2000-2-1Program Curriculum Development, Review, Revision and Documentation

The College Vision and Strategic Plan identify academic excellence and student success as priorities for Lambton College. Effective and well‐developed program curriculum is key to realizing those priorities. It is, therefore, essential that program curriculum be current, appropriate and consistent with Ministry, College Board, Credential Validation Service, professional and industry requirements and expectations.

In order to ensure that program curriculum consistently meets student, College, Ministry, community and industry expectations, curriculum development and revision must draw on informed comment from inside and outside the College, be subject to oversight that ensures effectiveness and compliance, occur within timelines that permit effective implementation, and be supported by complete, current and accurate documentation.

This policy applies to the development and revision of curriculum for all programs that result in a Board of Governors or an Ontario college credential: Ontario College Certificate, Ontario College Diploma, Ontario Advanced College Diploma, Ontario College Graduate Certificate.

Policy

New Program Curriculum Development

1. New curriculum will be developed by the academic department or school responsible for the program in conjunction with and with the assistance of the Teaching & Learning Commons. The department has final responsibility for the development of the curriculum.
2. Curriculum must be developed by subject matter experts with expertise in the relevant fields. Vocational subject expertise may be resident in the department, drawn from other departments, or, in those cases in which there is no vocational expertise within the College, contracted through external experts. For non‐vocational fields, for example English and math, the relevant departments must be consulted and involved in the development of that portion of the curriculum.
3. New curriculum must be developed with the advice of a Program Advisory Committee relevant to the vocational field of the program. The Program Advisory Committee, either permanent or ad hoc, will advise the department on the content, structure and delivery of the curriculum.
4. New program curriculum must ensure the realization of the Ministry Program Standards: Vocational, General Education and Essential Employability Skills. If Ministry Standards do not exist, then program goals must be developed for the new program curriculum.
5. New program curriculum must be supported by all required curriculum documentation. Guidance on and support for the development of curriculum documentation will be provided through the Teaching & Learning Commons. The required program documentation is described in the appendix to this policy.
6. New program curriculum must be fully approved by the Dean of the School and the Senior Vice‐President, Academic & Student Success before the delivery of the program may begin.
7. The Program Curriculum Committee will oversee the development of the curriculum. On completion of the development of the curriculum and supporting documentation, the Program Curriculum Committee will seek the approval of the Dean of the School.
8. The Dean has the ultimate responsibility and accountability for the curriculum content, documentation and delivery.
9. The Dean will present the curriculum and required documentation to the College Curriculum Committee for its consideration. The College Curriculum Committee will perform the oversight function by reviewing the curriculum submission to determine if the development of the curriculum involved all required parties, the curriculum meets all required and expected standards, and required documentation is complete and in place.
10. The College Curriculum Committee, after reviewing the curriculum and documentation, will recommend to the Senior Vice‐President, Academic & Student Success whether or not the curriculum should be approved for delivery.
11. The Senior Vice-President, Academic & Student Success will consider the advice of the Committee and approve, or not, the curriculum for delivery.

Review and Revision of Curriculum

12. The curriculum revision threshold at which the approval requirements and process of this policy apply is the course‐title and ‐code level. If a curriculum revision results in the addition, replacement or deletion of a course, including a change in the title or code of a course, then the revision must be approved through the process and by the parties described in this policy.
13. The curriculum of every program will undergo, in whole and in parts, continuous and periodic review by the Program Curriculum Committee, through the College Quality Assurance process, and by the Program Advisory Committee.
14. Every department will have in place for each of its programs a complete and current set of curriculum documentation as described in the appendix.
15. Every department will have a Program Curriculum Committee that is responsible for maintaining curriculum that is appropriate, current and relevant. The Committee will meet annually, or more often when necessary, to review and revise, when necessary, program curriculum and documentation. The Committee will record its meetings and deliberations.
16. A department that revises curriculum must do so with the involvement and advice of its Program Advisory Committee and with the participation of the departments that provide the non‐vocational courses in the curriculum.
17. A Department that wishes to make curriculum changes, at the new‐course threshold level or beyond, must receive the approval of the Dean of the School and the Senior Vice‐President, Academic & Student Success before implementing the changes.
18. The Program Curriculum Committee will oversee the revision of the curriculum. On completion of the proposed revisions of the curriculum and supporting documentation, the Department Curriculum Committee will seek the approval of the Dean of the School. The Dean has the ultimate accountability for the curriculum content, documentation and delivery.
19. The Dean will present the revisions of the curriculum and required documentation to the College Curriculum Committee for its consideration. The College Curriculum Committee will perform the oversight function by reviewing the curriculum‐revision submission to determine if the revision of the curriculum involved all required parties, the revised curriculum meets all required and expected standards, and the revised documentation is complete and in place.
20. The College Curriculum Committee, after reviewing the revisions to the curriculum and documentation, will recommend to the Senior Vice‐President, Academic & Student Success whether or not the revised curriculum should be approved for delivery.
21. The Senior Vice-President, Academic & Student Success will consider the advice of the Committee and approve, or not, the revised curriculum for delivery.

Curriculum Documentation

22. Curriculum documentation will describe all of the program curriculum components: content; structure; outcomes; expectations and evaluations of students; course requisites; admission, progression, graduation, etc. requirements; other program policies e.g. regarding field placements.
23. Curriculum documentation provides part of the record of student achievement. All curriculum documentation, as listed in the appendix, and all previously implemented versions of the documentation, must be retained as described by the College Records Retention Policy. Responsibility for the retention of the curriculum documentation records is as described in the appendix.
24. In order to realize the full value and advantage of the curriculum documents, they must be available and easily accessible to all users. All curriculum documents must be published and distributed as described for each document in the appendix. The retention, maintenance, publication and distribution of the documents is the responsibility of the Dean of the School.
25. The appendix may be revised periodically.
26. Program curriculum must be documented per the most recently dated appendix.

Timelines

27. For new programs, the following curriculum components must be developed, documented and approved by the Senior Vice‐President, Academic & Student Success by June for the initial delivery of the program in September fifteen months subsequent: program standards or goals, course descriptions, program matrix, admission requirements, course requisites.
28. For new programs, all curriculum components must be developed, documented, and approved by the Senior Vice‐President, Academic & Student Success by June for the initial delivery of the program in September - fifteen months subsequent.
29. Curriculum revisions must be developed, documented, and approved by the Senior Vice‐President, Academic & Student Success by February 1 for implementation September 1st of the same year.  Any late submissions must be authorized by the VPA prior to submission to the Curriculum Committee for review.
30. A change to more demanding admission requirements must be approved by the Senior Vice‐President, Academic & Student Success by February 1 in order to permit publication by September of the requirements that pertain to students entering the program the following September.

Appendix

Curriculum Documentation March 31, 2010