The Curriculum Approval Process

Faculty are asked to attend the Curriculum Committee meeting to speak on behalf of their curriculum proposal(s) and answer any questions the committee might have.

  • The Curriculum Chair will recognize the faculty and ask them to quickly explain why the committee is seeing the course.
    • This is a great time for faculty to quickly explain the reason they are modifying the course.
  • Faculty can also speak to any of the Curriculum Committee technical review comments that they may not have changed or disagreed with.
  • The Committee members will then discuss and take action to either approve the course, return the course for more edits, deny the proposal, or table the course to a later meeting date.
Curriculum Handbook Canvas   Curriculum Handbook Doc  

Curriculum proposals approved by the Curriculum Committee are forwarded to the Vice President of Instruction for consideration. The Vice President of Instruction then takes action to approve the course and/or program in CurricUNET. Within the Office of Instruction, the Curriculum Committee approval date (and DE approval date on courses, if applicable) is entered on the course and/or program record. The Curriculum Specialist then approves the course and/or program for later implementation and the course and/or program appears in CurricUNET as “Approved”. The Curriculum Specialist also prepares and submits the monthly Curriculum Board Report.

After course proposals have advanced through the proper channels at each of the three District Colleges, the Board of Trustees provides the final level of approval for all onsite and online courses. For approval of new degrees, the State Chancellor’s Office provides final approval.

Three Strands of Curriculum Approval: Course, Program, & C-ID

Curriculum approval at the course and degree level is complex and involves the college faculty, Curriculum Committee, Office of Instruction, the State Chancellor's Office, and in some cases, the state Course Identification Number System (C-ID).

Skyline College curriculum has three major approval strands:

  1. Individual course approval
  2. Program, degree, certificate approval
  3. C-ID approval
    • C-ID is a supra numbering system developed to ease transfer and articulation burdens in California’s higher educational institutions. For further information regarding C-ID see: http://www.c-id.net/index.html or the C-ID Section of the handbook.

Types of Courses

Skyline College offers a number of different courses. The following are definitions and explanations of the characteristics of each type of course.

NOTE: All program applicable and stand alone courses are submitted to the California Community College Chancellor's office for chaptering. All non-credit courses are submitted to the Chancellor’s Office for review and chaptering.

Creating New Courses

When developing new courses, it is essential that faculty consult the Curriculum Committee calendar and adhere to publication and articulation deadlines. The Curriculum Committee reviews all new course proposals.

Faculty create new course proposals using the CurricUNET online system. All new course proposals require faculty to write a Course Outline of Record (COR). Detailed directions for creating a new course proposal on CurricUNET are available at the CurricUNET page of the Curriculum Committee website. CurricUNET automatically generates MS Word and PDF formats of the COR written by the course originator.

Modifying Courses

Faculty are responsible for making certain that CurricUNET has accurate and current information about courses. Updating and revising your curriculum is an ongoing, necessary, and crucial aspect of curriculum management.

Revising and/or updating any part of a course outline is known as a “course modification,” and is done through CurricUNET. Since the course outline (COR) is generated by CurricUNET, a course modification automatically updates the COR.

There are many reasons for modifying a course, ranging from revising the catalog course description and lecture content to updating textbooks and assignments. Moreover, all course outlines must be reviewed as part of the Comprehensive Program Review process, which occurs on a 7-year cycle.

Things to Keep in Mind When Modifying Courses

  • Only courses with an “ACTIVE” or “BANKED” status on CurricUNET can be modified
  • You cannot modify a course that already has a modification pending on CurricUNET.
  • When submitting a course modification, every CurricUNET screen for the course must be reviewed and updated as necessary, even if the intent is only to change one or a few items regarding the course. When a course modification is received by the Curriculum Committee, they review every aspect of the course from top to bottom, even if only one change has been made. This level of scrutiny is not intended to be punitive. Instead, this oversight helps ensure that all curriculum information is accurate, current, and meets state regulations and accreditation standards.
  • When modifying a course that has a cross-listing (for example, PHYS 114 is cross-listed as CHEM 114), you must make the same modification(s) to the cross-listed course and bring them through the same curriculum committee meeting for approval. Each course must be modified and submitted separately on CurricUNET.
  • In order for course modifications to be effective for a specific term, faculty must meet the deadlines noted on the Curriculum Committee calendar.

Detailed directions for completing and submitting course modifications can also be found on the CurricuNET page of the Curriculum Committee website.

Deleting Courses

An accurate list of course offerings is essential for students’ educational planning, therefore the Curriculum Committee reviews and approves all requests to delete courses.

Deleting a course removes it from the catalog and from any associated programs in which the course has been included. Deleting a course removes all course articulations. If the course is later re-created, it must be re-submitted for articulation.