Programs: Occupational Program Modification
The occupational program modification proposal allows for changes that do not alter the basic purpose of the program. The changes that can be processed via the occupational program modification proposal are listed below. Changes that alter the basic purpose of the existing program or that are not listed below should be proposed as a New Occupational Program.
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While a program may have been developed and approved based on the need identified in the New Occupational Program Early Alert form, over time the program design may be found to be deficient. Program modifications would allow for the existing program to be redesigned, adding certificates of completion or degrees that meet the continuing need identified initially by the college.
Examples of program redesign may include a repackaging of the existing requirements and may generate multiple certificates and/or degree(s). More specifically, new degrees could be created by the addition of general studies to an existing certificate, and new certificates could be created by using courses from a currently approved degree program. Other examples are programs with changes in technology requiring a modification of the existing programs and creation of new programs that spin off the existing one. For example, if a college decides to add a CAD component to their existing degree program, the initiator would develop an occupational program modification proposal to process the addition of the component to the existing degree program. The EXCEPTION is when the existing program is kept and a new program is added. In this case a market analysis would be needed, thus, this would require the program being submitted through the New Occupational Program Early Alert process.
College Specific, District-wide Programs, Shared Programs (Program Availability) (Back to Top)
The Occupational Program Modification process affects Program Availability status and is described below. It is understood that changes to programs are guided by Advisory Councils in place and supporting the curricular processes.
College Additions to Existing Programs (Back to Top)College specific program: The college approved for offering the college specific program is responsible for any modifications made to the program and must follow the occupational program modification process.
District-wide program: All the colleges offering the district-wide program are responsible for modifications made to the program. This would involve faculty representatives from each of the colleges and the communication is such that all colleges are kept informed with regard to the modification of the existing district-wide program.
Shared programs: The multiple colleges offering the shared program are responsible for modifications made to the program. This would involve faculty representatives from each of the colleges. The communication is such that all the colleges participating in the shared program are kept informed with regard to the modification of the existing shared program.
The Occupational Program Modification process affects Program Availability status and is described below. It is understood that changes to programs are guided by Advisory Councils in place and supporting the curricular processes.
The primary college has the responsibility for the coordination of program modifications. Any and all program modifications proposed for a shared or district-wide program should be forwarded by the college initiating the changes to the primary college and the participating colleges for their review. The primary college has the responsibility to ensure that all participating colleges’ concerns or questions related to the modification have been addressed and that the proposal is ready to be submitted to the District Curriculum Office by the initiating college.
If one or more of the participating colleges decide to not accept the modification(s) to a district-wide program or shared program and wants to keep the program as is, the following would occur in the processing of the modification:The program availability status would change to either college specific or shared depending on the number of colleges that decide to maintain the program as is and those opting for the modifications. The District Center for Curriculum and Transfer Articulation (CCTA) would guide the college curriculum staff in the identification of appropriate Program Availability status for purposes of completing the proposal.As part of the change process, Occupational Administrators need to ensure that the Primary College status is identified and agreed to during the initial stages of discussing proposed modifications.Curriculum developers are given a word of caution on the above modification process. The above process would require the development of a program modification proposal by the college or colleges proposing changes to the program. As part of the required information on the program modification, a rationale would be included that speaks to the need for changes to the program. The rationale would also include information describing the effect or benefits of implementing a modified program as well as continuing the initial program without changes. If framed well, the rationale should guide the decision-making processes at college and district level supporting the existence of separate and distinct programs addressing unique needs.
The modifications to the program would clearly differentiate one program from another particularly in the area of the program description, title and requirements. This modification process is not to be used to create new programs by bypassing the New Occupational Program Early Alert process.
It is understood that the existing curriculum review and approval processes allow for the Occupational Administrators to have an active role in the review of the above type of modifications. Prior to the submission of the modification to the District CCTA, the Occupational Administrators Council would have met, discussed the proposed change and reached mutual agreement to move the proposal(s) forward to the District.
Once a program has been developed and approved for offering as a college-specific or shared program, any other colleges that are interested in participating in the program should follow the guidelines below.
Reevaluation of the Status of Primary Colleges (Back to Top)
As changes occur over time there may be a need reevaluate the status of primary college(s). A different college may be named as a primary college if and when circumstances require this type of change. The Occupational Administrator of the current primary college, and the Occupational Administrators of the other colleges participating in the program may make this change through agreement. When a change is agreed upon, the Chair of the Occupational Administrator’s Council submits an email to the District Director of the Center for Curriculum and Transfer Articulation informing the Director of the change. The District Director of CCTA will then notify other curriculum personnel as needed and the change is archived on the current program record located on the District CCTA website.
Processing District Wide and Shared Programs (Back to Top)
Shared and district wide programs follow the general processes in place for new and modified programs. The major difference in the process is one of communication between and among the primary college and the participating colleges, and all participating colleges’ signoff on the program proposal before it is moved forward.
The following information provides additional details in processing new, modified, and deleted district wide and shared programs. The deletion referred to in this process is the deletion of the total district wide or shared program. In the total deletion of a shared and district wide program, the program record at each participating college would be given a last year/term and would no longer be available for offering. Participating colleges in shared or district-wide programs may elect to discontinue offering the program. In these cases, the college would follow the established program deletion process.
Prior to the submission of the shared or district wide program proposal to the District Center for Curriculum and Transfer Articulation, the primary college would have communicated with the respective participating colleges on program additions or modifications to the existing program.
New and modified program proposals for shared or district wide programs are submitted
by the primary college to the District CCTA for placement on the District
Curriculum Committee agenda as an Action Item.
For the proposal to be submitted to the District CCTA for placement on a District Curriculum Committee agenda, all colleges participating in the shared or in the district wide program, must have participated in the development of the proposal, and must have approved the changes or additions for the proposal to be moved forward.
The primary college initiating the program proposal (new/modified/deleted) alerts the other appropriate college curriculum staff and the District CCTA on the proposal submission deadline date that a shared or district wide program proposal has been submitted to the District CCTA for inclusion on the next DCC on-line agenda as an Action Item.
If any of the participating colleges have not been included in the development of the program proposal, the college must communicate this process omission to the primary college and carbon the District CCTA asking for the proposal to be removed from agenda consideration until all participating colleges have provided input on the proposal.
Communication is an important element for this process to effectively support the college faculty and the personnel supporting them. Thus colleges involved in this process must plan accordingly to ensure that primary colleges and the participating colleges are working collaboratively in their planning and development stages. This ensures that the final proposal can be moved forward without delay.
It is the responsibility of the primary college to inform the District Director of Center for Curriculum and Transfer Articulation when the college is no longer serving in this capacity and provide the name of the succeeding college.
Hidden Prerequisites (Back to Top)
If pre-/corequisites for a program prerequisite, required course and restricted elective in a program are not contained in the program requirements, they are termed "hidden" pre-/corequisites. In effect the pre/corequisite course is not listed as part of the requirements and is “hidden” from the student.Colleges must account for all courses that constitute the total requirements for the program. It is understood that the placement of the courses within the program areas may vary among prerequisites, required courses and restricted electives. However, programs are designed or developed in such a way that the requirements are clearly listed on the program and communicated to the student.
If a course in any of the above areas has pre/corequisites, the faculty initiator, working with the curriculum developer, must decide if the content of the course is required as a program prerequisite or as part of the required courses or is placed as an elective. When pre/corequisites for a course are placed in the Restricted Electives area, the pre/corequisite becomes an option for the student along with the rest of the courses listed in the Electives area. Courses in the electives area generally compliment the required core of courses and provide for additional opportunities for students to further develop knowledge and skill in a particular area. Thus, placement of the corequisite in question in the electives may be appropriate in some cases and the student advised as needed in terms of course selection. Placement of a prerequisite in the electives area is questionable and may not be approved for a course listed in Program Prerequisites or Required Course area, especially when the content of the prerequisite is needed for the student to be successful in other courses.
It is understood that some courses have as an option in the pre/corequisite area, “permission of instructor”. Permission of the instructor in the curriculum process is treated as an exception and not the rule. Permission of the instructor assumes some level of assessment on the part of the college and is a college-based decision dealt with on a case-by-case basis with regard to a student’s course selection.
Course Pre-/Corequisites Flowchart (Back to Top)
The Occupational Program Modification also requires a Pre-/Corequisites Flowchart. The Pre-/Corequisites Flowchart illustrates the pre-/corequisite flow for all courses numbered 100 or above in the Program Prerequisite area, Required Courses and Restricted Electives for certificates and degrees.
Courses that do not need to be included in the Flowchart are general studies, cooperative education and special projects courses.
Advisory Committee Minutes (Back to Top)
Advisory Committee Minutes are not required as attachments to the occupational program modification proposal. Colleges are responsible for keeping on file a set of the Advisory Committee Minutes that support the curriculum proposals processed through the District Curriculum Committee and MCCCD Governing Board. The college staff must follow the approved format for the development of the Advisory Committee Minutes.
The occupational program modification proposal will include a statement that indicates the Minutes are available at the college initiating the proposal, and that the Minutes can be submitted to any college or district staff person requesting that information.
Required Attachments for Occupational Program Modifications (Back to Top)
The following lists proposal attachments/information required for changes to occupational programs.
For a change in:
Program Title
Attachment/Information Required: Include the new title in the Summary of Changes area on the OPM form and a copy of the current program with the new title provided. Note: If the program title is included in other program elements (i.e., description), then include those elements as part of the proposal in order to modify the program and reflect the addition of the new title.
Program Description
Attachment/Information Required: Include as part of the proposal, the Summary of Changes and the proposed description. The colleges may also want to include in their proposal the program requirements if there are extensive changes to the description. This should better support the proposal review and approval processes.
Program Availability
Attachment/Information Required: The OPM proposal would include the program description, program requirements, and competencies. Program availability status field would reflect appropriate change to status.
Program Competencies
Attachment/Information Required: Proposed program requirements, proposed program competencies.
Addition of certificate(s) within an AAS Degree
Attachment/Information Required: If the AAS degree is not being modified as part of the proposal, include: a brief program need statement, the proposed new certificate program description, proposed new certificate requirements, proposed new certificate program competencies, course pre-/corequisites flowchart for proposed new certificate(s), present program requirements for the degree
If the degree were being modified as part of the proposal, the appropriate required attachments would be included per degree changes.
Addition of degree to an existing certificate (new degree is due to the addition of general studies requirements to the certificate’s required courses and restricted electives)
Attachment/Information Required: If the certificate is not being modified as part of the proposal include: a brief program need statement, proposed new degree program description, proposed new degree program requirements, proposed new degree competencies, proposed new degree course pre/corequisites flowchart, present program requirements for the certificate.
If the certificate was being modified as part of the proposal, the appropriate required attachments would be included per certificate changes.
Deletion of certificate(s) within AAS degree (deletion affects degree requirements)
Attachment/Information Required: An Occupational Program Deletion proposal is required for the certificate to be deleted. If the deletion of the certificate affects other areas of the degree (program description, requirements, competencies), then the degree modification would address those areas or elements with the appropriate attachments included per degree changes.
Program Requirements (addition/deletion of required course(s) affecting program total credits and/or significant change in content)
Attachment/Information Required: Program description (if affected), proposed program competencies if affected, proposed program requirements, course pre-/corequisites flowchart for proposed program.
If the change to program requirements (addition of courses within Required Course area) has no effect on program totals or significant effect on program content, submit proposed program requirements and program competencies (if affected)
Addition/deletion of course(s) (courses that fall within Free and Restricted Electives with no effect on program totals or significant effect on program content)
Attachment/Information Required: Proposed program requirements
Summary of Changes (Back to Top)
The Summary of Changes serves as a quick reference for those reviewing the proposal on modifications to the program. The Summary should be brief and highlight major changes to the program.
The following is a listing of areas on the program proposal that should be summarized. Not all areas need to be fully described in the Summary. For example, changes to Program Notes, Admission Criteria, Program Description, and Program Competencies would be identified within their respective areas on the proposal with strikethrus for deletions and bold test for additions.
An example of the type of information contained on a Summary of Changes is included in the Occupational Program Modification proposal sample provided in the Curriculum Procedures Handbook.
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Development of an Occupational Program Modification Proposal (Back to Top)
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On the first page of the proposal form:
Identify the current award type (AAS, CCL) for the program.
Identify the proposed first year/term of the program modification or when the changes take effect. MCCD Terms are as follows: Fall=6, Spring=2, First summer session=4, Second summer session=5. Examples of beginning or first year/term to be entered on the proposal are: 20006 to indicate fall 2000 or 20002 to indicate spring 2000.
Provide the current Overall G.P.A. for the program.
Provide the current full title for the program.
Identify the initiating college. The standard acronyms used in identifying the colleges are as follows:
CGCC (Chandler-Gilbert Community College PC (Phoenix College) EMCC (Estrella Mountain Community College) PVCC (Paradise Valley Community College) GCC (Glendale Community College) RSC (Rio Salado College) GWCC (GateWay Community College) SCC (Scottsdale Community College) MCC (Mesa Community College) SMCC (South Mountain Community College)
Identify the Program Availability status of the current program. Place an X in the appropriate area. If multiple colleges share the program, provide the college acronyms of the colleges currently sharing the program in the Participating Colleges area.
Provide the current total credits for the program.
Provide the current major code for the program.
Type the name of the faculty initiator.
Provide the current CIPS Code.
Type the name of the Instructional Council(s) receiving the proposal as an informational item. Provide the numeric code for the Instructional Council in parenthesis after the name of the Instructional Council. This code is found on the Instructional Council Membership List distributed by the MCCCD Center for Curriculum and Transfer Articulation. It is referred to as the Instructional Council Code.
Every effort should be made to ensure stability with regard to instructional council assignment to program. In effect, programs should not be tentatively assigned to councils with the anticipation of introducing change to this relationship once the program is approved. This allows for minimized impact and delay of programs entered in the new student systems.
Enter the District Curriculum Committee Online Agenda Dates and the MCCCD Governing Board agenda date. These dates can be found on the Curriculum Processing Calendar on the MCCCD Center for Curriculum and Transfer Articulation website for the respective months.
Special Note: All of the above entries are treated as a running header on the program proposal and facilitates the identification of the proposal pages for processing purposes.
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On the first page of the proposal, a place for a Maintenance Date is provided if the proposal is revised after it was finalized and submitted to the District Center for Curriculum and Transfer Articulation (CCTA) for processing. Note: the Maintenance Date will be revised/updated by the college and/or the District CCTA staff as needed if the proposal is modified anytime after the initial submission of the proposal to the CCTA.
Provide the name of the Vice President of Academic Affairs who has given approval to release the proposal to the CCTA. Comments from the Vice President of Academic Affairs may be provided such as, "Approved for processing to the MCCCD Center for Curriculum and Transfer Articulation." This entry will allow the District CCTA to begin the review and approval processes in preparation for placement of the proposal on the different agendas at District level.
Provide a brief rationale for the program changes and any additional information to help clarify the development of the proposal and facilitate the approval process.
Continuing with the remaining pages of the Occupational Program Modification Proposal in the Proposed section provide the program description and the rest of the required information following the established format (see OPM sample for additional information.
Note: lengthy descriptions will require the addition of an abbreviated description for the degree audit system.
For program areas that do not have requirements, enter the word “None.”
Sample: Occupational Program Modification Proposal #1 Document - Revised August 6, 2008
Sample: Occupational Program Modification Proposal #2 Document (Program Additions) - Revised August 7, 2008
Template: Occupational Program Modification Proposal Document - Revised August 6, 2008
The Curriculum Procedures Handbook is a product of the Maricopa County Community Colleges District. Any and all changes to the Handbook are monitored and coordinated through the District Curriculum Office. Please give credit to the Maricopa County Community College District if the Handbook or sections of the Handbook are duplicated.
