Course Development at CCU

Course Development at CCU

In addition to developing our new B.S. in Organizational Behavior, our Curriculum Development team works throughout the year revising and updating our existing courses to keep them current. For this, we have a master calendar of all courses offered at CCU. During the last year, we updated and released new revisions for a number of these courses offered in our 43 educational programs. In a multi-step process, each course is monitored and scheduled for revision/updating utilizing the following development sequence:

• First, the process starts when we look at faculty and student comments and identify the needed changes and updates.
• Next, we research current textbook editions, and/or we look for new textbooks. If we like our current textbook, we will revise the course using the current edition. If we find a different textbook that might be a better fit for our course, we request a review copy from the publisher.
• Then, all sample textbooks go to the respective faculty member for review and approval.
• Course materials are then developed and proofed.
• The final course is reviewed approved by our faculty, the dean, and the distance education and learning officer.
• Course resources and learning activities are developed for each course – based on faculty, advisory council, student and graduate feedback.
• Textbooks are ordered and the student portal is updated.
• Finally, the updated course is released for student use.

In addition to revising and updating courses, we also develop new courses. For our B.S. Organizational Behavior degree program, we developed 5 new courses. In addition, we developed and released two new general education courses – GED 345 Intercultural Communication and GED 375 Ethics and Society. To give you an idea of how and why we adopt a new course, here are a couple of examples:

• GED 345 - Intercultural Communication came about to replace a general education social sciences requirement. Our curriculum research identified the value and importance of students having a greater understanding and appreciation of diversity, cultural differences, and communication styles. For this course, students explore how members of varying cultures communicate in a variety of ways, both verbally and non-verbally. This course has turned out to be a popular addition to CCU’s general education requirements and one we believe is highly valuable in our global society.
• GED 375 – Ethics and Society meets a general education humanities requirement. For this course, students will explore ethical issues on multiple levels - personal, interpersonal, group, organizational, and global. Our curriculum team found an excellent textbook that focuses on ethical issues in contexts larger than the more traditional organizational settings. We believe a broader view of this important subject will benefit our students both personally and professionally.