Magis Core Course Application
Please see the attached instructions before completing this form. A syllabus is required as part of the application.
Course information
Dept. & No.: / Title: / Credits:Course format
Lecture/discussion / Laboratory / Other:Catalog description
Prerequisites and co-requisites, if any
Cross listings, if any
Application type
New course / Existing course — New application / Existing course — Change requestCore requirement(s) fulfilled
Foundations / Explorations / IntegrationsContemporary Composition / Ethics / Doing Natural Science
Critical Issues in Human Inquiry / Fine Arts / Doing Social Science
Oral Communication / Foreign Language / Intersections
Mathematical Reasoning / Global Perspectives in History / Ultimate Questions
Philosophical Ideas / Literature
The Christian Tradition / The Biblical Tradition
Understanding Natural Science
Understanding Social Science
Designation
Ethics / Oral Communication / Statistical Reasoning
Technology / Written Communication
Legacy core equivalency, if any
Sponsor
Name: / Email: / Phone:Core support
Fit to core and mission
Learning objectives
Identifier / Activities supporting objective / Assessment6
Magis Core Course Application Instructions
General instructions
Please complete all sections of the application.
· Checkboxes can be selected by double-clicking and choosing the “Checked” option.
· Other responses should be provided in open table cells or the open spaces below each instruction.
· To add a row to a table, place the cursor to the right of the last row and hit enter. To delete a row, click to the left of the row to select it, then backspace or Cut.
A syllabus must be submitted along with the application. Even if information requested in the application is available in the syllabus, it should be repeated for future reference independent of the syllabus.
Information on the core, including objectives and descriptions for each component and designated skill, can be found in the Magis CCAS Core Curriculum Plan (the “Magis Plan”). Sample applications and other helpful materials can be found at: http://biology.creighton.edu/CCC/index.html#Samples
Questions can be addressed to the chair of the CCC, Alistair Cullum (, ×3080), or the Director of the Magis Core, Kevin Graham (, ×1219).
Application form
Course information
Guidelines for course numbers can be found at: http://biology.creighton.edu/CCC/documents/CourseNumberingGuidelines.html.
Course titles are limited to 30 characters by the registrar.
All core components must be 3 credits or more, except Oral Communication (1 or more credits), Mathematical Reasoning and Understanding Natural Science (2 or more credits), and Doing Natural Science (4 or more credits). Designated courses do not have a minimum number of credits.
Course format
Check all that apply.
Catalog description
Provide a description of no more than 50 words to appear in theUndergraduate Catalog (previously the Undergraduate Bulletin).A longer description can be provided in the course syllabus.
Prerequisites and co-requisites
Foundations courses should strive to limit prerequisites. Courses serving special groups may request that membership in that group be a prerequisite.
Explorations and Integrations courses must include the core prerequisites indicated in the Magis Core Plan; other prerequisites may also be added.
Cross listings
Cross-listing should be limited to no more than one additional department or program.
Application type
Courses currently in the Catalog, whether part of the legacy core or not, are considered existing courses. If an existing course is not currently part of the Magis core, please check “Existing course — New application”; if the course is already a Magis course but requires a change in status (e.g., to add Designated Ethics), please check “Existing course — Change request” and specify the current and requested status (e.g., “This is an approved Literature course for which I am requesting Designated Ethics status.”
Core requirement fulfilled
Courses submitted to the CCC must fulfill a core component, a designated skill area, or both. Courses as the Foundations level cannot include a designated skill area.
Legacy core equivalency
If this is a new course that could fulfill a component of the legacy (1993-2014) core, indicate which requirement it could meet. Existing courses will continue to act in their current capacity with regard to the legacy core.
Sponsor
The sponsor is the primary point of contact for the application process. He or she need not be the instructor for the course.
Core support
In the remaining sections of the application, please limit yourself to no more than 500 words for each response. The exception would be “Support for learning objectives,” for which some Core Components may require a longer response.
Fit to core and mission
Explain how the course fits the description of the core component requirement, and how the course supports the aspect of the Jesuit and Catholic educational mission of the college that is described in the rationale for the Core Curriculum requirement.
A description for each component’s role in the core, and a general description of its fit to mission, can be found in Chapter 2 of the Magis CCAS Core Curriculum Requirements. In addition, a discussion of the CCAS mission and the Ignatian charisms can be found on the College website at:
http://ccas.creighton.edu/faculty-administration/about-college/mission-and-identity.
This statement, or a similar one, should also appear in the sample syllabus, described further below.
Learning objectives
Each core component and designated course has a number of learning objectives reflecting the goals of the Magis Core. A list of the objectives for each course type can be found in Section 1.2.c of the Magis Plan.
For each objective in the core component in question, the CCC needs to understand:
· How the objective will be achieved, and
· How success at achieving the objective will be assessed
Use the table in this section to summarize this information, using one row per objective.
Identifier
Each learning objective has a three character identifier, shown in section 1.2.c of the Magis Plan — e.g, 2.I.1 is the first objective listed for Critical Issues in Human Inquiry courses. Please enter the identifier for each objective in this column.
Activities to support objectives
The primary goal of a core component is to train and instruct students in the areas covered by the learning objectives. Typically, this would be done through lectures, demonstrations, assignments or other activities.
In this column, specify the course elements that support each objective. The explanations here can be quite short, but it is expected that the syllabus will have more detailed information about course elements.
Assessment of objectives
Course assessment serves its role at multiple levels, providing feedback to the instructor, the department, and the College and University. All of these are important aspects of assessment and it is expected that all will be conducted. For this application, however, the CCC is interested in only those assessment materials that can be used by the University to monitor and improve the degree to which we are meeting the Magis Core learning objectives.
For effective assessment at the University level to take place, we will need to archive “artifacts” – reviewable products of students’ efforts in the course – that can provide summative assessment of the degree to which students have met the course’s learning objectives. These materials will be used by the CCAS and University CCCs for core assessment, as described in section 1.3.d of the CCAS Plan.
Ideally, each objective would be assessed by a single artifact. Therefore, the list of assessment artifacts need not – and typically should not – include every assignment or exam in the course. In addition, one artifact might be used to assess multiple objectives, and therefore there could be less artifacts than objectives.
Instructors should also note that artifacts can only be assessed if they have been archived in some way. Materials submitted online through BlueLine and presentations recorded through BlueCast will be relatively straightforward to archive. However, other works will need to be stored (digitally or physically) by the instructor or department until the University determines an appropriate method to archive them.
In this column, specify the artifact to be assessed for each objective. The listing here can be very brief (e.g., “Paper 2,” “Final exam,” “End of semester performance”), but again it is expected that the syllabus will have more detailed information about course elements.
Syllabus
In addition to the completed application, a sample syllabus for the course must be submitted. This syllabus must include all of the elements listed below, in any order. (Some of these elements are for college administrative records rather than CCC review.)
· Course description· Course objectives
· Core and mission fit
· List of course topics
· Generic course schedule / · Course requirements
· Grading criteria and scale
· Attendance policy
· Academic honesty statement
· Class cancellation policy
Course description
This description is not limited in length like the Catalog description is.
Course objectives
These objectives do not need to directly reflect the learning objectives listed for the component in the Magis Core.
Core and mission fit
This statement should be the same as or similar to that in the application.
Course topics and generic schedule
These items can be listed separately or in combination. As this is a sample syllabus, specific lecture and due dates need not be listed. The generic schedule can instead be based on semester week or a similar broad timescale. Approximate dates for assignments and exams should also be included.
Course requirements
All required assignments, exams, activities, etc. should be listed.
Grading criteria and scale
The weight of each assignments, exams, activities, etc., in the final grade should be listed, as well as the required percentage for each letter grade. Penalties for late submissions should also be noted.
Attendance policy
Expectations for attendance and penalties for failing to meet these exceptions should be explained.
Academic honesty statement
Please reference the College Academic Honesty Policy in your syllabus. Also, state the course policies on academic honesty (consistent with the University policy) and the specific penalties you will impose.
Copies of the most current college procedures on academic honesty can be found at http://www.creighton.edu/fileadmin/user/CCAS/docs/2010_Site/Academic_Honesty_Policy_Revision_January_2012.pdf
Class cancellation policy
The University requests that faculty members make clear in their course syllabi how a class session cancellation in their course would be communicated if that became necessary. Most faculty will use a Blueline announcement or an e-mail message to the students’ Creighton e-mail account.
Departmental approval
Support from the chair or program director of the sponsoring department is required. To document approval, do one of the following:
· Have your chair or director submit the application and syllabus on your behalf, or
· Submit the application and syllabus yourself and have your chair or director email their approval separately.
Submission
The completed application and a sample syllabus, along with notice of approval by the sponsoring department chair or program director, should be submitted by email to Terri Mahaffey ().
Please submit the application as a Word file if possible; this makes it easier for us to transfer information to other forms. PDFs are acceptable for the syllabus, but any PDFs submitted should be created by saving or printing directly to file. Printing and scanning paper copies makes it difficult to create electronic comments and impossible to copy and paste information from the file.
A member of the Core Curriculum Committee will contact you after your application is processed.
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