Understanding Active Assignments vs. Assignment History in eWeb

Overview

Faculty members in eWeb Faculty Self-Service have two views for their course assignments: Active Assignments and Assignment History. Understanding the intended purpose and current behavior of each will help you locate the courses and information you need.

The Issue: Active Assignments Showing Historical Data

What Should Happen

• Active Assignments tab: Should display only current, active course assignments for the faculty member's courses in the current and upcoming academic years
• Assignment History tab: Should display a searchable, sortable record of all past teaching assignments

What's Actually Happening

• Active Assignments tab: Currently displays ALL assignments dating back several years (including historical courses that should appear only in Assignment History)
• This makes it difficult to locate current courses, especially if you're looking through a long list

Important: Class List Page Limitation

Before looking elsewhere, be aware that the Class List page (another common navigation point) has a limitation:

• Only displays courses that have enrollment
• Courses with no students enrolled will NOT appear on this page
• This is why faculty often think their courses are missing when they're actually assigned but not yet enrolled

Finding Your Current Courses

You might expect to find your courses on the Class List page, but be aware:

• Class List only shows courses with enrolled students
• If you've been assigned courses but no students have enrolled yet, those courses will NOT appear on Class List
• This often creates the false impression that courses are missing or unassigned

Important: This is a known limitation and a defect has been submitted to address it. For now, use Active Assignments or Assignment History instead.

Option 1: Active Assignments Tab (Despite Historical Data)

When navigating to Faculty Assignments > Active Assignments in the Faculty Quick Links card:

• Courses are displayed chronologically by semester
• Look for the current and upcoming academic year terms (e.g., Fall 2026, Spring 2027)
• Note: You may need to scroll past older historical courses to find them
• Bonus: This view DOES show all assigned courses, regardless of enrollment status (unlike Class List)

Option 2: Assignment History Tab (Recommended for Sorting)

The Assignment History tab provides better organization:

• Click on the Assignment History tab next to Active Assignments
• Courses are listed with full course details expandable for each entry
• Important caveat: This tab is sorted alphabetically by semester type (all "Fall" terms together, all "Spring" terms together), NOT chronologically
• This means Fall 2025, Fall 2026, Fall 2004, Fall 2009, etc. appear grouped together
• You may need to search or scroll to find a specific academic year

Option 3: Using Search

• If you remember part of your course title or course code, use the search functionality to locate a specific course across either view
• This may be the fastest option if you need a particular course

Known Limitations

Missing Courses: If you cannot find an expected course in either view:

• Verify the course term is correctly selected (if a term filter is available)
• Check Assignment History to confirm the course is in your history with "Active" status
• If the course appears in Assignment History but not in Active Assignments, there may be a filtering issue—this should be reported to IT

Class Lists: Note that Assignment History does not provide access to class rosters. To access a class roster, you must navigate to the course in the Active Assignments view.

Sorting Limitations:

• Active Assignments: Sorted chronologically (oldest to newest by default)
• Assignment History: Sorted alphabetically by semester type, not chronologically

Workarounds and Recommendations

1. For Finding Current Courses: Use Active Assignments and scroll to the current academic year term, or use the search feature if you know part of the course title
2. For Reviewing Historical Information: Use Assignment History for detailed course information, understanding that it's sorted alphabetically by semester type
3. If Information is Still Missing:
• Confirm the term/semester in question is marked as "Active" in the system
• Open a helpdesk ticket with screenshots showing which courses are missing and from which terms
• Include the academic year and semester in your report (e.g., "Spring 2026 courses not displaying")

Pending System Improvements

Issue #1: Active Assignments Contains Historical Data The DTS team is aware that the Active Assignments view currently displays all historical data rather than filtering to only current assignments. A future system update may implement better filtering to:

• Display only current and upcoming courses by default
• Provide options to sort by date (chronologically, with current courses first)
• Separate active assignments from historical assignments more clearly

Issue #2: Class List Does Not Show All Assigned Courses Faculty have requested that the Class List page be updated to show all assigned courses, regardless of enrollment status. Currently, courses only appear on Class List if they have at least one enrolled student.

Workaround: Use Active Assignments instead of Class List to see all your assigned courses for the term, including those without enrollment.

Requested fix: Configure Class List to display all assigned faculty courses (whether or not they have enrollment), to provide faculty with a complete view of their course assignments and total workload for each term.