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Office of Undergraduate Curricula Monthly Announcements for February 2024

Office of Undergraduate Curricula Monthly Announcements for February 2024

Sent: February 1, 2024 10:54 am

The following message from the Office of Undergraduate Curricula is being shared with department chairs and managers in the College of Arts and Sciences

 

Office of Undergraduate Curricula February 2024 Memo

Hello, all,

We hope you are doing well. Please read below the February 2024 OUC updates for general curriculum news, updates specific to the College of Arts and Sciences, and specific updates to be shared with faculty and instructors.

Per usual, last month’s update is archived on our website. As a reminder, the following information is intended for Academic Advisors, Directors of Undergraduate Studies, and Student Services Managers on behalf of the Office of Undergraduate Curricula. Please share this memo, or specific content from this memo, with other individuals in your unit to whom this information might apply (e.g., all faculty/instructors). To add individuals to this distribution list, please fill out this form.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to a member of the OUC team.

Sincerely,

The Office of Undergraduate Curricula

Highlights from the February 2024 Memo

  • NEW: CIM & CAT Instructional Videos
  • 2024-2025 Catalog Production Schedule
  • CIM-Programs and CIM-Courses Deadlines
  • First-Year Seminar Prospectus Form Deadline
  • Requesting a Late Add for an Independent Study Course
  • Upcoming SSM and DUS meetings
  • Update Users and Roles for your Unit on the OUC Website
  • Spring 2024 Syllabi Due in OSM ASAP
  • Review the SET Schedule for Spring 2024
  • 2023-2024 OLCM User Survey

General Curriculum News

Curriculum Proposals & Catalog Production:

NEW: CIM & CAT Instructional Videos from OUC

The Office of Undergraduate Curricula is in the process of creating an instructional video series for the Catalog (CAT) and the Curriculum Inventory Management (CIM) system. These videos are intended to help both faculty and staff learn more information about some of the systems they will be using to manage curriculum proposals and edit Catalog content. The first two videos have been published online:

  • Catalog (CAT) Approver Role Video (~6 minutes)
  • CIM-Program Editing Video (~12 minutes)

2024-2025 Catalog Production Schedule

The 2024-25 Catalog Production schedule begins today, 2-1-2024. Key dates and deadlines:

  • 3-15-2024: Deadline for department/unit Catalog editor(s) to make changes and submit Catalog page(s) to workflow for approval.
  • 3-31-2024: Deadline for department/unit Catalog approver(s) to review and approve Catalog page(s).
  • 6-1-2024: Next Catalog is published.

To review your department’s/school’s Catalog (CAT) roles and users, visit the Registrar’s website. Search by using your unit’s code + ‘CAT’ (e.g., RELI CAT; CHEM CAT). Every unit has a CAT Editor role and a CAT Approver role. Use the FormStack link to add or remove users from a Catalog role.

CIM-Program Proposals

As a reminder, the deadline to edit the requirements for an undergraduate program for fall 2024, including majors, concentrations/tracks, and minors, is today, 2-1-2024. Once a program proposal is fully approved in CIM:

  • The program requirements are automatically updated in the Next 2024-25 Academic Catalog
  • The sample plan (if included) is updated in the Next 2024-25 Academic Catalog
  • The Tar Heel Tracker is updated with the appropriate effective term

You can view the status of a program proposal in CIM: https://nextcatalog.unc.edu/programadmin/

Spring 2025 CIM-Course Proposals

As a reminder, the deadline to submit new course proposals for spring 2025 is on Monday, 4-1-2024. This deadline was previously held in September but has moved to April effective for spring 2025 course proposals.

You can view the status of a course proposal in CIM: https://nextcatalog.unc.edu/courseadmin/

First-Year Seminar: Fall 2024 Prospectus Form

Instructors offering a new First-Year Seminar in fall 2024 must teach it for the first time under special topics 89 number and submit a prospectus form by Thursday, 2-15-2024. The First-Year Curriculum Program will review the proposals in mid-February and follow up with instructors soon thereafter. Please contact Ben Haven with any questions about this process.

Reminders for Spring 2024 Courses

Requesting Late Adds for Independent Study Courses

Departments that need to request a late add for an undergraduate independent study course (courses ending in *93, *95, *96, and senior honors thesis courses numbered 691H-694H), should fill out the independent study late add request form on the OUC website. Departments must provide a completed and signed learning contract, a completed Add/Drop form, and a rationale for why the student could not be enrolled prior to the deadline. For more information, please contact Hannah Summers.

Syllabus Guidelines

Instructors are encouraged to review the Office of Undergraduate Curricula’s syllabus guidelines when preparing their spring semester undergraduate course syllabi. Instructors are also encouraged to utilize the Syllabus Template, which contains all the syllabus elements outlined in the OUC syllabus guidelines. Instructors should consider the following when creating their spring 2024 syllabi:

  • Undergraduate courses, including first-year seminars, should include a final exam or alternative final assessment and utilize the final exam period. Courses with one hour of academic credit may administer their final assessment during the last class period; all others must follow the published Final Examination Schedule (UPM #8).
  • Instructors should include course-specific goals/learning objectives/outcomes in the course syllabus. Courses fulfilling one or more IDEAs in Action Gen Ed requirements should also include the exact Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and Questions for Students, for each associated Gen Ed.
  • Consider including a Campus Life Experience (CLE) as an assignment or activity in your course. Read more about CLEs in the memo section below.
  • Consider leaving time in the course calendar for students to complete the Student Evaluations of Teaching (SET) survey at the end of the semester.
  • Don’t forget to include important instructor and course identifiers, including a reference to UNC-Chapel Hill, the current term and year, any associated requisites, target audience, and office hours (at least 3 hours per week for a standard 3-credit course)!

NEW for Spring 2024: Per the recommendations set forth by the UNC AI Committee, faculty may provide this Student AI Usage Guidance in their syllabus. Unless the instructor has other guidance they prefer to use, the UNC AI Committee recommends including this guidance to students on the first day of class. See the Spring 2024 Syllabus Policy Inserts sample statements (see section below for more information). College only – An AI Use Policy is required on all undergraduate syllabi in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Syllabus Policy Inserts

Instructors are encouraged to utilize the Spring 2024 Policy Insert when preparing their spring semester undergraduate course syllabi. Effective from spring 2024, forward, the insert will include only the required policy statements. The policy insert is a quick and easy way to make sure your students receive the information they need. Word and PDF versions are available for download on the Office of Undergraduate Curricula website.

Campus Life Experiences (CLEs): Advertise your Department

Campus Life Experience (CLE) is supported by Student Affairs and collaborates with IDEAs to help students experience the co-curricular elements of UNC’s campus and integrate these experiences with their learning at Carolina. Students must complete 2 CLE events for every fall/spring term of full-time enrollment or 1 CLE event for every fall/spring term of part-time enrollment. Only CLE events submitted and approved in Heel Life will count for a student. Both student organizations and faculty and staff will be able to create events and request that they be reviewed to count as a CLE. Please visit the Campus Life Experiences website for more information.

Meetings:

Reminder: Spring 2024 DUS Meeting

Directors of Undergraduate Studies, please mark your calendars for the spring 2024 DUS meeting on Monday, 2-5-2024, from 3:00 – 4:30 pm in the Carolina Union (Room GSU-2420). The agenda will be shared with the listserv prior to the meeting.

Reminder: Next SSM Meeting is 2-14-2024

Student services staff in the College and professional schools should mark their calendars for 1:00pm on Wednesday, 2-14-2024 for the first SSM meeting of the year. The meeting agenda and topics will be shared with the SSM listserv and Teams site about one week in advance of the meeting, which will be held over Zoom. We hope to see you there!

Other Items:

Update Users and Roles for your Department/Unit on the OUC Website

The Office of Undergraduate Curricula has a departmental contacts webpage featuring contact information for the following roles related to undergraduate curricula:

  • Directors of Undergraduate Studies (DUS)
  • Transfer Credit Re-Evaluation Departmental Reviewer (TCRE Reviewer)
  • Undergraduate Student Services Manager (SSM)
  • Student Evaluation of Teaching Coordinator (SET Coordinator)
  • Student Evaluation of Teaching Report Viewer (SET Report Viewer)
  • Online Learning Contract Manager Coordinator (OLCM Coordinator)
  • Online Learning Contract Manager Scheduler (OLCM Scheduler)

Please review the individuals listed in your department/unit’s roles. To submit updates to the directory, please fill out the change request form.

Chancellor’s Calendar Announced

The Chancellor’s Calendar for academic years 2023-2024, 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 are published on the Registrar’s website.

College News

Online Syllabus Manager:

OSM Spring 2024 Dates

The Online Syllabus Manager (OSM) tool is still open for spring 2024 courses. Departments will also be notified via the OSM listserv. The system will close on Thursday, 2-8-2024 at the end of the day at 11:59pm. Please note that the system will lock one minute later, at 12:00 am/midnight, thus the system may display the close date as Friday, 2-9-2024. More information about OSM and syllabus guidelines may be found on the Office of Undergraduate Curricula website. Questions can be emailed to Hannah Summers in the Office of Undergraduate Curricula.

Student Evaluations of Teaching (SET):

SET Updates for Spring 2024

Selection of courses for Spring 2024 begins March 4, 2024, and the full College SET Schedule is available on our website. If there are any staffing changes in your department that may require updated SET user permissions, please use the form on our website on the Departmental Contacts page to submit change requests. You can also check all users with SET access while you’re there (keep in mind chairs automatically have reporting access so that won’t be listed unless they also have coordinator access, but you can still use the form to alert us to a mid-year chair change as needed). It is helpful if you can include the following notes for new users: who they are replacing (if anyone) or what vacant role they are filling. You can find most information about SET processes on the website. Questions can be directed to cas_evalautions@unc.edu.

Online Learning Contract Manager:

2023-2024 OLCM User Survey

The Office of Undergraduate Curricula invites all Online Learning Contract Manager (OLCM) users (students, instructors, OLCM Coordinators, and OLCM Schedulers) to complete the 2023-2024 OLCM User Survey to provide feedback about your experience with OLCM during the fall 2023 and/or spring 2024 semesters. The survey will close on Friday, March 1st at the end of the day. We appreciate your responses and feedback!

All survey responses are anonymous. You may access the 2023-2024 OLCM User Survey via direct link, or by copying and pasting the following link in your browser: https://unc.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1IaGY3Pju841S9o

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