CoreFSU Course Approval Process
Timing Your Curricular Request
Due to the volume of curricular requests that must be processed through university systems, requests can take up to a year to process. These guidelines will help you plan ahead so your course has the best chance of being approved and ready for students to enroll when registration opens for the desired effective semester.
- Before submitting a course approval request in the Curriculum Request Application (CRA), please ensure that the request has completed all notification and approval requirements for your department and college. Each unit has its own timeline and process for requests.
- Once a request has department/college approval and is entered in the CRA, the Office of CoreFSU can begin processing the request.
- It is best to submit your request as soon as possible to allow reasonable processing time of the request before the desired effective term.
While the Office of CoreFSU cannot guarantee any effective term, the above recommendations were developed in an effort to meet faculty expectations. The earlier the request, the best chance of it being approved in time for course registration. The approval process timeline is dependent upon unit responses to requested revisions and other communication.
If you are interested in becoming a faculty reviewer for CoreFSU courses, please contact Kestrel Strickland.
CoreFSU Course Approval Process
For New CoreFSU Courses:
To propose a new course for CoreFSU approval or to certify an existing course for CoreFSU, a curricular request must be submitted in the Curricular Request Application (CRA). Please see the steps below for more information on the CoreFSU approval process. For instructions on how to submit a curricular request for a new course, please see here for a text-based tutorial or here for a captioned video tutorial.
For Existing CoreFSU Courses:
For existing CoreFSU courses, a curricular change request is required if there will be any changes to the course title, objectives, description, component (ex: changing from lecture to discussion), grading basis (graded or S/U), credit hours, repeatability, course number, pre/co-requisites, or CoreFSU designation(s). If you are unsure whether or not a change request is needed for a particular course, please email Kestrel Strickland for assistance.
For instructions on how to submit a change request for an existing course, please see here for a text-based tutorial or here for a captioned video tutorial.
Consult with your curriculum chair and/or department chair to obtain necessary departmental approvals before submitting your request in the CRA.
Once departmental approval has been received, log into the Curricular Request Application (CRA) to submit a formal curricular request.
Note: For curricular requests housed within the College of Arts & Sciences, College-level review and approval occurs within the CRA itself. Once the request has been approved by the Associate Dean overseeing this process, it will proceed with Liberal Studies review.
See below for guides on submitting a curricular request in the Curricular Request Application:
- How to Request a New CoreFSU Course
- How to Submit a Change Request for an Existing Course
- How to Request an Online Delivery Method for an Existing Course
- How to Delete/Inactivate a Course
The CoreFSU YouTube channel offers video tutorials detailing how to log in and submit a curricular request in the CRA.
The Assistant Director of CoreFSU reviews the course to determine if it meets the instructional design requirements for each requested CoreFSU area. The instructional design requirements for each area can be found here: CoreFSU | Faculty Resources (fsu.edu).
If any changes are needed for the course to be technically compliant with any of the requested areas, the Assistant Director will return the course to the requester in the Curricular Request Application and email them a list of necessary revisions.
If the request is for 1) a new addition to the CoreFSU curriculum or 2) a previously approved CoreFSU course that is modifying its content [description, objectives, and/or substantial changes to the course content or grading criteria], it proceeds to the Course Review Panel. Course Review Panel reviewers help assess the course’s fit for each requested CoreFSU area. All faculty reviews are submitted to the Director of CoreFSU for consideration.
If you are interested in becoming a faculty reviewer of CoreFSU courses, please email Kestrel Strickland, Assistant Director of CoreFSU. If you would like to learn more about the review process, visit the CoreFSU Course Review Panel Canvas Org here: https://canvas.fsu.edu/enroll/H9DPLT.
The Director of CoreFSU evaluates the course's substantive fit for each requested CoreFSU area while factoring in LSCRP feedback.
If any substantive changes are needed for the course to satisfy any of the requested areas, the Director will return the course to the requester in the Curricular Request Application and email them a list of necessary revisions.
If a course is 1) adding a new mostly online or fully online delivery method, or 2) making substantial changes to the existing online delivery method, the University Curriculum Committee Chair will review the online delivery method for substantive equivalency to a traditional (face-to-face) delivery method.
If any changes are needed for the online delivery method to be comparable to a face-to-face delivery method, the Assistant Director of CoreFSU will forward the UCC Chair’s requested revisions to the course requester via CRA and email.
Sometimes, a course requires updates in the State Course Numbering System. This can be due to changes in the course title, description, objectives, and other information. Whenever a new CoreFSU request enters the CRA, the Assistant Director of CoreFSU checks to see if that particular course requires updates in the SCNS. If that is the case, the Faculty Senate Coordinator submits these updates before the course proceeds to the registrar review queue.
If the request is 1) for a new course, or b) seeking to change the existing prefix and/or number for a course, the request is also routed to the Faculty Senate Coordinator, who coordinates with the State Course Numbering System to assign a number for the course. Once the course number has been assigned, the Assistant Director of CoreFSU will notify the course requester.
Requests that do not involve SCNS updates or course number assignment/changes move directly to registrar review.
The University Registrar processes the curricular request and requests any final revisions as needed. Once the course has been approved by the Registrar, it is added to all necessary university systems.
The Assistant Director of CoreFSU will notify the requester once the course has been processed.
Upon Registrar approval, the CRA sends an automated email notification to the requester. Afterwards, the Assistant Director of CoreFSU emails the requester, confirming the approval.
Congratulations! Once the Assistant Director has indicated that the course has been fully processed, the course can be built as needed and will fulfill the approved CoreFSU areas upon the effective term noted in the final approval email.