Falcon Self-Service for Students

Introduction

Degree Planner removes the guess work out of completing a degree. It is designed not only to list the courses needed to graduate, but in what order to take them. Users can preplan their entire degree by selecting the general education and electives they plan to take. Users can also adjust the number of credits they want to complete in a term - the changes made will let users know how long it will take to complete a degree.

We use up-to-date information. If the users changes their major, needs to repeat a class, or a course they want to take is not offered in a certain term, Degree Planner will update itself or notify the user if something they are trying to plan is not possible.

Watch our overview to see some important features and basic navigation.

The information in this video is still helpful when learning how to navigate Degree Planner despite slight changes to its overall appearance. All screenshots in the subsections below represent Degree Planner's current appearance as of September 17th, 2022.

Accessing Degree Planner

Once logged into Falcon Self Service, expand the Enrollment menu and select Degree Planner.

Explanation of Degree Planner Main Screen

The Degree Planner main screen provides the user with degree information as explained below.

1. Primary Path: The courses required to complete the major user is officially enrolled in.
2. Path Actions: Access tips, print, and reset the path (click if the user wants to change the primary path back to the default recommendations).
3. Ellipses: Notes are for user reference.
4. Notifications: Review what changes were made.
5. Expand All/Collapse All: Get an expanded view of all courses planned in each term.
6. Hide Empty Terms Toggle: Clicking the toggle button will hide terms with zero requirements and show the number of hidden terms next to it when activated.
7. Preview Plan: Opens a new PDF window/provides an alternate view of Degree Planner. 
8. Mass Edit Max Units: This is where faculty and staff can change the maximum number of units (credits) for individual or multiple terms.
   1. NOTE: To skip a term, do not move the courses. Set the Max Units to 0. 
9. Term Cards: Select term cards for more information.

Explanation of Common Icons

Students may notice some icons on their Degree Planner as they map out their degrees. Below is a legend explaining what common icons mean. 

Explanation of Term Cards

When users view a term card (step 9 above), they will see this screen.

1. The term year and session. 
2. The number of courses planned/recommended for the term.
3. The number of units planned/recommended for the term based off the selected courses.
4. Max units: The maximum number of units that will be planned for the term.
   1. NOTE: By default, we recommend 15 units for a regular term (Fall & Spring) and 8 units for a summer term. This can be adjusted using the pencil icon for an individual term or by using Mass Edit Max Units.
   2. NOTE: To skip a term, do not move the courses out of the term they were originally planned for – set the units to 0 instead.
   3. NOTE: To take courses beginning in the Spring B term users will need to manually set the spring term to 9 units. 
5. Lock icon: Lock a course in a specific semester to prevent Degree Planner from shifting the course as the user edits max units or moves other courses around.
   1. NOTE: Setting a term to 0 units will make all courses move – even the locked courses.
6. Edit Course: View sections for the course.
7. Ellipses: Validate, move, notes, and remove features for individual courses.
8. Select Course: Clicking on "select course" will open a module to pick from available classes for the requirement (a).
   1. Select Course View

Degree Planner makes selecting electives simple! Depending on your program, selecting electives can look a little different. Please refer to the videos below to see the best way to select electives for your program. 

Adding Electives - A.A. Program

1. Find the orange "E" icon.
2. Click "select course."

1. Recommended Electives: The "recommended electives" tab shows for A.A. programs/A.A. subplans, which displays a list of electives recommended for the student to take by the department or their transfer school of choice. 
2. Global Search: The "global search" tab allows for a full search of electives from the catalog. 
   1. NOTE: Both "recommended electives" and "global search" have filters to narrow down the results.  

For more details, please refer to the video above.

Adding Electives - A.S. and Certificate Programs

1. Expand the term and choose Select Course from Elective Course Option.

   

2. Select a course. 

   

For more details, please refer to the video above.

Options (Concentrations/Specialization)

Some majors will require students to select a concentration or specialization. Select Option to expand the option ribbon. From the Option ribbon, use Select Options to make a selection for this requirement. Degree Planner will update the path to reflect the selection.

For step-by-step instructions when viewing and selecting options please refer to the video above.

Explanation of Past Courses

Degree Planner allows users to view their past courses throughout their time at Daytona State College. The past courses page will also display transfer credit courses and foundation courses. To learn how to access this information, please refer to the steps bellow. 

1. Past Courses: The past courses box displays at the top of Degree Planner's primary path and gives a quick overview of the users course history, which includes the total amount of courses, passed courses, and repeated courses. 
2. "Open" button: When clicked, the user will open a new page containing a full list of past courses and grades.

1. Past Courses Filters: Users can customize the past courses list by filtering for courses in particular terms, requirement groups, and statuses. 
2. Course and course titles displays first for all results. 
3. Grade: The grade column will show the letter grade for all past courses.
4. Status: The status column displays different icons for passed, failed, enrolled, repeated and transfer credit courses. 
   1. Transfer credit courses are indicated by a blue box with the letters "TC" (picture above)

**AN IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING FOUNDATION COURSES**

As of Fall 2022, Degree Planner's past courses page may display contradicting statuses for foundation courses. Foundation courses include ENC0027, ENC0055L, MAT0018C, MAT0028C, MAT0056L, and MAT1033. For ALL FOUNDATION COURSES, please refer to the information in the "grade" column (#1 below) only to confirm if you passed the course and disregard the information in the "status" column (#2 below). Due to foundation courses not contributing to cumulative GPA, the status of the course may reflect a "failed" status when the course is actually passed. 

Another place users can confirm the pass or fail status of their foundation courses is by going to "Academics" (#1 below) and visiting the "Grades" (#2 below) page. 

On the grades page, locate the appropriate foundation course and its letter grade under the official column (#3 below).