Curriculum Handbook

A course at one college that will fulfill a subject matter requirement at another college. The content of the articulated course has been reviewed by the two institutions who have determined that the courses are comparable. An articulated course will satisfy a specific major preparation or general education requirement at the transfer college.

A 1987 CSU Faculty Senate resolution designated baccalaureate level courses must meet several standards, including “the criterion of having a ‘bridging’ function, helping to move the student from the skills and knowledge expected at entrance toward the competencies expected at graduation.” Baccalaureate courses shall not replicate the skills and knowledge which are college entry expectations.

 

The CSU criteria for baccalaureate level courses are summarized in three categories: 1) Institutional Issues, 2) Course Expectations, and 3) Pedagogy Employed. According to the criteria described in Course Expectations, if more than 50% of a course’s content is based on the application of technical skills rather than on the theoretical and conceptual knowledge that underlie practice, the course is not likely to be baccalaureate level.

 

See the Appendix for a checklist entitled Skyline College Criteria for Determining What Constitutes a Baccalaureate Level Course. This checklist applies to all transferable courses and can be used in both their creation and review.

A course that must be taken concurrently with another course (i.e. during the same semester or session).

Two separate courses with identical, but separate course outlines that are listed by discipline in the schedule and are taught concurrently.  For example, Survey of Chemistry and Physics is cross-listed as CHEM 114 and PHYS 114.  

NOTE: Each time a course modification is made to one of the course outlines, the other course outline must be modified and presented at the same Curriculum Committee meeting.

A type of credit course that is transcripted in the student’s record and can be counted towards transfer, a certificate, or a degree. The following types of courses are degree applicable:

1. All lower division courses accepted toward the baccalaureate degree by UC or CSU.
2. Courses accepted for transfer to the UC or CSU systems.
3. Courses within a TOP code designated as vocational, which are part of an approved CTE program.
4. Courses that meet or exceed the standards of the California Community Colleges completed at other institutionally accredited institutions shall be counted toward associate degree unit requirements.

The Curriculum Committee approves degree-applicable credit courses based on the following standards established in Title 5, section 55002:

1. Grading policy
   The course provides for measurement of student performance in terms of the stated course objectives and culminates in a formal, permanently recorded grade based upon uniform standards in accordance with section 55023. The grade is based on demonstrated proficiency in subject matter and the ability to demonstrate that proficiency, at least in part, by means of essays, or, in courses where the curriculum committee deems them to be appropriate, by problem solving exercises or skills demonstrations by students.
2. Units
   Units of credit are based on a relationship between the number of hours (typically expressed in terms of hours of lecture and/or hours of lab) and the number of units. Title 5, section 55002.5 provides details on calculating units, including this general principle:
   
   1. Each unit of credit represents a minimum of three hours of study, including class time per week, over the length of the term used by the college.
   2. The course outline of record shall record the total number of hours in each instructional category specified in governing board policy, the total number of expected outside-of-class hours, and the total student learning hours used to calculate the award of credit.
3. Intensity
   The course must be designed with sufficient scope and intensity to require students to spend additional, independent study time outside-of-class time. (The calculation of units is based on total student learning hours, i.e. hours spent both inside and outside of class.) The COR should provide sufficient scope and rigor to account for outside-of-class hours.
   
   
4. Prerequisite and Co-requisites
   Local curriculum approval includes an assessment of entry skills that may be necessary for students to successfully complete the course, but that are not covered in the course. When the college and/or curriculum committee determines, based on a review of the COR, that a student would be highly unlikely to receive a satisfactory grade unless the student has knowledge or skills not taught in the course, then the course shall require prerequisites or corequisites (credit or noncredit) that are established, reviewed, and applied in accordance with the requirements of this article.
   
5. Basic Skills Requirements
   If success in the course is dependent upon communication or computation skills, then the course shall require as prerequisites or corequisites eligibility for enrollment in associate degree credit courses in English and/or mathematics, respectively.
   
6. Difficulty
   The course calls for critical thinking and the understanding and application of concepts determined by the curriculum committee to be at the college level.
7. Level
   The course requires learning skills and a vocabulary that the curriculum committee deems appropriate for a college course.
   

A course that is inactivated is removed from the catalog and also from any associated programs in which it had been included. Inactivating a course will remove all course articulations. Note: A record of the inactivated course is maintained in CurricUNET and can be reactivated should this become appropriate. The timelines for reactivating a course are the same as for a new course.

Instruction in which the instructor and student are separated by distance and interact through the assistance of communication technology. DE courses are covered by Title 5, which specifies that course quality standards apply to distance education in the same manner as for traditional face-to-face courses.

Distance education courses undergo a required separate review process to ensure that they are taught to the Course Outline of Record, include regular and substantive contact (instructor-student and student-student contact), and achieve the same objectives and outcomes as the face-to-face modality. 

Distance Education courses and instructors are subject to the standard practices, procedures, criteria and oversight which have been established for traditional face-to-face courses at Skyline College.

There are two types of DE courses:

1. Online courses
   Instruction involves regular and substantive online interaction that takes place asynchronously and is supported by online materials and activities delivered through the college's learning management system, and through the use of other required materials. All approved instructional contact hours, including online proctored assessments, are delivered through these online interactions. No in-person assessments are required. No TBA hours can be collected in this type of course.
   
2. Hybrid Courses
   Curriculum is designed intentionally and thoughtfully to integrate F2F and online learning experiences. F2F time is reduced, but not eliminated, with the balance of learning being facilitated asynchronously.
   
   • Contact Hours: Hours that a student receives the active instruction; 30-70% of the normal contact hours are now done online (and not F2F)
     • For planning purposes, consider a set selection of percentages for F2F/online contact hours: 30/70, 40/60, 50/50, 60/40, or 70/30
   • Face-to-face: Instructors must post pre-scheduled class meeting times and location on WebSchedule and in their course syllabus. The F2F portion is meant to be ‘mandatory’ for students.
     • Online meetings should be held on District-approved platforms so as to be FERPA-compliant
   • Asynchronous Component: Work may include assignments done on the LMS and/or related sites.
   • Significant Assessments: Instructors must post whether required exams are online or in-person in WebSchedule and the course syllabus. 
   • Lectures: Could be conducted in-person or asynchronously, as long as the contact hours are maintained. 
   • Contact hours: Consistent, pre-scheduled time throughout the semester, clearly identifying the total amount of hours, day/s, and location/s.

In contrast to DE courses, face-to-face courses do not replace any instructional time with distance education modes. However, course materials may be made available to students at least in part online, and learning support and office hours may be provided at least in part online.

 

The Skyline College Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL) provides services, facilities, and resources for faculty developing Distance Education curriculum. Please consult the CTTL website and the Distance Education Faculty Handbook   for more information.

Additional courses a student completes beyond general education and major requirements in order to achieve enough units for graduation or transfer. The number varies greatly among majors, and depends on the number of courses already completed.

One type of stand-alone credit course is the experimental course. In general, this is a course for which full information on some approval criteria, such as feasibility or need, cannot be determined until the course is first offered on a trial basis. Reasons for offering an experimental course include:

1. The appeal or need for a course is unknown, and the only way to ascertain potential enrollment is to offer the course on a pilot basis.
2. New curriculum to meet business or community educational needs must be developed quickly.
3. A department wants to “test the waters” with a new direction in curriculum.
4. Assessing an experimental or new approach to instruction, such as collaborative instruction or service learning.

Departments use the course numbers 680 or 880 to offer a course on an experimental basis before proposing its adoption into the departmental curriculum with a regular course number. Experimental courses are submitted to the Curriculum Committee as new course proposals on CurricUNET.

Differences between 680 and 880 courses:

680 Courses (degree/certificate applicable as electives, transferable) 

Experimental courses that are intended for transfer should use the number 680. It is essential that experimental courses maintain the same standards and rigor as established curriculum as CSU accepts courses numbered 680 as elective credit for transferring students. Some campuses of the University of California may, at their option, accept Skyline courses numbered 680. Courses with a 680 number are also degree-applicable for AA or AS degrees as electives and, therefore, must meet Title 5 regulations for degree-applicable courses. 

Experimental courses are not applicable to general education requirements or program major requirements for associate degrees or certificates. All CSU transferable experimental courses must meet the proposal submission deadline indicated on the Curriculum Committee calendar.

Not listed in catalog 

Semester limits on experimental courses 

Courses using a 680 or 880 number may be offered no more than two terms. After an experimental course has been offered twice, it must be submitted to the Curriculum Committee for approval as a regular course, or Skyline College must discontinue offering the course as experimental.

   

Also referred to as breadth requirements. These are patterns of courses that a particular college or university requires for graduation (typically including English, History, Arts, Math and Science, Social science, Literature and Language) in addition to the courses required by the major. Skyline’s GE pattern is in alignment with the CSU GE-Breadth pattern.

Courses that offer one-on-one instruction to achieve some specific goals beyond the current scope of existing courses. Such courses must have clear rules about faculty and student activities and interaction. Designed for students who are interested in furthering their knowledge via self-paced, individualized, directed instruction provided in selected areas to be arranged with the instructor and approved by the division Dean using the Independent Study Learning Contract. Varying modes of instruction can be used -- lab, research, skill development, etc.

For each unit earned, students are required to devote three hours per week throughout the semester. Students may take only one Independent Study course within a given discipline. Complete directions for enrolling and supervising an independent study student, and the Learning Contract, are found at the Curriculum Committee website.

Course outlines for 695 courses are based on a generic outline format for Independent Study applicable to all disciplines. This standardization is done to ensure securing a control number from the state’s Curriculum Inventory and for articulation. Therefore, the following segments of the COR are the same for all 695 courses and cannot be changed by course originators: Units/Hours, Method of Grading, Recommended Preparation, and Catalog Description.

However, the following segments of the COR can be customized to the discipline (if appropriate): Specific Instructional Objectives, Representative Methods of Instruction, Representative Assignments, and Representative Methods of Evaluation.

A course which gives students the opportunity to apply their skills and knowledge through an on-site supervised work experience in a setting pertaining to their major. Internship courses require a prerequisite of coursework to be completed prior to the internship. 

Internships typically vary from 1 to 4 units (60 hours of volunteer work or 75 hours paid work per semester for each unit of credit). 

Faculty wishing to create an internship course for their program must contact the Office of Instruction for a course number.

Active participatory courses in physical education, visual arts, or the performing arts that are related to one another in content. (Courses are related in content when the courses have similar primary educational activities and different skill levels, and are separated into distinct courses.) These courses are grouped into “families” of courses. Each course in the family represents a different skill level with different course outlines, course content, and SLOs for each level.

Students are permitted to enroll in no more than four semesters of the courses that are related in content, i.e. per family of classes. Examples:

Generally understood as courses taken during the first two years of a four-year degree. Community college degree-applicable courses are generally considered lower division courses.

Lower division (freshman/sophomore) courses taken at the community college in preparation for the major a student has applied for at the four-year university. Completing these “major prep” or “support for the major” courses increase a student’s chances of acceptance into competitive majors.

An additional type of stand-alone course. The category of non degree-applicable credit courses was created by regulatory amendments adopted by the Board of Governors in 1986 and includes the following types of courses:

1. Basic skills courses.
2. Courses designed to prepare students to succeed in degree-applicable credit courses that integrate basic skills instruction throughout and assign grades partly upon demonstrated mastery of those skills.
3. Pre-collegiate CTE (Career Technical Education) preparation courses designed to provide foundation skills for students preparing for entry into degree-applicable CTE courses or programs.
   
   These courses must provide instruction in critical thinking, prepare students to study independently outside of class, and include reading and writing assignments. However, the course materials and level of difficulty do not have to be at the college level.
   
   Title 5, section 55002(b), requires that non degree-applicable credit courses be approved by the college Curriculum Committee and District governing board.
   
   The college curriculum committee is responsible for recommending approval of non degree-applicable credit courses based on standards specified in Title 5, section 55002(b):
   
   1. Grading policy: same as for degree-applicable credit courses.
   2. Units: same as for degree-applicable credit courses.
   3. Intensity: same as for degree-applicable credit courses, with the additional requirement that the course must demonstrate scope and intensity that prepares students – either through completion of this course or a required sequence of courses linked to this course – for degree-applicable work.
   4. Prerequisites and Corequisites: Title 5 allows a college to require prerequisites or corequisites for non degree-applicable courses. Non degree-applicable courses must follow the standards, criteria, and approval process for prerequisites and corequisites outlined in Title 5, section 55003.

A course that must be completed with a C grade or better in order for a student to advance to another course. Prerequisite courses provide the skills and knowledge essential to success in the course for which it is required. A student can challenge a prerequisite if they feel it has already been met.

A course is considered to be part of an approved program when:

1. It is a required course for a degree or certificate in a program approved by the Chancellor’s Office.
2. It is on a list of restricted electives for a degree or certificate from which students are required to choose to achieve a degree or certificate in a program approved by the Chancellor’s Office.
3. It is part of an approved general education pattern (i.e. Cal-GETC or a local pattern conforming to Title 5).

A course is not considered part of an approved program when it is only required for a certificate that has been approved locally, but not by the Chancellor’s Office – such as a certificate requiring fewer than 16 semester units (Certificate of Specialization).

The general rule is that a student is not permitted to enroll again in a credit course if the student received a satisfactory grade on the previous enrollment. Thus, most courses are non-repeatable for credit. One exception to this general rule are courses properly designated as repeatable.

Under Title 5, only three types of courses are repeatable:

1. Intercollegiate athletics
2. Intercollegiate academic or vocational competition
3. Courses for which repetition is necessary to meet the major requirement of California State University (CSU) or University of California (UC) for completion of a bachelor’s degree

Another type of stand-alone course is the selected topics course, which is a course that “employs a consistent disciplinary framework, but for which the specific focus may change from term to term” (PCAH, 8th ed., p. 52). An example would be a course entitled “Selected Topics in International Relations,” in which the course content would be different each semester the course is offered. However, if a particular topic is addressed regularly, it must be approved as a regular course.

In order to offer a specific Selected Topics Course in a department, the parent “Selected Topics in (Department Name)” course must exist and/or be created in CurricUNET and published in the catalog (e.g. “COMP 665: Selected Topics in Computer Science”). Each specific Selected Topics course must be entered in CurricUNET with a five-digit course number (e.g., COMP 665S_) and a separate, unique course outline. Specific selected topics courses are not listed in the catalog.

All CSU transferable selected topics courses must meet the proposal submission deadline indicated on the Curriculum Committee calendar.

In a degree or certificate program, a sequential course follows a previous course in chronological or logical order.  Examples:

MUS. 105: Music Theory I
MUS. 106: Music Theory II

PHYS 250: Physics with Calculus I
PHYS 260: Physics with Calculus II
PHYS 270: Physics with Calculus III

 

When a credit course is not part of an approved program, it is “not degree-applicable,” and is therefore commonly referred to as a stand-alone credit course. This term also refers to credit courses that are required for a certificate of fewer than 16 semester units that has not been approved by the Chancellor’s Office as a Certificate of Achievement. Stand-alone courses must be submitted to the Chancellor’s Office for chaptering.  The CORs for all types of stand-alone courses must have all the required elements and meet the same standards as other credit courses.

Transferable courses are taken at one college and are granted academic credit at another college. When deciding if a course qualifies as a transfer course, the most basic consideration is whether or not a comparable course is offered as preparation for a major or as general education at the lower division at a CSU or UC.

Therefore, if your course is intended for transfer credit, you must use the COMPARABLE TRANSFER COURSES screen on CurricUNET to indicate that a comparable course exists at a four-year institution(s). This is necessary to confirm CSU-transferability for the course and for proper articulation. Lower division parallel courses may come only from the CSU or UC systems. For help in determining if your course is transferable, please contact the Skyline Articulation Officer.

NOTE: Official information about course transferability and degree applicability is stated in the Skyline College Catalog. Information about course transferability and degree applicability is updated on an annual basis. For the most current information about course transferability, consult a Skyline College counselor and/or ASSIST, the online transfer information database.

This refers to a course that will only be used for transfer credit at the transfer college. This type of transferable course does not satisfy any subject requirement and can only be used for unit or elective credit.

Upper-division courses generally have one or more of the following characteristics:

1. In-depth study and focus on theory and methods
   
   Students pursue in-depth study of a discipline’s theories and methods, and develop an understanding of the applications and limitations of those theories. Greater emphasis on theory and applying theory to practice.
   
   
2. Specialization
   
   Students develop specific intellectual and professional abilities that will enable them to succeed or progress in a particular field or professional practice. Prepares students for Master’s degree work.
   
   
3. Refinement
   
   Students build upon lower division coursework, applying that knowledge and skill set more discerningly or in more challenging contexts.
   
   
4. Preparation
   
   Prerequisites may include general or foundational courses, student class standing, GPA requirements, or admission to a pre-professional program. Thus, majors and minors generally take upper-division courses in their junior and senior years.
   
   
5. Bridging function to move students from lower division competency to upper division mastery
   
   
6. An integrative function
   
   Students integrate knowledge and experience gained from earlier studies.
   
   
7. Currency
   
   More currency in the field of study than foundational lower division courses.
   
   
8. Practicums, workforce training, and/or apprenticeships
   
   
9. Assignments
   
   
1. Should require lower division knowledge and apply that knowledge as demonstrated measures of critical thinking through writing, oral communication, and/or computation.
2. Emphasize synthesis, integration, and critical thinking.
3. Rigorous research and writing assignments that require critical thinking.
4. A student self-evaluation component (e.g. portfolios and capstone projects).
5. Other types of independent learning projects.
6. Case studies featured.
   
   
10.  The Course Outline of Record
    
    
1. Higher level SLOs (reflecting greater complexity, depth, breadth, and specialization).
2. More depth in course lecture content.

# Adapted from the University of Nevada, Reno; ASCCC Baccalaureate Degree Task Force (Rostrum, Sept. 2015); and discussions held at the ASCCC Baccalaureate Degree Meeting (San Diego, May 2015).

A course in which the units earned by the student varies according to the amount of content covered and work required. Commonly used for internship courses and independent study courses.

Work Experience Education (WEE) courses give students the opportunity to earn elective units of credit for work experience.  In 2023, Title 5 was revised (section 55250) and removed the distinction between Occupational Work Experience Education and General Work Experience Education.

The purpose of Work Experience Education is to provide students with an integrated instructional program that provides opportunities to connect academic curricula to applied experiential learning in the workplace. It includes student employment and/or internships that provide meaningful work experiences related to the student’s course of study, or specific career pathway training, combined with instruction in critical workplace skills.

The Work Experience Education instructor and the student establish learning objectives related to the student’s employment. One unit of credit for every 48-54 hours worked, paid or unpaid, per semester, with a maximum of six units per semester, may be earned by students with jobs related to their academic or occupational majors or goals. May be repeated for credit up to 16 units.

Regulations for Work Experience Education are covered in Title 5, beginning with section 55250. For more information on Work Experience Education at Skyline, visit the Work Experience Education webpage on the Skyline College website.