Importance and Purpose of the Course Outline

Importance of Course Outline

The introduction to The Course Outline of Record: A Curriculum Reference Guide Revisited Links to an external site.,(ASCCC, 2017) provides a useful overview of the importance of the COR:

The course outline has evolved considerably from its origins as a list of topics covered in a course. Today, the course outline of record is a document with defined legal standing and plays a central role in the curriculum of the California community colleges. The course outline has both internal and external influences.

Standards for the course outline of record appear in Title 5, in the Chancellor’s Office “Program and Course Approval Handbook,” and in the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) accreditation standards. System-wide intersegmental general education agreements with the California State University and the University of California (CSU-GE and IGETC) may also place requirements upon the course outline such as specific content or currency of learning materials.

Course outlines of record are also used as the basis for articulation agreements, providing a document with which to determine how community college courses will be counted upon transfer to baccalaureate granting institutions. Course outlines are reviewed as part of a college’s Program Review process, a process of central importance to accrediting agencies. For colleges to maintain their delegated authority to review and approve new and revised courses, they must certify that their local approval standards meet the comprehensive guidelines produced by the Chancellor’s Office. The quality described in a course outline of record is evidence of meeting these guidelines.

The course outline of record plays a particularly important role in the California community colleges because it clearly lays out the expected content and learning objectives for a course for use by any faculty member who teaches the course. Course outlines provide a type of quality control since it is not uncommon for community college courses to be taught by several, and sometimes dozens, of faculty members. In order to ensure that core components are covered in all sections of a course, the California Community College System relies on the course outline of record to specify those elements that will be covered by all faculty who teach the course.

Purpose of the Course Outline

The Course Outline of Record has a number of purposes:

• It serves as the foundation for course planning and development, providing basic course information and structure.
  
  
• It serves as the basis for transfer articulation agreements with individual CSU and UC campuses. They are the basis for evaluating the transferability of courses and their equivalence to courses offered at four-year schools.
  
  
• It meets accreditation requirements.
  
  
• It plays a critical role in Program Review, the process for allocating resources and keeping our curriculum relevant and current.