department name Department
department website URL
Course Information Document
(note - this form is appropriate ONLY for courses that are NOT applying for ANY gen ed certification)
PREFIX nnn Course Title
n cr.
Catalog description:
Course description. Focus on the course goals in developing the description; do not incorporate implementation details
unless they are directly related to course goals. [n lecture hours [and m hours of scheduled laboratory per week] [plus work
outside of class].]
Prerequisites: list all prerequisites (delete this line if there are no prerequisites)
Course Narrative:
Provide a reasonable (two to four paragraph) narrative that goes beyond the course description in articulating the
pedagogical and disciplinary mission and scope of the course. Think of this narrative as a means of connecting the dots
between the course description and course goals and outcomes.
Course Goals:
(The wording of course goals may be phrased to meet disciplinary standards.)
This course will {introduce | explain | examine | …}:
G1:
G2:
G3:
general goal (not necessarily directly measureable);
general goal;
general goal; (insert additional goals as needed; try for no more than 3-5 goals)
Course Outcomes (Objectives):
(The wording of course outcomes may be phrased to meet disciplinary standards but outcomes must be assessable /
measurable.)
Upon successful completion of the course, a student will be able to {demonstrate | explain | demonstrate | identify | …}:
O1:
O2:
O3:
specific (measurable!) objective (stated as something that the student did during the course);
specific (measurable!) objective;
specific (measurable!) objective; (insert additional objectives as needed; try for no more than 4-8 objectives)
Topics:
(Note: for special topics courses, provide appropriate separate topic outlines for two different special topics.)


topic one
 sub-topic

sub-sub-topic
topic two
 sub-topic

sub-sub-topic
Student Experiences: Describe the various type(s) of student experiences that will be used to assess student learning vis-à-vis
stated course objectives, e.g. presentations, tests, lab reports, writing projects, discussions, performances, etc. For each type,
briefly describe what the activity entails and provide an example or two of a typical assignment. Note that these examples are
not meant to be prescriptive.
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Student Experiences by Course Outcome (Objective) matrix:
(Eliminate or add columns and/or rows as necessary; each row represents a student experience (similar experiences should be
grouped if appropriate - this is NOT meant to be a list of every student experience); each column relates a student experience
type to the relevant course outcomes (objectives). Insert a check mark () in any cell where a given course objective is
assessed via a specific student experience.)
student outcome / experience
(e.g. presentations, tests, lab reports, writing projects,
discussions, performances, etc.)
O1
O2
O3
O4
O5
O6
Sample Bibliography: (required for new courses only) (format as appropriate for your discipline; representative resources, not
required to be exhaustive)
(Note: for special topics courses, provide representative sample bibliographies for two different special topics.)
(examples)
Beck, Kent. Implementation Patterns. Second Edition. Addison-Wesley Professional, 2007.
Booch, Grady; Rumbaugh, James; Jacobson, Ivar. The Unified Modeling Language User Guide. Second Edition.
Addison-Wesley, 2005.
Gamma, Erich; Helm, Richard; Johnson, Ralph; Vlissides, John. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable ObjectOriented Software. Addison-Wesley, 1995.
Hwang, K.; Fox, G.; Dongarra, J. Distributed and Cloud Computing: From Parallel Processing to the Internet of
Things. Morgan Kaufmann, 2012.
(General Notes: anything in red must be deleted or replaced (and changed to black). Anything in red and in parentheses (like
this note) is an advisory comment and must be deleted. Note that while additional components may be inserted if appropriate,
listed components must be included. For examples, visit visit http://www.salemstate.edu/26049.php.
template 1516.1 effective 9/2015-8/2016)
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