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Curriculum Change Guidelines

Wichita State UniversityCurriculum Change Guidelines

 

The university curriculum change process reflects the University's traditional commitment to two concepts:

  • that the curriculum is a primary concern of the faculty from which changes are to be initiated; and
  • that department and college curriculum committees play an essential role, along with the various levels of academic administration, in curriculum development, approval, and implementation.

Three online curriculum proposal forms are available within the CourseLeaf (CIM) system; one for creating, changing, inactivating or reactivating a course, one for creating or changing a program, and one for miscellaneous administrative tasks such as requesting a new subject code.  

University courses and programs to be listed in the WSU Undergraduate Catalog and WSU Graduate Catalog must be submitted using these online proposal forms, which utilize an electronic workflow approval process. The form submission and approval process typically originate with department faculty and proceeds through the college. Where college policy requires, additional steps may be added to CIM’s automated workflow approval process. In cases where a course change affects programs from more than one college, CIM sends an email notification to the affected college(s) as a courtesy and, when appropriate, the Academic Affairs Committee for approval before notifying the office of the Provost for approval. When appropriate, CIM also notifies other governing committees such as the General Education Committee or Graduate School for approval of the proposed changes before routing to the Office of the Provost.

Faculty are required to note the effect of change on students and/or programs in other departments and/or colleges on the course or program proposal. In order to facilitate the discussion between departments and/or colleges, each college curriculum committee will forward meeting agendas to the deans of all colleges and to the Coordinator of Collection Development of the library. Electronic posting is encouraged.

 

 

Effective Term Limitations

  1. Proposals for new programs can be effective for any future term, although strong preference is that they be submitted and fully approved by the catalog deadline to be effective the following fall and included in that catalog.
  2. Every effort should be made to submit changes to existing programs in the fall by the catalog deadline with an effective term of the next fall catalog. Changes submitted after the catalog deadline but fully approved before May 31 may still be effective in the coming fall if necessary due to accreditation or other circumstances. Details of these special circumstances should be provided in the Justification or Additional Comments boxes on the CIM form. Questions about this should be directed to Ginny Vincent, catalog editor.
  3. New courses or course changes can be effective for any upcoming term, regardless of catalog deadline. However, we may be unable to implement some changes if registration for that term has already begun. Also, be aware that course changes which impact degree requirements will not be fully approved until the related CIM form to change the program requirements is also submitted.

Cross-Listed Changes

The CIM system will send a courtesy email notification to all departments affected by a proposal to create a new cross-listed pair/group or change an existing one.  The department housing the primary course will be included in the electronic workflow approval process.

Steps in the Change Process

  1. Perceive need for change.
  2. Determine level and type of change(s).
  3. Seek information required on form.
  4. Fill out the University’s online course, program or miscellaneous administrative form.
  5. Make sure to use the syllabus template (includes standard order of information; course objectives; definition of credit hour; disability services statement; and academic honesty policy) and then attach syllabus and other required documentation, such as KBOR forms for new programs, concentration/minor, and New academic units, to online proposal form. (See Blackboard/Support/Faculty Development).
  6. Submit the proposal (start workflow) to CIM’s electronic workflow, which will seek approval from at least the following:
    • Associate Registrar
    • Catalog Editor
    • Department Curriculum Committee (review/comment only)
    • Department Curriculum Committee Chair
    • Department Chair
    • College Curriculum Committee (review/comment only)
    • College Curriculum Committee Chair
    • College Dean
    • Associate Vice Provost

If applicable, the following approval steps will also be included in the workflow:

    • General Education Committee
    • Graduate Dean (for courses numbered 500 and above)
    • Academic Affairs Committee (for courses affecting students and/or programs in more than one college)
    • FYS Faculty Coordinator
    • Badge Coordinator
    • HN Dean

If applicable, a courtesy email notification will be sent to:

    • Cross-listed Department(s) Chair
    • SGA Academics (at discretion of AVP)

If, at any point in the workflow, the online proposal is not approved, anyone in the workflow approval process can return (roll back) the proposal to the point in workflow where additional information is needed (with comments).  Once the online proposal is updated and approved to proceed, the CIM system will continue with the electronic workflow.

If the Associate Vice Provost finds that the proposal should be reviewed and/or approved by additional individuals or committees, the AVP will notify the appropriate parties or instruct the Registrar’s Office to add them to that proposal’s electronic workflow.

If the Associate Vice Provost does not approve the proposal, it will be deleted from the CIM system. 

If the Associate Vice Provost approves the proposal, the CIM system will send an email notification to the:

    • Department Chair
    • College Dean
    • College Advising Supervisor
    • Registrar’s Office: Registrar, Degree Audit, Registration, Transfer Equivalency, Catalog Editor (for inclusion in the next online catalog)

Course Numbering Guidelines

COURSE LEVEL: Follow the definitions from the KBOR Policy manual (reproduced with WSU additions below). 

COURSE NUMBERING SYSTEM

In order to maintain a common system of classification of academic information for all Regents Institutions, course levels are to be identified by the first digit catalog course number as follows: 

000-099

No credit courses. 

100-299

Lower division, undergraduate. Designed as freshman-sophomore courses.

300-499

Upper division, undergraduate. Designed as junior and senior courses. 

500-699

Upper division, undergraduate. Primarily for juniors and seniors, with enrollment of less than 50% master’s students. 

700-799

Graduate and upper division. For master’s students primarily; with enrollment of less than 50% undergraduate students. 

800-899

Designed primarily for master’s students.

900-999

Designed primarily for doctoral students.

Master’s = Courses and thesis for master’s students who will ordinarily have accumulated from 1 through 30 graduate hours, and students enrolled in professional schools (Law, Veterinary Medicine, M.D., Architecture, etc.) 

Doctoral = Courses for specialists and doctoral students who will ordinarily have completed greater than 30 hours of graduate work. 

Numbers usually reserved for CO-OP courses: 281, 481 and 781.  Numbers usually reserved for workshops: 150, 250, 350, 550 and 750. 

(Some departments are using 750-755)

Faculty can propose an available alphabetic suffix to a course number when proposing a new course to differentiate between different titles for the same root course - workshops and special topics courses are good examples.  If there is an issue using the proposed alpha letter, the Registrar’s Office will change the proposal to include a different available letter.

Cross-listed courses: courses that are listed in two or more departments should, when possible, use the same course number in each department. 

A sequence of courses: Each successive course in a set of courses that is normally taken in a prescribed sequence, should have a higher number than the one preceding it.  

 

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