UCDC Procedures & Online Learning Policies/Definitions

In order to conduct business between meetings of the University Curriculum and Degree Committee (UCDC) the following procedures for electronic voting shall be used.

A. The Associate Provost for Undergraduate Programs and Integrative Learning (hereafter Associate Provost) or designee can submit a proposal to the official UM-Dearborn email addresses of all UCDC members for electronic voting. In addition, any Committee member may submit a proposal for electronic voting to the Associate Provost.

B.  The Associate Provost or designee poses the proposal to the UCDC membership and gives a time limit for initial comment and/or amendments (not less than three business days).

C.  At the close of the time limit, the Associate Provost or designee shall either recast or call for votes on the proposed amendments with new time limits for responses (not less than two business days). The electronic voting options are Yes/No/Abstention/Veto. A proposal is accepted if an absolute majority of the UCDC members vote “Yes.” The veto option is to be selected by a Committee member if they determine that the issue has not been vetted to their satisfaction and therefore wishes to delay decision of said issue until the next UCDC meeting. In addition, a UCDC advisor may use the veto option if they believe an issue has not been raised or vetted to their satisfaction.

D.  Once all amendments have been voted on the Associate Provost or designee shall call for a final vote on the proposal and give a time limit for voting (not less than three business days).

E.  Upon resolution of an electronic proposal, the Associate Provost or designee will announce the result of the vote to the Committee members. The proposal and vote will be recorded at the next UCDC meeting as an announcement of business conducted in the interim.

The University Curriculum and Degree Committee shall not approve any new or modified programs until all courses included in a proposal have been developed and have received an endorsement from the college(s).

When a duplication charge is made against a new course proposal that is before the UCDC or graduate subcommittee, the charging unit shall provide a catalog description(s), syllabi for both courses, and a brief explanation for why they believe there is a duplication concern. If UCDC/graduate subcommittee decides that there is the possibility of duplication, then the discipline submitting the course is given an opportunity to respond in writing. With the needed documents from both sides, UCDC/graduate subcommittee shall decide if there is duplication.

Move to authorize the University Curriculum and Degree Committee chair to approve course change forms that make one of the following changes: teaching method(s), prerequisite(s), title, course description (minor changes), topic courses that have been offered at least one time, and/or course deactivations which are not cross-listed at all.

Approval for all new and modified undergraduate and graduate courses begins at the discipline/program level. Normally, one or more faculty will draft a proposal to be considered by their discipline/program colleagues which – if approved – must be sent to the department executive committee for consideration. Once approved by the department executive committee, the college curriculum committee has sign-off authority on all course proposals. The next step is for the University Curriculum and Degree Committee (UCDC) to consider all undergraduate proposals. Graduate proposals need to be sent to the Graduate Subcommittee of UCDC. 

UCDC has established the following policies regarding cross-listed courses among the colleges:

1.  If a course is cross-listed, the originating discipline or department¹ “owns” the course in the sense that they can determine when it will be offered and who will teach it.
2. If one party to a cross listing decides to delist the course, that is permitted but the other discipline or department must be told prior to the change being approved. 
3. If there is a faculty departure, the home or originating discipline or department continues to “own” the course.
4. If a faculty member goes on sabbatical or other leave, the originating or home discipline or department determines whether the course will be offered and who will teach it.

Campus Definitions for Cross-Listed and Equivalent Courses

Cross-listed Courses: A cross-listed course is a single course that meets together but is offered under more than one discipline heading or course number. There are two major types of cross-listed courses:

1. Across discipline cross listing: The course number is usually the same (preferred), but occasionally one discipline will use a different number for the cross listed course. These courses must have the exact same curricula and course requirements. Therefore, they cannot be taught at different student levels (undergraduate and graduate) or course levels (lower level 100/1000-200/2000) vs. upper level 300/3000-400/4000)).

• Courses must share a course title, credit hours, description, prerequisites, co-requisites, student level, meeting time and days, instructor, classroom, registration restrictions, grade mode and repeatability rules. If one course in a cross listed arrangement is offered, all courses in the cross listed arrangement must be offered.
• Credit may only be earned for the course under one of the cross-listing designations.
• If a course fulfills a requirement for a major, minor or distribution category, all courses cross listed with that course shall be considered to fulfill the same requirement.

2. Meets with or dual listed or split level or concurrently scheduled or cross level cross listing: These courses are distinguished from across discipline cross listed courses by the fact that only some portion of the academic experience is common between the classes, although they are likely to meet as one class. They may be taught as different student levels (undergraduate and graduate) or course levels (lower level and upper level). All students earn the same amount of credit for the course, but more rigorous work is required of students enrolled under the upper level number or graduate level number. Like across discipline cross listing, credits may only be earned for the course under one designation.

Equivalent Courses: Students may receive credit for only one course when courses are determined to be equivalent by the originating faculty. Unlike cross listed courses, equivalent courses usually do not meet together.  Circumstances under which equivalency may occur:

1. A course has its number changed (e.g., a topics course becomes a regular course with a permanent new course number).
2. The courses have substantial overlap in curricula and course requirements (e.g., MATH104 and MATH105). 

Students who receive credit for a course under one course number may not also receive credit for the equivalent course under a different course number.

¹ The college that first approves the course through the actions of the college's curriculum committee will be defined as the “originating discipline” or “originating department.”

1.  In accordance with SPG 601.28 (“Who Holds the Copyright at or in Affiliation with the University of Michigan”), in particular Sections A and B.1, the default assumption regarding Distance Education content is that the copyright of all such scholarly content (inclusive of recorded lectures, notes, assignments) belongs to the faculty who created it.

2.  No incentive or compensation for creating Distance Education content shall, by default, be construed as an assertion of the “Exceptions” (SPG 601.28 Section B.2.) unless there is a contract between the academic unit and faculty member specifying that the content is a “commissioned work” and subject to terms specified in the contract.

3.  Typically, only faculty that have contributed to the creation of Distance Education content may be assigned as instructors to Distance Education courses utilizing that content.

• Circumstances (e.g. sickness, retirement) may arise that require the University to invoke the exception in SPG 601.28 Section B.1.a.
• Such use of faculty-created Distance Education content shall be limited to two consecutive academic terms, unless there is a contract between the academic unit and faculty specifying a different arrangement.
• Faculty who collaborate on the creation of Distance Education content for a course are typically understood to share the use of all such content created as part of that collaboration in courses taught at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

4.  Faculty use of the Distance Education content they create as employees of the University of Michigan-Dearborn is governed both by SPG 601.28 and SPG 201.65-1 (“Conflicts of Interest and Conflicts of Commitment,” SPG 201.65-1).

5.  This default campus-wide policy does not preclude the possibility of academic units invoking exceptions and conditions of SPG 601.28 in a more restrictive manner, but any such differences must be specified as a matter of academic unit policy or in contract language agreed to by the academic unit and faculty member.

The following UCDC approved definitions of course delivery methods serve as a foundation for the development of online education processes and policies. They are broadly written so they can be applied more specifically to meet the needs of administration, faculty, staff, and students. All definitions assume there is consistent interaction between students and instructors, either synchronously or asynchronously. 

Online courses are those in which at least 75 percent of instruction (including interaction) is delivered utilizing technology that enables students to be separated from the instructor.¹

Hybrid courses are those in which between 30 and 74 percent of instruction (including interaction) is delivered utilizing technology that enables students to be separated from the instructor.²

Face-to-face courses are those in which between zero and 29 percent of instruction (including interaction) is delivered utilizing technology that enables students to be separated from the instructor.

All course instructional methods fall into one of the three categories above.

¹  Percentage for online courses and definition of technology are based on HLC standards; see Commission Definitions for Distance-Delivered Courses and Programs

²  Percentages for hybrid and face-to-face delivery methods are adopted from Sloan Consortium recommendations; see Going the Distance: Online Education in the United States, 2011