Top 10 Things to Know about CCPRC
- Who we are: Standing committee made up of representatives of each department and the Dean’s Leadership Team.
From Curry’s Website: Department reps selected by FC and Dean to serve 2 year staggered terms; student rep is the Acad Affairs Chair who is elected each year by the Ed Council for 1 year term; Chair appointed by FC & Dean, will serve as chair for 2nd year of 2- year term and will rotate among departments. (The committee will consist of two members selected from each department by the Faculty Council and Dean to serve two-year staggered terms as well as one student representative who will serve for one year staggered terms The Chair of the committee, as jointly appointed by the dean and the Chair of Faculty Council, will serve for as Chair for one calendar year of a two-year term on the committee
- What is our Charge?
We are charged by Faculty Council and the Dean to review new courses; to assign permanent numbers to courses; to approve administrative changes (e.g., changes in course titles, course #s, departmental affiliation); and to ensure appropriate enrollment in Curry’s course offerings.
- What is the process to get a new course approved?
Faculty should work with their program coordinators and department chairs to compile the rationale for the new course, double check the necessary elements are included (see Routing sheet). What is needed is: the rationale for the new course; letters of support from the program coordinator as well as the department chair who are sponsoring the course; syllabus in the approved template including all evaluation metrics.
- Where are resources located that can help faculty compile the documents to submit?
The CCPRC website has the rubric posted that the committee uses to review the requests. Further, recentnewly approved samples of relevant documents are included and are suggested as guides for faculty. For further support, it is also possible to send pre-review materials to the Chair for initial feedback, or to meet with other members of the committee, such as the departmental representative for the faculty member’s course.
- What is the timeline for getting requests processed?
The committee meets on a regular schedule twice per month. Complete requests (meaning all of the necessary materials are provided) are reviewed in the order in which they are received. Generally, the committee requires a week of review time prior to the meeting in order to ensure sufficient time to review and meet with the committee. After the meeting, the Chair will report back to the faculty to report on the status of the request.
- What are possible outcomes of the request?
One of the options is that the request is approved as requested, no changes are needed. The request may be approved provisionally pending some minor changes or additions to the rationale, syllabus, evaluation metrics, etc. In some rare instances, the requests are not approved as written. In these instances the Chair meets with the faculty to discuss the situation and to strategize about appropriate next steps.
- What are most typical “sticking points” from recent submissions?
The committee uses the posted rubric to guide the discussion and decision-making process. Following these headings will help avoid missing elements to the request. Of particular interest to our group are:
a)Ensuring that the new courses embrace diversity in the broadest sense—diverse methodological/philosophical perspectives, topics that address under-represented groups or issues related to them, and represent the work of as diverse groups of academic or practical contributors.
b)Being mindful of clarity of meaningful learning goals and that these goals are reflected in all aspects of the course- readings/texts, course activities and assignments, evaluation tasks. We seek clear description of expectations for evaluations and look for rubrics, checklists, guides, or other relevant tools that provide guidance about expectations and how the grades will be assigned.
c)To ensure rigor and challenge appropriate to the course level which we hope will reverse any pervasive misunderstandings that others may harbor outside of Curry about the quality of our degrees, programs, and courses.
- Interesting note #1: Temporary Course Numbers
No longer assigning temporary numbers until the course has been taught successfully three times. Now the committee reviews the initial request and if approved, assigns the appropriate course # at that time.
- Interesting note #2: Course Number Guidelines
Course #s that are assigned follow the larger University of Virginia Registrar’s guidelines:
1000-2000- introductory or lower level undergraduate (generally no prerequisites)
3000-4000- upper level undergraduate only (may have prerequisites)
5000 level undergraduate or graduate level courses (no instructor permission required)
6000-8000 graduate level only
- Interesting note #3: Cross Listing Courses
If you aim to have a course that is equally relevant to both undergraduate and graduate students, a course can be cross-listed 3000/5000 level. This will require that the rationale, syllabus, evaluation metrics, and other supporting documents clearly delineate how the undergraduate and graduate level courses have different levels of rigor relative to the level. For this reason, it may be advised to consider the 5000-level which could be targeted to both audiences.