Course enrollment and instructor information often overlap and sometimes appear together in the same report. At Mason, two primary dashboards cover course and instructor reporting. While related, they serve different purposes depending on the question you need to answer.
This guide explains the distinction and helps you determine which dashboard to use.
Dashboard 1: Course Enrollment
Location
Academic > Shared Reports > Course Enrollment
Dataset
Course Enrollment per Term dataset
- Focuses on courses and course sections with enrollment counts for each term
- Includes only primary instructor information to ensure one unique record per course section
- Best when your analysis centers on courses, course sections, or course section enrollment
Dashboard 2: Instructor Teaching Assignments by Term
Location
Academic > Shared Reports > Instructor
Datasets
Course Enrollment per Term and Instructors by Course Section
- Focuses on instructors and their course section counts by term
- Includes all instructors assigned to a course section (one course section may display multiple rows if it has non-primary instructors)
- Best when your analysis centers on faculty teaching assignments or instructor teaching load
When to Use Each Dashboard
Use Course Enrollment when you need to know:
- Courses and sections my college/department is offering for a specific term
- Enrollment details such as enrollments count, cap, seats available, waitlist count, and fill rate
- Who the primary instructor is for each course section
- Enrollment for cross-listed courses
- Enrollment by course level (e.g., 300-499)
- Among multiple sections, which meeting date has the highest fill rate
This dashboard is ideal when the primary focus is on courses, sections, and enrollment patterns.
Use Instructor Teaching Assignments by Term when you need to know:
- Courses faculty in my college or department are teaching for a specific term
- How many courses they are teaching outside of the college, and which ones they are
- For each instructor:
- Total number of course sections taught
- Class sizes
- Credit hours generated
- Who the primary and non-primary instructors are for a given course or course section
- Which courses in my college are taught by instructors outside my college
This dashboard is ideal when the primary focus is on instructors, assignments, and teaching load.