Workday Student Glossary
Browse and search common Workday Student terms and definitions to quickly understand the language you’ll see across registration, academics, and your student record. This glossary helps translate Workday terminology into familiar GVSU concepts, making it easier to navigate tasks and find the right information when you need it.
| GVSU Term | Workday Term | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery Method | Instructional Format | The type of class: lecture, seminar, studio or workshop. |
| Delivery Mode | Delivery Mode | How a course section is taught: in person, online or hybrid (a combination of in-person and online instruction). |
| Deptarment Prefix (i.e. BMS) | Course Subject | Area of study for a course, such as Accounting or Biomedical Science. In Workday these align with "departments" and can be used to filter courses. |
| Effective Date | Effective Date | Date when a version of something goes into effect. Based on the action being completed it may be past, present, or future date. |
| Emphasis / Concentration | Focus | A concentration area within a program of study. |
| Four-Year Curricular Guides | Academic Plan | Optional tool to help students plan out what courses they should take during an academic period (semester) to satisfy academic requirements for their program of study (major). |
| Free Electives | Unused Registrations | Courses that do not fulfill any academic requirements. |
| Grading Mode | Grading Basis | Identifies how an instructor will assign grades. Generally classes have a Graded basis that allows A-F. The alternative is credit/no credit. |
| Graduation/Degree Completion | Program Completion | Confirms a student has met all academic requirements and any special conditions for a prograam. The student becomes eligible for graduation processing. |
| Guardian/Family Access | Friends and Family | Persons identified by the student who have permission to access their student record. |
| Hold | Hold | A tag on a student's account that may restrict the ability to register and/or receive pertinent account information such as diplomas. |
| Major | Program of Study | Student's educational objective, used to organize course requirements. Workday requires one program of study to be the primary program, defined by the first active program that a student matriculates into. |
| Midterm Grade | Interim Grade | A check-in grade provided by the instructor roughly midway through the term. The grade is not part of the student's permanent academic record and does not factor into the GPA. |
| MyPath | Academic Progress | A list of requirements to complete the student's program of study (major, minor, certificate, badge). The report indicates which requirements are satisfied, in progress and not satisfied. |
| N/A | Related Actions Button (Ellipsis / "Twinkie") | When you scroll to the right of many headings or subheadings in Workday, there appears what looks like an elongated circle with three dots. There are many additional functions or information available when clicking into this. |
| Pre-requisite, Eligibility Rule | Eligibility Rule | Defines who is eligible to take a course, such as pre-requisites. |
| Pre-requisite Override | Eligibility Override | Request made to exclude a student from a specific requirement. |
| Registered, Actively enrolled | Registered | Registered for classes |
| Semester | Academic Period | Typically referred to as term, a length of time with defined start and end dates (i.e. Fall semester, Winter semester, Summer semester). Also includes accelerated sessions within a semester. |
| Student Academic Record | Academic Record | Collection of student's academic activities (GPA, registrations, academic history), at specific level. |
Page last modified February 11, 2026