TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

HANDBOOK

 

 
Last Updated September 30, 2006

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GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING NEW COURSE PROPOSALS

AND FOR CHANGING OR DELETING COURSES

All course additions and deletions undergo a college and university-wide review and approval process, and requires the use of a course approval form. Course modifications, such as changing a course level, title, prefix, number, or number of hours also must go through this approval process.

1.   Texas Tech University Operating Policy and Procedure 36.01 addresses adding, changing, and deleting courses and changing method of delivery. You may find a copy of the OP at www.depts.ttu.edu/opmanual/OP36.01 . Information about preparing proposals for new courses is available on the web site of the Department of Institutional Research and Information Management at www.irs.ttu.edu/CourseInventory.htm. Authority and responsibility for approving course additions, changes, and deletions rests with the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. The review process includes departmental recommendations, college committee recommendations, the Graduate Council approval for graduate courses, and the Academic Council approval for graduate and undergraduate courses.

2.  Whenever appropriate, course titles, descriptions and templates/syllabi should reflect consideration of cultural diversity, special populations, instructional technology, clinical applications, and our organizing theme, "Professional Educators Opening Doors to the Future." Professional standards and guidelines from learned societies should also be considered.  

 

3.   The application form for Texas Tech course approvals may be found at www.irs.ttu.edu/CourseInventory.htm . The application form requires specific information about the course:

a.   The LEVEL category on the application corresponds with the first numeral of an undergraduate course--2318 would be level "2," 4301 would be level "4." Level "5" should be rarely used--for those courses that are positively only for master's level students. Any 5000 level course that can be used by a doctoral student should be coded "6." (This allows payment at a higher formula rate when doctoral students take the course.) Therefore most 5000 courses, and all 6000/7000/8000 courses should be coded as "6" LEVEL .
b.   Information about the TEXAS CIP CODE (Classification of Instructional Programs) can be found on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's web site accessible through www.irs.ttu.edu/CourseInventory.htm . Check the categories under EDUCATION to see where the new course fits.

c.   The SHORTENED TITLE should be abbreviated, if needed, by deleting vowels or words. If the course title is being changed in the proposal, the shortened title should reflect the proposed title, not the current one. The shortened title does NOT have to be included for course deletions .

d.   The EFFECTIVE DATE FOR COURSE USAGE is the semester you anticipate that the course will first be taught. Courses are sent to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for inclusion in their inventory on a rolling basis. However, you may expect that the approval process will take several months to complete.

e.   The CURRENT HOURS category is usually "3 3 0," reflecting a three credit hour course, with three hours of lecture, and no lab hours. If the course will be offered for variable credit, please so note on the form.

f.   Be sure to complete the JUSTIFICATION portion of the form.  Explain clearly why the course needs to be added, deleted, or changed.

4.   Changes to course descriptions and/or prerequisites just need college level, not university level approval. Program coordinators are asked on a yearly basis to review their course descriptions and prerequisites for any changes. Changes will be sent to the Office of Official Publications.  Such changes then become effective with the issuance of the next catalog.

 
5.   For NEW COURSES , include a course template (guidelines located in the Faculty Handbook). Templates should reflect consideration of cultural diversity, special populations, instructional technology, clinical applications, and our organizing theme, "Professional Educators Opening Doors to the Future." Professional standards and guidelines from learned societies should also be considered. Please reference the possible textbook to be used in the course and include bibliographic references that reflect the knowledge base. The program faculty may include other materials including a rationale for the creation of the new course, information about who will teach the course, where and how the course fits into its program area.

Approval Process

Course proposals must be approved by the following:   

1.   the program faculty--if program coordinator exists, should have SIGNATURE OF COORDINATOR on left side of line for "Department Signature";

2.   the department faculty--SIGNATURE OF DEPARTMENT HEAD REQUIRED;

3.   the COE Undergraduate Academic Affairs Committee for undergraduate courses or the COE Graduate Academic Affairs Committee;

4.   the COE Dean--SIGNATURE OF ASSOCIATE DEAN REQUIRED;

5.   the Graduate Council--for graduate courses only (courses are reviewed by a Council committee prior to being presented to the Graduate Council)--SIGNATURE OF GRADUATE DEAN REQUIRED;

6.   the office of Office of Official Publications-for undergraduate classes only (Peggy Johnson will send the proposal to the Office. The Office then sends the proposals to the Academic Council).

7.   the University Academic Council

8.   the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs; and

9.   the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

These groups need some lead time to distribute and consider course proposals. It is therefore essential that new course proposals enter the system as far in advance as possible.

As soon as courses are approved through the university, they will appear in the html version of the university catalog.

Courses not used during a three-year period will be purged automatically from the Coordinating Board Inventory of Courses. However, whenever possible, we should trim the inventory ourselves by deleting unwanted courses.