This training is for individuals who have been invited to use the Degree Planner Admin Tool.

What is the PATH Admin Tool?  

•The PATH Admin Tool is the Administrative view of the Degree Planner.

•Similar to the Degree Planner Impersonation Tool used in Advising to see the Degree Planner as the student views their planner, the PATH Admin Tool allows agents to view a student's Degree Planner and make edits to their plan.

•This view of the student's Degree Planner will allow you to see beyond the student's 3-semester view

•Knowledge Base articles should always be referenced when using the PATH Admin Tool for information about the student's Catalog Year and course offerings.

•DISCLAIMER: Misuse of this tool will result in losing PATH Admin Access. Please use all instructions within this training to ensure you are following correct procedures.

What is the PATH Admin Tool Used for? 

You will use PATH Admin to:

•Replan a student's Degree Planner

•Move courses in and out of planned semesters

•Change courses (when available)

You WILL NOT use any other functions in the PATH Admin Tool that you are not given instruction for in this training. These items, such as adding/removing courses, will need to be escalated to the Degree Planner Team. 

If you are experiencing issues with the tools you are given, such as if you cannot change an elective to a specific offering or move a course to a certain semester, you will also escalate these issues to the Degree Planner Team.

Using the Degree Audit with the Degree Planner 

•You can open the Degree Audit through impersonating the student's BYU-Pathway Worldwide Student Portal or using the "My Degree Requirements" tab in the Degree Planner

•You will use the Degree Audit to ensure the following:

1. Courses are being planned that the student still needs to take and NOT replanning courses they have already taken. You will learn more on the "Three Semester View" slide what to do if the Degree Planner is replanning courses.

2. Student is meeting prerequisite requirements for courses and is being planned accordingly

3. Student is being planned courses they need to fulfill each requirement section of their Degree Audit (certificates, religion courses, upper division, etc.)

Course Sequencing 

•BYU-Pathway Worldwide follows a "Certificate-first" structure meaning that we aim to help students complete their certificates as they earn their degree. 

•This includes a 1st certificate being planned first, then the 2nd certificate, associate general and religion requirement courses next. This structure allows the student to earn their Associate Degree first, then continue to their Bachelor Degree.

•Please refer to the "OD-DP: Degree Planner Rules" Knowledge Base Article to learn more about the Degree Planner structure.

•As you plan a student's Degree Planner, please use the OD-DP degree article for that student's catalog year for proper sequencing. In these articles, you will utilize the "KEY" at the top as well as the individual sections throughout the article.

• Example: When helping a 2023 catalog student in the Applied Health major/degree, you would need to use the "OD-DP: 2023 – Applied Health" knowledge base article.

•There may be times when an exception to the course sequencing is needed for moving courses. For "Exceptions to Move Rules", please see the "OD-DP: Degree Planner Rules" article.

• More on "Move Courses"

Skipping Semesters 

•Students are allowed to take up to 2 consecutive semesters off without needing to re-apply. This is called "skipping" a semester. 

•If a student takes more than 2 semesters off back-to-back, they will need to re-apply to BYU-Pathway Worldwide.

•Example: A student can decide to not register for Winter and Spring semesters, BUT they must register and attend Fall Semester if they want to remain enrolled in the college.

•To skip a semester, a student simply needs to not register for courses for that semester. This is the preferred option.

•In the PATH Admin Tool though you are given the button to "Skip" a semester for the student in the "Edit Schedule" section. This will close that semester and move any courses in that semester to another. Once Skipped, the semester will then have an "Attend" button to add that semester back to the plan. After clicking the attend button, courses should return to that semester.

•You will NEVER use the Skip button unless requested to by the student. Be aware that students cannot add themselves back to a semester if they change their mind, because they do not have access to that "Attend" option. 

Three Semester View 

•When a student views their Degree Planner, they can only see 3 semesters at a time and do not have access to the "Edit Schedule" button

•If a student has previously completed courses or unnecessary courses planned in those three semesters and you are unable to fix them with the tools available to you, you will need to escalate these issues to the Degree Planner Team.

•To prepare the student's Degree Planner for escalation, you will need to help the student have an accurate plan for those three semesters. This is especially needed if we are in an open registration period. Follow these steps:

1.Use the "Move" tool in the Degree Planner to move the replanned and/or unnecessary courses out of the student's 3 semester view

2.Move courses that the student DOES need according to their Degree Audit into their 3-semester view based on their credit workload.

3.Save all changes and ensure the 3-semester view is accurate to what the student needs and can take

4.List what edits you made in the ticket and include the 3-semester view you created in the Escalation Description of every ticket you escalate to the Degree Planner Team.

Reminders 

•DO NOT use any functions of the PATH Admin Tool that are not listed in this training. This includes adding or removing courses, applying certificate waivers in the Degree Planner, and changing catalog years. Using these tools can potentially break the Degree Planner. Please follow proper Knowledge Base Article procedures and trainings for escalating items to the Degree Planner Team

•ALWAYS keep up to date on PATH Admin Tool procedures as well as ticket escalation procedures

•DO NOT promise students any items can be performed in this tool either by yourself or by the Degree Planner Team. All requests are considered based on current procedures and a case-by-case basis.

•If you need to escalate tickets to the Degree Planner Team, you MUST outline what work you did with the PATH Admin Tool (moving courses, changing courses, replan, etc.) so the Degree Planner Team does not reset your hard work when they work on the plan.

•ALWAYS follow course sequencing and prerequisite rules when editing a student's plan. These rules and exceptions to them can be found in the "OD-DP: Degree Planner Rules" article.

•DO NOT ever hit the "register" or "drop" buttons to register and drop students from their classes even if you have the student's permission. We do NOT perform these functions for the student. If a student needs help registering or dropping courses, this must be escalated to the Registration Degree Specialist by sending a ticket to the Degree Planner Team.

Here is a short video that briefly reviews what this training is about. You can use this link if you do not see the video below https://youtu.be/j4gtn0Np7IU

Now that you have finished reviewing this training, please take the Advising PATH Admin Tool Quiz to test your understanding.

Please read the Quiz thoroughly, including the top information underneath the title.