Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Course Number

SACs may request a specific number for a new course, but final decisions about course numbering are made by the Curriculum Office. The following criteria are used to determine course numbers:

• 100-299 Used for college-level courses. Most CTE and LDC courses will use these numbers; only college-level coursework may be used to fulfill a requirement for an associate degree or certificate (completion of pre-college courses may be required, as for example MTH 58 or MTH 65, but cannot count towards the minimum credits required for completion of a degree or certificate). 
• 10-99 Used for pre-college/remedial courses.  
• The state of Oregon requires that certain course numbers be reserved for specific course types:
  • 99, 199, 299: Used for experimental courses only
  • 180, 280: Used for cooperative education courses only
  • 198, 298: Used for independent study courses only
• Common Course Numbering: When a course becomes part of the state’s CCN framework, a specific number will be chosen by the state subcommittee and must be used by all public colleges and universities. 
• Course numbers that have been used in the past for inactivated courses cannot be used again.
• Course numbers cannot be changed once approved. 

Course Title

The course title is restricted to 60 characters. Each course must have a unique title, though the differences can be minimal; for example, courses in a sequence may share a title and be distinct only through a leveling word (“beginning”, “intermediate”, etc.) or numerical indicator (“I”, “II”, “III”). 

Credits

One credit is equivalent to 30-36 hours of student engagement; student engagement includes both in-class time and out-of-class preparation and assignments, as determined by the schedule type (see below).

Lecture, Lab, Lec-Lab Hours per Term

The CCOG reflects the total number of minimum contact hours of each delivery type; CRNs may be scheduled up to the maximum contact hours of each delivery type.

Lecture Hours

1 credit of Lecture = 10 contact hours of lecture, and assumes an additional 20 hrs of student engagement outside of contact hours (maximum contact hours that may be scheduled per credit at the CRN level: 12 per credit). 

Lecture:

Classes where faculty effort is primarily on activities such as preparation, grading and student evaluation, which occur outside of and in addition to, scheduled class hours. Class format is traditionally lecture, but instructors may utilize discussion and other class activities to help students master conceptual materials. Student application of concepts is limited.

Lec-Lab Hours

1 credit of Lec-Lab = 20 contact hours of lecture, and assumes an additional 10 hours of student engagement outside of contact hours (maximum contact hours that may be scheduled per credit at the CRN level: 24 per credit). 

Lecture/Lab:

Classes where faculty effort in preparation generally occurs outside of scheduled class hours and evaluation occurs both during and outside of scheduled class hours. Class format is a combination of faculty lectures and demonstrations, guided student interactions and supervised student application of lectures.

Lab Hours

1 credit of Lab = 30 hours of lab, and assumes that all student engagement occurs in the lab itself (maximum contact hours that may be scheduled per credit at the CRN level: 36 per credit).

Laboratory (Lab):

Classes where Faculty effort is primarily during scheduled class hours. Preparation generally occurs outside class hours, and evaluation of student work generally occurs during class yours. Class format is students working independently with the Instructor available, and in the instruction area for assistance and supervision.

Course Description

Course Description

• Each sentence should begin with a verb. Do not use “students will” or “the course will” in the course description.
• Limit description to two to three sentences.
• Sample Course Description: Provides an introductory survey of economic, political, social, and cultural dimensions and evaluates their impacts. Examines patterns of conflict and cooperation among countries. Introduces selected issues.
• Course descriptions for non-equivalent courses must be unique; identical course descriptions for non-equivalent courses are not permitted.
• Course descriptions should include a clear indication of the subject matter of the course.

Course descriptions for current equivalent courses will include the following sentence:

“This course is also offered as XYZ ###; a student who enrolls in this course a second time under either designator will be subject to the course repeat policy.”

Prerequisite, Co-Requisite, Concurrent Enrollment; Recommended Preparation

Prerequisites, Corequisites, and Pre/Concurrent courses which can be enforced by Banner should not be listed in the Course Description field in Courseleaf; they should be listed in the separately labeled Prereq, Coreq, and Pre/Conc fields. Students who do not meet these prerequisites will not be able to register for the course without an override. Banner-enforceable prerequisites include:

• Successful completion of specific courses
• Placement test scores administered by PCC
• Instructor permission required

Prerequisites other than the types listed above cannot be enforced by Banner. Examples include:

• Minimum GPA
• Test scores administered outside of PCC
• External licensures or certifications
• Age limits

Prerequisites in these categories should list the specific requirement in the course description field as the final sentence, and end the sentence with the word “required” (for example, “Minimum GPA 3.25 required”). In the Prerequisite field, list “instructor permission required”. This will allow Banner to enforce the prerequisite by requiring an instructor/departmental override before a student can register; the instructor or department will need to verify that the prerequisite has been met.

Recommended preparation: any recommended but not required preparation (prior coursework, test scores, etc.) should be listed in the course description field, using the following format: “Recommended: prior completion of XZY ###” (or, if concurrent enrollment is recommended, “Recommended: prior completion of or concurrent enrollment in XYZ ###”).

Use the following formats when listing prerequisite, co-requisite, or Pre/concurrent courses:

Series of ‘ands’ within a prerequisite series:

• Should be written as, “MCH 125, MCH 157, MCH 175, and MCH 187.”

Series of ‘ors’ within a prerequisite series:

• Should be written as, “MCH 125 or MCH 157 or MCH 175 or MCH 187.”

Prerequisite series where a single course is equal to a set of courses:

• Should be written as, “BI 112 or (BI 211 and BI 212).”

Prerequisite series where a single course is equal to multiple sets of courses:

• Should be written as, “(BI 101 and BI 102) or (BI 211 and BI 212) or BI 112.”

Prerequisites based on placement test scores may be written in two ways:

•  “MTH 20 or equivalent placement test scores”, or
• “Placement into MTH 60”

Single course prerequisites:

• Should be written as, “CJA 112.”

A single course and a series of ‘ors’ within a single prerequisite:

• Should be written as, “XYZ 275 and (XYZ 133B or XYZ 133N or XYZ 133J).”

A single course and any course for which that course is a prerequisite:

• Should be written as “MTH 65 or any course for which MTH 65 is a prerequisite”, not “MTH 65 or higher.”
• If multiple pathways are possible, should be written as “MTH 58 or MTH 65, or any course for which either is a prerequisite.”   
• If specific options are excluded, should be written as “MTH 95 or any MTH course for which MTH 95 is a prerequisite, excluding MTH 105.”

All prerequisite lists must list the prefix and course number for each prerequisite in the lists.

• Should be written as, “BI 112, BI 275, BI 276”, not “BI 112, 275, 276.”

Addendum to Description

This area can be used to provide information that is not part of the description or outcomes, but provides additional practical or technical information that may be useful for students; for example, this may be used to note if the course takes place entirely in the field, to identify equipment required for the course, etc. Note that the addendum is not published in the catalog or the schedule. 

Outcomes

Please see Writing Course Outcomes.

Aspirational Goals

This optional field can be used to indicate goals that the SAC has for a course which are not measurable or for which students may not be held accountable (e.g., “enjoy a life enriched by calculus” or “take pride in one’s work”). These aspirational goals may be essential to a SAC’s conception and/or motivation for the course and its hope for the students, but cannot be included in the “Outcomes” section because they cannot be assessed.

Course Activities and Design

This optional field can include best practices, details regarding instructional approach, and/or guidelines for instructors who will teach the course that the SAC recommends and/or feels should be consistent across the district.

Outcomes Assessment Strategies

This optional field can be used to identify assessment strategies that the SAC feels should be consistent across the district, and/or to provide instructors with options that the SAC feels are consistent with assessment best practices within the discipline. 

Course Content: Themes, Concepts, Issues, and Skills

This optional field can be used to communicate the elements of course content that the SAC feels should be consistent across the district. One suggested component is framing the content of the course in terms of: What they need to understand (themes, concepts, issues) and what skills they need to master (skills).

The conceptual framework expressed by the Themes, Issues, and Concepts, helps identify the whole picture of the course, contribute to the organization and selection of content, and can be viewed as a “baseline syllabus” that individual instructors can build upon.

Related Instruction

Please see Related Instruction 

Independent Study, Variable Credit, and Cooperative Education Courses:

• Numbering: Independent Study courses must be numbered 198 or 298. Cooperative Education courses must be numbered 180 or 280.
• Titles: The titles for Cooperative Education and Independent Study courses should include the type of course and reference to the content area/subject matter e.g., “Cooperative Education: History”, “Independent Study: Biology”
• Outcomes: Each Independent Study, Variable Credit, and Cooperative Education course must include the following outcome: “Meet learning outcomes specific to this project as mutually agreed upon by the student and instructor in advance through a written learning contract, and as appropriate to the credit awarded for this course.”  SACs may also choose to include additional common outcomes that will be expected for all students.