3.4.10 Responsibility of the Curriculum

The institution places primary responsibility for the content, quality, and effectiveness of its curriculum with its faculty.

Compliance           ___  Partial Compliance          ___  Non-Compliance

Narrative:   

South Louisiana Community College (SLCC) has a three prong process related to faculty assurance of course and program content, quality, and effectiveness of the curriculum.  Faculty presents curriculum changes to the Curriculum Committee to assure course content aligns with SLCC’s mission.  Faculty develops and implements assessments and evaluations through the annual plan process to assure quality of the curriculum. To determine the effectiveness of the curriculum, faculty analyzes the results of the assessments and evaluations.

New courses and programs are forwarded to the SLCC Curriculum Committee by Program Coordinators and Department Chairs who review requested or suggested changes to curricula. Upon Curriculum Committee approval, the Dean of Instruction and Effectiveness, and then the Vice Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs act upon the recommendations.  If necessary, once these steps are completed, the process may continue for approval from the Louisiana Community and Technical College System Board of Supervisors (LCTCS) and Louisiana Board of Regents for Higher Education (BoR).  Once all approvals are completed, the documentation is presented to the Registrar to begin implementation.

According to the SLCC Committees Operation Handbook (1) the purpose of the Curriculum Committee is:

• To make recommendations on policies and procedures regarding curriculum, including academic programs;
• Serve as a review board for proposed courses and curricula changes
• Make recommendations for accepted changes”.  (p. 10)

One of the duties of the Committee is to “review all course and curricula changes prior to making recommendations for acceptance or rejection of each.” (p. 10)

The Curriculum Committee consists of:

(Curriculum Committee Minutes) (2)

According to the Faculty Handbook (3), “Full-time faculty develop and distribute within the first week of semester course syllabi that are in accordance with approved master syllabi and which describes in detail the requirements of the course…”  Department Chairs conduct a Syllabus Audit (4) each semester; thereby, assuring the course syllabi align with the master syllabi.

The curriculum is evaluated and subsequent improvement is made based upon student learning outcomes.  Program Coordinators and Department Chairs review data from student learning outcomes with faculty within their departments.  If changes in courses or programs are considered, these are shared with administration and if necessary the process begins with the Curriculum Committee (Sample Unit Plans) (5).

An example of program approval is the Associate of Science in Teaching degree  program which began with the State inviting colleges and universities to participate in a statewide degree program for Elementary Education that would be transferable from any public community college to any public university in the State.  (6) Students who complete the program at the community college level enter the College of Education at the university level as a junior without retaking courses.  SLCC had a faculty member who attended these meetings.  Once the curriculum was determined, the Department Chair of Social Sciences forwarded the program to the Curriculum Committee, who approved it. The information was then forwarded to LCTCS where it was approved.  Before BoR approved the program, it was forwarded to a Blue Ribbon Committee consisting of experts outside the State who approved it. Then BoR approved SLCC offering the program.

An example of course approval is the English as Second Language (ESL) courses.  (7) Faculty and staff have noticed an increase in the number of international students at SLCC.  In particular, faculty noticed that the ESL students were not doing as well as they possibly could be in the traditional developmental English courses.  While the Academic Success Center (SLCC’s tutorial lab) was a help, it was not the solution.  The Department Chair of English and Reading researched ESL courses in the local area and around the State.  Working with faculty, the Department Chair developed two ESL courses and presented them to Curriculum Committee.  They were approved by the Curriculum Committee and forwarded to the Dean of Instruction and Effectiveness and then to the Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, who approved the courses.  The courses are on the schedule for the Fall 2011 semester.

Documentation: