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Policies and Procedures

4100 Course Development, Outlines, Coding, And Syllabi

Initial Date of Approval: 1/30/09

Revision Date(s):  4/20/17, 6/22/20

Administrative Responsibility: Vice President of Academic Affairs

PURPOSE

To provide guidance on the development of courses, establish content for course outlines and syllabi, and to ensure consistent coding.

REFERENCES

  • SBCTC Course Coding Procedures and Guidelines, and Credit Hours/Credit Equivalents by Type of Instruction
  • RCW 43.88 State Budgeting, Accounting and Reporting System
  • RCW 28B.50 Community and Technical Colleges
  • RCW 28B.50.020
  • RCW 28B.50.090 (7) (b, c, and e)
  • RCW 28B.50.140 (11, 16, and 17)
  • WAC 131-32-010 Charges for courses utilizing supplemental funding.
  • WAC 131-32-020 Charges for courses utilizing shared funding.
  • SVC Faculty Guidelines

POLICY

The college will ensure compliance with state guidelines and regional accreditation standards in the development, approval and coding of courses.

The college’s course outline system is the official resource for developing, approving, and referencing college course information. Course records in this system are the source for course information in the college catalog and schedule (both printed and on- line), and serve as the foundation for faculty instruction, establishing credits, title, intent, degree distribution or program requirements, course description, prerequisites, course content, and student learning outcomes (discipline-specific and general education).

All faculty must adhere to the course outcomes in their instruction. All college faculty, staff, students, and community members have access to course information in this system.

 

PROCEDURES

Course Changes and Course Development

New course proposals, modifications, or deletions originate with a faculty department chair or equivalent, using the college’s course outline system, and require review by department chairs and the appropriate dean.

Upon the dean’s approval, all new courses and course modifications must be submitted to the Instruction Committee for review and approval. Minor course changes such as course names, numbering, error corrections, and small coding changes may be submitted as information items and do not require a formal recommendation or vote by the Instruction Committee.

The Vice President of Academic Affairs reviews and has final approval for all course outline submittals. Upon final approval, pertinent course information from the course outline is entered into the college’s catalog.

Course additions, modifications, or deletions which impact SVC’s local degree requirements and would alter those requirements must be submitted to the General Education Committee for review and recommendation to the Vice President of Academic Affairs.

The Vice President of Academic Affairs may grant approval of new courses and course modifications on a temporary basis not to exceed one full academic quarter in instances when it is not practical for the Instruction Committee to make a timely recommendation.

Course Coding

To establish the appropriate coding status for new or existing courses, the college supplies the following course information:

  1. A course description with sufficient detail to convey subject area and institutional intent of the proposed offering;
  2. Basic skills/developmental education courses will be numbered below 100; college level courses will be numbered 100 and above;
  3. Each course will have one approved title used for both reporting and publication purposes;
  4. Assignment of a Classification of Instructional Program code (CIP) that best matches the subject area and institutional intent for offering the course;
  5. Assignment of a three-digit Educational Program Code (EPC), if the course is or will be part of an approved workforce program;
  6. Number and type of instructional contact hours and course credits;
  7. Whether the course is designed to meet academically disadvantaged students or those with limited English skills;
  8. Whether the course has a workforce training component.

Course Syllabus

Instructors of credit-bearing courses are required to distribute a course syllabus to students within the first week of class.
The course section syllabus is based on the course outline entered into the course outline system. The template for the syllabus is outlined in the Faculty Guidelines. The instructor will provide a copy of the course syllabus to his/her instructional administrator and division/department chair or equivalent prior to the first class session (or the beginning of the quarter for online sections).