Course Planning Checklist

Work with your curriculum coordinator to prepare your courses for the next academic year.

 

Course offering information

The following information must be accurate ahead of FAS faculty votes on course offerings. This information must be consistent each term.

Communicate all course offering and classroom meeting needs

  • Classroom preferences – Share with your department coordinator, who will facilitate the requests with the Registrar, Education Support Services, and other campus partners as necessary.

Review general course information for accuracy

  • Course notes – used each time the course is offered to supplement the description (e.g. an advanced language course is taught entirely in that language, a course utilizes a lottery for enrollment)
  • Description – concise and simple
  • Title  – complete, no typos
  • Type – e.g. lecture, seminar
  • Units – most FAS courses are 4 credits

Check enrollment details

  • Approvals – e.g. instructor consent (petitions must be submitted in my.harvard)
  • Capacity – courses with enrollment caps require instructor consent to enroll
  • Course level – undergraduate, graduate, both (use the Registrar’s catalog number guide to number your course)
  • Cross registration status – Is your course open to cross registrants? The default answer is yes for most FAS courses
  • Grading basis – determine the grading basis using the FAS Grading System
  • Seat reserve capacity –  set aside any number of enrollments in your course for a specific population of students (e.g. first-years, cross registrants, etc.)
  • Terms offered – Is your course offered for Fall, Spring, every term, or on another schedule (i.e., every other Fall/Spring)? 

Check listed requirements

  • Anti-requisites – prevents students from enrolling in a course if they have enrolled in a course that is too similar
  • Corequisites – requires students to enroll in two courses
  • Prerequisites – students who do not meet the prerequisite according to my.harvard will need to submit a petition to enroll
  • Recommended Prep – add a Course Note in the Course Catalog as a point of information advising students to cover specific materials before enrolling in your course

Review course sections

  • Secondary components – determine how many discussion sections, labs you'll need in consultation with Instructional Support. Determine meeting days and times for each.

 

Class meeting information

Class meeting information may change from term to term. You must communicate the class and section/lab meeting times and locations to your department. Departments balance offerings across the FAS schedule and space resources. 

Check class meeting timing

  • Meeting pattern – Classes meeting 3 days/week should meet M/W/F. Classes meeting 2 days/week should meet T/TH, M/W, or W/F.
  • Meeting length – To work within the FAS schedule, there are neither 90-minute nor 3-hour meeting patterns.
    • 1-to-1.25-hour courses must meet for a minimum of 60 minutes
    • 2-to-2.75-hour courses must meet for a minimum of 120 minutes
  • Start/end times – The length and location of your course will impact the start/end time (Refer to the FAS timeline for Cambridge and Allston courses). Noncompliant class meeting times violate the FAS Schedule Legislation and cannot be assigned any space on campus.
  • Sections and labs must follow FAS meeting pattern guidelines.

Confirm class meeting location and technology needs

You can check room descriptions and scheduler information using Roombook.

  • Campus – Cambridge, Allston, or another Harvard campus if your course is jointly offered.
  • Size – All space assignments in FAS are based on true enrollment numbers. When possible, auditors or guests can be accommodated, but not at the expense of other FAS courses.
  • Space – Does your department have available space, or will you request space in Registrar/Building Manager-scheduled rooms? Most Yard buildings, and all larger Science Center rooms are scheduled in tandem by the Registrar and building managers.
  • Technology – Make sure you have appropriate equipment. See all available ESS support including A/V and technology planning for classrooms.
  • Lecture capture and class recording – If your course is approved for OUE for simultaneous enrollment, you will need lecture capture support from Education Support Services.