Find Courses and Find Course Sections Reports for Everyone

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Overview of Process

Two of the most frequently used reports in Bowdoin College’s Workday Student system are the BOW STU Find Courses report and BOW STU Find Course Sections report. The BOW STU Find Courses report allows users to search for and view courses offered at Bowdoin College; these are not scheduled offerings of the courses, but a catalogue listing. The BOW STU Find Course Sections report allows users to search for and view course sections and their descriptions offered for the selected academic period or semester into which students will register.

Find Courses Report

Courses are the approved versions of each course; they are not the sections, which are the offerings of each course in each term. In other words, courses are what is listed in the catalogue – sections are what students register into each term.

Type BOW STU Find Courses into the Workday Global Search Bar and select the report. This report can also be found on the Teaching Dashboard, BOW STU Advisor Dashboard, and on the Chairs and Directors Dashboard.

Note: Reports offer a view of related information available within Workday with searching and filtering capabilities. Access to reports is determined by your role and security.
To view all courses, leave the Course Subjects (Optional) blank. To narrow the report results to courses in one or more course subjects, search for and select Course Subjects (Optional).
Click OK to run the report.
The Find Courses report will open. All courses that are offered and published at Bowdoin College are listed. The courses found in this report will not have a location, time/date, or instructor attached. Therefore, students will not be able to register for a course from this report.
Use the search bar at the top of the report to search for a course by name. Click the Search button or Enter or Return key on your keyboard to narrow the course results.
To further narrow your search results for courses, use the Course Tags search filters on the left-side of the report. To apply a search filter, check the box. To remove a search facet, uncheck the box.

Note: To see the full title of a distribution requirement Course Tag, hover your cursor over the name of the distribution requirement Course Tag you would like to view. You can also click the hyperlinked more to view the list of the course’s Course Tags.
To save search facet selection(s), click the Save button to save your search.
To clear all search facet selection(s), click the Clear All button.
To preview a course, click the Expand button next to a course. You can also preview a course’s details by clicking the related actions button next to the course. You can also expand all courses by clicking the Expand All carrot at the top of the report.
To view more information on a course, click the Course.

Note: When browsing courses, it is recommended to right-click the course’s hyperlinked title and click See in New Tab to open a course’s information page in a new tab so you don’t disrupt your search settings.

Note: Cross-listed courses will display with a listing for each department that offers the course. The primary Course Owner department for cross-listed courses appears on the course description page. In the example shown, History of Jazz I is a course that is cross-listed in the Music and Africana Studies departments. On the course description page, Music appears as the primary Course Owner department.

Find Course Sections Report

Type BOW STU Find Course Sections into the Workday Global Search Bar and select the report. This report can be found on the Teaching Dashboard, BOW STU Advisor Dashboard, and Academics Hub.
Select any Academic Period(s) to narrow the list of course sections to a specific Academic Period.
If applicable, make selections in the Course(s), Course Tags, Instructor, Days, and/or Days/Timesfields to narrow the course section list further.
Click OK to run the report.
The Find Courses Sections report will open. This report lists all course sections offered for the selected academic period, with options to filter by subject, days/times, instructor, availability, etc.
Use the search bar at the top of the report to search for a course section by name. Click the Search button or Enter or Return key on your keyboard to narrow the course results.
To further narrow your search results for course sections, use the Section Status, Subject, Course Tags, Course, Days, Days/Times, Instructors, and/or Classroom Location search filters on the left-side of the report. To apply a search filter, check the box. To remove a search filter, uncheck the box.
Please note that these filters are sorted by how many sections appear in the filter. For example, Music is the first subject listed because they offer the most sections (this includes music lessons). There isn’t any way for us to edit this, though many schools have pending requests with Workday.
To save search filter selection(s), click the Save button to save your search.
To clear all search filter selection(s), click the Clear All button.
To preview a course section, click the Expand button next to a course. You can also preview a course section’s details by clicking the related actions button next to the course section. You can also expand all courses by clicking the Expand All carrot at the top of the report.
To view more information on a course section, click the Course Section hyper-linked in blue.

Note: When browsing course sections, it is recommended to right-click the course section’s hyperlinked title and click See in New Tab to open a course section’s information page in a new tab so you don’t disrupt your search settings.
The Course Section information page will display. View important information about the course section’s Status, Start/End Date, Grading Basis, Description, Instructional Format, Course Tags, Delivery Mode, Meeting Pattern, Instructor, scheduled Assessments, and more on this page.