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NEW COURSE PROPOSAL

Curriculum development includes the revision of existing courses, as well as the creation of new courses. A flexible curriculum pays attention to the changing needs of its students, community, and industry, and modifies itself accordingly. If the changes to a course's content are substantive and/or substantial, it needs to go through the Curriculum Committee as a revised course.

The approval route: the originator (or designee) is responsible for following the
progress of a proposal through the specified rounds. Allow sufficient time.
The adequacy of available library resources must be evaluated. This is especially true for new courses and/or programs. If materials are inadequate, you may need to make recommendations for library purchases and/or help locate necessary funding. (Allow at least 2 weeks for this process.)
Course-to-Discipline Assignment: All courses must be assigned to an appropriate academic discipline. Some courses incorporate several disciplines; they should be assigned to either Interdisciplinary Studies or the academic area that will be assuming primary scheduling/budgetary responsibility for the course.

COURSE/CATALOG REVISION

Curriculum development includes the revision of existing courses, as well as the creation of new courses. A flexible curriculum pays attention to the changing needs of its students, community, and industry, and modifies itself accordingly. Prior approval by the College Instruction Committee is required before any changes can be made to courses in our catalogue. The approval process is the same as that which is use to approve a new course. It requires review by and signatures of the instructor, department chair, division chair, chairpersons of the Division and College Instruction Committees and the College Dean.

The Course/Catalog Revision form is used for changes to courses or catalog information. Deleting a course from the inventory of courses is also accomplished by using this form

Substantial change of more than 20% to the objectives or course content may require the completion of a New Course Proposal form with a new number,course title and description. Failure to do so may result in the rejection of your request for a course or catalog change.

INFORMATION COMPETENCY

Information Competency is the ability to both recognize when information is needed, and to locate, evaluate, synthesize, use and communicate information in various formats. The California Community College Board of Governors identified Information Competency as essential to student success. In 1996, the State Academic Senate adopted a resolution in support of Information Competency. While not yet a community college state requirement, 35 community colleges include an Information Competency course in their curriculum and at least fourteen (including Diablo Valley College, Santa Rosa, Cabrillo College, and City College San Francisco) have already implemented or are in the process of implementing an Information Competency requirement.

DISTANCE EDUCATION

All distance education courses must obtain separate CIC approval whether they are newly proposed or existing courses. The Distance Education Supplementary Information form includes the additional information required by state regulations for distance education courses.

The definition of distance education was revised in March 1994 by the State Chancellor's Office and Board of Governors to allow for new and developing technologies. These revisions also expanded the types of distance education courses that may be offered to include nontransferable and noncredit courses.

Distance education means instruction in which the instructor and student are separated by distance and interact through the assistance of communication technology.

INDEPENDENT STUDIES

Independent Studies courses are an option in many departments for students whose interests in a particular area extend beyond regular course offerings. They are developed in consultation between a student and an instructor, and require the approval of the appropriate department and division chairs, and the College Dean. As an educational contract between student and instructor, Independent Studies courses do not have to come through the curriculum approval process, but faculty may want some guidance in filling out the revised contract form. It is a good idea to have a clearly defined outline of what the student will be expected to learn both for the participants, and for future articulation purposes.

NEW MAJOR/CHANGE OF MAJOR

There are several levels of approval for a newly created program major or Certificate. If the major or certificate is in a completely new instructional program, the process requires approval from the State Chancellor's Office (after a detailed evaluation of the need for the program, staffing, equipment and other resources, and funding sources by the department, division, and college).

If the newly-developed certificate or program major is an existing instructional program, you can use the New/Change of Major or New/Change of Certificate (A or C) form to:
Delete a major or a certificate
Change the name of a major/certificate
Change a major/certificate by adding/deleting courses
Add another major or certificate to a program
Replace an existing major/certificate
Create a new major/certificate in a program
Create a new Department
Change the name of a Department

NEW CERTIFICATE/CHANGE OF CERTIFICATE

There are several levels of approval for a newly created programme major or Certificate. If the major or certificate is in a completely new instructional programme, the process requires approval from the State Chancellor's Office (after a detailed evaluation of the need for the programme, staffing, equipment and other resources, and funding sources by the department, division, and college). If the newly-developed certificate or programme major is an existing instructional programme, you can use the New/Change of Major or New/Change of Certificate (A or C) form to:
Delete a major or a certificate
Change the name of a major/certificate
Change a major/certificate by adding/deleting courses
Add another major or certificate to a programme
Replace an existing major/certificate
Create a new major/certificate in a programme
Create a new Department
Change the name of a Department

NEW DEPARTMENT/CHANGE OF DEPARTMENT

Create a new department
Change the name of a department

Forms required:
Change of Major-Certificate-Department

NON-CREDIT COURSE

Non-credit Instruction is a term used in the Education Code to describe instruction that is for adults, but not necessarily at the 13th and 14th grade levels. As it somewhat overlaps with what is offered in Adult Education programs in the K-12 Districts, state guidelines no longer require college districts to enter into a mutual agreement with the local school district. However, CCC has always maintained a mutual agreement with the West Contra Costa County Unified School District.

The topic areas allowed are limited by law. Proposed courses must fit into one of these categories. Most subject areas on campus would not qualify. A non-credit course should be a less demanding, limited offering designed to reach very specific populations. The reason for this is twofold: the course is not college level; and the State reimburses the College for only half the revenue of a credit course. The District and Faculty Union have agreed, therefore, to limit non-credit ADA to 1% of the District's total ADA.

VARIABLE TOPIC COURSE

Variable Topic Courses ("Topics In") are experimental, providing the chance to perform trial runs of possible new courses. A "Topics In" course may be developed to test new content or instructional methods, to function as part of a pilot project, or to respond to student and/or industry needs. It may be OFFERED TWICE as a 100-level course.. After that, it must be assigned a permanent course number, if it is to become a part of the regular curriculum. In the meantime, use the "100" course number in the various disciplines. Call the Scheduling Specialist for the next 100 in sequence. (e.g. Business 100Q: Starting Your Own Business).