INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARING THE COURSE PROPOSAL FORM

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARING THE COURSE PROPOSAL FORM

RCB Bylaws require academic unit approval of all course and program changes submitted to the Council. Council strongly recommends that a representative of the academic unit submitting a proposal attend appropriate Council meetings. DEADLINES FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSAL FORMS: Standard deadlines are established to allow appropriate Council review time and hearings for Faculty meetings: Fall meeting = August 1, Spring meeting = January 1. Offering of new or revised courses should coincide with publication of official university catalogs. The official catalogs are published annually in Spring for the upcoming AY; for changes to be reflected in the catalogs, proposals should be submitted no later than August 1 annually. Proposals not submitted by this date may not be able to be considered for up-coming catalogs. For more information, see ‚Submissions to Undergraduate and Graduate Program Councils: Lead-Time and Overall Process.‛ RATIONALE: For all courses proposed for revision, deletion, or addition to the curriculum, an appropriate rationale that relates the proposed change to the unit’s assessment process must be provided in this section of the proposal form or in a memorandum attached to the proposal form. For new courses, rationale should cover such issues as purpose of new course in the department or college (e.g., required for major in specific degree program, elective course for major or non-majors, serves as foundation for other courses). IMPACT ON OTHER ACADEMIC UNITS: Those submitting course proposals must notify all RCB academic unit heads of proposed changes at least two weeks before submission, soliciting information about possible impacts on their programs. Also, submitters must keyword search the appropriate catalogue (e.g., with current course number, if any) to identify potential impacts on other programs within the university. (If desired, the Dean’s Office staff can assist with this search.) Address interrelationships with other courses offered by RCB or other colleges of the university. Courses whose content substantially duplicates that of another in the college or university must be justified. E.g., if RMI wanted to develop and offer a new course called ‚Accounting for Insurance Companies,‛ they should consult with the School of Accountancy prior to preparing and submitting their proposal. FOR DELETION OF OR REVISION TO EXISTING COURSES, include consideration of impact if course is required for other majors or degree programs. For proposed course deletions, at a minimum, the rationale must list all programs that include the course as a requirement or as a catalog-listed elective for major or concentration. SYLLABUS: For all proposed new courses, a course syllabus that includes all items below is required to be submitted with the course proposal form. Note that after review, Council may require a syllabus for other substantive proposals. Use the guidelines in the Faculty Handbook provided for syllabus format. Council expects that the academic unit will maintain accessible electronic files of all course syllabi. Course number: For new courses, do not use course numbers that have been used in the past. Check the master curriculum listing in the Dean’s Office for numbers used previously. Experimental courses must carry an ‘E’ suffix as a part of the course number, and are not printed in official university catalogs. See the college’s policies and procedures manual for guidelines on experimental course offerings. Courses for which substantial content revision are planned should be deleted and added back under a new course number. College policy is to use 8389 and 4389 for directed readings courses and 8391 and 4391 for field study courses. GPC endorses a proposal from the MBA Steering Committee to ‚showcase boundary spanning electives‛ through the development of interdisciplinary courses and requests that sponsors use the BA prefix for such courses. At a minimum, qualifying courses should meet the following criteria:

Instructions For Preparation of Course Proposal Form

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a. b.

Proposed courses must be demonstrably interdisciplinary At least two GSU academic units must sponsor any proposed course, at least one of which must be from RCB. Representatives from each sponsoring unit should appear at all GPC meetings considering the proposal or any later revision. c. Sponsoring units must agree to a staffing commitment and submit a staffing plan for a minimum of three years from the course’s initial offering. d. The same academic units originally sponsoring the course’s creation must jointly submit any revisions to GPC. Credit hours: Normally 3 semester hours. Courses with varying credit hours must show range of credit hours permissible. For 1.5 hour courses or otherwise creative credit hour offerings, Council and RCB approval depends on the Registrar’s Office ‚professional judgment‛ about related scheduling issues. So, any submission to Councils must include written pre-approval from the Registrar’s Office and a written plan to deal with any related scheduling issues. For example, a 1.5 hour course offered on the mini-mester calendar should add contact minutes (e.g., via an out-of-class experience) equivalent to one class period for the contact minute shortfall inherent in this type offering. Prerequisites: Prerequisites are usually defined in terms of specific courses that are needed to provide necessary background for students to perform successfully in another course (e.g., Acct2101, Acct2102 and Econ2106 are prerequisites for FI 3300). It is normally expected that prerequisites will be satisfied with a grade of ‚C‛ or better—if there is exception to this standard, please provide clarification. Corequisites: These are courses that must be taken before or simultaneously with the course at issue. Equivalents: If the course prefix or number has changed at any time in the past, the prior prefix and number is an equivalent. E.g., if in the past MGT 8000 changed to MGS 8000, but the course content remained essentially the same, any proposed change to either the prefix or course number of MGS must list MGT 8000 as an equivalent. Similarly, if CIS 8111 changed to CIS 8222 a year ago, any proposed change in either the prefix or number of CIS 8222 must show CIS 8111 as an equivalent. Computing Skills Prerequisites (CSPs) should also be listed as prerequisites if needed. CSPs are not ‚assumed‛ through previous coursework taken and must be listed individually for each course as needed. Cross-Listing: If cross-listing is proposed, rationale statement must include justification. Cross-listing a course for the purpose of establishing teaching credit is NOT necessary. Very few courses are cross-listed. Title: The full title proposed will be shown in official university catalogs only. For purposes of completion of the proposal form, the course title may not be more than 68 characters maximum (including spaces, punctuation). An abbreviated title (25 characters only) will be used for printing in schedule of classes bulletins and on student transcripts. Long or complex titles can be difficult to abbreviate in a meaningful way. You are being asked to include your preference for abbreviated short title on the form in addition to the full title. Catalog Description: Be brief, but informative. Catalog descriptions must be worded as complete sentences and stated in present tense. The maximum number of characters (including spaces) permitted is 800, but an average of 500 or less is usually sufficient. Detailed Course Description: The detailed course description is a more comprehensive description of the course topics than is the catalog description. It is included on the syllabus handed to the students and there are no restrictions on length. Learning Outcomes / Course Objectives: A statement addressing the objectives of the course must be included. Learning outcomes will satisfy this requirement.
Revised 06-17-05

Instructions For Preparation of Course Proposal Form

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Method of Instruction: Show type of instructional method used, including computer or lab support, and specialized classroom needs, if any. Grading Criteria: Include grading criteria to be used to evaluate students. Text(s) and Other Materials: Include recommended textbook and other materials required to be purchased or used by students, including computer software, if required. Course Outline: Indicate topics, recommended readings including chapter titles from recommended texts, and time devoted to topics. List non-assigned reference materials separately. NOTE: Course syllabi for a college academic review do not normally include all the necessary items for official distribution of the syllabus to students, such as instructor office hours, etc. Consult the University Faculty Handbook for detailed information on other items required for syllabus distribution to students.

Revised 06-17-05