New processes, tools, and priorities will make this a year of change for faculty as they design or modify courses and programs. Come have a conversation with the Curriculum & Gen Ed Committees to better understand how these changes will impact you and your programs. This program is especially important for those planning to propose new or significantly modified program changes for the 2020–21 catalog

Coykendall, Scott

English

Digital Commons @ Plymouth State University

GENERAL EDUCATION AND CURRICULUM COMMITTEES
Exciting changes in the 
way curriculum is 
proposed and 
approved
CourseLeaf/CIM
We will be rolling out the CourseLeaf Curriculum product, known as CIM (pronounced “Kim”) this 
Fall!
► powerful workflow system designed specifically to manage the curriculum approval and 
curriculum change management process
► when implementation is complete, all course and curriculum changes will start in CIM and 
make their way through various stages of electronic review and approval for the next 
academic catalog
* While we anticipate a full implementation of Courseleaf will eventually replace most need for traditional 
Curriculum and General Education forms, it is likely that those forms will still be used for all proposals in the early 
part of the Fall semester, and will remain in use for other proposals in rare circumstances. 
Functions of CIM
•Imports course information from the Banner.
•Provide customized pre-populated forms for authors
•Automatically creates workflow without human intervention
•Identifies all affected courses by a proposed change
•Tracks edits and comments
•Reports on status
•Generates customized PDF files on demand for committee meetings
• Assists in automatically updating Banner at the end of the process. 
Functions of CIM Cont’d
•The CourseLeaf catalog software will then automatically 
update the  next catalog with the approved Banner data 
and approved programs data.
2019-20 Curricular Deadlines & 
Meetings
► August 30 – General Education proposals due for the September 9 Gen Ed meeting // Deadline to submit materials to Provost/Associate Provost for the 
September 20 CC meeting.
► September 13 – General Education proposals due for the September 23 Gen Ed meeting// Curriculum Committee Proposals due for September 20 CC 
meeting.
► September 27 – Deadline to submit materials to Provost/Associate Provost for the October 18 CC meeting.
► October 4 – General Education proposals due for the Oct 28 Gen Ed meeting (no Oct 14 meeting in observance of Indigenous People’s Day.  // Curriculum 
Committee Early deadline for October CC electronic voting.
► October 11 – Curriculum Committee Proposals due for October 18 CC meeting.
► October 18 – General Education proposals due for the October 28 Gen Ed meeting
► October 25 – Deadline to submit materials to Provost/Associate Provost for the November 15 CC meeting.
► November 1 – Curriculum Committee Early deadline for November CC electronic voting.
► November 8 – Curriculum Committee Proposals due for November 15 CC meeting (final deadline for new program proposals).
► November 15 – General Education proposals due for the November 25 Gen Ed meeting
► November 29 – General Education FINAL deadline for all gen ed sunsets and proposals for 2020 catalog  //  FINAL deadline to submit materials to 
Provost/Associate Provost for the February CC meeting  // November 29 – Curriculum Committee Early deadline for December CC electronic voting.
► December 13 – Curriculum Committee FINAL deadline for all course/program proposals for 2020 catalog
Additional Help
Thorough list of forms, signatures, and requirements for most proposals can be 
found here:
https://curriculumcommittee.press.plymouth.edu/chapter/required-forms-signatures-consultations-etc-for-new-or-revised-curricula/
https://psugened.pressbooks.com/
General Education
List of course sunset dates: 
https://campus.plymouth.edu/faculty-governance/wp-
content/uploads/sites/20/2019/08/Final-Sunset-Dates.xlsx
List of program waiver sunset dates:
https://campus.plymouth.edu/faculty-governance/wp-
content/uploads/sites/20/2019/08/Final-Programs-with-waivers.xlsx
Gen Ed Sunset Renewals
We will ask you to explain how you will incorporate the Habits of Mind into 
your courses
► Purposeful Communication
► Problem-solving
► Integrated Perspective
► Self-regulated Learning
https://psugened.pressbooks.com/chapter/habits-of-mind/
https://psugened.pressbooks.com/chapter/habits-of-mind-benchmarks/
Required Documents 
for your proposal package
Curriculum Change Proposal(s) for:
►Major/Option
►Minor/Certificate
►Blanket Agreements 
►individual converted courses
New Course Proposal(s)
Recommended Documents 
for your proposal package
Cover sheet with document list [Example]
► 2018-19 proposal packages ranged between 40 and 100+ files. 
► Please include a cover sheet that lists all of the individual files in your proposal.
► Use a consistent naming convention for those files. 
► Ex. CMS prefixed all supporting documents with the numbers 0x (i.e., “CMS_02 Summary of 
CMS Changes.pdf”), overall option or minor proposals with the numbers 1x (i.e., “11 
Curriculum Change Proposal Professional Communication Option.pdf”), new course 
proposals with the numbers 2x (i.e., “CMS_22 New Course Proposal CM2xxx Strategic 
Communication.pdf”), and so on. 
► Include some general descriptor for the type/purpose of that file.
Recommended Documents 
for the Curriculum Committee (cont’d)
Summary of changes with 4-credit 
justification [Example]
The Curriculum Committee looks at proposals for courses that are converting to 4-credits 
to see what is changing in the course to justify another credit. 
► Frequently, the simple answer is, “My new course is pretty much the same course 
except that we meet longer so we can do more of the same work we were doing in 
the 3-credit version.” This will almost certainly draw questions.
► Other courses, though, may be combining content from earlier courses, incorporating 
new learning experiences, etc. 
► For programs that are converting all (or most) of their courses to 4-credits, it may be 
helpful to provide an overview of those changes, explain which courses were 
cut/recombined/reconfigured, and why.
Recommended Documents 
for the Curriculum Committee (cont’d)
Summary of communication to other departments/disciplines, Lamson Library liaison, and 
IT [Example of Communication]
Communication to students [Example of student correspondence]
► Description of the new program(s)
► When the discipline will begin offering the new/revised courses
► When the discipline will discontinue the old courses
► Changes to courses in the program core or other key courses (if applicable)
► Who should consider changing to the new catalog and what implications that may have (see 
below, consider completing your blanket agreement first).
► What will happen to students who remain in the current catalog (see below, consider completing 
your blanket agreement first)?
► Remind them that converted versions of existing courses will receive new course numbers.
Blanket Agreements
When changes occur because courses have changed to 4 credits, as well as 
for required courses being deleted, we must remember the students that are 
in the pipeline, working to complete their requirements, and prepare a clear 
pathway for them. 
► Blanket agreements should clarify for students how new or revised courses 
will fulfill requirements from earlier catalogs and/or how courses from old 
catalog will satisfy requirements in new catalog.
► Note that blanket agreements cannot specify that a requirement from an 
earlier program will be waived. Instead, your blanket agreement must 
indicate which course(s) may substitute for the former requirement.
► Consider ALL of the programs that may be affected by 
changing/deleting/replacing a course
2019-20 Curriculum Committee 
Meetings & Workshops
Again...major deadlines for new programs and programs converting to 4-credits: 
► September 13 – Curriculum Committee Proposals due for September 20 CC.meeting.
► October 11 – Curriculum Committee Proposals due for October 18 CC meeting.
► November 8 – Curriculum Committee Proposals due for November 15 CC meeting (final deadline for new 
program proposals).
► December 13 – Curriculum Committee FINAL deadline for all course/program proposals for 2020 catalog
AND we will be conducting some workshops for faculty (locations TBD)
► New Programs (x2) September 5 (3:30-5) & 6 (1:30-3) 
► 4-credit Transitions September 12 (3:30-5)
Questions?


Exciting Changes in the Way Curriculum is Proposed and Approved

https://digitalcommons.plymouth.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1168&context=univdays

Exciting Changes in the Way Curriculum is Proposed and Approved

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