Academic Programs Committee of Council
Course Challenge Jan. 14, 2010
Graduate Studies & Research
Page 1
Curricular changes being circulated for approval: course deletions in Food & Bioproduct Sciences, and in
Geography & Planning.
Curricular changes being circulated for information: revised courses in School of Environment &
Sustainability, and in Educational Communications.
Engineering
Correction to December 22 Course Challenge
Page 4
Schedule for approval:
Date of circulation: Jan. 14, 2010
Date by which Challenge must be received: Jan. 28, 2010
Date by which changes will automatically be considered approved in the absence of Challenge: Feb. 11,
2010
COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES & RESEARCH
December 2009
Items for Approval
Food & Bioproduct Sciences
Course Deletions
APMC 808.3 – Brewing Microbiology
Rationale: This course was last offered in 2007/08.
APMC 825.3 – Carcinogens and Mutagens
Rationale: This course is no longer offered.
APMC 831.3 – Laboratory in Microbial Ecology
Rationale: This course was last offered in 2007/08.
APMC 833.3 – Microbial Insecticides
Rationale: This course was last offered in 2007/08.
APMC 836.3 – Food Microbiology
2 Rationale: This course was last offered in 2007/08.
APMC 837.3 – Industrial Microbiology
Rationale: This course was last offered in 2007/08.
APMC 838.3 – Laboratory in Microbial Insecticides
Rationale: This course was last offered in 2007/08.
FDSC 812.3 – Fluid Food Products
Rationale: This course was last offered in 2007/08.
FDSC 830.3 – Processing of Oilseeds and Legumes
Rationale: This course was last offered in 2007/08.
Contact: nicholas.low@usask.ca
Geography & Planning
Course Deletions
GEOG 804.3 – Contemporary Issues in Geographic Thought
Rationale: This course focused on research philosophies in Geography. The course has not been offered
since 2006 and is no longer a required course for graduate students. The two faculty members who
traditionally taught this course have since moved to one of the newly established schools and are no
longer engaged in graduate teaching in the Department.
GEOG 841.3 – Regional Development
Rationale: This course has not been offered in the Department for several years. The faculty member
who traditionally taught this course is retired from the Department, and no existing faculty members teach
or research in the area of Regional Development.
GEOG 848.3 – Advanced Geography of Population
Rationale: The faculty member who traditionally taught this course is no longer with the Department of
Geography and Planning. No existing faculty members teach or research in the area of Population
Geography
GEOG 871.3 – Advanced Biogeography
Rationale: This course has not been offered in the Department for several years due to lack of student
demand. The faculty member who taught this course does not plan to admit/supervise graduate students
in this area in the future.
GEOG 890.3 – Landscape Analysis
Rationale: This is no longer a required course in our graduate program for physical geography students.
The department does not have the human or financial resources required to continue to offer/support this
field-based course.
Contact: alec.aitken@usask.ca
3 Items for Information
The following items are approved by the College of Graduate Studies & Research and are being
circulated for information:
School of Environment & Sustainability
Course Modification
ENVS 804.3 Strategic Environmental Planning and Project Management
Proposed Title: Decision-making for Environmental Conservation and Sustainability
Current Calendar Description: Will help students understand systems approaches to planning and project
development, triple bottom line accounting, ethical considerations associated with professional practice,
team work and leadership skills, communications, scheduling, and special issues involved with
establishing interdisciplinary teams to understand the environmental implications of programs, policies,
and projects.
Proposed Calendar Description: Intended to enhance students’ professional and scholarly effectiveness,
this course introduces an interdisciplinary approach to environmental conservation problems that enables
them to appraise and engage with environmental and sustainability programs, policies, and projects.
Through a team-based approach students will practice leadership and communication skills, and develop
functional understanding of both conventional and emergent approaches to environmental management.
Rationale: The person who taught this course last year (Niran Harrison) is no longer available. As the
new Centennial Chair (Douglas A. Clark) in Human Dimensions of Environment and Sustainability, I
was asked to identify a graduate course to teach that would reflect my research orientation and my interest
in improving professional practice in improving the quality of decision-making for environment and
sustainability. ENVS 804 is an opportune fit.
My background differs from Professor Harrison’s, so I will be working towards the original objectives
and intent of this course through methods and case examples that I’m more conversant with. For
example, the previous instructor emphasized triple bottom-line accounting whereas I will focus on
decision-making processes and their social context. I selected readings and examples that draw upon my
own professional and research experiences with wildlife management, integration of scientific and
local/indigenous knowledge, and climate change impacts in the Arctic.
I will be retaining several key attributes of this course, primarily, a team-based approach in seminars and
required assignments, and a focus on professional practice. Based on my limited observations so far as a
new faculty member in SENS, these attributes appear to be critical for this course to contribute to
achieving goals of our research-oriented (MES & PhD) and professional (MSEM) graduate programs.
Contact: karsten.liber@usask.ca
Educational Communications
Changes to Course Titles
ECMM 803.3 – Principles and Practices of Authoring Interactive Instruction
New Title: Multimedia Design for Learning
ECMM 804.3 – Distance Education: Theory and Practice
New Title: Designing for Distance Learning
ECMM 873.3 – Designing Materials for Individualized Instruction
New Title: Instructional Design
ECMM 874.3 – Advanced Approaches to Instructional Design
New Title: Advanced Instructional Design
4 ECMM 877.3 – Advanced Cinematography in Education
New Title: Video Design for Learning
ECMM 879.6 – Television in Education
New Title: Advanced Video Design for Learning
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
CORRECTION to December 22 Challenge document:
In revising the format for how some of the elective courses were to be listed in the Engineering Physics
program (Page 15), it appeared as though the courses EE 471 and 472 were being deleted as potential
electives for students in this program. This is not the case, and this document has been corrected.