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Curriculum Review Handbook

Contents

Academic Definitions

Definitions for all WVU locations for degree designations, degree programs, majors, minors, areas of emphasis, tracks, certificate programs, and teacher specializations, as well as how multiple credentials interact may be found in the WVU Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs under Academic Definitions.

The plan for course numbering, common catalog abbreviations for courses (which also appear in CIM), and graduate level common course numbers and descriptions are available in the WVU Catalog under Course Information .

Credit hour definitions and guidelines may be found in the WVU Catalog in the Credit Hours section. 

Academic Policies

Relevant policies for the Faculty Senate to consider when reviewing programs, courses, and syllabi include: 

  • Attendance policies: Find the institutional attendance policy in the WVU Catalog under the Enrollment section.
  • Grading policies: Find a collection of institutional grading policies in the WVU Catalog under the Grades section.
  • Student Rights and Responsibilities: BOG Academics Rule 2.5 includes information about mid-semester grades, feedback on assignments, and course syllabi, among other things.
  • Syllabus Policies and Statements can be found on a dedicated webpage.
  • The Provost's Office maintains a webpage detailing all changed Catalog and other academic policies for each academic year.

Committee Responsibilities

ALL committee members should strive to have their respective program, course, and syllabi reviews completed before the day of the committee meeting. Committee members who may be unable to complete their responsibilities prior to the meeting should communicate with their committee chair and Senate office representative to ensure that their responsibilities are covered.

Only the Curriculum Committee is part of CIM workflow for all course proposals and changes. The GEF Committee is in workflow in CIM only for those courses which are part of the GEF; TACO is not a part of CIM workflow.

Curriculum Committee

  • All CIM fields for programs and courses (excepting General Education and Special Course Requirements fields)
  • Verification of letters of support
  • Review of reference syllabi for alignment with CIM entry
  • Review of reference syllabi for presence of key elements

General Education Foundations Committee

  • All CIM fields for general education courses (excepting Special Course Requirements field)
  • Verification of letters of support
  • Review of reference syllabi for alignment with CIM entry
  • Review of reference syllabi for presence of key elements

Teaching and Assessment Committee

  • Review of CIM entries for completion
  • Review of section syllabi for alignment with CIM entry
  • Review of section syllabi for alignment with reference syllabi
  • Review of section syllabi for professionalism of key elements

Curriculum Inventory Management (CIM) Programs and Courses

To propose or alter programs or courses (or to review current CIM entries), faculty can access CIM Courses and CIM Programs with their WVU login and password.

Faculty Senators with curriculum review responsibilities will be able to review, approve, make comments, or rollback programs and courses via the CourseLeaf Approval portal.

The Provost’s Office maintains curriculum webpages that lay out the expectations for key components of course proposals.

The Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee also maintains a page on program and course proposals and the relevant fields in CIM. 

Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes state those skills, abilities, dispositions, and content knowledge that are measurable and which the instructor or program coordinator expects each student to have mastered at the end of the course or program.

Accreditation bodies for higher education have mandated that learning outcomes be assessable. WVU has a policy of bringing courses and curricula in line with this requirement. Although individual faculty, programs, and departments should play a primary role in developing assessment methods for their courses and curricula, other WVU administrative bodies are charged with examining course-level student learning outcomes. The Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee examines learning outcomes to ensure, to the best of our ability, that they accord with the expectations and best practices put forward by regional accreditors (the Higher Learning Commission for WVU) and assessment professional organizations (NILOA, AAC&U, etc.) Therefore, we ask that learning outcomes be measurable and reflective of the course and program level (e.g., higher order for graduate courses). 

Guidelines for Learning Outcomes at WVU

  • Outcomes should be student centered – they can begin with “Students will be able to…”
  • Outcomes must be measurable – verb choice is important here. Refer to Bloom’s Taxonomy or other taxonomies (affective) for a list of commonly used verbs.
  • Outcomes should be appropriately specific.Outcomes should be achievable, both in the scope of the individual outcome as well as in the number of total outcomes set .
  • Outcomes should be aligned with learning activities and assessments.
  • Outcomes should be appropriate to the level of learning, taking into account both the course level and degree type.
  • Outcomes should be consistent across all locations and methods of delivery. 

Examples of Current Learning Outcomes 

Examples of course and program learning outcomes are available through the assessment website on the WVU Assessment Resources webpage.

The Teaching and Learning Commons’ Powerful Outcomes That Work is another resource for writing and evaluating learning outcomes.

Rollback Procedure

When a program or course proposal or change needs to be rolled back, It should be rolled back to the initiator with comments in CIM that identify why the item has been rolled back and what needs to be done to address those issues. A separate email should be sent to the initiator with those comments included with the department chair and assistant/associate dean of the relevant college, and the chair of the particular Senate committee copied.

Syllabus Elements

The Syllabus Builder is maintained by the Teaching and Learning Commons and produces a syllabus with all the areas required for a CIM reference syllabus.

A separate Word document is available on the Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee’s resource webpage which includes the explanatory text for each section as well as identifies what committees should be concerned about which syllabus elements (see above for more on committee responsibilities).