New courses should be proposed by December 22, 2021 for inclusion in the 2022-23 catalog. Courses needing review for General Education and/or the Graduate College should be submitted earlier; October 6, 2021 is the strongly recommended deadline for such courses, and November 3, 2021 is the last call.
Use CourseLeaf in a browser other than Internet Explorer to propose a new course. CourseLeaf is accessible from the Provost’s webpage under Faculty/Chair Resources and then under Forms and Templates. To propose a new course, follow the first link on the Course Action Forms page.
A style guide is available on the Associate Provost’s Teaching & Learning site here.
ELEMENTS OF THE COURSE ACTION FORM:
Course Number. Check with your chair or departmental administrator before choosing a number.
Credit Hours. One credit hour should be the equivalent of one hour in class (50 minutes counts as an hour) plus at least two hours of work outside of class. Be sure to check the box that indicates “This course meets the University’s definition of a credit hour.”
Prerequisites or Co-requisites. 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 019 as a prerequisite for MATH 020, 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.” If there are no prerequisites for a course, leave the field blank.
Course Description. Limited to 40 words. 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. Do not begin your description with the words “This course,” and do not include quotation marks or other special characters, as these do not display properly in the catalog.
Syllabus. Include a syllabus/course design aimed at faculty members and written in English. This should be a .doc or .docx file. The syllabus is requested so that the faculty on the curriculum committee can understand the intellectual content and pedagogical structure of the course and consider it for distribution and diversity requirements, as appropriate. You may wish to provide more of a narrative about the course’s design and intent and/or information about the content of readings when it is not crystal clear from the titles; policies aimed at students can be omitted. Please be sure that any additional elements of the syllabus–such as a schedule of meetings and assignments–is included in a single file along with the syllabus.
Companion Documents. These are not required, but if there are materials that would help the curriculum committee better understand the intent, content, and/or structure of the course, feel free to include them here. We strongly encourage you to combine any companion documents into a single PDF file.
Rationale. Sentence- or paragraph-length statements on the proposed course’s academic merit, potential overlap with other courses, the types of students likely to register, and the course’s place in the curriculum as either required or elective.
New as of December 2019: If you create a new course, reactivate a course, or deactivate a course, please indicate on the course action form in CourseLeaf how the change affects any catalog tables for majors, minors, etc.; you no longer have to submit a separate memo for these types of changes.
Seats and Sections. The number of seats and sections to be offered.
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.
Fees, Facilities, Library Resources. If applicable, include information on any additional fees, facilities needs, and library resources.
Cross-listings. Follow the instructions here.
General Education and/or CAS Designations. Please follow the links here for additional instructions if you are seeking designations for General Education or CAS distribution requirements.
WHEN THE FORM IS COMPLETE
After you have entered the required information into CourseLeaf and saved it, your chair 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.