HunterdonCentralRegionalHigh School Online Course Selection

“Aspen” Scheduling Instructions for the 2014-2015 School Year

Introduction

The following instructions will guide your student through the Hunterdon Central Regional High School (HCRHS) online course selectionprocess for the 2014-2015 school year.Please refer to the schedule below for the course entry time line for your grade level. The Program of Studies Course guide is available on the Hunterdon Central Website, Links to the information are available under “Quick Links” or by going to the “Academics” top tab.

All students who enter course requests during their assigned time will be given equal opportunity to receive the selected courses; no priority is given to the order in which student course requests are completed during the scheduling window.

  • Students currently enrolled in grade 8 who attend an HCRHS Sending District school (Delaware, East Amwell, JP Case & Readington): January 31 through February 4.

Students currently enrolled in grade 8 (HCRHS class of 2018)will enter course requests from 8:00 AM on Friday, January 31st through midnight (12:00 AM) on Tuesday, February 4th.

  • Students currently enrolled in HCRHS grade 9: January 31 through February 4.

Students currently enrolled in grade 9 (HCRHS class of 2017)will enter course requests from 8:00 AM on Friday, January 31st through midnight (12:00 AM) on Tuesday, February 4th.

  • Students currently enrolled in HCRHS grades 10 and 11: February 5 through February 9

Students currently enrolled in HCRHS grades 10 & 11 (HCRHS classes of 2015 and 2016) will enter course requests from 8:00 AM on Wednesday, February 5th through mid-night (12:00 AM) Sunday, February 9th.Computer lab 621 will be available during block 5 (2:03 PM – 2:50 PM) for any HCRHS enrolled student in need of assistance or computer access. The lab will be open on February 5th and 6th.

Students enrolling in Hunterdon Central from non-sending district schools, including Interdistrict School Choice students, will not utilize the on-line scheduling system. Please contact our Registrar at 908/284-7227 to make a registration and scheduling appointment.

Aspen support will be available if you have questions while you are entering your course requests. Please email if you require assistance. Please provide your name, current grade level and contact information in any correspondence. Please do not wait until the last date of course entry to contact support.

When choosing your courses, it is helpful to “plan backwards”. Scheduling is a four-year journey, and studentsshould think about their eventual destination. Students should leave options open, so they can enroll in desired courses Junior and Senior years.
Please ensure that graduation requirements will be met (these are posted on Hunterdon Central’s website, in the Student Handbook and the Program of Studies.) Then, remember the best preparation for college work—and college admission—is a challenging curriculum that includes five or more “academic units” or "core courses" per year. Core courses are the basics: Math, Science, English, Social Studies and World Language.

Step 1: Preparing for Course Entry

When planning course level placement, consider taking the most challenging course load that can be handled without creating an undue burden. It may be better for students to experience success in an appropriate placement than to experience extreme difficulty in an inappropriate placement. It is particularly important to review the prerequisite/co-requisite requirements identified in the Program of Studies. Prerequisite requirements are prior courses which must be taken before a particular course may be scheduled. Co-requisite courses may be taken simultaneously. Please make sure that a student has met all prerequisites/co-requisites for any desired course before requesting the course.

Currently enrolled grade 9-11 students:

  • Will follow their planned course of study as determined in planning meetings with their grade level counselor, the recommended sequence from the department flow charts in the Program of Studies and recommendations from HCRHS teaching staff.

Currently enrolled grade 8 students:

  • Will use the Class of 2018 Recommendation/Selection form to identify courses that should be entered into the system. Grade 8 students will not have a “current schedule” in the HCRHS system.
  • Honors Level Courses: Students who have been recommended for, or who wish to schedule, Honors Biology, Honors English 1, Algebra 2, Honors Algebra 2, Spanish for Heritage Speakers and Honors Spanish for Heritage Speakers, should select the Honors level course in Aspen. This selection will generate a list of students who will be required to take the mandatory HCRHS placement test in these subject areas. The placement test serves as an additional measure of the students’ skill level to ensure appropriate placement. Students selecting the honors level will be contacted by the area department supervisors.
  • Grade 8 students selecting Algebra 2 #332 should select the grade 9 version in Aspen.The course number is #3329.
  • Grade 8 students considering Hunterdon Central Sports: At the end of the course listing, please find a list of Hunterdon Central sports identified with the prefix “XTR”. Please check off any sports that you may be interested in participating in. This indication of interest will be provided to 2014-2015 coaches.

Step 2: Logging into the Online Course Request System (Aspen)

Please note that Mozilla Firefox is the browser that should be used. Additionally, pop-ups from this site must be allowed.

Open Mozilla Firefox and access the Aspen portal using one of the following methods:

  1. Access the portal directly by going to
  2. Access the portal through the Hunterdon Central website:
  3. Open the Hunterdon Central website at
  4. Click on Quicklinks in the upper right
  5. Select Online Scheduling
  6. Help documents as well as the link to the Aspen portal are located on this page
  7. Click the link in the sentence "Click to access and login to the Aspen Student Information System"

Enter your assigned username and password on the logon page.

If you are unable to log into Aspen, refer to the help documents located on the Hunterdon Central website as described in portal access method #2 above.

Students currently enrolled in grade 8 will use the temporary password assigned to them.

Students logging into Aspen for the first time will be asked to set up a security question.

Students currently enrolled in grade 9-11 who have forgotten their password, should follow the next few steps to reset their password.

These instructions are for current grade 9-11 students only):

  • Click I forgot my password. A window similar to the following will appear:

  • Enter your login ID (it is the beginning portion of your Hunterdon Central email address)
  • Enter your email address
  • Click Continue
  • Answer the security question that is asked: Ifyou didnot previously set up a security question, you will not be able to reset your password and must go to the HUB for assistance.
  • An email will be sent to you with a temporary password
  • Retrieve the temporary password from your email to create a permanent one
  • At the Aspen login page, enter your Login ID and the temporary password sent to you
  • A window similar to the following will appear:

  • Click OK, enter the temporary password as the Current password, and then enter your new password in the spaces provided following the rules specified as shown below:

Step 3: Navigating Aspen

After logging into Aspen, you will be placed in the Pages top tab area and you should see something similar to the following:

My Info Top Tab

Click the My Info top tab to see the My Info side tabs:

Click the Requests side tab

The goal is to enter and “Post”courses for which you have been recommended, or courses that follow the Program of Studies flow chart sequence in your four – year plan. As you Select requests within each Subject Area, you will build a full table of requests. Most students schedule a maximum of 40 credits.

  • The header above the “Primary Requests” entry grid will calculate the credit/number of course entries made. You will not be able to “Post” requests if you have selected more than 40 credits.
  • Please refer to the “Instructions” field located above “Primary Requests” for subject area specific instructions/notes. For example, students viewing the Fine Arts “Subject Area” will see the following note: Marching Band will display as 0 credits so that it does not put a student over the 40 credit limit. Students selecting/completing Marching Band will receive 2.5 credits for this extra-curricular course.

After selecting the Requests side tab students should see something similar to the following:

Step 4: Course Selection Process

Pre-requisite Note: All grade levels should be aware of courses with pre-requisites. Please see Step 1 for more information on pre-requisite courses.

  • In-Class Support

Course numbers followed by an “A” are in-class support classes. Please select the course followed with the “A” only if you have been specifically instructed by your counselor or case manager to selectin-class support. If you are not recommended for in-class support please select the “non – A” section of the course.

The Request screen contains the following elements:

  1. Exit entry mode toggle: Clicking this takes you to a screen on which you can view your requests but not edit them. You can return to entry mode by clicking Entry mode.
  2. 2014-2015 Requests summary: this is located near the top of the screen and gives you the following summary information in regard to the requests that you have selected:
  3. The number of primary requests you have made
  4. The number of alternate requests you have made
  5. The percent of your requests that have been scheduled
  6. The number of credits you have requested

As you submit and modify your requests, this summary information will change to reflect the current status of your requests

Primary requests grid: This grid contains the following components:

  • Select column: the leftmost column contains the buttons that you click to bring up the selection screen for the subject listed in the second column
  • Subject area column: column containing the subject name; when the select button to the left of that subject is clicked, a selection screen will appear containing only those subjects; when you select a request, it will appear in the row of its subject area
  • School Course > CrsNo column: column containing the course numbers of selected course requests
  • School Course > Description column: column containing the course names of selected course requests
  • The next few columns provide information about any direct alternate courses that are selected
  • Credit column: the rightmost column shows the number of credit value of each selected request

Step 4: Course Selection Process

Pre-requisite Note: All grade levels should be aware of courses with pre-requisites. Please see Step 1 for more information on pre-requisite courses.

  • In-Class Support

Course numbers followed by an “A” are in-class support classes. Please select the course followed with the “A” only if you have been specifically instructed by your counselor or case manager to selectin-class support. If you are not recommended for in-class support please select the “non – A” section of the course.

The Request screen contains the following elements:

  1. Exit entry mode toggle: Clicking this takes you to a screen on which you can view your requests but not edit them. You can return to entry mode by clicking Entry mode.
  2. 2014-2015 Requests summary: this is located near the top of the screen and gives you the following summary information in regard to the requests that you have selected:
  3. The number of primary requests you have made
  4. The number of alternate requests you have made
  5. The number of credits you have requested
  6. As you submit and modify your requests, this summary information will change to reflect the current status of your requests. The percentscheduled will not change as courses are only being requested at this time.

The Primary requests grid is used to initiate the selection of requests by subject area and display the requests made. For each request you want to make, do the following:

  • Please note that in the following process only 10 rows show in the pop-up grid at a time. To move to the next set of 10 rows, use the right arrow button in the control. Use the left arrow button to move to the previous set of 10 rows. Please note you must select “OK” before moving from screen to screen, otherwise selections made in the previous screen will not be stored.
  • In the Primary requests grid, click the Select button next to the subject area in which you want to make a request. If the World Language subject area is selected, a window similar to the following will appear:
  • Please note that you may need to use the horizontal scroll bar to see all of the rightmost columns in this grid.
  • In the Select column a checkbox will appear next to each course that you can select. Please make sure you will meet pre-requisites before selecting a course.
  • You can also type ctrl-f and enter a course code to move directly to the course of interest
  • After you have located the course you want to request, put a check in the Select column checkbox to the left of that course. You may select more than one course in a subject area.
  • After you have selected all of the courses you want to request in that subject area, click OK; clicking OK automatically saves your requests. No further action is needed on your part to save the requests that you have selected.
  • If you would like to select a course that does not have a checkbox in the Select column and feel that you should be able to take the course, let your counselor know this in the Notes for counselorspace.Grade 8 students do not currently have assigned HCRHS counselors and should e-mail scheduling support, , with any questions.
  • Continue entering requests for each of the subject areas of interest.

Certain required courses may have been pre-selected for you. Pre-selected courses have a status of Required and the Select checkbox is both checked and disabled so you cannot change it. Pre-selected courses will appear in your Primary request grid even before you have made any selections. For example: Health/PE is already entered as a course request for students entering grades 9 and 10.

Allnext year grade10 studentsmustbe scheduled forPE/Health10 which includes a Driver's Education component.Hunterdon Central cannot honor requests to schedule sophomore level PE/Health for a particular semester, regardless of when a child's birthday falls.

Step 5: Assigning Alternates

It is recommended that you enter an "alternate"choice for each elective course chosen.

You may select “direct” alternates in the Primary Requests grid (Alternate 1, Alternate 2). The course(s) selected in this field will only replace the primary course to which it is attached. Direct Alternates must come from the same subject area as the primary course.

The Alternate 1 and Alternate 2 columns contain drop down lists that you use to select your alternates. In the example below, the student will be placed in 715 Ceramics 1 if 701 Exploring Art is filled. If 715 Ceramics 1 is also filled, the student will be placed in 711 Art 1.

You may also select “global” alternates in the Alternate grid which is located below the Primary request grid. Global alternates can be used to replace any course in the event of a scheduling conflict. Click the select button in the first column to begin selecting alternates. The window that appears is similar to the window that is used to select primary requests but instead of Alternate 1 and Alternate 2 columns, it has an Alternate priority column. This column is used to give your alternate selections a priority number with priority 1 being the alternate that is selected first. The alternates in the Alternate request grid are used when a primary request course is filled and no direct alternate is specified for that course.

Step 6: Notes for Counselor

For currently enrolled grades 9-11 students:Beneath the Alternate requests grid is a space labeled Notes for Counselor. Students currently enrolled in grades 9-11 can use this space to leave a note fortheir counselor in regard to their requests. This messaging area is not a request for help. If you need support during the request entry time line please e-mail support at .

Grade 8 students should e-mail support with any questions about scheduling.

Step 7: Post

After you have finished entering your requests, click Post at the bottom of the page. This lets the counseling staff know that you have finished entering your requests. Clicking Post does not save or submit your requests; they have already been saved and submitted when you selected OK. Posting also provides a time stamp showing when your requests were ready for review.

Step 8: Congratulations

As you complete your selections your table will be full of requests (maximum 40 credits). Viewing these selections in the Entry Mode or View Mode will be evidence that course requests have been successfully entered. To print a list of your requests you can go to the Reports (top tab) Requests, Run; this process will take a moment to generate. Once the report is visible select the printer icon to print.