Course/Curriculum Support

What We Assist With

  • Course Modality 
  • Course Set-Up
  • Curriculum, Degree, and Major Changes
  • Faculty Advisor Changes
  • Major Requirement Changes
  • Student Information System (SIS) Access
  • Student Record Transactions
  • Training

Course Modality

Tufts University AS&E currently offers classes taught using several modes of instruction, including in-person, hybrid, and virtual teaching methods. Instructors should carefully reference the definitions below when scheduling classes and selecting their modality of instruction. Students should refer to these definitions when determining what type of courses to enroll in.

  • If a class is marked as VIRTUAL, this means: all class activities will be online only. All students—fully remote students AND on-campus students—can register and complete the course
  • If a class is marked as HYBRID, this means: the class is primarily taught in-person but allows for remote students’ participation. All students, fully remote students AND on-campus students, can register and complete the course. On-campus students must participate in-person.  
  • If a class is marked as IN-PERSON, this means: on-campus students can register and complete this course but generally, fully remote students cannot register for this course.

PLEASE NOTE: If a course meets in multiple modalities (some classes taught in person, some taught virtually) but requires in-person participation in at least some portion of the course, list this course as in-person. Courses listed as hybrid must be able to be completed completely virtually by remote students.

Course Set Up

Each semester staff from departments are responsible for entering and updating their fall and spring course offerings. Our office can help you through this process by providing access to support materials, answering questions, and making recommendations for how SIS can better meet your enrollment needs. Faculty and staff may contact course_updates@tufts.edu for access to training materials, questions through the process, or if changes to courses need to made after the data entry page in SIS is closed.

The One-on-One course form, available to faculty and staff through SIS, should be used for any student who wishes to complete independent work or research with an instructor. We prefer for the department or instructor to complete this form to ensure course details accurately reflect the student's work. This form can be submitted directly via the online form to Student Services.

Cross-list forms are required for any new cross-lists, changes in existing cross-lists, or permanently terminating existing cross-lists. For cross-listing different levels of the same course within one subject, complete the Single-Subject Cross-List Form. For cross-listing courses across different subjects, complete a Multi-Subject Cross-List Form.  

A cross-list form should be completed each semester if a course will be cross-listed with any special topics course. The sponsoring department should initiate the form and then have the non-sponsoring department complete their details before sending the form to us. You do not need to complete this form if the course(s) are permanently cross-listed; these relationships will automatically be set up if the course was offered in the previous like semester. If the course was not offered in the previous like semester, you should note the relationship in the "Notes to Registrar" field in SIS when setting up your courses for the semester.

Curriculum Changes

Our office can help you facilitate your requests to change your curriculum and ensure the correct committees are contacted regarding the requested changes. If you have questions about changing your department curriculum or changing course descriptions you can contact us via course_updates@tufts.edu. Carol Downing is a resource to advise and facilitate degree, major, and minor requirement changes, the student's advising report, and course petitions to meet specific degree requirements. Carol can be contact via email: carol.downing@tufts.edu

Faculty Advisor Changes

When faculty advisors will be away from the university or are leaving permanently, departments may need to submit bulk faculty advisor changes for current students to be updated with a new advisor. These bulk update requests should be submitted to Student Services through the Bulk Faculty Advisor Changes form. Changes submitted through the form will be made within 5-7 business days. 

Major Requirement Changes

Departments may make changes to major requirements as curriculum and course offerings change. All changes made to a departmental website that impact major requirements (including additions and/or deletions to course lists, etc.) must be conveyed to Student Services via the Major Requirement Update form. Departments are responsible for making website changes through the appropriate channels.

Student Record Transactions

Our office assists with the competition of records transactions like course registration, grade changes, transfer of credit, leave of absence, declaration of majors and minors, study abroad enrollment, academic policies, pre-matriculation credits, and advising changes. Most of these transactions may be completed through a form available to students, a form available to faculty or staff through SIS (found under the "Reports" menu item), or a function in SIS available to students, faculty, or staff. If you have specific questions about these processes, please contact Student Services

Training

Our office can provide training resources or individual training that will help you understand SIS transactions and functions better.

Please contact Student Services if you need additional assistance and we'll either provide online assistance through training documents or set up a meeting.

Additional Resources