Instructions: Items 11-15

Indicate how the course relates to the overall curriculum in your unit, and whether it overlaps with other courses offered by your unit (identified by course subject and number). Justify new courses in terms of deletion of other courses, new subject matter, and evidence of course need.

For 400- and 500-level courses, justify why this course will award graduate credit in terms of level of content, previous knowledge required, relevance to current research, methodology, etc. If not required for a degree or an elective in a specific degree program, explain the purpose of the course within and outside the department (e.g., general education, elective for all freshmen, elective for engineering majors, course offered to meet needs of Continuing Education, etc.). When applicable, explain the function of the course within a specific degree program.

Examples

1. Expands the one-semester grammar review in FR 333 to a full-year review, providing more time for careful study of grammar, and extensive speaking and writing practice. Prepares students for 400-level stylistics course.
2. Multivariate statistics is introduced in the introductory statistics sequence. This course provides students with a firm grounding in this subject, and is an advanced elective for students intending to pursue a graduate degree.

List any other courses offered by other units at UIC that are similar to your course (identified by course subject and number). This requires that you scan the catalog for offerings by other programs and colleges. If your course is similar to another course, then you must explain how your course is different, why your course is still needed, and why it won’t compete for students.

Where significant overlap exists, units should discuss the overlap with the departments controlling the similar courses before the course is proposed. In addition, the course should be routed to overlapping units using the sign-off process to allow these units to review the final version and make any comments.

Examples

1. Per W. Chairperson, chairperson of the Department of Philosophy, there is no overlap with current offerings in philosophy. Currently, there are no courses in philosophy specifically devoted to this topic, and philosophy courses tend to be more theoretical than applied in nature (per phone conversation with W. Chairperson, 10/10/99).
2. Since both the Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science and Computer Science departments teach courses using the C programming language, there will be some overlap with courses offered by CS. MCS 360 is oriented specifically toward students in the MCS major, and it is designed to prepare them for more advanced MCS courses. See email from A. Faculty in CS dated 11/05/00 supporting the MSCS Department changes despite increased overlap between CS and MSCS undergraduate programs.
3. “Leadership and Management” is designed to give the student an in-depth understanding of what it means to be an officer in the Navy or Marine Corps. Students are expected to learn about various management styles, planning, and coordinating. There are other management courses on campus, but the content in NS 202 is directly related to naval science and required to be taught in this manner by Naval Education and Training guidelines.

• Review the sign-off procedures.

What do you want students to be able to do by the time they finish your course?

Course learning outcomes are intended to:

• Help you identify clearly what students should learn in your course.
• Help you select appropriate instructional methods and materials for the course.
• Help you plan assessments to measure whether or not students have attained the learning goals.

When writing learning outcomes, use active, measurable verbs that specify observable behaviors wherever possible (e.g., define, classify, apply, analyze, evaluate, etc.). Avoid writing learning outcomes that begin, “Students will know…” or “Students will understand…”

Examples

1. Students will be able to analyze literary texts in terms of their structural elements and historical contexts.
2. Students will be able to apply major theories of child development in analyzing case studies.
3. Students will be able to analyze authoritarian rhetoric and discern patterns in relation to the marginalization and demonization of others.

Explain how you are going to measure each of the course learning outcomes listed above. Assessments should be designed to gather evidence about students’ progress toward attaining each of the learning outcomes. Assessment methods might include research papers, exams,  musical compositions, film reviews, essays, problem sets, performances, lab reports, case studies, etc. Each specific learning outcome should be addressed by at least one assessment.

Examples

1.  Students’ ability to analyze literary texts in terms of their structural elements and historical contexts will be demonstrated in a 4-page paper where students will select a work and apply a series of questions.
2. Students will demonstrate they can apply major theories of child development in analyzing case studies through short answer responses within the midterm exam.
3. The ability of students to analyze authoritarian rhetoric and discern patterns in relation to the marginalization and demonization of others will be demonstrated through a 3-page paper, which will require students to analyze two orations of their choosing.

After you have outlined your learning outcomes and assessments for those outcomes, you should determine which course topics you will cover and which activities you will align with the learning outcomes and assessment methods. This exercise will help you to determine the correct number of credit hours to assign to the course.

Instructional activities must be equivalent to a minimum of 15 contact hours per credit hour, plus a minimum of 30 hours of student-directed activities per credit hour, or a similar combination of these, for an overall total of 45 hours of student work per credit hour awarded.

• Related resource: Contact/credit hour policy

For example, the following topics were covered in a 15-week Russian Literature course that was offered for 3 credit hours:

• The Origins of Russian Literature (4 hours of lecture/discussion, 8 hours of student-directed preparation)
• Russian Romanticism: Zhukovsky, Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol (4 hours of lecture/discussion, 8 hours of student-directed preparation)
• Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin (4 hours of lecture/discussion, 8 hours of student-directed preparation)
• Lermontov’s Hero of Our Time (4 hours of lecture/discussion, 8 hours of student-directed preparation)
• Gogol’s Petersburg Stories (4 hours of lecture/discussion, 8 hours of student-directed preparation)
• Belinsky and Russian Criticism (4 hours of lecture/discussion, 8 hours of student-directed preparation)
• Russian Realism: Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy (4 hours of lecture/discussion, 8 hours of student-directed preparation)
• Turgenev’s Rudin and Fathers and Sons (4 hours of lecture/discussion, 8 hours of student-directed preparation)
• Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment (4 hours of lecture/discussion, 8 hours of student-directed preparation)
• Tolstoy’s War and Peace (4 hours of lecture/discussion, 8 hours of student-directed preparation)
• Russian Neo-Realism: Chekhov and Gorky (5 hours of lecture/discussion, 10 hours of student-directed preparation)

Total Hours : 45 contact hours (lecture and discussion) + 90 hours of student-directed activities (reading texts, writing assignments, reviewing notes, etc.) = 135 total contact hours = 3 credit hour course

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