Below are some common questions we get about courses. If your question is not answered below or you need additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us!
Frequently asked questions about courses
General questions
All undergraduate curricular deadlines in the College are published on the Curricular Deadlines page.
Each fall, OUCPR sends out a request to all departments, programs, and schools within the College to submit any proposed changes to their Bulletin entries, including any changes to major, minor, certificate, and/or concentration requirements (academic programs). During this submission period, departments have the opportunity to update requirements and the associated course lists. OUCPR reviews all proposed changes for compliance to policy and all approved changes will be applied to the annual publication of requirements in the Bulletin and to the Academic Advising Report.
Updates are made to the courses section of the Bulletin each semester. These, however, are driven by CARMIn eDocs and CASE proposals, not the academic program updates mentioned above.
To add a new topic, your department's scheduling officer can complete the Variable Title Request Form.
Joint-listing means that two or more courses are offered together. Students may register under different course numbers, but they all attend the same class and follow the same syllabus. As a reminder, joint-list courses should all have the same CASE and GenEd designations.
Cross-listing used to mean that a single course can fulfill requirements in multiple departments. This practice, however, has been replaced with expanded courses lists.
See the Combined Sections page for more information about joint-listing and cross-listing.
"Ghosting" a course means that it is removed from the Bulletin but not from the University Course Catalog. This means the course could be resurrected in the future, however, it is not a practice we encourage. If it is unlikely that a course will be offered again, the best practice is to submit a course change document discontinuing the course on the Bloomington campus. If the course may be taught again in the future, it is best to leave it as it is. If you think there is a compelling reason to remove a course from the Bulletin without discontinuing it, please contact OUCPR to discuss the details.<
- CARMIn documents: There are very rare circumstances in which interim approval for new courses or course changes may be granted by OVPUE and OUCPR before a course goes through remonstrance. However, interim approval should not be expected or depended upon. If you have a situation you think merits interim approval, please contact OUCPR without delay.
- CASE: CASE proposals are solicited twice a year and the review period is relatively short. If a course needs CASE review outside of the normal proposal cycle, contact OUCPR to discuss the details.
- GenEd: GenEd proposals are solicited once a year and, after review by the College, the campus GenEd committee determines which courses will be approved. These proposals move through multiple committees and need plenty of time to do so.
New courses and course changes (CARMIn)
The timeline varies but the minimum time needed is approximately three months: the month the document is submitted, the month it is in remonstrance, and at least one month for final approvals. It is not uncommon for the process to take four to six months.
After a proposal has survived remonstrance, there are still multiple levels of approval a new course or course change document must go through in order to be entered in the University Course Catalog, including approval by the campus and the university. Depending on the course, there may be additional approvals needed. With very few exceptions, a course will not be entered in the College Bulletin until it has reached final approval and is in the University Course Catalog.
Courses will not appear in the publicly available Bulletin until registration begins for the term of their effective date. In most cases, the effective date is May 1 (Summer), but the Bulletin is also republished just before Spring registration begins for effective dates of January 1. Those departmental representatives with access to the OUCPR portal will be able to see all courses that have final approval and are in the University Catalog before they are published in the Bulletin through the My Courses App.
You can check the approval status of a CARMIn document by checking its route log. The most effective way to do this is via the Document Search form. It is quickest to search using the document number but you can also choose the document type and enter the appropriate search criteria. Many administrative staff will be familiar with the document search.
In your review of the remonstrance list, if you find that a newly proposed undergraduate course or a change to an existing undergraduate course is cause for concern, you should contact Justin Grossman, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Education and Director of the Office of Undergraduate Curriculum, Policy, and Records.
More information about remonstranceCASE proposals should be submitted via the Office of Undergraduate Curriculum, Policy, and Records CASE App. GenEd proposals follow a different process. Unless specific arrangements have been made with OUCPR, CASE and GenEd proposals can only be submitted for courses that have reached final approval and are listed in the University Course Catalog. Making a note on a new course or course change document will not have any impact on whether a course is granted a CASE or GenEd designation.
CASE and GenEd proposals
First and foremost, a syllabus is required (three if requesting CASE at the course level for a variable topics course). There will also be some additional questions that vary based on the designation requested. For all CASE proposals, it is important that the syllabus clearly reflect the ways in which the course will meet the learning objectives outlined for the particular CASE designation requested.
The College has chosen to use the GenEd Mathematical Modeling and English Composition lists as the CASE MM and EC lists. If you would like to request a particular course be included on the CASE MM or EC list, you must submit a proposal during the GenEd submission period in the fall.
CASE proposals are reviewed immediately after each proposal period ends. Units will typically be notified of the approval status within two weeks following the submission deadline.
The publicly available CASE lists are available through the College Bulletin. Unit administrators and curricular assistants can also view the full list of courses for your department and whether they have CASE designations through the My Courses App, under My Curriculum. For variable title courses, if only certain topics carry CASE designations, the main list will show "CASE BoI*; click on the course number to view the CASE designations for specific topics."
In some circumstances, a course may be granted a temporary CASE designation. This is most commonly allowed when multiple courses are joint-listed and one or more has a particular CASE designation that the other does not. As with any other CASE approval, OUCPR will need to review the course syllabus to ensure it meets the standards for CASE.
As with CASE, a syllabus is required (or three syllabi for course-level approval of a variable topics course). For GenEd proposals, the campus also requires a proposal form. Specific instructions for completing GenEd proposals can be found on the General Education Proposals page.
GenEd decisions are typically issued by mid-March and communicated to the departments as quickly as possible thereafter.
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