Overview of Curriculum Review Structure

The purpose of the Curriculum Review Committee (CRC) is to recommend to the Board of Trustees those courses and programs that meet stated standards.

The CRC reviews and approves courses, certificates, and majors that support the SRJC Mission to provide: 

1. lower division academic education, to support transfer to four-year institutions
2. career and technical education, to support economic development and job growth
3. basic skills, to include English language skills acquisition
4. student and academic support services, to improve student success and student retention

CRC also works with the Office of Curriculum and Educational Support Services to provide information, training, systems, interpretation of state regulations, and guiding principles to faculty and staff for developing and revising curriculum that meets Title 5 requirements and SRJC standards of quality.

Curriculum Review Committee Function and Composition 

Title 5 §55002 requires that all courses and programs be approved first by a college committee; this committee shall be either a committee of the Academic Senate or a committee that includes faculty and is otherwise comprised in a way that is mutually agreeable to the college and/or district administration and the Academic Senate. 

ASCCC explains
“The curriculum committee reviews and recommends courses and programs functioning under policies and procedures set by the Academic Senate (either through primary advice to or mutual agreement with the board). The composition of the curriculum committee is agreed upon mutually even if the board relies primarily upon the Senate for other curriculum policies and procedures. The board approves courses and programs recommended directly by the curriculum committee and with the assurance of the Academic Senate that established policies and procedures have been reviewed and followed.”

At SRJC, this committee is known as the Curriculum Review Committee (CRC). The Academic Senate appoints the faculty representatives, the college president appoints the administrative representatives, and some members are on the committee by position. The CRC is both an Academic Senate Standing Committee and an Academic Senate Consultation Committee. CRC follows its bylaws approved by Academic Senate.
 

CRC meets every 2nd and 4th Monday during the academic year, 3:15-5:15 p.m. 

• CRC meetings are open to all members of the college community, including the public
• Agendas, minutes, and current locations of meetings are accessible via SRJC’s Curriculum website
• Additional meetings are scheduled when extra time is needed for course and/or program approval.
• CRC bylaws state “All actions taken by the Curriculum Review Committee are subject to review by the Academic Senate."
• Monthly reports plus an annual summary of CRC actions are presented to the SRJC Board of Trustees.

The CRC’s official membership includes 22 members, 20 of whom are voting members; CRC is co-chaired by the Dean of Curriculum & Educational Support Services and a faculty member elected by the committee according to CRC Bylaws.

• 15 faculty
  • 14 appointed by Academic Senate
  • 1 Transfer Center Director
• Deans
  • 1 appointed by Academic Affairs
  • 1 Dean, Curriculum & Educational Support Services
  • 1 Senior Dean, Counseling and Student Success or designee
  • 1 Dean (or management), Admissions & Enrollment Services or designee
• 1 Articulation Specialist (classified, by position)
• 2 students, appointed by Student Government Association
• 2 ex-officio (non-voting)
  • 1 from the Assessment Office
  • 1 from the Distance Education Office

Curriculum Review Committee (CRC) Responsibilities

A.    SRJC’s CRC is charged with ensuring that all courses and programs meet the standards for approval stated in Title 5 and in the Chancellor’s Program and Course Approval Handbook 8th Edition. To ensure this, CRC:

• recommends approval of all new and revised courses, including online courses;
• recommends approval of all new and revised Programs of Study;
• recommends approval of CRC subcommittees’ suggestions;
• ensures each Cluster Tech Review Committee (CTRC) includes a CRC representative who serves as CTRC co-chair along with Cluster Dean;
• interprets and communicates all curriculum standards and requirements to the college community;
• creates and maintain forms and processes for course approval including Distance Education offerings (e.g., Emergency DE form)
• supports faculty in developing and revising courses and programs;
• facilitates discussion and decision-making regarding curriculum at SRJC; and
• maintains clear communication with the Academic Senate. 

B.    CRC Co chairs shared responsibilities are listed below. For a complete list of each chair’s responsibilities, see CRC Bylaws.

• Prepare and distribute each CRC agenda, including placing courses on the Action or Consent agenda.
• Vote at meetings.
• Stay informed of curriculum standards as stated in Title 5, the Chancellor’s Office Program and Course Approval Handbook,8th Edition and the regional accrediting body.
• Assure that committee functions take place smoothly, including:
  • Cluster Tech Review;
  • prerequisite and recommended preparation review (through Content Review);
  • Distance Education (DE) review;
  • General Education (GE) review;
  • sign-off by the Dean of Learning Resources and Educational Technology, Library and Information Resources;
  • sign off by District Facilities as needed, and
  • Articulation processes

Curriculum Office Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the Office of Curriculum and Educational Support Services (referred to as the “Curriculum Office” throughout this handbook) and the Curriculum Dean are listed below:

• Manage submission of proposed and revised course outlines, distribution of course outlines to committees, and follow-up after approval of proposed courses;
• Keep records of all CRC agendas and actions;
• Identify and communicate new information and laws from the State level to the CRC, deans, and other college bodies; and
• Submit course and program information and forms as required by the State. 

Cluster Tech Review Committee (CTRC) Composition and Responsibilities

These committees review new and revised Course Outlines of Record (CORs) from disciplines within the cluster before the COR appears on a CRC agenda. 

Composition. A Cluster Tech Review Committee includes: 

1. A CRC faculty member, who serves as co-chair of the CTRC;
2. The cluster dean, who serves as the other co-chair of the CTRC;
3. An adequate number of faculty representing the different disciplines within a given cluster (approximately 2-5, depending on the cluster); and
4. Classified staff, usually the dean’s Administrative Assistant, for administrative support 

Responsibilities. The CTRC reviews each new and revised COR for departments within that cluster. Specifically, this committee: 

1. Ensures that the course meets the standards spelled out in this Handbook for format, compliance, content, clarity, rigor, completeness, and correctness;
2. Reviews the feasibility and alignment of the Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) with the course objectives, using the guidelines in this Handbook;
3. Ensures that the course demands critical thinking, and, for CSU and UC transfer-level courses, demonstrates appropriate rigor; and
4. Acts as a resource for instructors to discuss ideas for creating or revising courses before formally writing them. 

Submitter Responsibilities.

Faculty submitters should revise their courses in their entirety using the Cluster Tech Checklist and IDEAA principles as guides in anticipation of their upcoming Cluster Tech meeting. Ideally, the submitter attends the CTRC meeting when the course is reviewed to receive feedback firsthand so changes can be made in real time at the CTRC meeting. 

• Please note that up to 20 minutes is allotted for each course review at a CTRC meeting.
  • If the course needs significant changes or requires more than the allotted 20 minutes, CTRC Co-Chairs will ask the submitter to bring the course to a future meeting.
  • The Co-Chairs will determine which Cluster Tech agenda the course can be added to and the submitter will be notified of the new review date.

Curriculum Review Committee (CRC) and Subcommittees & Responsibilities

Several subcommittees support the functions of the CRC. Membership on these committees is outlined in CRC bylaws. 

A.    The General Education (GE) Subcommittee. 

This committee reviews courses that have been submitted for approval under any of these general education patterns: 

• SRJC’s Local GE for Associate Degrees
• CalGETC 

All GE proposals must go through the GE Subcommittee and be approved by the full CRC. For more on General Education, see Section 7.5. 

B.    Distance Education (DE) Advisory Committee (also known as: DE Reviewers)

• Review DE proposals and course compliance with Title 5 regulations for DE delivery.
• Consult with submitting faculty on any changes to DE course or proposal
• Discuss course DE proposal, and recommend DE delivery for approval on CRC Consent Agenda

C.    Majors & Certificate Review Committee (MCRC): MCRC is advisory to the Education Planning and Coordinating Council. (EPCC).

The MCRC reviews all applications for new programs requesting or requiring Chancellor’s Office approval. MCRC works with the department until the proposal for a major/certificate is ready for recommendation and forwarding to CRC for approval. The MCRC: 

• Reviews the application for completeness and accuracy and
• Ensures that Transfer Model Curriculum (TMC) templates comply with Chancellor’s Office accepted templates and policies.

D.    Ad hoc Committee.

When needed, CRC membership will form Ad hoc committees to work on time-specific curricular matters, such as Discipline Overlap/Conflict process. 
 

Degree of Course Change, Review, and Status 

This section outlines categories of revision and criteria for a “full review” in the course revision cycle. When considering substantial revisions, refer to the chart below to determine whether the changes might require creating a new course.

Full Review
(Requires Cluster Tech Review; 6-year review cycle updated)
New Course: Action Agenda (Contact Curriculum Office)
If the focus and purpose of the course changes significantly, then a new course is recommended rather than a revision. Additionally, if a course significantly changes due to new scholarship within a discipline, trends in the field, or evolving technologies, a new course may be required.
Course Outline of Record Section	Changes/Revisions
Unit Value Change	Varies by course level and context. see Section 3G about submitting Unit Value Change Rationale Statement for a Unit Value increase or decrease. If the units of a UC transfer level course decrease, seek guidance from the Curriculum Office and Articulation Officer
Hours	If a lecture/lab course becomes lecture- or lab-only, or vice versa; configuration of lecture/lab hours change
COR Content	Elements in the COR have been significantly changed so that the course is essentially a different course.
Course split (or merge)	A semester course is broken into separate modules. OR Two or more short, related courses are combined to make a semester length course.
Major Change: Action Agenda (ASCCC page 51)
Course Outline of Record Section	Change/Revision
Course Review	6-year review cycle updated
Units	Change in configuration or total number of units
Hours	Change in configuration or total number of hours
Number of Repetitions	Change in number of repetitions
Prerequisites, Corequisites, Recommended Preparation	Change(s) in prerequisites, corequisites, and/or recommended preparation (Title 5, §55200);
Limits on Enrollment (LOE)	Change(s) to LOE
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)	Addition/Removal/Revision of SLOs that represent a major change to course or result in changes to course content (i.e. Topics and Scope)
Objectives	Addition/Removal/Revision of objectives that represent a major change to course or result in changes to course content (i.e. Topics and Scope)
Course Status	Change in credit/noncredit status
Course Length	Change in term length into a compressed timeframe if student spends more than 26.25 hours on coursework due to the compressed timeframe.
Minor Change: Consent Agenda
Course Outline of Record Section	Changes/Revisions
Course last reviewed 6 years or earlier	6-year review cycle updated
Prefix/Course Number/Title	Changes in course number or title
Course Description	Minor revisions to Catalog Description to align with IDEAA principles, clarity, transparency, and conciseness
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)	Minor Revision to SLOs, to align with IDEAA principles, clarity, transparency, and conciseness (e.g., word choice, combining two SLOs into one)
Objectives	Minor Revision to Objectives (e.g., word choice, combining Objectives, breaking one objective into two)
Topics and Scope	Minor Revisions to Topics and Scope (e.g., word choice or formatting)
Assignments	Minor Revisions to Assignments (e.g., word choice)
Methods of Evaluation	Minor Revisions to Methods of Evaluations (e.g., word choice)
Textbooks	Updating edition of texts; adding Open Educational Resource(s)
Other	1. Addition of a focus area to a currently approved Special Topics umbrella course. 2. Adding Distance Education as a mode of delivery
Modification/Technical Correction
(Does NOT require Cluster Tech; 6-year review cycle will NOT be updated)
Course Outline of Record Section
Prefix / Course Number	If revisions are minimal, and/or occur in only one section, then CRC Co-Chairs may recommend a modification rather than full review
Title
Program Applicable
Course Description
SLOs
Objectives
Topics and Scope
Assignments
Methods of Evaluation
Textbooks
Typographical or grammatical	Corrections of errors
Coding	Most coding changes (not part of COR Content) can be modification items. Examples are: Changing Major or Certificate status Changes in TOP or SAM Codes