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Topics Map > Teaching, Learning & Academic Administration > Courses: Create or Change
Administrative Review of L&S Course Proposals
L&S Administration reviews course proposals to fit current L&S and campus curriculum guidelines/policy. We ask departments to address any issues identified by this administrative review. Afterwards, we will add the course proposal to the next possible L&S Curriculum Committee agenda. The questions below generally reflect the administrative review.
Syllabus. Does the submitted syllabus...
- Include all the required components? Proposals with incomplete syllabi are rolled back for revisions.
Course Description. Is it....
- Free of information that has an ‘official’ place in another field? (e.g., credits, title, requirements it meets, etc.)
- Up-to-date?
- Broad enough that it will accurately reflect the course through the next several offerings? (e.g., free of overly specific information like meeting times or assignments)
- Aligned with the general advice on course descriptions provided by the University Curriculum Committee?
A reminder: undergraduate students tell us they use the course title and description when deciding whether to enroll in a course.
Requisites will be enforced on the course by the Registrar's Office. Are the requisites. . .
- Included on all undergraduate courses that have an intermediate or advanced level? (See course criteria for level designations)
- Enforceable? Inclusive of all possible requisites, including those from other departments? Aligned with other campus guidelines on requisites?
- Articulated in such a way that graduate students will be able to enroll, if they are an expected audience?
(Graduate students are unlikely to have taken undergraduate prerequisite coursework on campus, and may be blocked if only undergraduate courses are included. Adding "or graduate or professional standing" can help with courses numbered under 700. For courses numbered 700+, departments may wish to articulate 'recommendations' in the course description if the requisite courses are most likely to have been taken as an undergraduate at another institution.)
If the course has Graduate Attribute because undergraduates and graduates are assessed separately...
- Does the proposal/syllabus include information about how students are assessed separately, and make clear that the work/assignments for the graduate students have higher, graduate-level rigor? (Read more about campus policy regarding the graduate course attribute)
- In particular, does the syllabus include both separate learning outcomes and separate assignments/work for undergraduates and graduates?
- Does the course have prerequisites that allow graduate students to enroll? (See more information about this above, in the 'prerequisites' section.)
Consultation with other departments:
- L&S does not receive proposals until all cross-listed departments have approved the course.
- The L&S Curriculum Committee expects departments to consult with other areas offering similar/related courses, especially for new proposals. Departments should add appropriate departments via the course proposal system; this will allow the L&S Curriculum Committee to see the right departments have been consulted.