Common Questions: Carmen and the Semester Conversion

As a part of the OCIO's effort in support of the University's Quarter-to-Semester project, the Carmen team will be creating Semester Development course shells for each course in the new curricula. These course shells can be used by instructional staff to develop resources in Carmen before the actual Carmen course sites are available.

Additional information for Carmen Affiliates

What instructional staff need to know

An empty Carmen course shell will be created as each semester course becomes available to us from the University Registrar. These course shells will have no automatic enrollment from SIS.
To get access to a semester development course shell, talk with a Carmen Affiliate or other designated individual in your area who has expanded access to Carmen. If necessary, send us a note at carmen@osu.edu.
Once you are enrolled, your development spaces will appear in the Carmen My Courses listing under a new Semester Development heading. They will have the same name as the real course, with "[SEMDEV]" as a prefix. For example: [SEMDEV] ASTRON 5681 - Stellar Evolution.
When your semester courses are available in Carmen in 2012, use Copy Course Components to move materials from your [SEMDEV] course shell.
The [SEMDEV] course shells are intended only for semester course-development purposes. They will be removed from Carmen following the completion of the semester during which the course was first offered.

How can semester development courses be used?

Use of the semester development course shells in Carmen is completely optional. They provide a place to develop semester course content in Carmen before the actual instructional shells are created starting in mid-spring 2012.

Instructors may wish to:

Use Copy Course Components to combine existing material (files, quizzes, dropbox folders, content structures, etc.) from quarter-based courses.
Use the Course Builder to re-organize existing material and create placeholders for new material to be developed.
Create new resources and arrange them for effective delivery to students.
Explore how to implement tools you’ve not used before but want to incorporate into your new course.
Use the course shell as a materials repository and center for discussion with co-instructors.

What if more semester development courses are needed?

The Carmen team will automatically create a single [SEMDEV] course for each new semester offering.

If additional semester development shells are needed, instructors can request them by sending a message to carmen@osu.edu. Please specify that the request is for an additional semester development shell.

Need more information?

If you have any questions, please contact us at carmen@osu.edu.