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Complete an Activity Input Form

The Activity Input form is used by a faculty member to input their professional activities (courses taught, research, service, professional development) that occur or change during a given period. Faculty members can update their activities at any time but are required to submit an update of their activities whenever administrators initiate the Faculty Input Process (typically each academic term or each academic year). Some of the professional activities recorded in this form include:

  • Advising load at the undergraduate and graduate levels
  • Information about students being supervised by the faculty member
  • Professional and creative works that are pending and/or complete
  • Pending grants and funded amounts
  • Participation in standing committees, and also similar service at other academic institutions and professional organizations
  • Professional development, including conferences, training, and continuing education
  • Professional consultation provided by the faculty member
 

Faculty members can update most of their activity information at any time (the Teaching and Advising Load sections may only be available during the active activity input period).

  • Faculty members may be reminded on a regular basis by their institution to review and submit their activity information so it remains current.
  • Reminders that the Activity Input Form needs to be reviewed and submitted display in the To Do section on the Dashboard. 
  • Some institutions also choose to notify faculty members by e-mail that the Activity Input Form needs to be reviewed and submitted by the faculty member.
  • There is also the option of editing, deleting, and cloning existing entries. 
  • If an activity is edited after an activity input form has been submitted for review, an updated Activity Input Form can be submitted if the previously submitted Activity Input Form has not yet been approved. The updated Activity Input Form must be submitted on the Forms & Reports screen.
 

The ability to edit and add information may be restricted or structured by each institution or department. If there are any questions, please reach out to the institution's FAR administrator.

 

Complete Activity Input Form

The activity input form can be accessed through the Homepage, the Forms & Reports page, or the Activities page.

 

My Tasks on the Homepage

  1. Click Home on the navigation bar, if it is not already selected.
  2. Search for or select the Activity Input Form linked under My Tasks.
    Activity Input Form selected under My Tasks
 
 

Forms & Reports

  1. Click Forms & Reports on the navigation menu.
    Forms & Reports selected under Faculty Activity Reporting navigation bar
  2. Click the desired form under Initiated Activity Input Forms.
    Initiated process name selected under Initiated Activity Input Forms section
 
 

Activities

  1. Click Activities on the navigation menu.
    Activities selected on the navigation bar under FAR
  2. Click Go to Activity Input Request on the yellow banner at the top of the page.
    Go to Activity Input Request selected under Are you looking for your open activity request?
  3. Click the desired form under Initiated Activity Input Forms.
    Initiated process name selected under Initiated Activity Input Forms section
 
 

Activity Input Sections

The sections below are examples of some sections that may appear on the Activity Input form. However, these options will vary between institutions. Select the tabs below for information on how to complete the Teaching, Scholarly Contributions & Creative Productions, Grants, and Institutional Committees sections.

An Activities require your attention alert will appear adjacent to any section with an ongoing activity, an activity without a terminal status, or a Teaching activity classification required for completion.

Institutional Committees

This section is used for faculty to document their internal committee work. Committees are associated with specific units, so faculty members can select a committee from a list by unit.

 

Please note that this feature may not be turned on at your institution.

 

To add a new Institutional Committee click Add and then fill out required information.

  • If Uncontrolled Committees has been enabled for your institution, faculty members can select Other as the Committee under section A and provide the name of the committee in the provided text box.
    Other selected adjacent to the Committee section under the Input Form section
 
 

Teaching

The Teaching section in the Activity Input Form displays a list of the courses that are currently assigned to the faculty member for the current academic term, along with the faculty member's teaching load, and any corresponding course attachments (such as syllabi, courses, peer evaluations, and more).

 

Depending on the institution, faculty members are able to view their teaching summaries outside of the current academic term. Contact the institution's FAR administrator for more information.

 

Unlike other sections, the only time faculty members can update their course information is during an initiated input period. Faculty members are responsible for verifying that the course information and related course information are accurate for each academic term. 

 
Section Directions
Group Courses

In some cases, multiple course sections may need to be grouped together, as these sections might represent the same course. Examples of this include:

  • Dual-numbered courses: the same course is listed as two different course numbers (for example, ECON 300 and FIN 300 - one is scheduled by Economics majors and the other by Finance majors)
  • Distance learning: a distance learning course is offered via multiple venues, and multiple course sections are listed for the course (one course section per each venue)
 

The course information displayed in the Teaching section was previously uploaded from the academic institution's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. If any courses are missing, please contact your administrator.

 
  1. Select the checkboxes in the Group Courses column adjacent to the course sections wished to group together.
    Group courses checkboxes selected
  2. Click the Group button. The selected course sections are now grouped together and are displayed in a single row.
    Group selected at the bottom of the Group Courses column
Update credit hours/teaching load

If the Credit Hours and/or Teaching Load are incorrect, enter the correct information in the desired field(s). The totals at the bottom are updated automatically.

 

Please note that this feature may not be turned on at your institution.

 

Credit Hours selected adjacent to Teaching load

Remove course

If not teaching a course section that is displayed on the Activity Input Form, select the check box in the Course Not Taught column adjacent to the desired course section.
Course Not Taught selected on the right-hand column

Note that once the Course Not Taught checkbox is selected, the Credit Hours and Teaching Load are automatically updated to reflect the change and are no longer editable

 
Add Course Attachment
  1. Scroll down to the Course Attachments section and find the desired semester.
  2. Click the Add button under the Add column adjacent to the course section desired to add an attachment to.
    Add selected under the Add column under Fall 2021 semester under Course Attachments section
  3. Select the Attachment Type, Attachment, and Type in the Course Attachments dialog box that appears.
    Course Attachments dialog box with Attachment type, Attachment, Type and Upload sections available
  4. Select the checkboxes adjacent to the desired course sections to upload the attachments. If multiple course selections are available for the same course, each course section will be listed.
  5. Click the Upload button when finished. The courses attachment is added to the selected course.
Delete Course Attachment
  1. Click the hyperlinked number below the attachment type (Syllabus, Course Evaluation, Peer Evaluation, or Other) desired to delete for the course.
    Hyperlinked number selected under Syllabus
  2. Click the Delete ("X") icon then click Delete. The course attachment is removed.
 
 

Scholarly Contributions

This section is used to view and enter activities relating to scholarly or professional works (such as, journal articles, books, proceedings) and creative works (such as, performances, exhibitions) participated in or completed. 

 
  • Related attachments for an activity can be viewed by clicking the corresponding link in the Type column. 
    Link selected under Type
  • When entering an activity, a terminal status can be assigned under Input Form (such as Completed/Published) or an ongoing status (such as In Progress) as seen in the picture below.
    Input Form section with the dropdown next to Status revealed. The dropdown includes Select, In Progress, Submitted, Revise & Resubmit, Accepted, In Press, Completed/Published and Work Discontinued
  • To add a new Activity click Add and then select how to input the data. The option of entering data manually or importing citations from publications is available. 
    Manual Input or Importing citations available for selection
    • Terminal Status: There are two terminal statuses in Scholarly Contributions and Creative Productions; Completed/Published and Work Discontinued. If a terminal statuses is added to an activity that has a date prior to any other status, those later states will not be displayed on vita output because the terminal state is interpreted. For example, Completed/Published, to be the final state, so later statuses for the activity will not display when generating the vita.
    • Ongoing Status: With ongoing statuses, the expectation is that the users are still working on this activity. So when a user pulls a vita for anything that is listed with a status, such as In Press with a particular date because that is an ongoing status, the activity will appear anytime a vita is generated until the activity is given a terminal status. This is true for everything other than Work Discontinued or Completed/Published. When those are introduced, that means the end of the activity.

If importing a citation from an external source, it is important to comply with usage restrictions. Be sure to review any terms of use and/or license agreement from the external source. The safest method for importing citations is to obtain written permission from the external source. If it is not possible to obtain permission, importing citations should be avoided.

 

Note that users can format rich text and use select special characters in the Title and Description fields of Scholarly Contributions and Creative Productions (SCCP) activity records.

 
 
 

Grants

This section is used to add pending grant-related projects, proposals, awards, and renewals. 

 

Please note that this feature may not be turned on at your institution.

 
  • To add a new Grant click Add and then fill out required information on form.
    • Funding amounts should also be updated to reflect ongoing changes and maintain a complete history of the project throughout its completion. 
    • Funding dates can be recalculated based upon the start date and grant periods.
  • When entering an activity, a terminal status can be assigned under Input Form (such as Completed) or an ongoing status (such as In Progress) as seen in the picture below.
    Status dropdown options available - In Preparations Not Submitted, Submitted for Review, Funded In Progress, Completed, Submitted Not Funded, Work Discontinued, Withdrawn
 
 

FAQs

How can I confirm that I submitted my Activity Input Form?

After submitting an Activity Input Form, there is a formal submission confirmation on the page directly after hitting the Submit button. 
A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

After submitting, the Submit status can also be seen by navigating to Forms & Reports and viewing the Status of that form.
A screenshot of a phone

Description automatically generated

 
 

What activities show on the My Activities page vs. the Activity Input Form

The information dynamically updates on each of these pages. So, if an activity is added to a section on the Activity Input form, it will then automatically be added to the Activities page under the same section. It is also true that if an activity is added under the Activities page, it will then automatically be added to the Activity Input form if the activity period is correct.

If you add an activity and it does not appear on the Activity Input form, this is because the term range for the activity does not fall under the Activity Period.

 

Activities will only show up on the Activity Input form if the activity has a completed status (such as Completed, Published, or Discontinued) with a Term Range that falls within the Activity Period of the Activity Input form. If the activity has any other activity status (such as In Progress or Not Started) or the Term Range falls outside the Activity Period, or the end date of the Term Range is set to Ongoing, the activity will not appear on the Activity Input form.

 
 
 

What happens when I click the Submit button on the Activity Input form?

Clicking the submit button will remove the task from the My Tasks page, change the status on the Forms & Reports page to Submitted, and will update the status and timestamp under the Date Submitted column on the Prior Input Forms page.

You can resubmit the Activity Input form as many times as desired while the Activity Input form is active.

 
 
 

Why did the Activity Input form reappear on the My Tasks page after I submitted it?

If there is an approval process, Activity Input forms can be sent back after submission. If the Activity Input Form gets sent back, it will reappear on the My Tasks page and may include an Administrator Note at the top of the Activity Input form with the reasoning as to why it was sent back.

 
 

Who needs to complete the Activity Input Form?

Each institution decides who should complete the Activity Input Form. If you see a notification, you are expected to complete it.

 

What is the difference between the Profile Form and the Activity Input Form?

  • The Profile Form contains information about you that does not change often, such as your personal information, degree history, biography, etc. Some of this information may have been automatically populated by your institution's system. Other fields are available for you to complete if you wish to do so. 
  • The Activity Input Form is where you record your annual activities, such as advising load, professional and creative works, grants, participation on committees, and professional development.
 

When I enter activities, will they automatically be saved in Faculty Activity Reporting?

You will need to save the activities as they are entered but do not have to save the input form. As you save each activity, the input form will save as well.

 

How do I submit my activities?

When the Activity Input Form has been initiated by an administrator, a message will display on the Dashboard. Upon completing the Activity Input Form, you can submit it.

 

I am trying to submit my Activity Input Form and it is asking me to classify my courses. What does this mean?

The system is asking you to assign an activity classification to your courses. Please respond to all questions for each of your courses. Once it is completed, you will be able to submit your Activity Input Form.

 

Why do only "Ongoing" activities show in certain sections of an initiated activity input form?

Only activities that are actionable are displayed on the landing page of an initiated activity input form. To see all activities in the section, click View All

 
 

 

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