Chair of the Curriculum Review Committee (CRC)

Regular Meetings

The CRC Chair generally facilitates these meetings:

• Curriculum Technical Review (Tech) - 2nd & 4th Wednesdays, 2-4pm
• Curriculum Review Committee (CRC) - 1st & 3rd Wednesdays, 2-4pm
• CRC Executive Committee (Exec) - TBD, generally weekly 1-2 hours before Tech/CRC

The CRC Chair generally attends these meetings:

• Curriculum Instructional Council (CIC) - 2nd & 4th Thursdays, 2-4pm
• Academic Senate Executive Meeting - Every other Monday, 2:30-4:30pm
• Academic Senate General Meeting - Every other Monday, 2:30-4:30pm
• Instructional Council (IC) - Monthly on Mondays 1-2pm
• District Policies & Procedures - 2nd & 4th Thursdays, 1-2pm
• Guided Pathways - Monthly on Fridays 10:00-11:30am

Often times, the CRC Chair also represents at these meetings:

• Curriculum Management Committee (formerly CurricUNET Steering Committee), Twice monthly on Fridays 9-10:30am
• District Assessment Meetings, Usually 1-2 times per semester on Fridays 3:30-5pm
• District Catalog, TBD
• Proxy for other Academic Senate Exec roles, as needed

Meetings with Faculty

Frequently faculty may want to the CRC chair's perspective and guidance on curriculum ideas and/or possible changes. These are scheduled throughout the academic year. Common topics during these discussions are:

• Emphasizing the importance of communicating with colleagues at City and other campuses, within one's department as well as related departments;
• Ensuring there is ample time for curriculum to go through the process and "naturally" meet the catalog deadline;
• Having solid, student-focused reasons for why the curriculum is need or changes need to be made;
• Reiterating the steps that need to be taken in the curriculum process;
• Brainstorming creative solutions to unexpected (and expected) issues that frequently pop up;
• Resolving conflict and mediation (@ all levels, including department, campus, and district levels).

Additional Resources

• How Meetings Work

Agendas

The CRC Chair generally creates one agenda each week - one week it's for Tech Review and the next week it's for the larger CRC. As both of these meetings are on alternating Wednesdays, it's good to try to send them out by Friday afternoon.

Tech

We've found that virtual meetings work best for tech so that we can make changes right away and move the curriculum to the next level without needing to wait for originators to make edits in their own time. That being said, if proposals need a significant amount of love before being able to move on, it's best to set up a time outside of tech with the Tech Writer so that one proposal doesn't take up such a significant amount of time. In general, plan for about 15 minutes per proposal, with a little less time on six year reviews and a little more time on new curriculum.

For Tech, double check the Tech Writer queue on Friday before finalizing the agenda. Then send out a calendar invite to proposal originators and the smaller committee that has signed up for that session. 

CRC

Adding the consent agenda saves a lot of time here. In general, anything that is not controversial (a regular six-year review for example with only minor edits and updates) can go on consent. However, if there are changes in requisites, units, etc, then it's best to have a faculty member attend the meeting to represent the proposal. In general, the CRC Chair asks the rep to give a brief overview of the proposed changes, which is followed by a brief time for questions, comments, concerns, and any other discussion. In general, plan for about 5-10 minutes per proposal. However, an item that may at first appear to be one that won't spark a lot of interest sometimes takes up a lot of time; and an item that seems like it may be a sticky point/quite controversial sometimes breezes through. It's generally a good idea to prioritize what "needs" to go through first/is necessary when there are more proposals than time.

For CRC, it's good to double check the Curriculum Chair queue on Friday afternoon and then send out a calendar invite to the proposal originators and committee members. Then send a separate, more generic email to faculty for the entire campus (BCC please!) with the agenda.

Additional Resources

• Template: Calendar Invite Email to Proposal Originators/CRC Committee Members, Tech & CRC
• Template: Email of CRC Agenda to all City Faculty (BCCed)

Curriculum takes time to make it's way through the process so that there is ample opportunity for all parties involved to review it and weigh in on what is being proposed from the various perspectives. It's very important for the CRC chair to support proposal originators in communicating with other parties across the district and to be communicative with the campus about deadlines. In general, these are the ones that are most important 

UCTCA

This is the list compiled by the Articulation Officer to submit for UC general education approval and is voted on at CIC in the spring semester (generally the last meeting). Since the proposal would have to make it all the way through the campuses and to district by that date, it would be best to create and launch the proposal by early fall two years in advance. If, for example, there is a proposal for a class for UC general education for a fall 2024 start date, then it would need to be on the list voted on at CIC by spring 2023, which means it should be launched in fall 2022.

We are aware: curriculum takes a long time.  

Catalog 

This is generally the very beginning of fall for the following year. Proposals would need to be on the consent agenda in order to make this deadline, so they need to reach district level several weeks prior to the actual meeting where they are voted on. The dates vary, so it's important to note when curriculum needs to be at district to meet this deadline. If, for example, there is a proposal for a class for a fall 2024 start date, then it would need to be at district level and on the consent agenda at the beginning of fall 2023. If a course also needs UCTCA general education approval, then it should have already been approved at the spring meeting previous.

Walk-Ins

If proposals do not make the consent agenda, then they may be "walked in" to CIC with written approval at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting from the Vice President of Instruction. Walking in proposals causes extra work for CRCs at all of the campuses, for the district, and likely means that not all parties were able to review and weigh in on the proposal. This increases the chances of an issue with the curriculum. Additionally, there is criteria for what can and cannot be walked in. It's important to use this option sparingly and to ensure that robust communication has taken place across the district ahead of time. In general, the walked in curriculum should not be controversial as well.

Two-/Six- Year Reviews

To ensure our curriculum is up-to-date and we maintain accreditation standards, all courses with prerequisites or advisories need to be officially reviewed periodically by discipline faculty. In general, two year reviews are for CTE courses as they may need more frequent updates to stay current with the industry needs. Please click on the link below for more information on this process and how to conduct these important reviews. 

Additionally, if a course is active but not offered (in the catalog but not scheduled) for more than two years, faculty should consider whether the course should remain as an option to schedule or should be deactivated. We want to strive to have a catalog that accurately shares what is/will be available for students.