Lumen Courses: Discontinuation of Obsolete Courses Process

An annual review of course offering activity will be conducted by the Office of the Registrar (RO) and Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research (DAPIR). The procedural steps of this review are outlined below and subject to change as the process is put into effect. This is not the policy document. For the Obsolete Course Policy, see the Policy Library: https://policy.wisc.edu/library/UW-1007.

Simplified Overview and Timeline

Contents:

  1. Course Identification
  2. Communication to Schools/Colleges
  3. Initiating the Discontinuation Process
  4. Approving, Scheduling, or Requesting a Waiver
    1. Approving
    2. Scheduling
    3. Requesting a Waiver
    4. No Response
  5. Data Visualizations
  6. SIS CACT Attributes

Simplified Overview and Timeline

Flow Chart

Timeline

Simplifed overview of the timing and actions required.
Timing Action(s)
September Obsolete course identification; deactivation of courses that were not offered per the scheduling/waiver allotments.
Mid-October School/College partners notified that the process is kicking off with a list of the identified courses.
Late-October DAPIR submits deactivation proposals.
Nov-Feb Subject owners make decisions on obsolete courses (approve, notify to schedule, submit waivers).
Fall course changes deadline UCC meeting Obsolete course waivers reviewed/considered. 
After the deadline meeting DAPIR submits deactivation proposals for courses incomplete/not flagged to be offered for summer/fall.

Course Identification

Per the Discontinuation of Obsolete Courses policy, courses slated for deactivation include any course that:

  1. has not been taught on campus (i.e., offered with enrollment) in at least six years,
  2. was created at least six years ago but were never taught, and/or
  3. has only been used for study abroad or transfer equivalency.

The following table defines the parameters of courses included/excluded in the list:

Mock-up of the upcoming terms included or excluded from the obsolete course process.
Obsolete year to process (Fall term) fall term If taught in this term (or more recent) is excluded from the obsolete deactivation list (term -60). Not taught since this term, are included in the deactivation list (term -60)
2024-2025 1252 1192 1186
2025-2026 1262 1202 1196
2026-2027 1272 1212 1206
2027-2028 1282 1222 1216
2028-2029 1292 1232 1226
2029-2030 1302 1242 1236
2030-2031 1312 1252 1246
2031-2032 1322 1262 1256

Communication to Schools/Colleges 

DAPIR sends the list of obsolete courses to the school/college curriculum coordinators, with encouragement to notify their departments of the policy and process. The communication includes the following:

  1. The UCC/UAPC approved Discontinuation of Obsolete Courses policy.
  2. The list of obsolete courses.
  3. The requirements and deadlines for scheduling a course included on the list within the next year if the department wishes to continue the offering.
  4. How to request a waiver if the course is to be offered within the next two years.
  5. Timeline of key dates and deadlines for the obsolete course process.

Initiating the Discontinuation Process

  1. DAPIR submits the obsolete courses for the current fall effective date/term.
    1. The proposal includes the reason for discontinuation, the last term taught, and the last term used (offered with enrollment, or used in a study abroad or transfer equivalency) and actions departments may take if they choose to retain the course.
    2. If a course is in-progress, DAPIR will work with the school/college academic planner for the appropriate action.
  2. Subject owners (department chairs) must make a determination on the obsolete course.
    1. Lumen generates an email to subject owners, which is how subject owners are notified. This notification is the same as all other course proposal approval requests.
    2. When a course is cross-listed, the subject listed first alphabetically will be selected if the course has not previously had a proposal completed through Lumen Courses.

Help

Approval, Scheduling, or Requesting a Waiver

If a course in any of the following scenarios has been offered with enrollment, the deactivation course proposal will be ‘shredded,’ or removed (putting the course back on the shelf as an active course). The six-year clock will restart.

Approving an obsolete course for discontinuation

If the department agrees the course should be discontinued, the subject approver must approve the course discontinuation in Lumen. Subject owners for a cross-listed course must communicate with each other if there is any interest in scheduling the course or submitting a waiver request. See the following kb for more information on approving courses: https://kb.wisc.edu/lumen/78922.

To navigate to the approval pages (not at the cross-listed step):

  1. Following the link provided in the email
  2. Navigating to the Approve Pages site (selecting the appropriate subject from the drop-down).

If a the course is at the CrosslistedSubjs step of workflow, navigate to the approval by:

  1. Following the link provided in the email sent for approval
  2. Navigating to the https://next-guide.wisc.edu/courseadmin/ page and search for the course by [subject] [catalog number] or course key (found at the very bottom of the course form – see this kb for more on how to find course keys: https://kb.wisc.edu/lumen/89210).

Notes

  1. The workflow for approval of courses that are discontinued through the obsolete course process is shorter than the standard workflow: department > cross-listed departments (if applicable) > Office of the Registrar (PeopleSoft step).
  2. Programs using the discontinued course will be notified with a distinct email from Lumen indicating that they need to remove the course from their curriculum. Emails from Lumen are automatically generated and replies to this email address are not monitored.

Scheduling

If you plan to schedule the course within the next three terms (Spring, Summer, or following Fall), email lumen@provost.wisc.edu. Include the subject, catalog number, and indicate that you would like to schedule the course, and which term you will offer the course. If a course is not offered or does not have enrollment, the course will be administratively deactivated the following fall (ie: identified as obsolete in fall 2020, slated to be offered, did not offer/have enrollment in fall 2021).

Requesting a Waiver

If the department will not be offering the course in the immediate Spring, Summer, or Fall terms but intends to teach the class within two years (from initial identification), it must: 

  1. Request a course waiver and submit an obsolete course change waiver proposal. Email lumen@provost.wisc.edu, include the subject, catalog number, and that you are requesting a waiver. DAPIR will shred the discontinuation proposal, initiate a course change proposal by editing and saving the course, flag it as an obsolete course waiver, and provide more information on next steps for approval.
  2. Complete the course change proposal, i.e. obsolete course waiver request. There are additional questions on the form relating to the course not being taught in six years that need to be addressed.
  3. Ensure the course has an up-to-date title, description, requisite, learning outcomes, and syllabus, along with any additional required elements of the proposal.
  4. Submit the course proposal by the course change deadline for fall.

A waiver must be reviewed and approved by the subject, any cross-listing subjects, school/college, and the University Curriculum Committee (UCC). If approved, the department must offer the course with enrollment to retain the course within the allotted time frame.

If approved, the RO will add the CACT ‘A’ value to the course with an effective date of the following fall term (e.g., Fall 2021 if approved in Spring 2021).

If a course is not taught with enrollment within the two-year window (starting the term in which the course was initially identified through the obsolete course policy), the course will be inactivated without additional notification. The two-year window includes the year in which the process kicks off (see below for an example).

No Response

If there is no response by the deadline, DAPIR administratively approves the discontinuation proposals for all obsolete courses and the RO will update SIS with the CACT "I" value.

No response is determined by:

  1. A course still in workflow that hasn’t been approved by the department or cross-listed departments by the UCC fall course change deadline meeting.
  2. A waiver has not been completed and reviewed by the UCC by the fall course change deadline meeting. Note: this deadline means that a waiver must be approved by the associated school/college(s) usually no later than the end of January.
  3. An obsolete course discontinuation proposal is ‘rolled back’ out of workflow.
    1. If a course proposal is rolled out of workflow (to the proposer) by the department approver, cross-listed subject(s), or school/college approver, DAPIR will re-submit the proposal to workflow.

Data Visualizations

The status of a course in the obsolete course process can be tracked in the Lumen Tools data viz.

Important notes:

  • The data viz uses Lumen data, which means it refreshes every morning. Any changes made during any given work day will not show up until the next day.
  • This data viz tracks proposals that are slated for deactivation and are in workflow, and obsolete course waivers (course change proposals).
  • Any course where the subject indicated they plan to offer a course will not show up in this data viz.


Keywords:
Obsolete, OCP, Discontinued, discontinue, waiver, course proposal, course discontinuation 
Doc ID:
96337
Owned by:
Melissa S. in Lumen and Guide
Created:
2019-12-02
Updated:
2025-01-06
Sites:
Lumen and Guide