Transitioning Academic Program pages with the Catalog API

To ensure curriculum accuracy across the university as a commitment to our students and to meet legal mandates, we have developed an automated feature to pull in up-to-date University Catalog data. These replace existing Drupal academic program/major/minor pages with a brand new content type called "Program."

All of the content for each program page is automatically pulled from catalog.kent.edu, except for the title and background image. Four of the sections of each Program page are able to be overridden with custom content, and there are four areas to which additional content can be added.

Consultation & Open Lab Prework

You can do some prework to expedite the academic program page integration during your working session.

Please consider taking these steps.

Verify that your department home page has the required Schedule Advising call to action block; if not, add it.
Create a working doc with rows below for each program on your website and include the supporting information in the additional columns:

Program Name	Current dept website URL	Catalog URL - (find this at )	Select and store an image; include URL to image	Does catalog link to this program page? y/n

Photo Tips

Specs 1500 x 600
See / consider if you would want grab what is in catalog with program listing if it adheres to these recommendations you could use it
Landscape orientation not vertical
Far away shots to prevent cut off heads – if too hard to find, could consider:
- Potential building images
- Campus scenes
If you're not able to find a suitable image, we put together a selection of .

Building the Page

This academic program page integration initiative allows for an extra bit of search engine optimization on the page. As a result, you may want to review this document and/or be prepared to review it when building your page.

SEO Playbook / Tips

Building the Page

This screenshot compares the front view of a program page with its editing view. The lines between the two show where each field applies on the front end.

Key:

Red/solid lines are required fields.
Blue/dotted lines are modifiable content.
Gold/dashed lines are fields that can insert new content.

Click here to view the full-size field comparison screenshot. (JPG)

a screenshot comparing the fields of the program page with the front view

Integrating Catalog Courses

By popular demand, it is now possible to pull in the latest information on course offerings from the University Catalog. This allows web editors to highlight, in detail, what makes their program distinctive and appealing — all while complying with legal directives.

Course Offerings Content Block

Finding Your Catalog URL

1.) Visit and select Courses A-Z from the primary menu.

2.) Find your program from the alphabetical list, right click, and copy the link.

Integrating Course Offerings in Drupal

1.) Under Utilities, select Layout.

2.) In the Layout editor, select Add block.

3.) In the block menu, search for and select Catalog Courses Block.

Screenshot of how to add graduate courses to Catalog Courses Block

4.) Configure the Catalog Courses Block to your liking, click Update or Add block when done.

Title — Check Display title and fill the in the box to display a custom heading above your course block.
Courses URL — You MUST paste the URL to your program's course offerings in this field for it to work.
Min/Max Course Level — Can display all courses (00000 - 899999) or split by undergraduate and graduate levels.

5.) Scroll back to the top, and click Save layout.

Project Highlights and Examples

Our dedicated webmasters have played a pivotal role in this effort contributing their time and hard work to ensure the utmost accuracy in our web presence and meet legal mandates.

Curious to see the impact of this initiative? Explore our Before/After Showcase page.

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Transitioning Academic Program pages with the Catalog API