Course Proposals
Proposals are reviewed by curriculum committees at the department/school, college, and campus levels. The Education Policy Advisory Committee (EPAC) is the final campus approval for all courses. All courses must adhere to UNO's college-level Rigor Policy and Guidelines.
Courses should be submitted using the UNO-Courseleaf Course Inventory Management System (CIM-Course). All information, including the catalog copy, master syllabus, and approvals, is handled within the online systems. Download the CIM-Course guidelines.
Requirements
Rigor Policy and Guidelines
Minor Curriculum Changes
Read the Keys to a Successful Course Proposal
Submitting a Course Proposal
Review Outcome Possibilities
Requirements
The following course changes go through the full Course Proposal Review Process:
- Establishment of a new course;
- Change in the level of an existing course (e.g. from 3000 to 4000 level course);
- Change in number of credit hours of an existing course; and
- Significant revision of an existing course (e.g. changes in the objectives, scope, content, or method of instruction).
Minor Curriculum Changes
The following changes are generally considered the prerogative of individual colleges and do not require campus committee review. However, all curriculum changes are reviewed to ensure that the change meets the standards below and to ensure consistency with the master syllabus standards. All curriculum changes must be submitted through the UNO-Courseleaf Course Inventory Management System (CIM-Course) to be updated in the curriculum master file, and the undergraduate and graduate catalogs. This includes:
- Discontinuation of a course;
- Cross listing of courses between two or more departments or programs;
- Renumbering a course that does not involve changing its level;
- Change in title;
- Change in prerequisites;
- Rewording for catalog description; and
- Minor changes in the organization of a course or the routine updating of content.
Keys to a Successful Course Proposal
- Follow all instructions provided on the form.
- Complete all sections of the form and address the requested information clearly. Remember that this document is the master syllabus for the course. It governs the overall conceptual content and outcomes that must be addressed regardless of the instructor. All instructors who teach the course should review the master syllabus before developing the specific course outline (sometimes referred to as course syllabus) given to students at the beginning of each semester.
- Complete all sections of the form thoroughly, yet explicitly.
- Pay careful attention to formatting (i.e. fonts, bullets, numbers, and tabs).
- Reviewing parties may be unfamiliar with the particular content of a course. Master syllabi should provide very detailed information.
- Clearly state course objectives and Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) in terms of the student (i.e. "in this course students will demonstrate" or "students will analyze"). Learn more about developing the SLOs.
- In dual-level graduate and undergraduate courses, clearly define the differences in expectations of graduate and undergraduate students.
- List and explain assignments completely, but succinctly. The total value of all assignments should equal 100%.
- The bibliography should include a minimum of 10 references reflecting recent scholarship, unless older documents have historical value. A standard reference style (i.e. APA or MLA) should be used.
Submitting a Course Proposal
All proposals for new courses should use the UNO-Courseleaf Course Inventory Management System (CIM-Course). All information, including the catalog copy, master syllabi, and approvals, is handled within the online system. Download the CIM-Course guidelines.
New courses and significant revisions of existing courses normally will be placed on the agenda for the next scheduled EPAC meeting (providing that the agenda for that meeting has not yet been distributed).
EPAC normally meets at least once a month during the academic year, and more frequently if business warrants. The EPAC does not meet in the summer months.
Prior to each meeting a memorandum containing the proposed catalog descriptions of the courses to be considered is sent to the following persons:
- EPAC members
- Chairpersons of the College Curriculum Committees
- All Deans
- Department Chairpersons and School Directors.
This distribution is intended to ensure that interested persons have an opportunity to review and comment on courses before they are considered by EPAC.
Outcome Possibilities
Recommendations of the EPAC are published in its minutes.
Returned Course Proposal
At any time during the approval process, proposals may be returned to authors from any level in the process if members of reviewing committees have questions or have revision suggestions. Requests for revisions from various committees do not always require resubmission to the entire committee, but are instead approved by the chair. The suggestions or requests will be in the "comments" section in CIM-Course.
After the appropriate college and departmental/school review and approval processes, new course syllabi are promoted within CIM-Course.
Provisional Course Approval
There is a procedure for the provisional approval of proposed new courses that have not yet completed the curricular review process at the time class schedules are being prepared.
Provisional approval for one semester can be obtained by contacting the Office of Academic Affairs.
This enables a course to be listed in the class schedule for one semester while it completes the review process. Since class schedules are prepared several months in advance, provisionally approved courses typically complete the review process prior to the beginning of the semester in which they are scheduled.