C-1: DEVELOPING THE COURSE OFFERING

Principles Related to Developing the Course Offering

• It is expected that when colleges develop programs they will do so in a manner that will allow students at any location to schedule courses consistent with normal degree progress during their lower division years. In like manner, locations are expected to offer courses that will allow students to enroll for those courses supportive of normal degree progress. In those cases in which a location cannot offer requisite courses, the student must be allowed to move to a different location where normal degree progress can be met.
  
  
• The preparation of the course offering should be a well thought-out process. The key to a successful offering is planning. Three key elements must be considered when developing the course offering: the type of courses being offered, the sub-population of students the courses will serve, and the faculty available to teach the courses. Offering units need to evaluate past, present, and future enrollments to determine which courses and how many sections of each should be offered.
  
  
• Offering units must schedule their courses across the days of the week and throughout the scheduling periods in each day. This maximizes the opportunities for students to schedule courses and provides greater efficiency in the scheduling of rooms.
  
  
• When courses are offered for less than the full semester, care must be taken to make sure students expected to schedule the courses may do so without impacting their ability to schedule a normal full-time load.
  
  
• The offering of under-enrolled sections of courses is discouraged. These sections should be dropped prior to the beginning of the semester, allowing students sufficient time to register for other appropriate courses.

1. Responsibilities

Developing the course offering is a shared responsibility of the academic units and the Office of the University Registrar. The academic units are responsible for determining which courses they will offer, section size and the number of offered sections, and the assignment of teaching faculty. The Registrar's Office is responsible for assigning general-purpose classrooms, recording college/department-controlled learning space, and publishing the Schedule of Courses. A joint responsibility is to distribute the assigned times such that courses and sections are appropriately distributed across the days of the week and periods of the day. This is required to maximize scheduling opportunities for students and to maximize the scheduling of learning space.

It is recognized that the size of the campus will lead to procedural differences among the various locations of the University. However, the principles presented within apply equally to all locations of the University.

2. Planning

The course offering process is an on going analysis of past, current, and future course demand, whereby the academic unit determines what courses should be offered in future semesters. This analysis should focus on the several different types of courses the academic unit may offer:

--general education;
--courses required for majors, electives;
--special interest courses.

The Office of the University Registrar is available to assist in the planning process by providing course offering, program summary, and student enrollment data to the academic unit.

3. Call for Courses

While the exact process may vary from location to location, each semester every academic unit will submit new course offering plans to the Registrar at its location. At University Park, the Registrar's office provides to each academic unit forms to be used in the preparation of the new course offering. Departments submit their course offering plans through the college dean before returning them to the Registrar's office.

Academic units should give consideration to the following guidelines in establishing their course offering:

--Schedule courses required in the major.
--Schedule general education courses.
--Schedule other regular elective courses.
--Schedule special interest courses on a faculty- and space-available basis.
--As soon as possible, ideally at the time of the initial offering, assign faculty to all offered courses and sections.
--Identify courses that should not be scheduled in time conflict with other courses.
--Identify specific classroom characteristics needed to support instruction, such as the need for technology.
--Specify course characteristics that will be helpful to students during registration.
--Where possible, set higher section limits for typically over-demanded courses.
--Avoid offering courses with histories of being under-enrolled.

4. Publication Review

Upon completion of the room assignment process, the Registrar's office prepares a draft version of the campus course offering. This is distributed to each academic unit department for final review and approval before the course offering is published. This review is intended to correct any minor discrepancies and to make necessary adjustments to the course offerings before publication.

Academic units are strongly encouraged to complete their course offering as fully as possible starting with the initial publication. This action insures that the complete course offering is available to the largest number of students, advisers, and faculty.

At University Park, the department head signs the Semester Course Publication review form and submits the form through the college dean before returning it to the Registrar's office.

5. Publication of the Schedule of Courses

The course offering for a given semester is published approximately three months prior to the semester for which that offering is intended. The official University publication is on the World Wide Web and is updated every 24 hours. Included in the Web publication are all resident instruction delivered courses offered at all locations of the University. The campus Registrar is responsible for identifying the calendar date to start including the resident instruction courses. Also included in the Web publication are those continuing education delivered courses that are designated as "public" by the campus Registrar. These "public continuing education courses" may be offered on or off campus.

Each location is authorized to publish a paper-based Schedule of Courses. It is recognized that some students may not have access to the World Wide Web. The paper document serves as a reasonable substitution for such students.

6. Coordinated and Concurrent Courses

Some courses are to be scheduled concurrently with other courses or as a set of coordinated courses. Academic units offering coordinated or concurrent courses should clearly identify these courses to their campus Registrar. The campus Registrar will place the appropriate designation in the course characteristic field of the course offering.

7. Distribution by Meeting Periods and Days

In an effort to provide maximum scheduling opportunities for students and to maximize utilization of the classroom and other learning facilities, each location is encouraged to develop a course-scheduling matrix. This matrix is required at University Park. The course-scheduling matrix appropriately distributes the course offering among the class meeting periods per day and days of the week.

Both the initial course offering and subsequent adjustments to the initial course offering must maintain the integrity of this distribution. Registrars at all locations are encouraged to use a course-scheduling distribution matrix appropriate for their location.

The academic unit recommends course-scheduling patterns. The campus Registrar has the final authority for determining the meeting times for all courses and for the assignment of general-purpose classrooms.

Academic units are permitted to schedule courses during the evening hours and on weekends.

8. "By Appointment" Courses

All courses that will have regular class meetings throughout the semester shall be scheduled in advance, at specific meeting periods, in specific classrooms, and so announced in the Schedule of Courses.

Those courses that do not meet on a regular schedule, such as independent study courses, research, or thesis preparation courses, may be scheduled as "by appointment." Room numbers listed for courses scheduled by appointment refer to the office number and building of the instructor or the head of the academic unit offering the course.

Class meeting times later arranged must be agreeable to all concerned and may not conflict with other scheduled courses.

9. Credit Courses of Less Than Full Semester Duration

Credit courses are normally scheduled for a full semester. Courses that are shorter than a full semester can be scheduled with the approval of the appropriate academic unit. The distribution of time between in-class activities and outside preparation varies from course to course. To earn 1 credit, the normal expectation is for the student to spend at least forty hours of work per semester. This work is planned and arranged by the faculty.

There are a number of issues to be considered when an academic unit desires to offer a credit course or combination of courses on a less than full semester basis.

--The student population who will be expected to schedule the course;
--Scheduling the part-semester course should not prevent students from being able to schedule a normal load of full semester courses;
--The academic and resource implications of offering the part-semester course;
--A justification of why the course(s) cannot be offered on a full-semester basis.

Upon approval of the college dean, the course request is forwarded to the campus Registrar.

Revised: ACUE (3-4-99)

The University may make changes in policies, procedures, educational offerings, and requirements at any time. Please consult a Penn State academic adviser for more detailed information. Penn State is an affirmative action, equal opportunity university.