Curriculum Review

Curriculum changes are proposed by tenure-track faculty and approved by the faculty member's department chair and college dean prior to submission for review and approval to the Academic Standards and Curriculum Committee (ASCRC), Graduate Council, and the General Education and Writing Committees. These committees assure that the proposed changes meet current academic policy and standards. Proposals are then voted on by the Faculty Senate. Level 1 and Level 2 proposals continue to the Provost's office for submission to the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education (OCHE).

All curriculum changes are routed for approval through CourseLeaf, our new curriculum inventory management platform (replacing CourseDog and eCurr, which are no longer operational.) All required information is either typed directly into the electronic forms, or in some cases, uploaded as attachments to the proposal. Each step in the approval process, also known as "Workflow" is recorded by the platform and becomes the "Approval Path" demonstrating the participation of approvers at each stage.

Please Note - This website is currently "under construction" regarding updating the information around curriculum submission. Please disregard ALL references to CourseDog and eCurr - it will take time to scrub them from the pages of this site. 

The fall deadline for submitting curriculum proposals is February 12, 2024. For further information on the curriculum proposal process, please see the Curriculum page on the Office of the Provost website.

CourseLeaf - see the CourseLeaf Handbook for detailed instructions including screen shots.

Step one

Before entering the CourseLeaf platform, determine what is to be accomplished. CourseLeaf is accessed through FOUR different entry points (linked below) based upon the type of proposal. In addition, what is selected at each drop-down menu determines what fields will appear below it. Please read through all of the steps before proceding: 

1) COURSE Inventory Management  - Propose new courses and changes to existing courses, including new general education and writing courses (fall-only). To propose a new course, begin with the green "Propose New Course" button. In the next window, complete all required fields. 

Edits to Existing Courses - To propose changes to an existing course, begin by searchng for the specific course, selecting the course, and then click the green "Edit Course" button on the right-hand side. In the next window, complete all required fields. 

2) PROGRAM Management - Propose new programs and changes to existing programs. To propose a new program, begin with the green "Propose New Program" button. Choose what type of program from the drop-down menu and then complete all required fields.

Edits to Existing Programs - To propose changes to existing programs, first use the search bar to find the program to edit, then select the program and click the green "edit" button on the right-hand side. Choose what type of change from the drop-down menu and then complete all required fields.

3) Miscellaneous Request Management - This area houses several forms that fall outside the typical approval path (workflow) from either courses or programs. Please note that some new programs require the initial, pre-planning step called a "Request to Plan" or RTP. This form will appear in the drop-down menu on this page.

Renewal of General Education designation, including Intermediate and Advanced Writing Courses, will also appear in the drop-down menu on this page. All information and data for rolling review courses is submitted through this part of CourseLeaf.

4) Pages Pending Approval - this area will most commonly be accessed by the link that approvers (chair, dean, committee chair, senate, and provost) will recieve in an email notification from the CourseLeaf platform. Approvers can also access the list of proposals in the approval que via this link.

Step two

When you click on one of the links above, a UM Central Authentication Service (CAS) window will open where you will enter your standard UM netID and password. If you have not previously logged in to CourseLeaf, you will need to click an additional authentication button in the center of the screen.  

Step three

Depending upon what has been choosen, the Course Management, Program Management, or Miscelaneous Request Management screen will load (they all look and function similarly.)

For new proposals, begin with the big green "Propose New..." button. This will open a new window with fillable fields and drop-down menus. These forms can be partially completed and saved at any time so you can return to it later. When the form is completed to your satisfaction and you are ready to submit your proposal, click the green "Start Workflow" button at the bottom.

For proposals that edit existing courses or programs, begin by locating the course or program you wish to edit. Use the search criteria instructions on the page to access existing courses or programs, select the specific record for editing and then click the green "Edit..." button. This will open a new window with fillable fields and drop-down menus. As with new, you can save the form and return to it until you are ready to submit, then click the green "Start Workflow" button at the bottom.

About the form

Each of these forms will appear similar, but will contain different content depending upon your previous choices.

  • Required fields are outlined in red - these will need to be complete before workflow will start. 
  • Supporting documents are uploaded in specific places (look for the green "Attach File" button.)

When the electronic form is complete, click either Save Changes to return later, or Start Workflow to begin the review and approval process.  

Procedures/Steps for Reviewers

Once Start Workflow is begun, each proposed course / program travels through a workflow of reviewers. The workflow process ensures each course / program is properly reviewed and vetted by the academic department chair, the college dean, other affected departments, Provost’s Office, curriculum committees, the Faculty Senate.  The Senate Office then ensures courses are submitted for Common Course Numbering review and the Provosts Office submit Level I and II proposals to the Board of Regents for approval.  Once approved the Registrar’s Office approves items for the catalog.

  • Reviewers receive an email notification from CourseLeaf through their UM email account alerting them to the item for review. A link in the email will take the reviewer directly to the CourseLeaf platform where the reviewer will log in using their UM netID and password.
  • Once logged in, the reviewer will see the following:
  • Their role in the review process
  • The number of items requiring review and whether the item is a course (courseadmin) program (programadmin) or miscellaneous (miscadmin) proposal.
  • The USER who submitted the request
  • The text and attachments of the proposal
  • And three option buttons: 
    • A red Rollback button – rolls the proposal back to any previous person in the workflow list.  All rollbacks require a reason for rolling back to be recorded before it will move the item back. An email notification is sent to the previous person alerting them to the rollback.
    • A green Approve button – approves the submission and moves the proposal on to the next reviewer in the process - please consider this button your signature on the proposal.
    • A blue Edit button – at this time it is recommended that this option be disregarded (with the possible exception of correcting spelling and other typos.) If a reviewer feels that substantive changes need to be made, then the red Rollback button should be used with the reviewers comments regarding the suggested changes.
  • The approval path provides a detailed summary of the user at each workflow level with their name, date and time of activity, making the workflow process transparent. Please consider the green Approve button equivalent to signing the document.

CourseLeaf Help

In the upper right corner of the CourseLeaf platform is a help link with useful information on common questions including:

  • CIM video tutorial
  • How to use curriculum history
  • Proposals Overview
  • Course Proposals
    • How to propose a new course
    • How to propose an edit to an existing course
    • How to propose a course deactivation
  • Program Proposals
    • How to propose a new program
    • How to propose an edit to an existing program
    • How to propose a program deactivation
    • How to Search & View in CourseLeaf
  • CourseLeaf CIM module Frequently Asked Questions

ACCESS & CONTACT INFORMATION
For assistance with access to CourseLeaf, please contact the Associate Registrar Troy Morgan.

For information about the CourseLeaf software, visit the CourseLeaf  website.

Video: CourseLeaf Training Video