Topics for New(er) Curriculum
Chairs, Specialists and
Administrators .
Lori Bennett, MoorPark College
Diana Hurlbut, Irvine Valley College
Eric Shearer, Napa Valley College
Tiffany Tran, Irvine Valley College
ASCCC Regional Curriculum meeting
November 13 and 14, 2015
Introductions all around…
Who are we?
How many of you are new
Curriculum Chairs; Curriculum
Specialists; Articulation Officers;
Deans; CIO/VPI?
How many of you are new to the
Curriculum Committee?
Anything you REALLY want to be
sure to get from this session?
Let’s start with the
Curriculum Chair
CC Chair just has to worry
about the COR, right??
 Being the Chair of the Curriculum Committee
is one of the most important faculty
leadership roles on a college campus.
 You are not only responsible for leading the
Curriculum Committee but you are also an
interface with your faculty, articulation
specialist, A & R, the faculty, curriculum
support staff, Academic Senate, CIO,
CCCCO, ASCCC, and your local governing
board on all curricular issues affecting your
college.
CC Chair just has to worry
about the COR, right??
The most important thing that you
always need to remember is slow
down and take a deep breath.
In an effort to SLOW
DOWN AND TAKE A
DEEP BREATH lets
review some basics
about the COR
Helpful COR published guidelines #1
http://extranet.cccco.edu/Divisions/AcademicAffairs/CurriculumandInstructionUnit.as
px
Helpful COR published guidelines #2
Nicknames: the mustard book OR the poppy
copy
http://www.ccccurriculum.net/course-outline-of-record/
Or
http://asccc.org/node/175016
The Course Outline of
Record
 The course outline of record (COR) is a
legal document that must contain certain
required elements that are outlined in:
§55002 of Title 5
 The COR serves as a legal contract
between the faculty, student, and the
college
 All CORs must be approved by the local
academic senate (curriculum committee)
and the local governing board
Importance of the COR
 The COR establishes the content and rigor
of a course and ensures consistency for
students across all section offerings
 The COR serves as the basis for articulation
agreements and course identification
number (C-ID) designation
 CORs are used to construct new or revised
instructional programs.
C-ID and Local CORs
 C-ID is a supra-numbering system that has
been developed to facilitate transfer and
articulation in California’s higher
educational institutions.
C-ID descriptors contain many
elements from COR, but describe
minimum requirements and are not
intended to supplant or dictate local
curriculum
 www.c-id.net
C-ID and Associates
Degrees for Transfer (ADTs)
 The ADT is a degree that guarantees a
student the ability to transfer to a California
State University
http://adegreewithaguarantee.com/
 Inclusion of some courses in ADT requires
submission for C-ID review and designation.
 Other courses are included through
standard articulation mechanisms.
Great References for the Basic
Elements of a COR
 Title 5 requirements (sec. 55002)
 Title 5
 Chancellor’s Office Data Elements
 http://extranet.cccco.edu/Divisions/TechResearchInfoSys/MI
S/DED.aspx
 Title 5 Standards for Approval (COR as a whole)
 § 55005. Publication of Course Standards
 Discipline Assignment(s)
 http://californiacommunitycolleges.cccco.edu/Portals/0/Flip
Books/2014_MQHandbook/2014_MQHandbook_ADA.pdf
Elements of the COR
• Course Number and Title
• Catalog Description
• Prerequisites
/Corequisites/ Advisories
• Units
• Total Contact Hours
• Course Content
• Objectives/Outcomes
• Instructional Methods
• Methods of Assessment
• Grading criteria (letter
grade, P/NP)
• Outside of Class
Assignments
• Required and
Recommended
Textbooks
• Repeatability Options
• Open Entry/Open Exit
• Justification of Need
• CCCCO Data Elements
(e.g. TOP and SAM
Codes, CB codes)
• Discipline Assignment(s)
Additional COR Items to
Consider
Item
Why you might want it
Student Learning
Outcomes
ACCJC Standard II.A.3
College Level Reading
and Writing Assignments
Insufficient detail might lead to
a request for syllabi
Transfer/ GE Information /
C-ID
It can be helpful to have this
info on the COR
Supplemental Instruction
Could SI be part of your
course?
TBA Hours
Include TBA regulations?
Enrollment limits
Instructional quality, external
accreditation requirements
The important
people and
governing bodies
that help with
curriculum at a
community college
What is the Curriculum
Chair’s relationship to
the CIO/VPI?
What should it be?
Curriculum Chair: Working
With Your CIO
The curriculum chair ideally should
schedule regular meetings with
your CIO.
Discuss important issues outside of
the Curriculum Committee
meetings.
It is completely unproductive for
the CIO and the Curriculum Chair
to be disagreeing with each other
during a committee meeting.
Working With Your CIO
 This does not mean that you will always
agree with your CIO or that they just get
their way.
Curriculum is a primary advice issue and
belongs to the faculty.
You need to develop a good working
relationship with your CIO so that they will
understand where you are coming from,
when there is room for compromise, and
when they will need to defer to the
faculty.
 The CIO manual can be found at the CIO web site.
Maybe you are just getting to
know your CIO and still want the
latest information quickly
without worrying about politics
 The Chancellor’s office web site : you can find the
CIO news on the left side of the web page and it will
look like this:
Working With the
Articulation Officer
 Your Articulation Officer (AO) is an incredible
resource of information for you and the
curriculum committee.
 If they aren’t already a member of your
committee, they probably should be.
 Role of the AO:
 Does your AO give reports at your meetings?
 How might you work with the AO to encourage
faculty to make changes to their courses to improve
your college’s articulation agreements?
 Articulation Officer web site
You Can’t Survive Without
Your Support Staff: The
Curriculum Specialist
 Strong support from the staff in your curriculum office is vital.
 Curriculum staff have many responsibilities including (but
not limited to):
 submitting changes to CCCCO;
 inputting changes into your student enrollment system;
 prepare submissions for the governing board; and
 production of your college catalog.
 Establish an effective working relationship. How?
 The instructions your Curriculum Specialist uses to upload
information into state Chancellor’s curriculum inventory.
The Curriculum Inventory
This site is the main place that the Curriculum Specialist
will work with but YOU can use it too for the Chancellor’s
Data Mart.
What should the Curriculum
Chair consider when
working with Faculty?
Local Academic Senates
 Remember that the Curriculum
Committee acts under the authority
granted to the academic senate and
they need to stay in the loop even if
they are not actively reviewing all of the
items approved by curriculum.
 Whether the Curriculum Chair is a voting
member of your local academic senate
or not, it is important that the Curriculum
Chair attend all senate meetings.
 Explain upcoming issues that your local
senate needs to be aware of.
Working With Faculty
 Faculty tend to only look at their CORs
when they are in curriculum review or
want to create a new class.
 Educate the faculty on effective
curriculum practice.
 Make yourself available to faculty to
answer questions
 When regulatory changes happen (like
repeatability), you need to sit down with
affected faculty and explain what is
going on and why.
Technical Review
 Establish a strong technical review process
for effectiveness.
 This committee can deal with looking at
some of the things that tend to make CC
meetings drag on: grammar, wording,
codes, etc.
 Chaired by the Curriculum Chair or Vicechair.
 Membership may include Curriculum
Committee members.
The Curriculum Chair, the
faculty and CTE
 Career Technical Education (CTE)
 The courses and the programs that
should have been reviewed
by/approved by:
an advisory board
regional consortium
 The programs must include labor market
information
The CTE faculty co-ordinator
and you – or are you in this
role too?
 Do either of you attend your local
business association curriculum
meetings?
 Do either of you attend your regional
CTE meetings/institutes/leadership?
 Do either of you know who your sector
and district sector navigators are and
what they can do for your faculty?
 Doing What Matters web site
Will there be Conflict?
Do ducks swim in water?
Managing Conflict
 Get comfortable with conflict.
 Conflict can be productive or
destructive, depending on how it is
handled.
 Listen first. “Listen” to both the content
and emotional component of a
message and honor both.
 Often these conflicts have little to do
with what is being discussed and is really
about something else. No matter what
this is happening, stay focused on the
current issue.
Managing Conflict (2)
 Remain impartial and remember that
you are representing the faculty of your
college not just one area.
 You can’t make everyone happy. Work
with all parties to try and reach a
solution that meets as many interests as
possible.
 If conflicts happen during a meeting,
take back the floor when the discussion
gets off topic. Remember that you are
in control of the meeting and you need
to keep the discussion as civil as
possible.
Working with your Deans:
they can be your ally!
Dean of Academic Affairs
Dean of CTE
Dean of Non-credit/Not for
credit/
A web site where Deans get
their training and updates
Chancellor’s office Who to
know:
Curriculum and Instruction:
 Jackie Escajeda, Interim Dean of Curriculum and
Instruction 916.327.2066
 Responsible for management, policy development
and implementation in the areas of instructional
resources and academic standards.
 Instructional Programs and Services
 LeBaron Woodyard, Dean of Instructional Services and
Special Programs 916.445.1780
 Responsible for administration of special project
funding.
Additional Useful Resources
Curriculum Institute!
get there! and join us!
 http://www.cccco.edu
 CCC: Program and Course Approval Handbook
 CCC: Distance Education Guidelines
 CCC: Guidelines for Title 5 Regulations Section55003
Policies for Prerequisites, Corequisites
and
Advisories on Recommended Preparation
 http://www.ccccurriculum.net
 Curriculum FAQ Document
 Components of a Model Course Outline of Record
 Links to other curriculum resources
Be Prepared and have a
thick skin and sense of
humor (two curriculum
chairs walk into a bar…..)
 Learn as much as you can about
regulations and current issues at the state
level.
 Adopt the phrase: “Let me get back to you
on that.”
Where do I go for help?
 http://www.ccccurriculum.info : FAQs, links to
ASCCC papers and rostrum articles.
 http://www.cccco.edu : Chancellor’s Office
website with many resources.
 Join the ASCCC Curriculum listserv.
 Join the Curriculum Chairs Yahoo Group. If you
are not a member of this informal group ask
another member to ask to have your name
added to the group (it’s easy and quickly done).
 Contact the current (or a former) ASCCC
Curriculum Chair.
 Past curriculum chairs at your college or district.
Summing Things Up
Do your best and that is almost
always enough.
Gather information for as many
sources as you can. The more you
know, the better the choices you will
make.
If you can’t find an answer, contact
others and see if they have one.
Summing Things Up
Always keep your senate president in
the loop.
We are all in this together.
Network at institutes and regional
workshops so you can draw on the
experience of others.
Ask for help from members of your
collective.
Questions??
 Do you have any other questions?
 Presenter Contact Information:
Lori Bennett LBennett@vcccd.edu
Diana Hurlbut – dhurlbut@ivc.edu
Eric Shearer – eshearer@napa.edu
Tiffany Tran – ttran76@ivc.edu