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titleAbout This Policy


Effective Date: under development

Last Updated: January 2020

Responsible Office: Office of Education

Responsible Officer: Vice Dean for Research Strategy and Innovation

Policy Contact:

Julie KornfeldMichael Joseph

Vice Dean for Education

jk3924@columbiamj3019@cumc.columbia.edu 


Course Development Process


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title1. Guidelines


1. Guidelines


As the Mailman School continues to diversify and expand our course offerings, including the introduction of school-wide and center-based courses, a standardized course development process is essential to creating clear and efficient approval procedures. The steps below describe how departments and centers can move smoothly through the course development process, accessing appropriate support along the way to ensure quality educational experiences for our students.

Instructor/Faculty/Department and/or Center identify a need or desire for new coursework

  • Instructor/faculty member completes the for electronic pre-review.

  • The form identifies whether the course will be an interdisciplinary school-wide course or department based, describing criteria for each.
  • In order to adhere to the School’s Course Duplication Policy, the form identifies criteria for avoiding duplication and promoting meaningful collaboration between departments where content may overlap.
  • The form identifies the proposed modality (fully online, hybrid, face-to-face, etc.) so that timelines and resources can be allocated appropriately with related campus partners (Center for Teaching and Learning, etc.).


FOR DEPARTMENTAL OR CENTER-BASED COURSES

Faculty develop course syllabus and submit to department curriculum committee for pre-review

  • Office of Teaching and Learning is available for syllabus clinics, support workshops, and one-on-one consultations.
  • Faculty follow internal departmental policies for submitting syllabus to curriculum committee for review and feedback.
    • Dept committee review syllabi for all courses, assuring all are current according to MSPH Curriculum Committee standards.
    • Assure course aligns with departmental goals and competency statements.
    • The department representative on the school-wide Curriculum Committee must review the course before it can be submitted to the Committee for final review and approval and ensure sign-off by the Department Chair.
    • Ensure course does not conflict with school’s course duplication policy. 

FOR SCHOOL-WIDE COURSES

Departments meet with Office of Education leadership (Vice Dean or Associate Dean for Educational Initiatives) to ensure alignment with criteria for school-wide courses.

  • Pending sign-off by OE leadership, faculty develop course syllabus.
  • Office of Teaching and Learning is available for syllabus clinics, support workshops, and one-on-one consultations.
  • Course is submitted to Office of Teaching and Learning and/or Online Learning for electronic review and feedback.
    • OTL/OL review syllabi for all required courses, assuring all are current according to MSPH Curriculum Committee standards.
    • Assure course align with competency statements.


FOR BOTH

School-wide Curriculum Committee Review and Approval

Once the new coursework has been developed and a syllabus produced, it is submitted to the school-wide Curriculum Committee. The Committee reviews the course to ensure that it meets the School’s standards, namely:

    • Alignment of content, assessment, learning objectives, competency statements, and department goals
    • Use of current MSPH Course Syllabus Template
    • Adherence to School policies for grading (maximum class participation at 20% of overall grade, no single assessment >40% of overall grade)
    • Inclusion of page numbers for assigned reading
    • Adequacy of workload for proposed credits
    • Compliance with Course Duplication Policy


Results of review process

FOR DEPARTMENTAL COURSES

  • If approved, the course receives a course number and students may register.

  • If approved pending approval, the course number is generated but faculty or departments must complete required revisions and resubmit to Chair of Curriculum Committee.

  • If not approved

    • Due to concerns about duplication: course must be revised (see Course Duplication Policy).

    • Due to pedagogical or quality concerns: course is referred back to proposing dept or center, with encouragement to collaborate Office of Teaching and Learning or Office of Online Learning.

FOR SCHOOL-WIDE COURSES

  • If approved, course is referred to registrar for course number generation.

    • School Office of Finance and Budget identifies support.

    • If not approved

    • Due to concerns about duplication: course must be revised (see Course Duplication Policy).

    • Due to pedagogical or quality concerns: course is referred back to proposing dept or center, with encouragement to collaborate Office of Teaching and Learning or Office of Online Learning.




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title2. New Course Form

2. New Course Form

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4.2.2. New Course Form.pdfAttachments~sr3614



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title3. Workflow

3. Workflow

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4.2.3 Workflow.pptxAttachments~sr3614




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title4. School-Wide Criteria

4. School-Wide Criteria


The following criteria identify whether a proposed course meets standards for a Columbia Mailman school-wide course.

Interdisciplinary Content

Does the course draw significantly on content that cuts across several public health disciplines?

  • Competencies are cross-cutting and contribute to training interdisciplinary scholars.
  • Learning objectives and course content draw from more than one discipline/department (please see Course Duplication Policy to ensure that course does not duplicate existing offerings).

Enrollment of Students Outside Department

What percentage of the students will enroll from departments across the school?

  • The course must anticipate >50% of the students will enroll from departments across the school.

Alignment with School's Strategic Priorities

Does the course align with the overall School’s goals, priorities, and educational vision?

  • Course is focused on an emerging and important public health topic.
  • Course aims to advance innovated pedagogy and/or new technology.
  • Course focus on anticipation of future trends and/or emerging research priorities.
  • Course provides an expansion of cross-cutting competencies in our coursework.


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title5. Course Duplication Policy

5. Course Duplication Policy


The Columbia Mailman School of Public Health has a system of course review at the departmental and school level designed to ensure the development and implementation of coursework that supports the achievement of academic degree requirements and competencies.  The course review process is designed to be rigorous and ensure, among other items, that unnecessary course expansion is discouraged and that duplicate courses across the School are not permitted.  While there may be some necessary overlap in course offerings and course content, unnecessary course duplication is not an appropriate use of faculty and departmental resources. Departments should work together to avoid unnecessary duplication of courses by taking advantage of courses already offered in other departments. When a department identifies a need for new coursework that is outside of the department’s area of expertise, it is strongly suggested that the department work together across disciplines to develop an interdisciplinary course.  In an interdisciplinary school of public health, it is encouraged that departments collaborate in the development and delivery of academic courses that foster training across disciplines.


As outlined in the updated Course Review Process for the Mailman School, all departmental courses must be reviewed at the department and school level. After a new course is reviewed and approved by the departmental curriculum committee and signed by the Department Chair, the course must also be approved by the School curriculum committee. Should the Mailman Curriculum committee decide that a newly developed course duplicates another course, the course will not be approved and it will be returned to the department for revision and additional review. Collaboration with the department where the duplicate course is located must take place.  If the department decides that it wants to appeal the decision of the School curriculum committee, the Department Chair must seek written approval from the Vice Dean of Education, the Vice Dean for Finance and Administration and from the relevant Department Chair where the duplicate course resides.  If the Vice Deans for Education and Finance and Administration and the relevant Department Chair agree that there is both an educational and business rational for the course to be moved forward, the Dean must then provide written approval for the course.


The questions below may help guide the review of each new course proposal with respect to duplication.

  • Does the course content (learning objectives, assessments, and content) replicate existing coursework in other departments to a significant extent?
  • Does the course content (learning objectives, assessments, and content) align with the department’s degree competencies?
  • Does the course offer a unique, disciplinary perspective on the academic content that is not covered elsewhere in the School?
  • If a significant portion of the course content is outside the department’s discipline, would students be better served by a collaboration between departments and the development of an interdisciplinary course?


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title6. Curriculum Committee Checklist

6. Curriculum Committee Checklist

4.2.6. Curriculum Committee Checklist.pdfAttachments~sr3614





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