Courses and Programs Committee Training

August 16, 2012

Presented by Gail Baughman, Chair, C&P

Overview of this presentation Welcome The “full” C&P committee- role in governance Q&A The Courses and Programs Curriculum

Committee (CPCC)- roles and responsibilities in curriculum approval

Mechanism(s) for doing the work Reviewing curriculum…WebCMS Pre-Meeting discussion….The portal Decisions….CPCC meetings

MCC Governance Structure (2012-13)

What we do…The main role of the full C&P committee within the governance

structure at MiraCosta is to review and approve the following: 

New and modified credit and noncredit courses* New and modified degrees, certificates, and noncredit

programs* Requisites* Distance education plans* Honors curriculum* Instructional materials fees* General education requirements (for the local pattern only)* Associated local policies, procedures, and guidelines

* Assigned to the curriculum subcommittee (CPCC) of C&P with sole authority to review and approve curriculum according to AB1725

C&P Membership 2012-13

Administrators (3) Mary Benard Carlos Lopez Al Taccone*

Associate Faculty (1) Heydar Zahedani

Faculty (11)* Shafin Ali Rita Barden Angela Beltran-Aguilar (Fall ‘12) JoAnne Benschop Andrew Layton Margie Lee Melissa Lloyd-Jones (Spring ’13) Gail Meinhold Anthony Ongyod Erika Peters Angela Senigaglia plus Gail Baughman, Chair

(non-voting)

Classified (2) Maria Lopez Jane Sparks

Student (1) TBD

* Members of CPCC

Full C&P Committee responsibilities

Review and approval of district policies and procedures related to curriculum

C&P committee calendar C&P meets 2nd and 4th Thursdays from 2-4 PM in

OC1202 Two agendas in one meeting

Full C&P (starting at 2 PM) CPCC (following C&P)

See draft calendar for 2012-13 Handbook, Figure 2-1 You will be voting to approve this calendar at the first

meeting of C&P (August 23rd)

How do members of C&P know how to do their work?

Members of C & P are charged with taking a broad and comprehensive perspective when reviewing matters related to curriculum. Their review is to be unbiased and consistent with state and local regulations, guidelines, policies, and procedures. Their efforts should reflect a deep and broad understanding of current educational issues and commitment to the best interests of the college as a whole.

C&P members, and all individuals involved in the curriculum review,

Should become familiar with our processes as described in the current C&P handbook

Should become familiar with the rules and regulations governing curriculum from the following authorities:

California Code of Regulations (Title 5) California Education Code Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior

Colleges (ACCJC) MiraCosta College Board Policies and Administrative

Procedures.

How full meetings of C&P will be conducted:

By Friday prior to all meeting dates, the draft agenda will be released to C&P members (only). Committee members will be able to log on to the portal and review agenda items and any supporting documents.

Discussion of agenda items will take place on the portal between Friday and noon on the following Wednesday Please remember that any member of the MiraCosta community can

view the portal discussion; Be courteous and professional in your comments

Each committee member will make recommendations (consent, for discussion, etc) on agenda items on the portal.

Comments and recommendations made by committee members on the portal will be used by the chair to construct a consent agenda

A final agenda, including consent versus discussion items, will be released to “All Governance” no later than Wednesday afternoon, one day before the meeting.

Upcoming C&P items

Expect to have a variety of Administrative Procedures that need updating due to changes in state regulations and/or correction of errorsAP4260 Prereqs/CoreqsAP4225 Repetition (significant lapse of time)And so forth

End of C&P (only) training. Questions? Comments?

The curriculum subcommittee of C&P (CPCC) Responsibility: Sole authority to review and

approve curriculum according to AB1725

“All things WebCMS” : Addition, deletions, modifications to courses, certificates and degrees.

CPCC sends its approvals to ASC (only) as consent items which are then submitted to the Board of Trustees for final approval

CPCC member’s role Your primary responsibility when reviewing

curriculum is to address substantive issues that may be more subjective in nature, such as those related to institutional standards for academic rigor and consistency.

Many, if not all, technical and legal aspects of proposals (such as hours/units compliance, integration of the course outline, grammar and spelling) will have been reviewed by numerous parties* prior to being placed before the committee* department chair, divisional dean, technical writer, and members of the technical review committee (Al, Gail, JoAnne, Cindy and Gwen)

Credit/Non-credit Flow chart

Mechanisms for doing your work The agenda, listing all

courses, certificates and/or degrees to be reviewed is sent to you via email on Friday, one week before the meeting

The agenda is assigned to CPCC members according to the following chart (see Section 2.3 of the handbook and Figure 2-2):

All CPCCmembers

Team A or B

Major, Minor, Technical changes Major (assigned to Team A or B):

Changes in units, substantial content, prereqs, new online request, new GE request

Minor (placed directly on consent agenda):Update to textbook, course or certificate

deletion, minor content rewrites Technical (behind the scenes

administrative changes):Name change, addition of honors courses to

existing certificates, designator changes

Mechanisms for doing your work Access portal to view your assignments

Committee review and discussion of curriculum proposals occurs on the portal before the meeting: https://portal.miracosta.edu/default.aspx(use SURF user name and password to access)

The timeline and processes (vote to place on consent, approve, discuss etc and the generation of consent agenda, etc) for CPCC is the same as for the full C&P committee (deadline is noon on Wednesday before the meeting)

Curriculum review guidelines The level of scrutiny and committee

responsibility is greatest for:any new course, certificate or degree (ie.

additions to the college inventory)

(**For this reason, all new curriculum proposals are reviewed by all members of the committee).

all new approvals on existing courses (eg. online, MiraCosta GE status, honors)

How to review curriculumStep #1: Establish a perspective Examine the cover sheet that describes the

course, certificate or degreeIs this a new course? What is the rationale/need for the addition? How/where does the course fit within the mission of the college? Or is it a “stand alone”?Or, is this a modification of existing curriculum? What is the need/rationale for the modification?

Is the author asking for new online approval? New GE status?

Pull out the current college catalog and familiarize yourself with the departmental offerings, programs, certificates.

Check out the audit trail to see if there are any concerns from the Dean, Articulation Officer, or Technical Review Committee:

Step #2: Review the course, focusing on the areas of primary responsibility of CPCC Discipline assignment Quality of the Course Outline Validity of prerequisites/coreqs and advisories Evidence of Critical Thinking Appropriateness to the missions of the college, including

linkage to a program (versus stand alone) For CTE courses, demonstrated workforce needs Overlap/competition with other courses Repeatability rules Stacking rules Appropriateness for online delivery Compliance with the criteria for General Education or

Honors, as appropriate

1. Appropriateness of the discipline assignment.

Assignment of the course to the correct discipline ensures that faculty with the appropriate minimum qualifications will teach the course.

The complete listing of all courses at the college and their discipline placements is posted on the C&P website

2. Consistency in content descriptions in terms of adequately describing the “body of knowledge” and supporting the learning objectives and student learning outcomes

Title 5 requires that course outlines be “integrated” which means that each element of the COR reinforces the purpose of the other elements in the outline.

The COR serves as an educational contract between MCC

and its students by identifying the specific body of knowledge every course will cover as well as what the student can expect in terms of rigor and learning outcomes.

3. Validity of course prerequisites, co-requisites and advisories

Title 5 mandates a separate review (scrutiny) of prerequisites

Detailed information on Prereqs, Co-reqs and Advisories is provided in the Form B (WebCMS) instructions and in the C&P Handbook, section 4.6.2

Recent changes in Title 5 now allow English and Math prereqs to be applied to courses based on content review, only.

4. Consistent and clear evidence of required critical thinking

Title 5 section 55002(a)2F mandates “difficulty” : The coursework calls for critical thinking and the understanding and application of concepts determined by the curriculum committee to be at college level

5. Appropriateness to one of five California community college missions

--Transfer education*--Workforce development (CTE)*--Basic Skills (stand alone)--Community Education (non-credit)--Life-long learning

*attached to a degree/certificate of achievement

Stand Alone” training …….

CPCC members, when reviewing courses, certificates and degrees, and others involved in approving curriculum should remember and focus on our primary mission ….

Courses at MiraCosta prepare students for: 1. Degrees (terminal or transfer-based), or

2. Certificates (workforce training package) a. Achievement: 18+ units (*), state

approved, appear on the student’s transcript, can form the major for a degree

b. Proficiency: less than 18 units, no state approval, do not appear on the transcript

(*) certificates of 12-18 may be submitted to the state as certificates of achievement, if desired

As such, courses must be “part of a package” (linked to a degree and/or certificate of achievement) If a course is NOT part of the required or

restricted list of electives for a state-approved degree or certificate, or a part of the MiraCosta GE pattern, it is termed “stand alone”

Stand alone courses may be approved locally, but such courses require an increased level of scrutiny and justification by those involved in the review process. Moreover, a list of such courses must be reported to the state annually

Stand-alone

Examples of stand alones include: Course only listed in a certificate of proficiency Basic skills courses Topics (experimental) courses Course unlinked to any certificate or degree

In each case, course reviewers must evaluate the value of the course to the college and/or students in the context of the main mission of the college

Some currently approved stand-alone courses at MiraCosta College

AUTO155 (prep for ASE exam) BIO290 (cadaver dissection) DRAM133 (American College Theatre Festival

prep) ESL49 and 50 (basic skills) MATH20 and MATH30 (basic skills)

6. Adherence to guidelines and/or rules regarding course repeatability

Recent changes to Title 5 sections 55000, 55040, and 55041 now allow a very limited number of courses to be repeated, only if they meet one of three conditions:

--if a UC or CSU campus  requires  a specific unit amount for major preparation then the course can be repeated to meet that unit requirement;

--intercollegiate athletics courses; --and courses that are linked to a  sanctioned

intercollegiate academic or vocational competition.

7. Adherence to guidelines and/or rules regarding allowed concurrent scheduling (stacking) of courses

Offering courses with the same instructor, in the same location, at the same time has obvious pedagogical implications.

Only courses within a “family” (different levels of a similar activity) should be considered for stacking.

8. Potential overlap and/or competition with other courses within/outside of the department : “Turf wars”

--A new section has been added to

the cover sheet for in WebCMS that

asks faculty authors to describe

content overlap for all new course

proposals.

--In addition, all new curriculum

proposals will be addressed at two CPCC

meetings (once for discussion, one for action)

9. Appropriateness for online delivery: Form B (WebCMS) review

Title 5 (§55002, 55221, and 55372) specifies the following:

All approved courses offered as distance education must include regular and effective contact between instructors and students

The same standards of quality shall be applied to distance education as are applied to traditional classroom courses.

A separate review and approval process by CPCC specifically addresses both of these Title 5 mandates.

10. Consistency of given courses to the standards and criteria set forth for general education or honors status, as appropriate.

Local criteria for MiraCosta General Education and Honor designations are described in BP/AP (4025) and/or the college catalog

A separate review and approval process by CPCC specifically addresses both of these designations.--Form C describes the criteria for honors--The “GE checklist” should be used to evaluate a course against the criteria for General Education at MiraCosta College

When reviewing certificates… consider demonstrated workforce needs/demands

When CPCC (and ultimately the Board of Trustees) approves a new program, the college is ensuring with the state that the program is viable and affordable and, in the case of a CTE program, it will lead to living-wage jobs in MiraCosta’s service area.

When reviewing degrees, consider them as a “package” that prepares students for transfer or the workforce Faculty should work with the Dean of CTE

(Taccone) and/or the Articulation Officer (Benschop) to develop their programs (degrees/certificates)

Questions about your role as reviewers and approvers of curriculum?

Our next meeting The CPCC agenda for August 23rd (watch your

email tomorrow) will consist of a short list of courses to continue our training (“teachable moments”)

Three course modifications, each, in DANC and KINE One modification to an existing certificate (HOSP)

We will review the agenda items following standard procedures (portal, etc) but NO items will be placed on consent (we will discuss them all at the meeting)

End of CPCC training

If you do not know how to find the C&P site and log on to the portal, please see Gwen Partlow

Volunteers to act as mentors to new CPCC members?

Thank you in advance for your service and dedication to the college

More Questions ?????