Curriculum Management at Valparaiso University

Valparaiso University uses Catalog (fka Acalog) and Curriculum (fka Curriculog) by Modern Campus for catalog and curriculum management. Catalog is the software used to display catalog information online. Curriculum automates the process of curriculum change approval, helping Valpo to approve course and program changes and improve communication about the curriculum across campus. This article explains the process used by department chairs, program directors, deans, and others to review proposals, add comments, and record decisions in Curriculum.

Step-by-step Guide

Faculty and staff members with Curriculum accounts can visitand log in to get started.

Curriculum uses Single-Sign-On. If you are logged into your Valpo GMail account before you navigate to Curriculum (valpo.curriculog.com), you will be automatically signed in and taken to the Dashboard.

Open

From the Proposals screen, you can select the following tabs:

Open

• My Tasks - This tab displays any proposals awaiting your approval.

• My Proposals - This tab displays the proposals that you've submitted.

• All Proposals - This tab displays all proposals. You can filter this list by proposal status or proposal type.

• Watch List - This tab allows you to view proposals you've bookmarked using the button below.
  
  

Reviewing Proposals

Navigate to the My Tasks tab to see all proposals that require your approval to advance in the approval workflow.

The following symbols and colors are used on the Curriculum dashboard to help you quickly identify your current tasks, proposals you've written, approvals, rejections, and proposals that are urgent or stuck in the workflow and need immediate attention.

Here is an example of tasks with a bright red-orange label to make them easy to identify. Anything with this label is at a step in the workflow for which you're a participant.

Click on any proposal to view it in detail, as shown below. The proposal details are on the left side of the screen, and additional information such as Discussion, Workflow Steps, Files (attachments), and Decisions are shown on the right in the Toolbox.

The circles at the top of the page show the number of steps in this proposal's workflow. Green circles with a thumbs-up icon indicate approval at that step. Red circles with a thumbs-down icon indicate rejection at that step. Place the cursor over any step for a description of the participants at that step.

The Discussion tab displays the full details of all actions taken and comments added.

User Tracking is available. You can choose the Show current with markup option to see tracked changes in the proposal.

You can check and uncheck specific users to narrow the tracked changes.

Decisions

After reading the proposal, click on the Decisions tab to view the current step, the requirements for approval (for example, participants at this step or committee participation), and the controls for decision-making.

Click on Approve or Reject. You may add a comment. Submit the decision by clicking Make My Decision.

Once your decision has been made, the circle representing your step in the workflow will fill in with a symbol indicating whether you have approved or rejected the proposal. If approved, the proposal will automatically advance to the next step. If rejected, the proposal will move back within the workflow for revision.

Please note that you can only make a decision on a proposal if you are a participant at the current step in the workflow. Committee members can view, comment, and share their opinions from the Decisions tab, but only the Agenda Administrator (such as the chair or secretary) may submit the decision on behalf of the committee. The opinion step is not required to complete a step, but some committees use it before meetings to get a sense of the questions to be discussed at an upcoming meeting.

Searching for Proposals

From any tab, click on the Advanced Filter link. You will see several fields that allow you to narrow the proposal list based on the criteria you enter.

• Keyword - Use a word or number from the title of a proposal in this field. Example: To view the proposal for MUS 115, type “115” into the Keyword field and click on the Filter Proposals button. Use the shortest and most unique keywords possible.

• Found Under - This field allows you to narrow the list to just those in a specific academic unit. Example: To view all Music proposals, select Music in the drop-down menu and click on the Filter Proposals button.

• Date Search Scope - Select a date range, based on when a proposal was Launched or Completed (final approval received).

• Process Type - Search by type of curriculum change proposal. Example: See all proposed new undergraduate courses. You can also narrow to “Course” proposals, “Program” proposals, or “Other” proposals instead of a more narrow search.

• Current Step Name - This drop-down menu allows you to view proposals at a specific workflow step. Example: View all proposals that are at the EPC step before attending the EPC meeting.

• Proposal Status - This is a crucial field to check while searching. If you’re looking for a proposal that already has GEPC or Faculty Senate approval, be sure “Completed” status is checked. Completed status is unchecked by default since most users are looking for a proposal that is still moving through the workflow.

Resources, Including Training Videos by Modern Campus - Curriculum Support

Our vendor, Modern Campus, has an excellent online collection of resources, including video tutorials, a resource center, an ideas portal, community forums, webinars, articles, user manuals, and answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

Curriculum Support

Follow this link to view a recorded training session on Curriculum Management in Canvas.

How to Write a Catalog Change Proposal in Curriculum

Follow this link to learn about Catalog Change Proposal Writing in Curriculog.