CURRICULUM APPROVAL PROCESS CHANGES

Which of the following best describes your thoughts on HTC’s Curriculum Approval Process?

A. “It is awesome. HTC’s Curriculum Approval Process is the envy of MnSCU.”

B. “It takes too long to actually make a change.”

C. “It is too sloppy. Our process does not maintain high standards.”

D. “It’s hard to say. I don’t even understand our curriculum approval process.”

E. “Who cares? I don’t.”

Objectives of Today

1. To explain why changes were made to the Curriculum Approval Process

2. To demonstrate the new curriculum approval process

3. To identify the strengths of the new curriculum approval process

4. To identify a potential weakness of the new curriculum approval process

5. To identify strategies for avoiding the weaknesses

In the past…

To get approval for a curriculum change, New course Change to a course New Award Etc.

You would first have to: Get approval from department and advisory

committee Then, the DTC Then, the Curriculum Committee Then, finally the AASC

As a Flow Chart

Faculty

Member

Department Advisory

DTC

Curriculum

Committee

AASC

But Problems Arose

Faculty

Member

Department Advisory

DTC

Curriculum

Committee

AASCOften

meets

only twice

a year

CAA’s

went

awayNecessary Step?

Confusion about

which form to fill

out

What about

single person

departments?

Because of These Problems…

1. Confusion about the Process2. Time Required to Get Curriculum Changes

Approved and Enacted (sometimes up to a year)

3. The Loss of CAA’s, and thereby, the DTC’s

As a result of faculty feedback, the AASC, under the cooperative leadership of Bernie Vrona and Marilyn Krasowski, undertook the task of revising the Curriculum Process

Goal to Streamline while Maintaining Quality

How We Got Here

Last February, the AASC invited a group of 40+ faculty (AASC representatives, former CAAs, department chairs, and other interested faculty), relevant staff members and administrators to participate in a Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) retreat

Out of this, in the Spring, a work group lead by Bernie, laid out broad principles to guide the new process Streamlined process (Ideation to Realization of <3 mo.) Increased Communication of Changes (both across the

college and back to the faculty champions) Commitment to Maintaining Quality Standards

How We Got Here

Over the Summer, I chaired another work group who translated these broad principles into the tangible process and related documents we present to you today

In Graphic Form

Kaizen Retreat

• Process documentation and looking for efficiencies

Bernie’s Work Group

• Steamlined Process• Increased

Communication• Quality Standards

Summer Work Group

• Tangible Process

A Sleek New Flow Chart

Faculty/Departm

entAASC

With a Little More Detail…

Faculty

Member

• Completes 1 Form• Inserts Supporting

Documents• Communicates with Other

Faculty

AASC

• Checks for Quality

• Reviews/Approves

• Communicates back to faculty champion

Submits to:

The One Form!

The “AASC Curriculum Form” Found on the HTC Website under “Academic

Affairs” Also, on AASC’s D2L page

For any curriculum change (to courses or awards), this form will help guide you to what is needed

Activity 1

Imagine that you and your colleagues at your table had a great idea to develop a new 1 credit course, “Planning for a Happy Retirement”

Find the “AASC Curriculum Form” and “Instructions” on the HTC website

Read the Instructions and fill out the “AASC Curriculum Form” as if you were going to submit this to AASC for approval

If you have any questions, raise your hand and someone will come by to help

Note: Supporting Documentation Depending on the kind of curriculum

change, the supporting documentation will differ

A common supporting document could either be a Course Outline or an award outcomes page

We will come back to this

Strengths of the Process So Far Streamlined Process?

One form (regardless of Technical or Gen Ed) One place to submit (to AASC Chair)

Increased Communication The form requires the faculty champion(s) to

communicate with departmental and other affected colleagues

The faculty champion(s) are invited to attend the AASC meeting to speak directly on behalf of the curr. change

However, There is a Potential Weakness

Our old curriculum process was slow, but maintained high standards

Our new curriculum process is streamlined and able to respond quickly, but with fewer checks, it could lead to the erosion of standards

Which Leaves Us With Maintaining Quality Standards

We have replaced the WIDS Software for course outlines with a Microsoft Word template You will no longer need to use WIDS or deal

with .crs files!

However, that does not mean that there are no standards for writing up goals, outcomes, etc.

The same standards apply

What Are Those Standards Again?1. How many course goals are

recommended for a course outline?2. How many HTC Learner Outcomes should

be linked to a course outline?3. How many Award Outcomes should be

linked to a course outline?4. How many HTC Learner Values should be

addressed by a course outline?5. What kind of verbs should be used in

course goals and award outcomes?

Which of the following options would fit within the recommended number of course goals?

A. 6 course goals for a 3 credit class

B. 15 course goals for a 4 credit class

C. 32 course goals for a 4 credit class

D. 7 course goals for a 3 credit class

Would the following course goal meet the standards?

A. TrueB. False

“Understand the difference between traditional IRA’s and Roth IRA’s”

Activity 2

Imagine again that you and your colleagues want to create a new 1 credit course called “Planning for a Happy Retirement”

The supporting document needed is a course outline Find the Course Outline template on the

HTC website

Fill in the template keeping in mind the standards just discussed

Inserting Supporting Documentation

It is now possible to insert documents within another document

To more effectively keep track of all curriculum changes, we are asking that you insert your supporting documents directly to your “AASC Curriculum Form”

How to Insert a Word document into Another Word document

Move cursor to where you want to insert file

>Insert >Object >Object >Create from

File >Display as

icon>Browse for

file >OK

 

Activity 3

Insert your mock Course Outline for “Planning for a Happy Retirement” to your mock “AASC Curriculum Form”

Submitting Your Change for Approval

You now have the completed “AASC Curriculum Form” and the supporting documentation

Congratulations, you are ready to submit your proposed curriculum to AASC!

How to Submit to AASC

Simply email the AASC Chair requesting to be put on the next meetings agenda and attach your completed “AASC Curriculum Form”:

The email is:AASC@hennepintech.edu

Requests must be received by the last Wednesday of the month in order to be on the next AASC agenda two weeks later

Closing the Communication Loop The faculty champion will be contacted

by the AASC Chair notifying them with approximate time their proposed change will come up at the meeting

Encouraged to attend

Following the meeting, the Chair will notify the champion of AASC action (approval/ feedback/ next steps)

Activity 4

Email the AASC chair requesting your new course, “Planning for a Happy Retirement” be included on the next AASC agenda

Label your subject box…

“New Course: Planning for a Happy Retirement”

Later Changes

Now imagine that after some time, you decide to make changes to your retirement course Perhaps the retirement plan options change

You complete the one form, “AASC Curriculum Form” But instead of creating a whole new course

outline, You simply use your existing course outline

(see Sue Hausmann) and ‘Track Your Changes’

Let’s Say…

An original course goal read:1. Distinguish between pension plans and 403b plans

However, the language used has changed and you want your course goal to reflect that change

On your existing course outline, you would make the change while noting what the change was

1. Distinguish between pension ‘defined benefit’ plans and 403b ‘defined contribution plans’

This is All Well and Good, but… What happens 6 months or two years

from now when I forget all this?

You have resources: AASC Representatives Department Chairs Deans Program Coordinators Additional Training Sessions

Post Test: How Well Did We Do? Review of Our Objectives for Today1. Why were changes made to the

Curriculum Approval Process?2. Did we demonstrate the new curriculum

approval process?3. What are the strengths of the new

curriculum approval process?4. What is a potential weakness of the new

curriculum approval process?5. What are some strategies for avoiding

the potential weaknesses?

Why were changes made to the Curriculum Approval Process?

A. As a response to feedback from faculty

B. To streamline the process

C. To prevent confusionD. To adapt the process

to current resourcesE. All of the above

Did we clearly demonstrate the new curriculum approval process?

A. YesB. No

What do you see as a strength of the new process?

A. It is less confusingB. It is more

responsive/quickerC. It promises better

communicationD. All of the aboveE. None of the above. I

like the old process better.

What did this presentation state as being a potential weakness of the new process?

A. It is too fastB. It is too easyC. It could lead to not

maintaining high quality curriculum

D. It might make us too awesome

To maintain high quality curriculum, which strategies should be used?

A. Take individual responsibility to follow the standards the first time

B. Get help from colleagues

C. Attend future trainingsD. All of the above