At our private liberal arts college, it is easier to do it, the first time anyway, as a selected topic since the title is already in the catalog. It is also easier since teaching it as a selected topic can give you a run-through to see what kind of enrollment might be expected in order to support the proposal for adding the course.
In order to add a title to the catalog (so the costs are paid out of the general budget instead of our divisional budget) along with an offering schedule (every Fall for example), we need to have it approved to go into the catalog in our annual budget conversations. The chairs of all academic divisions on campus (and some elected at large members) set the priority budget order by vote each Fall so to start a new class, you would need to have it approved during that time. This would be easy to do if some other class is being replaced by this class but harder to do if the class will create new load. If it is a class you would like to count for Core (general education) credit, it needs to be approved by the Core Curriculum Committee for that purpose. On the other hand, if the division is going to pay for it, it is quite easy to get it going but we don't usually repeatedly teach a title without getting it in the catalog so that it is paid for out of the general budget. As to how difficult this is for the faculty person proposing it, either way, it is fairly easy. It is the division chair that makes the proposal presentations. Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Professor of Psychology Box 3055 John Brown University 2000 W. University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 rfro...@jbu.edu (479)524-7295 http://tinyurl.com/DrFroman -----Original Message----- From: Dr. Bob Wildblood [mailto:drb...@rcn.com] Sent: Monday, July 13, 2009 1:27 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] New courses/proposal and approval I can just discuss my experience with creating new courses (for which I held the record in a "contest" of fellow faculty at my most recent position at Indiana University Kokomo at 14 that I could remember). At state colleges and universities, the procedure that Michael described seems to be the norm, including that it is often possible to have a special topics that nobody has to approve except your departmental colleagues. At private liberal arts colleges, it has been my experience that creating new courses is much easier. In fact it is just like creating a special topics course in a state university. Now that I have about reached the end of my teaching career (I'm going back to work at a private practice, but will still do adjunct work at my new location in Fredericksburg, VA) I won't have to deal with that state level of bureaucracy any more. Bob >Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:57:29 -0400 >From: "michael sylvester" <msylves...@copper.net> >Subject: [tips] New courses/proposal and approval > I can recall how exhaustive it became for a faculty > member to offer a new course.The process went > somewhat like this:written proposal sent to a > faculty committee 2)department chair 3)general > meeting of the faculty 4) Board of trustees and so > on.It would take about one year before the new > course could be offered. Some faculty were told that > the easiest way to offer a new course was to go the > Special Topics route because one can offer anything > under the category of Special Topics. > How is it at your institution to come up with new > course offerings? > Btw,should adjuncts be allowed to come up with new > course offerings? > > Michael Sylvester,PhD --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
