Initiative streamlines curricula approval process

The Academic Process Transformation (APPT), a Transformative Education 2.0 project, has redesigned course and curricula proposals processes for both undergraduate and graduate proposals. The redesign effort has shortened the institutional process on average by 43%, thereby reducing time to approval and streamlining administrative tasks for faculty.

“With the volume of proposals we see across the organization, we needed to find efficiency in our process without compromising the integrity of our quality reviews,” said Catherine Golden, assistant vice provost for academic initiatives.

Over the last three years, the Purdue West Lafayette and regional campuses have averaged over 2,100 completed course and curricula proposals each year – with each process then ranging from 13 to 23 institutional workflow steps and nearly 30 distinct proposal types.

“The project redesign principles centered on the faculty user experience,” Golden said. “Keeping faculty at the center of our design discussions was an important part of the effort.”

The project also reduced the number of proposals by more than 60% to simplify the start of the process.

Jenna Rickus, vice provost for teaching and learning, says the iterative design process included outreach and testing with faculty from across all campuses.

“The faculty input has been meaningful in reevaluating some of our current processes with an eye towards reducing the faculty administrative burden,” Rickus said. “This project also indirectly identified two more process enhancements, which speaks to the cross-functional nature of the project team. Creating this efficiency is part of our commitment to give faculty back an hour of their day while also supporting excellence at scale.” 

Phase one of the redesigned process will roll out on Aug. 1 – in time for the fall semester. Faculty can refer to the APT website for information. The website also includes guidance on launching proposals, resources for proposal development, and planning considerations.

Rickus thanks Golden, the project team and the Academic Advisory Group.

“The members of Academic Advisory Group also offered important viewpoints as we tested ideas and options,” she said. “Their fingerprints are embedded throughout the redesign.”

The Academic Advisory Group includes:

• Tom Berndt, senior associate dean for academic affairs and administration, College of Health and Human Sciences
• Jamie Mohler, professor and associate dean, Graduate School
• Bob Kenley, professor of practice, Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Purdue Systems Collaboratory
• Ed Berger, associate vice provost for learning innovation; director, Innovation Hub; and interim head, School of Engineering Education