A robust reporting system is a cornerstone of effective course management, providing the essential tools to document course content, ensure regulatory compliance, and validate student achievements. This manual details the two primary report types available for these purposes: the Curriculum report and the Transcript report.
At their core, these reports serve distinct functions. A Curriculum report captures the official, published structure of a course at a specific moment in time. In contrast, a Transcript report documents an individual student’s specific progress, submissions, and results within that course structure. Understanding the unique purpose and content of each report is key to generating precise and powerful documentation. This guide begins with a detailed examination of the course-focused Curriculum report.
Understanding Curriculum Reports: The Course Snapshot #
A Curriculum report functions as a clean, static, and official record of a course’s content and structure as it was published. It is designed to be a pure representation of the course material itself, completely devoid of any user-specific data, progress, or performance metrics. This makes it an ideal tool for archival and evidentiary purposes.
Core Purpose and Applications #
The static and comprehensive nature of Curriculum reports makes them invaluable for several key administrative and compliance-related tasks.
- Course Snapshot: It provides a definitive snapshot of the course content at a given moment, capturing everything from lesson structure to the full list of quiz questions and their correct answers.
- Legal Evidence: In the event of a legal dispute, a Curriculum report serves as formal evidence, demonstrating the exact content a student would have been presented with.
- Compliance and Accreditation: This report can be used to prove that a course meets specific standards or regulatory requirements, offering a detailed manifest of its content for auditors and accrediting bodies.
- Content Archiving: It functions as a dated archive of course content. This allows an administrator to preserve a record of a course’s state without needing to duplicate the entire course or alter existing system data.
Detailed Content Breakdown #
A Curriculum report meticulously documents the published elements of a course. The following components are included:
- Title: The title of the course and each of its constituent steps (e.g., lessons, topics, quizzes).
- Assignments: Information about any assignments within the course, including the points available and the specified grading type.
- Materials: Details of any materials associated with the course or its individual steps.
- Step Content: The actual content from lessons, topics, and quizzes.
- Inclusion is optional and can be configured in the report settings.
- Quiz Questions and Answers: A complete list of all quiz questions, showing the correct answer patterns and the points assigned to each question.
- Course Sections: The defined sections that structure the course.
- Display is also controlled by report settings.
While the Curriculum report provides an authoritative view of the course itself, the Transcript report offers the student-focused alternative.
Understanding Transcript Reports: The Student Record #
The primary function of a Transcript report is to provide a comprehensive and dynamic record of an individual student’s journey through a course. It takes the foundational structure of the course and layers the student’s specific progress, submissions, scores, and achievements on top of it. Crucially, a Transcript report preserves this record of student activity, even if the underlying course content is updated after the student has completed it.
Core Purpose and Applications #
Transcript reports are essential in any scenario where individual student performance and completion must be documented and verified.
- Evidence of Completion and Achievement: They provide concrete, detailed proof of a student’s completed activities, submitted work, and earned achievements within a specific course.
- Compliance and Certification Reporting: For regulatory and certification purposes, these reports are critical for demonstrating that an individual has successfully met all necessary requirements.
- Preserved Historical Record: A Transcript acts as a permanent, immutable snapshot of what the student accomplished, offering a reliable historical record that reflects their performance at the time they took the course.
Comprehensive Content Breakdown #
A Transcript report includes all the foundational content of a Curriculum report—such as course structure, step titles, assignment details, and materials—but is significantly enriched with data specific to one student.
Student-Specific Inclusions #
The following data layers are unique to Transcript reports and provide a complete picture of a student’s engagement and performance.
- User Information: The report prominently features the student’s name and email, clearly identifying the subject of the record.
- Progress Data: It includes detailed “Started on” and “Completed on” dates for individual lessons, topics, and quizzes, creating a clear timeline of the student’s progression.
- Assignments: While the PDF report shows assignment details, the student’s actual submissions are not printed. Instead, the submitted files are included in a ZIP archive that accompanies the report.
- Quiz Performance: The report details the student’s specific performance, showing their answers, scores, and the points earned for each quiz. Depending on the Correct / Incorrect Answer Marks setting, the report can also indicate which answers were correct.
- Certificates: Any course or quiz certificates awarded to the student are included as PDF files within the accompanying ZIP archive.
- Essays: Student essay submissions are handled based on their format:
- Text Box essays have the student’s answer printed directly in the PDF.
- Upload essays have the uploaded file included in the ZIP archive, with the file name noted in the PDF.
To make the choice between these two powerful reports clear, the next section provides a direct, side-by-side comparison.
At a Glance: Curriculum vs. Transcript Reports #
A direct, side-by-side comparison is a practical tool for administrators to quickly determine which report type best suits their immediate documentation needs. The table below summarizes the key content differences between a course-centric Curriculum report and a student-centric Transcript report.