Course Proposal Process FAQs

In the CIM Workflow, you may notice that the final step in the approval is “Peoplesoft.” This indicates when your action has completed approvals and has arrived for implementation via our colleagues in Registration and Records. They will implement needed fields into SIS and approve the action when that work is complete.

Questions about actions at this step? Reach out to classscheduler@ncsu.edu to reach the scheduling and catalog team!

Please note that if the schedule has already rolled for the upcoming semester, you will need to work with your Scheduling Officer to implement some updates/changes/additions.

Each department has its own review process to best serve the needs of the department and discipline(s). Contact your Director of Undergraduate Programs and/or your Department Head to learn more details.

At this level, departments review and discuss terms and methods of the disciplines involved in the course or curriculum and how the course fits with the department’s plans and requirements or how the curriculum is constructed and its outcomes.

If the Department head has charged a Departmental Curriculum Committee, that group will review courses/curricular work and make recommendations for approval (or otherwise) to the Department Head.

Each college has its own review process to best serve the needs of the college. Contact your College Liaison/Assistant or Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for more details. Colleges generally have both administrative support and committee representatives that bridge information between the university and college levels.

The College Curriculum Committee makes recommendations for approval to the Dean and/or their designee (most frequently the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs).

By the time the action reaches the College Dean’s step of approval, the following will have all been completed and discussed:

• Disciplines, terms, methods of assessment, and ruling consistent with departmental and college standards.
• Curricular structure meets departmental and college needs
• All typos in the CIM Form are fixed
• Syllabus confirmed to comply with the Syllabus Regulation
• Any consultations within or between Colleges have been completed or at least started.

The University Courses and Curricula Committee (UCCC) looks at the course/curricular action from a university-wide perspective. As members of a representative academy, the faculty members of UCCC verify that all required items are present in CIM and are communicated clearly and fairly for review, posterity, and implementation and are in-line with university-wide norms, policies, rules, and regulations. This includes:

• Title and Abbreviated Title are related to content and identifiable
• Contact/Credit Hours follow established guidelines
• Course Length is listed correctly (usually 16 weeks for full term, 8 for 1/2 in Fall and Spring; 3, 5, or 10 weeks in Summer)
• Repeat for Credit is appropriate for course type and repetition restrictions (if appropriate) are present in the course record.
• Topic Outline lists topics in course and relate to other fields of the record. If timing is included, ranges are suggested for flexibility.
• Requisites clearly labeled and accounted for in consultations if other department’s/college’s courses are included.
• Catalog Description reflects course content.
• Justification explains all changes.
• Student Learning Outcomes are measurable and an appropriate level for the course and aligned with the Student Evaluation Methods listed
• Student Evaluation Methods are appropriate for course level and aligned with outcomes and other fields. Ranges are frequently recommended for pedagogical/student flexibility.
• Syllabus has been reviewed by the college.

You are welcome and encouraged to attend the meetings during which your course will be reviewed.

Colleges have both administrative support and committee representatives at the University level.

The Council on Undergraduate Education (CUE) will look at course proposals as they relate to the General Education Program (GEP). The faculty on this committee focus on alignment of the courses’s student learning outcomes with the selected GEP category objective(s), and the alignment of the listed measurements with those outcomes.

You are welcome and encouraged to attend the meetings during which your course will be reviewed.

Colleges have both administrative support and committee representatives at the University level.

During the department/college levels, you may receive communication from your DUP, Department Head, College Liaison, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, and/or Department/College Curriculum committee Chair. These individuals and groups are experts in translating your vision and intent for your course into CIM and policy compliance.

Once your course arrives at the University levels, you can expect

• An e-mail inviting you to the committee meeting in which your action is being reviewed. Please note that OUCCAS uses the initiator marked in CIM Courses to know who to contact.
  • If you would like to add someone else, please let us know.
• An e-mail following up after the meeting if your action may require additional work or if there were questions unanswered in the meeting.
• College liaisons receive Approval Memo e-mails detailing approved actions after each meeting once actions have been processed to next steps.

You can always log into CIM for Courses and look up your course to see what steps it has passed (green) where it is in the workflow currently (yellow/orange).

• For Interdisciplinary Perspectives (IP) GEP category, clearly label your disciplines for Interdisciplinary Perspectives. For higher-level courses that delve deeper into disciplinary methods and perspectives, the committee expects to see 2-3 disciplines. For lower-level survey courses, a larger number of disciplines can be represented.
• For the Global Knowledge GEP category, list the countries and cultures the course will cover.
• GEP courses must be available to the larger campus – at least 25% of seats should be available and the course prerequisites should not be restricted.
• Both USD and USDEI are available as categories in CIM. Students that either matriculated on/after Fall 2023 or who chose to move to the new, restructured GEP will have audits that look for USDEI courses. Students that matriculated prior to Fall 2023 will have audits that look for USD courses.
  • USDEI courses will show up on both USD and USDEI lists
  • USD courses only show up on USD lists
• If multiple GEP categories are possible in your course, include a statement that clarifies to students that they will need to choose which category the course will fulfill.
• Include some detail in your assessment information to create a clear bridge for reviewers from the GEP Objectives to the learning outcomes of your course. Sample questions are not required but are a quick and easy way to create this bridge.
• Ensure that your outcomes are at or above the level of the verb(s) used in the objectives. Use of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy is not required but is the resource most frequently used by CUE.

These e-mails from OUCCAS provide you with information from the meeting discussion to enable the action to move forward. These are terms you may hear during the meeting or in our e-mails.

• Committee Recommends Approval: Action moves on to the next step.
• Recommend Approval with Suggestions: Committee members have offered collegial suggestions to improve the course/course record. Action on these suggestions is not required.
• Recommend Approval Pending: There is an issue or question that needs to be resolved before the course can move forward. OUCCAS will provide guidance and connect you to resources to assist to facilitate these changes.
  • If no action is taken on Pending items within two weeks, the proposal moves to the Tabled status and will be rolled back to the college. This returns the action to college-level support and prevents the action from stalling out.
  • If the recommended changes do not align with your intent for the course, you are welcome to attend and speak further to the committee regarding the proposal! Contact OUCCAS to be placed on the agenda as needed.
• Tabled: There is significant confusion or significant change required before approval can be recommended. The action is rolled back to the college level for consideration before coming back to university level steps.
  • When a tabled action returns to the committee, it will be first on the agenda as Old Business.
• Rollback/Returned: After review, the revisions needed for approval of the action requires the expertise and insight of the proposal’s home discipline. The action is rolled back to the college level.