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Course development and curriculum revision

Ongoing course and program review is integral to keeping curriculum current with industry needs in order to better serve our students as they progress through their program of studies to graduation. The information below outlines changes that may occur over time for both courses and programs, as well as the relevant approval processes.

Course development

Course development is a part of the routine work of academic areas across the college, throughout the academic year. Courses are developed or revised as part of the New Program Development process, and as part of continuous quality improvement resulting from Five-year Program Renewal, Annual Program Assessment, and more. The development and approval of new or revised courses rests with the academic area.

Diploma and Certificate courses are developed by the program area and must contribute to the student’s ability to meet the Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) from the Program Outline, as well as Essential Employability skills (EES). General Education and Communications courses for these programs are developed and approved by Liberal Arts, and ensure students meet the General Education Requirement and EES respectively.

Degree courses must be designed for students to achieve the PLOs from the Program Outline, and take into consideration PEQAB’s Degree Level Standard. Breadth courses are generally developed and approved by the Dean/Associate Dean of Liberal Arts; however, degree-level courses delivered by other program areas can sometimes be used as breadth, as long as they are not in the core area of study. In that case, they are developed by the original program area.

The following is designed to provide clarity and resources around the process of creating or revising quality course outlines. Please contact the Office of Academic Quality (OAQ) at any point for assistance with this process.

Curriculum revision

The following chart provides examples of possible curriculum changes and their level of impact (minor or major) as well as the required approvals. The specific process steps for the proposed changes are located under the table within the Course Revision or Program Revision. Changes that affect both the course and program require both course and program level approvals as noted below.

Change requiredCourse-level changeProgram-level changeRevision approval
Admission RequirementsMajor program changeDean/Associate Dean and Academic Council
with consultation from the Registrar or Associate Registrar, Admissions
Course grade modeMinor* course changeDean/Associate Dean and Registrar
with consultation from the Office of of Academic Quality and the Office of the Registrar
*review may result in major change
Course hoursMajor course changeMajor program changeDean/Associate Dean and Academic Council
Course resequencingMinor program changeDean/Associate Dean
Course requisites (pre-, co-, concurrent)Minor course changeDean/Associate Dean
Course titleMinor course changeDean/Associate Dean
Learning outcomes – greater than 25 percentMajor course changeMajor program changeDean/Associate Dean and Academic Council
Learning outcomes – less than 25 per centMinor course changeMinor program changeDean/Associate Dean
Minor wordsmithing and/or correction of grammatical errorsMinor course changeMinor program changeDean/Associate Dean
Program hoursMajor program changeDean/Associate Dean and Academic Council
requires review of program costing
Program standard releaseMajor* course changeMajor* program changeDean/Associate Dean and Academic Council
*review may result in minor change
Program titleMajor program changeDean/Associate Dean, Academic Council, and Credential Validation Service