Curriculum Planning

Here are some points you may want to consider:

• Cooperative courses offer a good news–bad news scenario.  The GOOD news is that U-Idaho students can take cooperatively listed courses at WSU for the lower U-Idaho price.  The BAD news is that WSU students taking cooperative courses at U-Idaho generate NO REVENUE for the university, and typically, more WSU students attend U-Idaho than vice versa.  Unless departments can ascertain that the number of U-Idaho students enrolling in coop courses at WSU is equal to the number of WSU students at U-Idaho, or that the number of U-Idaho students enrolled in a coop course at U-Idaho is sufficient to cover instructional expenses, the department should not offer the course cooperatively during the summer.  The U-Idaho unit administrator can indicate in COWS that the cooperative designation be dropped for the summer.
• Offer courses that are heavily impacted or oversubscribed in fall and/or spring terms. A critical course list, developed by the Registrars Office follows. Courses that were underenrolled or canceled due to lack of enrollment in fall or spring should not be offered in the summer.
• In summer, students want to make up deficits, take courses needed to graduate, or take courses required in their major. Colleges or departments that have a specific clientele may do well with special topics courses. Generally, departments will do better offering courses that are required for the core or the major.
• Eliminate courses from the summer schedule that have proven economically marginal or unsuccessful during the previous two summers.
• Offer a balance of upper and lower division courses. Keep in mind that upper-division and non-degree students are the bread and butter of summer. Target offerings to these groups.