Curriculum

A well-designed college curriculum is not only comprehensive and effective but also flexible. As new topics emerge and demands of the field evolve, the curriculum must be responsive without losing its commitment to quality. This paper makes recommendations to create specific categories and approval processes for:
special topics courses, experimental courses, an expedited process for courses with imminent need for approval, and independent study courses.

A solid curriculum is the backbone of any college. In the California Community College system, curriculum oversight is provided by the Board of Governors and the Chancellor and is recognized as a matter on which the Chancellor relies primarily on the advice and recommendations of the Academic Senate.

Prerequisites are an essential tool in the construction of curriculum for courses in which student success is highly dependent on previously acquired knowledge or skills. However, effective use of prerequisites requires a balance of several countervailing factors. (Used in this general sense the term prerequisites applies also to corequisites and other limitations on enrollment.) Appropriate prerequisites also require a balance between externally imposed mandates and local control.

The curriculum committee plays a central role in the California Community Colleges. This role has expanded tremendously with the expanding role of faculty in community college governance and with the expanding demand for a curriculum which is flexible and responsive to the needs of our increasingly diverse student body. These demands have necessitated, now more than ever, that faculty understand the role of the curriculum committee, remain committed to high curriculum standards, and implement the college curriculum in an organized, efficient manner.

As a result of its desire to see the quality and educational effectiveness of community colleges maintained, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (Academic Senate) has had a long-standing commitment to faculty-based program review mechanisms. As public support for funding colleges and universities diminishes and fiscal resources become increasing constrained, planning and effective use of the sparse educational dollars is paramount.

The requirements for offering courses or sections of courses in distance learning model were changed substantively. These changes included such key components as class size, instructor-student contact, and methods for apportionment. As part of the process of monitoring the impact of these changes, the regulations require local curriculum committees to separately review and approve courses and sections taught in distance learning mode. Guidelines were also established which include data collection and an annual report to the local board of trustees.

The course outline of record plays a central role in the curriculum of the California Community Colleges. Standards for the course outline appear in Title 5, in the Curriculum Standards Handbook, in accreditation standards, in intersegmental general education agreements with the California State University and the University of California (IGETC and CSU-GE), and serve as the basis for transfer articulation agreements with individual CSU and UC campuses.

In this paper we provide concrete ideas on how you can implement change in your course or program to incorporate content and techniques that support multicultural education. It defines multicultural education in the community college environment with an emphasis on student learning styles. An instrument for analyzing and implementing curricular change is provided in addition to curricular application examples, a glossary and a student learning style assessment instrument.

It is hoped that this paper will help local senates who have not yet undertaken the process of assigning courses to disciplines or who are updating or revising. The paper discusses why the need exists and outlines a process to help local senates get started. The process described in the paper relies on faculty's professional integrity to do an assessment of discipline preparation and course content.

Basic skills instruction is not new to higher education or to the California Community Colleges. For a variety of reasons, private and public institutions of higher learning have always had significant numbers of first year students who failed, dropped out or simply from college due to their inability to meet course requirements. In 1874, Harvard first offered freshman English at the request of faculty members dissatisfied with students' preparation in formal writing.