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Understanding Academic Terms in DualEnroll

Academic terms are a fundamental concept in DualEnroll that help organize course offerings and manage student registration periods. This article explains how terms work in the system and how they affect various aspects of your dual enrollment program.

What are Academic Terms?

Academic terms in DualEnroll represent specific time periods during which courses are offered, such as Fall 2024 or Spring 2025. Terms help organize:

  • When courses are available for registration
  • When students can register for classes
  • How course sections are grouped
  • When ongoing requirements need to be completed

How Terms Affect Course Visibility

Terms have several settings that control whether courses are visible to students and whether the term itself appears in your administrative views. These settings work independently of each other, which means they can be combined in different ways depending on your needs.

The key term visibility settings are:

  • Inactive: Removes the term from the student registration list entirely. Students will not see any courses associated with an inactive term. This is the strongest visibility control — it effectively shuts down registration for that term.
  • Hide from List: Prevents the term from appearing in administrative filter dropdown menus by name. The term and its data still exist, and you can find it by selecting "All Hidden Terms" in filters. This is an organizational tool for administrators — it does not affect what students see.
  • Hide from Course Finder: Prevents courses in this term from appearing in the student Course Finder. Students will not be able to browse or register for courses in a term that is hidden from the Course Finder, even if the term is still technically active. This gives you a way to keep a term active for administrative purposes while preventing students from seeing its courses.
  • Show in CA Workflow Steps: Controls whether the term appears in Curriculum Alignment workflow steps. This is relevant for colleges using DualEnroll's instructor credentialing features.

Understanding the difference between these settings is important because they serve different purposes. For a detailed explanation with examples, see the companion article: Understanding Term Visibility Settings — Inactive, Hidden, and Hide from Course Finder.

Understanding Term Properties

Each term has several important properties that affect how it functions:

  • Term Dates: Define the official start and end dates of the academic term
  • Registration Windows: Control when students can register for courses within the term
  • Drop/Withdraw Dates: Determine when students can drop or withdraw from courses
  • Custom Date Fields: Support additional date-based rules specific to your institution

Composite Terms

Composite terms are special terms that group multiple regular terms together. Common uses include:

  • Academic Years: Grouping Fall, Spring, and Summer terms
  • Ongoing Requirements: Managing faculty requirements across multiple terms
  • Year-long Programs: Handling programs that span multiple terms

For example, if you need to track faculty professional development annually rather than each semester, you would use a composite term to manage this.

Term Status and Registration

Term status and visibility settings work together to control the student registration experience:

  • Active term + Registration Enabled + Visible in Course Finder: Students can browse courses and register. This is the standard configuration for a term that is open for registration.
  • Active term + Registration Disabled + Visible in Course Finder: Students can see courses but cannot register. If a No Registration Message is configured, students will see that message. This is useful when you want students to preview courses before registration officially opens.
  • Active term + Hidden from Course Finder: The term is active for administrative purposes (reporting, workflow management, etc.) but students cannot see or register for its courses. This is useful when you need to keep the term operational behind the scenes without exposing it to students.
  • Inactive term: Students cannot see any courses for this term, regardless of other settings. Use this when a term is fully closed and no longer relevant for student activity.

When registration is disabled for a term, you can display a custom message to inform students about when registration will open or provide other important information. This message can be set globally or customized for individual high schools.

Best Practices for Term Management

  1. Monitor Active Terms: Regularly review which terms are active to ensure students see only current registration options
  2. Plan Ahead: Work with your DualEnroll implementation team to ensure terms are set up well in advance of registration periods
  3. Use Custom Messages: When registration is not yet open, provide clear information about when it will begin
  4. Consider Term Relationships: Remember that composite terms can simplify management of year-long activities

Impact on Workflows

Terms affect several key workflows in DualEnroll:

  • Student Registration: Controls when students can register for courses
  • Course Reviews: May be tied to specific terms for instructor approval
  • Ongoing Requirements: Can be launched based on term dates
  • Reporting: Many reports can be filtered by term

Getting Help with Terms

While terms are typically configured during implementation and updated automatically through your student information system integration, you may occasionally need to make adjustments. Contact your DualEnroll support team if you need assistance with:

  • Setting up new terms
  • Configuring composite terms
  • Adjusting term dates or properties
  • Troubleshooting term-related issues

Remember that terms are a foundational element of your DualEnroll configuration, so any changes should be carefully considered and coordinated with your implementation team.