Curriculum Application Guidelines

Which Application?

The two curriculum applications discussed below are the only approved curriculum application forms and must be used for all applications to the University Curriculum Review Subcommittee.

If you wish to offer a course as a distance-learning (DL-suffix) course, you must submit either a New Course Application if the course does not currently have a number or a Course Change Application if the course currently has a number. You must also submit a Distance Learning Supplement form.

Changes to undergraduate program requirements are not handled by the Curriculum Office. Instead, see the Faculty Council of Academic Standards site for forms and information.

The following guidelines should assist in selecting the appropriate application. When in doubt, call the curriculum office.

A New Course Application (Revised 5/07) should be submitted to request: a new course, a major change in course content, an extension or conversion of a course previously approved as a temporary course.

A Course Change Application (Revised 5/07) should be submitted to drop a course or to request a change to: prefix, number (outline and reading list required to increase level), title, abbreviated title, credit (outline and reading list required to increase credit), prerequisites, joint status, contact hours, change to permanent credit/no-credit, drop permanent credit/no-credit (outline and reading list required), minor change in description (outline and reading list might be requested by committee).

Faculty and quarters-offered should be changed by sending email notification to the university curriculum coordinator at uwcr@u.washington.edu.

Prerequisite-change requests that affect only your administrative unit should be sent using the online prerequisite-change form. (For more information, see the prerequisites page.)

To download a Word 95 (.doc) file, click on the appropriate form below:

• Course Change Application
• New Course Application
• Distance Learning Supplement (NB: The original may be on white paper.)

• Course Change Application in Acrobat
• New Course Application in Acrobat
• Distance Learning Supplement (NB: The original may be in white.)

Who Submits the Application?

If a course is to be offered by only one department, that department submits one application.

Joint Courses

If two or more departments within one college or school are offering a course jointly, one application is prepared and submitted by the responsible department. This application must be signed under Item 7 by the chair of each department offering the course.

If departments from separate schools or colleges are offering a course jointly, each school or college must submit a separate application which must be signed by the department chair, the curriculum committee chair, and the dean of that school or college. The application submitted by the responsible department must also be signed by the chair of each department offering the course jointly. See Item 7 Joint Courses below.

Who Signs It?

Contact the school or college curriculum review coordinator to determine the deadline schedule for the school or college curriculum review committee, the number of copies required by the school or college committee.

Submit application to school or college curriculum review coordinator.

What Happens Next?

After an application has been approved by the dean it should be forwarded by the school or college curriculum coordinator to the University Curriculum Office, 248 Schmitz. Box 355850. The signed original and supplementary materials, as well as seven copies of each application and supplementary materials (including a syllabus, see sample syllabus with the minimum Curriculum Committee requirements), must be received in the curriculum office by the deadline date. An acceptable application packet consists of the original plus the seven copies bound together by paper clip, binder clip, or rubber band. Unacceptable application packets will be returned to the unit unapproved. (Note: each application and its seven copies must be gathered separately. The University Curriculum Office will no longer accept application packets where the originals are gathered in one bundle and the copies gathered in a separate bundle.)

Each application received in the Curriculum Office by the deadline date will be presented at the next scheduled University Curriculum Review Subcommittee meeting, usually within three weeks of the deadline. Joint course applications involving more than one school or college will not be reviewed until an application has been received from each school or college.

Instructions for Application

Course Identification

• Prefix: Enter the standard prefix for the department offering the course. For joint courses enter the prefix of the responsible department.

• Number: When submitting an application to change a course number, please enter the new course number in this section.
  Selecting a Course Number

• Offered jointly with: (See Joint Courses.)

  Prefix: Enter the standard prefix of the joint department, i.e., the department other than the responsible department.

  Number: The joint department must select a number at the same level as the responsible department.

  Selecting a Course Number

Headline Box

Please complete all elements of this section on all applications—even when dropping a course. When submitting an application to change any of the items in the headline box, enter the proposed new information in the headline box of the Course Change Application, i.e., the information that will be correct when the application is filed in the University Curriculum Office, after it has been approved.

• Course Title: Although the number of characters allowed in the full title of a course is not specified, please be aware that the permanent record of each course, as maintained in the curriculum database, allows for only 50 characters. If the title is more than 50 characters, the first 50 characters will be entered in the curriculum database. The full title, without abbreviation, will be included in the biannual University of Washington General Catalog and in the Web course descriptions. This full title must be entered in the headline box on the New Course Application and any subsequent Course Change Applications.
• Abbreviated Title: The 19-character abbreviated title will be published in the course listing of the quarterly University of Washington Time Schedule and will appear on both student grade reports and student transcripts. If possible, this title should reflect the unique nature of the course.

• See Assigning the Appropriate Credit.

Section 1: Purpose of Request

• Effective quarter deadlines

  The effective quarter should indicate the first quarter a course could be scheduled if approved. The earlier the requested effective quarter, the sooner the new information will be published online. Please note that approval of a course for an effective quarter does not initiate inclusion in the Time Schedule for that quarter. A request must be submitted to the Time Schedule Office to offer the course. Likewise, approval of a Course Change Application does not initiate inclusion of the approved changes in any quarter for which the course is already scheduled. A request must be submitted to the Time Schedule Office to change the course information. The most efficient way to accomplish this is to include the new information on Work Sheets or Review Sheets marked "Subject to Approval".

  The last effective quarter of a dropped course will be the quarter before the approved drop quarter. For example, if a drop is effective WIN/1999 that course cannot be offered WIN/1999 The last quarter it can be offered will be AUT/1998

• Current and New Data for Course Changes

  Enter current data only for those elements of the course which are to be changed. Enter new data only for those elements of the course which are to be changed. If the course number or prefix is changed, the prefix and number in the New Data column should agree with the information in the upper right corner of the application. If the department, title, or credit is changed, the information in the headline box should agree with the information in the new data column.

In order to request an extension to the course change application deadline for a specified quarter, please submit the Course Change Application with a separate Memo of Responsibility explaining:

• Why it is essential that the application be effective in the specified quarter,
• Why it was not possible to meet the course change application deadline,
• How students will be notified of the change to the published time schedule.

The memo should also state the department:

• Acknowledges that the requested change was submitted after the Time Schedule deadline,
• Takes responsibility for notifying students of the change,
• Takes responsibility for any scheduling, student loan, tuition, time-to-graduation, registration, or other problems that might result from approval of the late change application,
• Will be responsible for contacting the Time Schedule Office to update the course listing for the requested quarter for which the deadline for Time Schedule construction has passed.

This memo requires the same signatures as a Course Change Application and with all correspondence regarding a specific application, the original memo, with signatures, must be submitted with seven copies.

The effective quarter for any Course Change Application received without this memo will be edited to the first quarter for which the course change application deadline has not passed.

Section 2: Justification

Indicate the need for this course and discuss concerns that this need is not currently being met by existing courses at the University of Washington. Discuss impact of course within department and within the University. Consider how this course will affect other University programs. Please be as forthcoming as possible, in order to anticipate specific questions which might be raised at the Curriculum Review Subcommittee meeting. It is important that information be given regarding the way this course will enhance the total curricular offerings of your department.

Please note that a course syllabus and reading list must be attached for all new courses, for an increase in course level or credits, and to drop permanent credit/no credit. The Curriculum Review Subcommittee might also request an syllabus and reading list for a change to the description.

List contact information for person that can answer questions or provide more information if required.

Section 3: Catalog Data

There is a 50-word limit for each catalog description. All prepositions and articles are counted as well as all prerequisite and joint identification information. The prefix and the number of a prerequisite course count as one word. The course title is not included in the 50-word count. Descriptions exceeding the 50-word limit will be edited in the curriculum office or returned to the department for editing.

Each description should be written in the present tense. References to the future tense are removed in editing.

The phrases "this course..." or "this class..." are removed in editing.

The phrase "topics vary" is not necessary for special topics courses.

Course descriptions are intended primarily to give information about the course, not about the subject to be covered in the course.

Do not repeat information from the number, title, credit, quarter- offered, or instructor fields in the description.

Do not include program information in the course description.

Graduate-level course should not specify graduate standing as a prerequisite. This can be controlled by specifying graduate students only when scheduling the course. Likewise, limiting the course to a certain major should be accomplished by time schedule rather than course description.

Optional: List, in alphabetical order, the last names and ranks of each instructor who will be teaching this course. If instructor names should be included in the course description please indicate with an x in the box at the end of the line. Only the last name of the instructor will be listed in the course description unless an initial is required to distinguish between two instructors with the same last name. Only specific names will be included in the course description. General designations such as staff, all staff in department, or to be arranged will not be included in the course description.

Optional: Indicate the quarter it is anticipated that a course will be offered during the next academic year. Specific years can be indicated as "1998: Sp, 1999: S" or "odd years, A". Please do not specify “alternate years” as that gives no indication of when the course will be offered. This information is not proscriptive. Once a course has been approved it can be offered the effective quarter and any other quarter during the effective period. If quarters-offered information should be included in the course description please indicate with an x in the box at the end of the line.

Quarters offered and faculty can be changed by sending email to uwcr@u.washington.edu. Do not submit a Course Change Application if these are the only information to be changed.

Section 4: Credits and Hours

It is important that the TOTAL WEEKLY CONTACT HOURS field be accurate and up-to-date. If a decision is made to increase or decrease the contact hours without changing the credit, a course change application should be submitted. The time schedule database base maintains a record of the contact hours for which a course is scheduled each quarter and that record should agree with the information provided in the current curriculum application.

The TOTAL WEEKLY OUTSIDE HOURS total will, of course, be an estimate and will vary considerably by student. Please be as careful as possible, however, in trying to determine the number of hours that would be required for a student to do well in the course.

Credit assigned to a course is based on the total hours of student effort required, including contact hours, outside preparation, and other required activity.

In situations where use of the traditional formula is inappropriate, e.g., courses where non-traditional methods of instruction are employed, internships and field work courses, independent study courses, or courses involving unusually heavy reading assignments or other assigned work outside of class, it will be necessary to rely on careful application of the fundamental guidelines and to provide the Curriculum Review Subcommittee with information adequate to allow a judgment of the proposed credit assignment. The following list offers examples of appropriate information: a detailed syllabus describing required student activities in enough detail to allow a fair assessment of the proposed credit assignment, a description of typical student projects, a discussion of how student work will be evaluated, especially if the required work is largely reading or field work involving little contact with the instructor.

If the credit assignment departs substantially from the common approximation described above, only temporary approval will be given. This is often the case with experimental courses or courses where credit assignments reflect the personal style or approach of an individual instructor, making the credit allowed inappropriate for another instructor.

Certain uses of academic credit are inappropriate. Among them are: award of credit solely for services rendered by a student which do not serve a legitimate academic function in the student's course of study, award of credit for work or study not directly supervised by University faculty or evaluated by University faculty, award of credit for past field experience not associated with faculty supervised and evaluated course work.

Please specify how will students be evaluated for credit or grades. Provide specific information on assignments, projects, exams, etc. and relative % for each area.

Any type of required activity other than those listed under Item 4a on the application must be explained.

Section 5: Students

The number of students indicated in this application is not proscriptive. The department may determine the appropriate enrollment limit or estimate on a section-by-section basis.

Type of student. Please see Selecting a Course Number for assistance in selecting the appropriate course level by anticipated student level.

Section 6: Learning Objectives

List the primary learning objectives for the course.

Section 7: Joint Courses

List all departments, schools, or colleges participating. List the unit responsible for administering the course first. Joint course applications require a signature from each unit.

If joint departments are from one school or college, only one application, completed by the responsible department, should be submitted to the curriculum committee of that school or college. Each joint department must be listed and the chair of each joint department must sign this application.

If joint departments are from separate schools or colleges, one department from each school or college must submit a separate application through its own curriculum committee. The application submitted by the responsible department must list each joint department and be signed by the chair of each joint department.

Joint applications from different schools or colleges will not be presented to the University Curriculum Review Subcommittee until a completed and signed application has been received from each of the schools or colleges and found to be consistent regarding course level, title, credits, effective dates, and joint status. Whenever a problem arises regarding the submission or consistency of applications, the curriculum office will notify the responsible department.

Section 8: Other Colleges, Schools, or Departments Affected

Courses in one department often affect other units, and the department proposing curriculum is sometimes not aware that equivalent work is already offered in another department. For this reason, curriculum applications should be offered for review and signature to any department that might be affected by the addition of this course to the curriculum.

Please be thorough in consideration of other departments. Cooperation in notification will help to avoid delay and conflict and will facilitate appropriate course development throughout the University.

Section 9: Approval

The original must be signed by the chair of the submitting department, the chair of the school or college curriculum committee, and the dean of the school or college. The department chair must sign the original before copies are made.