Summary minutes
Cross-Listing Task Force
April 29, 2013
Present: Nancy Hinman, Diana Lurie, Tobin Miller Shearer, Tully Thibeau
Our discussion focused on the core principles needed to develop a rational cross-listing
process.
We began by clarifying the cross-listing pilot that is being tested this coming fall. Under
this pilot, a “parent course” will receive the Common Course Numbering (CCN) number
and rubric and the cross-listed “sibling course” will receive the pre-OCHE commoncourse numbering rubric. On student transcripts, the cross-listed sibling course will be
listed as "equivalent to" the CCN numbered parent course. The course names will be
the same. The pilot is being tested with a limited number of classes and will be an
essential part of the task force’s data collection.
We then considered the following points:
- currently we have about 700 courses involved in cross-listing;
- how can cross listing serve our students as seamlessly as possible?;
- a cross-listing standard should be clear, rational, and represent the
interdisciplinary work being done so well at UM;
- currently cross listing is being used to both give credit to students who take
courses outside their departments and to recognize courses that are truly
interdisciplinary. In short, it becomes a way for small departments to have a
major;
- do we need to put a guideline in place that, if a cross-listed course has had zero
enrollment for three consecutive offerings, it should be discontinued as a cross
listing?
- departments have the right to determine their involvement in any cross-listing
proposal;
- would it make sense to initiate a two-stage process where we first implement the
basic cross-listing mechanism for all existing cross-listed courses and then
undertake a long process of reviewing those cross-listed courses to give more
attention to cross-listing and interdisciplinarity.
We also set our meetings for fall 2013. We plan on moving forward with a proposal to
Faculty Senate and ASCRC in late Fall 2013 or early Spring 2014 once we have data
available from the pilot project in cross-listing described above. In the fall the task force
will continue work on refining principles to guide rubric development and the crosslisting process.
Respectfully submitted,
Tobin Miller Shearer