The Academic Terms file is a Core Data file that is used to create the structure of a campus's annual schedule within Anthology’s products. In Beacon, you can view a student's academic schedule by term on their student profile. Term periods are defined by a start date and end date. The current term will be the default term that will display on a student's profile. However, terms can frequently overlap, and there can be multiple current terms. If this is the case, which term will display as the default and how can you ensure the most relevant term is the default at any given time?
Rules for Default term if there are two or more current terms:
1. The term with latest start date will be the default.
2. If terms have the same start date, the term with the latest end date will be the default.
3. If the terms have the exact same start and end date, the term that was uploaded most recently will be the default.
The start date and end date of a term can be changed in a new Academic Term upload. If you have two overlapping current terms, you can adjust the dates to ensure the most relevant term is the default on the student profile.
If two terms have the same start & end date, you will want to adjust the time stamp instead of the date (e.g., make one term begin on 1/1/2020 12:00 AM and another begin on 1/1/2020 1:00 AM). This will allow you to maintain the accuracy of your academic term periods while pushing the most relevant term to the default position in Beacon.