Guide
Guide is an online publication of academic divisions, departments, programs, degree requirements, courses, policy, and advising information. Guide is authoritative and the source of truth for degree audit encoding, policy regulation, and degree completion verification. Guide replaced the Undergraduate Catalog, which was published until Fall 2017, and is a unified publication edited through two separate software systems based on content type.
Degree Audit (DARS)
The degree audit (DARS) is the system used to track, analyze, and report student progress toward the requirements of L&S undergraduate degrees, majors, and certificates. In L&S, DARS is the official record of a student’s degree progress and eligibility for graduation. DARS audit data is warehoused as a record of student graduation and the program requirements at the time of completion and any exceptions granted to meet requirements. DARS is updated when program changes are published in Guide.
Governed Content
Governed content is information in Guide that is reviewed and approved through formal committees and advanced through Lumen workflow by authorized representatives of the College and academic units. It must adhere to institutional policy and other specific rules and policies set by the College or its campus partners. The sections that fall under governed content include:
- How to Get In/Admissions
- Requirements
- Four-Year Plans
- Three-Year Plans
- Accreditation
- Learning Outcomes
- Certification/Licensure
Lumen
Lumen is a curricular management system that provides a gateway for faculty, curricular representatives, and governance bodies to update, track, and approve functions related to courses, curriculum, programs, and the academic strucure. Lumen interfaces with Guide to display information about programs and courses offered by the University.
Lumen Courses
Lumen Courses is the workflow by which the governed content about courses is approved and published in Guide. Anyone with access to Lumen Courses can initiate a Lumen Course proposal. Once in Lumen workflow, the proposal is in the queue for governance approval.
Lumen Structures
Lumen Structures is a basic form and workflow for a variety of actions that require academic governance but aren’t covered by the other Lumen forms. For example, renaming an academic department is done via the Structures proposal. A list of changes that use this workflow is on the Structures KB page. All Structures proposals require consultation with L&S Academic Planning.
Named Options
A named option is a governance-approved, documented sub-major within an academic major program. Named options share a set of core features with the parent major and any other named options under the same parent. Additional information on named options is in UW–Madison Policy Library.
Majors and named options appear on the final transcript when a degree and major are awarded; the diploma only shows the degree awarded.
Nongoverned Content
Guide content that does not require formal University or College governance review or approval is considered nongoverned content. This includes content that is relatively static over an entire academic year, such as the overview of the program, funding, advising, Wisconsin Experience, or advertising for any given academic program. This additional material provides context, opportunities for students declared in the program, and relevant information about the departmental unit. Edited through next-guide.wisc.edu, the undergraduate nongoverned sections are:
- Overview
- Advising & Careers
- Wisconsin Experience
- Resources and Scholarships
- Contact Information
- The program image file