College of Health and Human Development

Marilynn Filbeck, Associate Dean

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These days - these moments it seems - information changes so quickly it's important to remember that when it comes to curriculum, the tried and true courses are still relevant. At the same time, teaching methods, content and delivery sometimes need updating. As faculty, we know that where there is a need in the learning process, we should take action.

This isn't a suggestion jump toward every fad that comes along, but it is important to anticipate when a change in curriculum could be the right thing to pursue. How do you know whether or when to propose a curriculum change?

Maybe you wonder if the course you are teaching needs a new title, a new focus, or the prerequisites should be changed. Perhaps you would like to offer a new course.

Making changes in the curriculum involves a time tested process that is designed to help save you time and energy, while still keeping you on track to developing your new course. Among the tasks the process calls for, you will uncover other courses that could be similar and maybe even find faculty with whom to collaborate.

And everyone has had the experience of bringing up a new idea and hearing the voices that are motivated by concerns about money! So as you proceed you have to be ready do deal with budgetary restrictions and you'll need find out if you can afford the resources you'll need to make the course a success. Addressing these concerns, and of course offering a great new course to the college, will make the viability of your idea more clear to the curriculum committees.

The university has procedures in place to help you drive your new course into the catalog and make sure you’re not reinventing the wheel. Take a look at the process:

• Discuss proposed changes with the area faculty for approval.
• Prepare a formal course modification proposal or a new course proposal. All forms and relevant information regarding curriculum work can be found at the Educational Policies Committee (EPC) website: http://www.csun.edu/epc/
• Present your curriculum proposal to the department curriculum committee for review and approval.
• If approved, the department curriculum committee chair will submit your proposal to the college curriculum committee for review and approval.
• If approved, the associate dean submits your proposal to the appropriate university level curriculum committees. Undergraduate course proposal go to the Education Policies Committee (EPC) and graduate level proposals go to the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC). And of course if the proposal is a 400 or 500 level course, intended for both undergraduate and graduate studies, it must go to both committees.
• A new General Education Committee will begin in the fall, a sub-committee of EPC, so if the proposal involves a change in a GE course, it will be reviewed by EPC and the new GE Committee.

The process takes time, usually a full academic year to go through these committees. Once approved by the university committees, some proposals can be implemented into SOLAR within the next semester (but most require a year before they can be implemented).

So if you do have a new course to recommend, act quickly because the sooner you get a proposal into the process, the sooner it will become a reality.