Changes to existing courses that involve other departments, programs, or other units on campus should be proposed by Monday, November 27, 2023 at 12 noon for inclusion in the 2024-25 catalog. Changes to existing courses that don’t involve others should be proposed by Friday, December 22, 2023 for inclusion in the 2024-25 catalog.
To propose changes to an existing course, use the new/changes side of CourseLeaf, UVM’s course inventory management system. Using a browser other than Internet Explorer is recommended.
A style guide is available on the Associate Provost’s Teaching & Learning site here.
Please note:
- If you are going to make small changes to a large number of courses, please attach an explanatory memo that summarizes the changes as a “supporting document” to the course you are changing that has the lowest number (i.e., BIOL 001).
- Prerequisites. If there are no prerequisites or co-requisites for a course, leave those fields blank. A reminder that students can register for all classes with instructor permission; it is therefore only necessary to include “instructor permission” in the prerequisites if such permission is the only way into the course. Banner can enforce prerequisites if they are specific courses (MATH 1234 as a prerequisite for MATH 1248, for example) or if they are registration restrictions (Art History majors only, for example; or minimum Junior standing.) The system cannot enforce more generic prerequisites, such as “Three hours in History.”
- Course Description. The current limit is 75 words. Some important guidance:
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- Do not begin your description with the words “This course”
- Do not include quotation marks or other special characters, as these do not display properly in the catalog.
- Do not include prerequisite or Catamount Core information in the description; the computer will pull that information from other fields in the form for display in the catalog.
- For clarity and stylistic consistency, please use an Oxford comma for lists of three or more items (i.e., apples, pears, and bananas) and conclude your description with a period.
- Topics In courses must include the following language at the end of the description: May repeat for credit with different content. Topics vary by offering; periodic offering at intervals that may exceed four years.
- Impact on/Consultation with Others. Information on the effects of the proposed course on other departments, including those outside CAS. In addition to sentence- or paragraph-length statements on potential overlap and any other issues, you need evidence that potentially affected departments have been consulted. Letters of support from chairs/directors of potentially affected departments should be attached as .doc, .docx, or .pdf files. If you need assistance negotiating with other departments, programs, or units, consult Abby McGowan.
- If a course already has a Catamount Core designation (D1, SU, etc.) and the changes you are making do not affect that designation, leave the question about Gen Ed at the bottom of the form toggled to “no.”
Please follow the links to additional instructions if the course is going to be cross-listed or if you are seeking designation of the course as meeting General Education or CAS distribution requirements.
WHEN THE FORM IS COMPLETE
After you have entered the required information into CourseLeaf and clicked the green “Save & Submit” button, your chair/director should review the material and approve it in CourseLeaf. To access the approval side of CourseLeaf, follow the second link on the Provost’s Course Action Form page.
A reminder that the chair or another representative from the department or program must be in attendance at the CAS faculty meeting when the new course is being considered by the faculty to answer questions from the floor. If no departmental representative is present, the course will be tabled until the next meeting.