Curriculum Review

The University of Florida employs a faculty-centered peer-review process when reviewing changes and additions to courses and curriculum, and how that curriculum is assessed.  Faculty appointed to the university’s curriculum committees are selected by the Faculty Senate and UF administration in equal numbers.  After reviews are conducted at the department and college level, committee faculty members evaluate submissions for compliance with university policies, practices, and precedent.  Through each step of the curriculum review process, the responses to the curriculum review feedback from faculty and staff submitters helps optimize courses and programs to deliver the best learning opportunities for students.  

The curriculum committees and the administrative support team strive to move items forward in the approval process as efficiently as possible.  The submitter of a request in the Academic Approval Tracking system should expect to receive and respond to inquiries about curriculum submissions to expedite the process. Note that communications go to the submitter of the request, who may not necessarily be a faculty member.

Most delays in the curricular process result from pauses at the department or college level. After submitting a request, submitters are strongly encouraged to pay attention to the automated emails from the Academic Approval Tracking system. These will come from please-do-not-reply@ufl.edu and will have a subject line that begins [Request Number XXXXX] plus the title of the request. If a request is pending for a lengthy time at the department or college level, it is best to reach out to that department’s or college’s approvers. The administrative support team can help with identifying the approvers if needed.

The following topics are common subjects of feedback for proposals:

1. Holistic Review of Syllabi and Curriculum: Curriculum committees are responsible for ensuring that courses and programs comply with university regulations, policies, and procedures. The review process is a key point for this oversight. Committees evaluate submissions holistically and may recommend improvements that extend beyond the specific proposal to strengthen overall curriculum quality.
2. Consults: Curriculum committees are charged with reduction of unnecessary duplication across courses and programs while recognizing that some overlap in content is appropriate. Because it can be difficult to distinguish between duplication and acceptable overlap, committees may ask departments or colleges to consult with one another before approving proposals. These consultations promote coordination and collaboration in shared subject areas, enhancing both the student and faculty experience. Committees may require a completed consultation form before advancing a submission to ensure campus-wide awareness of related curricular activity.
3. Course Description: For new courses and requests where revision of the course description is being made, please consult the UF Course Description Best Practice page. Following these practices ensures a standard experience for students when selecting courses, particularly on mobile devices where screen real estate is at a premium.
4. Course Objectives and Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs): Per the UF Syllabus Policy, instructors must clarify their course’s intended purpose, whether that be broadly with objectives and goals or more specifically with Student Learning Outcomes.  
   • Course goals describe the broad purposes and intentions of the course.
   • Objectives identify the actions or tasks students complete.  
   • Both goals and objectives frequently use action verbs that emphasize exposure, exploration, or development (e.g., “introduce,” “explore,” “familiarize students with”).
   • Student learning outcomes describe what students should be able to know or do by the end of the course. SLOs must be measurable, observable, and directly assessable, and thus should be written using clear, measurable action verbs. Terms such as "know," "understand," "learn," and "appreciate" are not specific enough to be measurable. For more information on course Student Learning Outcomes, please visit the CITT website.
   • Please Note: General Education courses are required to have both objectives and separate Student Learning Outcomes listed on the syllabus.
5. Rubrics and Assessment: A common concern for students is to understand how grades will be assigned for more subjective portions of a course, including writing assignments, class participation, and individual grades in group projects.  The clearest way to communicate your method of grading in a course is to provide rubrics.  Faculty reviewers read syllabi with the same curiosity as students and may request that rubrics be provided in cases where there is confusion about how grades are assigned, particularly if participation makes up a percentage of the total grade. Wherever possible, please include grade, point, or percentage information in the rubric for how grades will be assigned.  At the academic program level, rubrics and other sample instruments and curriculum maps offer clarity to its Academic Assessment Plan.
6. Grade Disputes: UF regulations and the collective bargaining agreement vest faculty with authority over the assignment of grades in good faith.  Student grievances over grading are overwhelmingly handled between student and instructor.  In cases where the instructor wishes to use syllabus language to regulate grade disputes for assignments, the review committees advise faculty that these disputes should be allowed until the final exam. This advice is consistent with past reviews of such cases by the Office of the Ombuds.
7. Required Textbooks and/or Readings: In addition to letting students know what resources they will need, including the title, author and dates of all textbooks, readings or other materials that will be assigned helps curriculum committee members understand the body of knowledge that will constitute a course’s content. Reading assignments should therefore be outlined in the course schedule. Curriculum committee members recognize that newer readings and materials may become available between when a course is proposed and when it is taught, but proposers should avoid blanket “TBD” entries. At minimum, an adequate sample of required readings should be included to demonstrate the level, type, amount, and availability of content expected. “Recommended” readings and resources may be helpful, but course proposals that include only recommended resources with no required readings or resources will need a strong rationale for curriculum committee members to understand the level and rigor of course content.
8. Academic Policy and Resources Link: While faculty have broad discretion to set policies related to classroom behavior and expectations, such policies cannot override UF policies, including the UF attendance policy.  Students with excused absences must be afforded the opportunity to make up missed graded assignments without penalty. For your convenience, the link to UF academic policies and student resources (https://go.ufl.edu/syllabuspolicies), including the current Honor Code is now provided on Simple Syllabus.   In particular, the curriculum committees must send back requests if syllabi include the old Honor Code policy language (i.e., students are required to report violations) at the advice of UF General Counsel.
9. Program Student Learning Outcomes: All UF credentials awarded through earning course credit are required to have approved Academic Assessment Plans as part of their curriculum.  These plans are developed by the program faculty and specify the measurable, observable, and assessable Student Learning Outcomes that students should demonstrate upon awarding of the credential.  
   
   The Academic Assessment Plan must (1) specify assignments or activities that will assess these outcomes, (2) establish minimum benchmarks in those assignments or activities, and (3) indicate how the assessment will occur. Please see https://assessment.aa.ufl.edu/resources/ for more information on the creation of an Academic Assessment Plan.  This plan will be the basis for the annual academic assessment data report of outcomes for the program.