Selected] button.

To add programs to the hierarchy, the editor must first perform a search using a word in the desired "child" program title. Select the program to add from the list of search results, and click [Add Selected].

Fig 5. Displays the program hierarchy edit page after a search has been performed.

Careers

Because students tend to be career-oriented in their program choices, we provide a Search by Career form.

Fig 6. Students may search for programs based on the careers they are interested in pursuing.

The list of careers for a given program are displayed as "Potential Careers" on the program page itself, underneath the "Career Opportunities" section text. The list of careers may be edited by clicking the [edit] link next to the list in this section, or at the bottom of the page.

Fig 8. The careers list appears on program page itself underneath the "Career Opportunities" section heading.

Fig 7. Program editors may also edit the list of careers associated with a program by scrolling to the bottom of the program's page and clicking [edit].

The list of career choices is displayed as an array of checkboxes. Simply tick or un-tick the appropriate checkbox to change the list of careers associated with a given program.

Please note that while the completion of a degree does not guarantee that a student will be qualified for a job in a given career, care must be taken when making the association between career and program to avoid misleading students or misrepresenting the outcomes of attaining the degree.

For consistency and to reduce duplication, contact Web Services to amend the list of career choices.

Subjects

A program may be associated with several "subjects", otherwise known as "areas of interest" or "topics". This information is used on the Search by Subject form, and also appears in the program page's "meta data", which is visible to search engines.

Fig 9. Students may search for programs based on the subjects or areas of interest they address.

Fig 10. Program editors may edit the list of subjects associated with a program by scrolling to the bottom of the program's page and clicking [edit].

For consistency and to reduce duplication, contact Web Services to amend the list of subject choices.