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Course Management Requirements

Story Prefix: COURSE Feature Area: Course Management System Overview: university-reg-features.md Related docs: Course capacity rules → course-capacity-requirements.md | Waitlist behavior → course-waitlists-requirements.md | Room scheduling → room-facility-requirements.md (ROOM-001, ROOM-004)

COURSE-001: Create a Course​

As an Academic Staff member I want to create a new course in the system So that it can be scheduled and offered to students in upcoming terms

Acceptance Criteria​

  • Academic Staff and Administrators can create a course by providing: title, unique course code, department, description, credit hours, format (lecture/lab/seminar/online/hybrid), and learning outcomes
  • The system rejects duplicate course codes with a descriptive error
  • A newly created course defaults to "Active" status and is visible in the catalogue (CAT-001)
  • Creation is logged in the course change history

COURSE-002: Update Course Details​

As an Academic Staff member I want to update the details of an existing course So that the information students see is accurate and current

Acceptance Criteria​

  • Academic Staff and Administrators can edit any field on an active course
  • Each save creates a timestamped change-history entry recording what changed, who changed it, and when
  • Students enrolled in a course section receive a notification (see notifications-requirements.md) when the course description, schedule, or instructor changes materially
  • Changes to prerequisites do not retroactively affect students already enrolled in the current term

COURSE-003: Retire a Course​

As an Academic Staff member I want to retire a course that is no longer offered So that students cannot enroll in it while historical records are preserved

Acceptance Criteria​

  • Academic Staff and Administrators can set a course status to "Retired"
  • Retiring a course with active enrollments in any open term requires an explicit Administrator confirmation step
  • Retired courses are hidden from the student-facing catalogue but remain in historical records and transcripts
  • Retired courses cannot be scheduled for future sections until reactivated by an Administrator

COURSE-004: Schedule Course Sections per Semester​

As an Academic Staff member I want to schedule one or more sections of a course for a specific semester So that students can enroll in specific meeting times and locations

Acceptance Criteria​

  • A section requires: associated course, semester/term, instructor, meeting days/times, location (room or "online"), start and end dates, and section capacity (see course-capacity-requirements.md)
  • The system prevents scheduling a section in a room that already has a confirmed booking for the same day/time
  • The system prevents assigning an instructor to two sections with overlapping day/time
  • Sections are visible in the course catalogue (CAT-001) once published by Academic Staff

COURSE-005: Manage Prerequisites and Corequisites​

As an Academic Staff member I want to define prerequisites and corequisites for a course So that students enroll in the correct sequence and the system enforces eligibility automatically

Acceptance Criteria​

  • Academic Staff can add, edit, or remove prerequisites (courses that must be completed before enrollment) and corequisites (courses that must be taken concurrently)
  • Prerequisites can specify a minimum grade requirement (e.g., "MATH-101 with grade C or higher")
  • The registration system enforces prerequisite and corequisite rules at enrollment time (see AUTH-006)
  • Changes to prerequisites are reflected in the catalogue detail page (CAT-004) immediately

COURSE-006: Detect Registration Schedule Conflicts​

As a Student I want the system to detect and warn me about schedule conflicts during registration So that I do not accidentally enroll in two courses with overlapping meeting times

Acceptance Criteria​

  • When a student attempts to enroll in a section, the system checks all currently enrolled sections for that term for day/time overlap
  • If a conflict is detected, enrollment is blocked and the student is shown which sections conflict
  • Advisors can grant a conflict override for exceptional cases; overrides are logged
  • The student's registration summary page (REG-004) clearly shows any pending conflict flags

COURSE-007: Upload Course Materials​

As an Instructor I want to upload course materials to a section I am teaching So that enrolled students can access syllabi, readings, and assignments in one place

Acceptance Criteria​

  • Instructors can upload files (PDF, DOCX, PPTX, images, ZIP) up to 100 MB per file to their assigned sections
  • Uploaded materials are visible only to students enrolled in that section and to Administrators
  • Instructors can organize materials into folders (e.g., "Week 1", "Assignments")
  • Instructors can update or delete materials; deletions are logged with the instructor's ID and timestamp
  • Students receive an in-system notification (see notifications-requirements.md) when new materials are posted

COURSE-008: Send Course Announcements​

As an Instructor I want to send announcements to all students enrolled in my course section So that students are promptly informed of important updates

Acceptance Criteria​

  • Instructors can compose and send an announcement to all enrolled students in a section
  • Announcements are delivered as in-system notifications and optionally via email (per student notification preferences — see notifications-requirements.md)
  • Announcements are archived and visible to enrolled students in the course's announcement history
  • Administrators can send announcements on behalf of an instructor if needed

COURSE-009: Submit and View Course Ratings & Feedback​

As a Student I want to rate and provide feedback on a course I have completed So that other students can make informed choices and faculty can improve course quality

Acceptance Criteria​

  • Students can submit a rating (1–5 stars) and optional free-text feedback for a course section after the term ends (grade posting date or later)
  • Ratings and feedback are anonymous to other students and instructors; only Administrators can associate a submission with a specific student
  • Each student can submit feedback for a given section only once
  • Instructors and Academic Staff can view aggregated ratings and anonymized feedback for sections they manage
  • Aggregate ratings (average score, number of responses) are visible in the course catalogue detail page (CAT-004) after a minimum of 5 responses have been collected