Using the Course Catalog Dashboard

Overview 

The "Course Catalog" Dashboard in Polaris outlines all courses being utilized across DSST. The Dashboard displays which schools are using the courses, course credit type, credit value, course name, and course number in Infinite Campus. There are separate dashboards for the Middle School Course Catalog and the High School Course Catalog. 

Use the steps and supports below to learn how to utilize this Polaris Dashboard. 

• Finding the "Course Catalog" Dashboard
• Reading the "Course Catalog" Dashboard 
• Filtering the "Course Catalog" Dashboard 
• Schedulers: Searching Existing Courses for Course Requests. 

Finding the "Course Catalog" Dashboard 

Go to the DSST Helix on your DSST device at https://helix.dsstpublicschools.org. Click "Polaris" from the menu of options as shown below. 

You will be redirected to the current school year reports folder. Scroll and select "Course Catalog". 

You will now see the "MS Catalog" Dashboard and the "HS Catalog" Dashboards. 

Reading the "Course Catalog" Dashboard 

Select either the "MS Catalog" or the "HS Catalog" (shown in the steps above). You will now see the Dashboard in its entirety as shown below. 

The Dashboard has a variety of information displayed. '

At the top, you will see the key for school color coding as well as the various information displayed such as credit type, course number, etc. 

Within the Dashboard, you will see a list of courses with their corresponding information. On the far right, you will see the colors noting which schools are utilizing that course in the current school year. 

If you hover over the colored squares it will also display the information in a small box as you navigate through the Dashboard. 

Filtering the "Course Catalog" Dashboard

On the right-hand side, you will see the "Filters" section. Here you can select various aspects of courses to filter the dashboard for more specific information. Use the filters to narrow your search. 

Search Course Name: Here you can search names to filter specific courses. For example, if you wanted to find all the different types of chemistry courses being used you could search "Chemistry".  Credit Typ: You can select or deselect the various options for credit type.  Archived: This filter is not entirely necessary but you should select "No" or "All". Since the Dashboard is only pulling currently used courses you won't have any archived courses in the list.  School: This dropdown allows you to filter to specific schools.  School Year: You can specify specific school years.

 

Schedulers: Searching Existing Courses for Course Requests

Schedulers have a unique use for the "Course Catalog" Dashboard as a resource when making course requests. All Schedulers should be checking the "Course Catalog" Dashboard for the existing classes in place and in use at DSST schools BEFORE making a request for a new course. 

This is very important for a variety of reasons. Most importantly, it saves teams time for both DSST and DPS. Oftentimes, requests are made for courses that are already created in our DSST Course Catalog. The Dashboard allows schedulers to see all courses and identify if the course they want to request already exists. 

Schedulers should search the name or content area to display the most results. From there schedulers should pay special attention to the credit type and credit value to see if it aligns with the intended use. If so, the scheduler can simply find the course name or number in the IC Course Catalog or send a request to the Help Desk at [e-mail] to have that course moved over for them.