Managing Search and Filter Results

End users can search for courses and classes in two ways from the ILR website: the keyword search, and the advanced filter. The results of these searches are based on the course and class information entered in SDC and Drupal. It is important to enter the information in such a way that users will find the courses they are looking for.

Keyword Search

When someone uses the search feature it will return a list of courses sorted by relevancy. Relevancy is determined by the information in the following fields. Some of these fields are set in SDC, while others can be updated in Drupal by the course admin.

  • Title (SDC)
  • Description (Drupal)
  • Course number, also know as Catalog Number Prefix (SDC)
  • Keywords (Drupal)
  • Topic (Drupal)
  • Start and end dates of the classes (SDC)
  • Registration end date of the classes (SDC)

The results are returned for relevancy based on the following; note that The sorting and relevancy in the results list give priority to courses with upcoming classes.

  1. Full string matches on Title
  2. Full string matches on these fields, in the following order:
    1. course number (catalog prefix)
    2. topic
    3. keywords
    4. body
  3. Partial string matches, in the field order listed above

They are sorted by the following, in the order shown. Within each item, courses with upcoming classes will appear before courses without any scheduled classes.

  1. Exact title match
  2. Partial title match
  3. Relevance order listed above

Advanced Filter

When someone uses the advanced filter feature it will return a list of courses sorted by relevancy. Relevancy is determined by the information in the following fields. As with the keyword search, some of these fields are set in SDC, while others can be updated in Drupal by the course admin.

  • Sponsor (Drupal)
  • Topic (Drupal)
  • Format (Drupal)
  • Location (SDC)
  • Start and end dates of the classes (SDC)
  • Registration end date of the class (SDC)
  • Whether the course is offered online (SDC)

They are sorted by the following:

  • The exact selected filter criteria (multiple filter criteria must all be met, e.g. sponsor and location and date)
  • Courses with upcoming classes are given higher ranking