The Course Action Form (CAF) is used to add new courses to the catalog or make changes to existing courses. The Course Action Form uses a workflow approval process to adhere to CWRU’s course governance for new courses and course updates.
Review our Course Action Form GUIDES
These guides provide step-by-step instructions on how to do the most common actions in the Course Action Form process. If a scenario is not covered within the guide section, please email courses@case.edu for individualized assistance in completing the task.
Request a LIVE TRAINING for your Area
The University Registrar's Office offers demonstrations (including a Q&A session) for faculty and staff who may interact with this process. To request this training, contact courses@case.edu.
Benefits of the Course Action Form
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Provides immediate, in-context information on related courses and programs. When viewing a course to propose changes, users are shown other courses, programs, and bulletin pages that reference that course. This helps identify other CAFs, PAFs, or content updates in the General Bulletin based on the proposed change.
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Streamlines form logic, accommodating individual school needs. Questions on form are responsive so that all required information on form is based on school or academic level of the course proposal.
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Enhances Functionality. A button next to the catalog number field shows all course numbers currently used by an active or inactive course to help identify available course numbers for new proposals.
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Includes a more robust workflow automation. Allows for easier addition and removal of approvers. Cross-listed approvals are automatically included and do not require a separate attachment to submit with the proposal.
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Provides proposal status transparency. The dashboard is available to all faculty and staff. Each course shows the status of the course, and provide a snapshot of where the proposal is in workflow and how long it has been at each step.
Guiding Principle
Accreditation standards require that CWRU represent its academic offerings accurately. Course information published in the General Bulletin should represent courses students can reasonably expect to be available during their course of study at CWRU. The General Bulletin is published annually and includes all active courses from the Student Information System (SIS) at the time of publication.
Inactivation Process
If a course has not been offered within the last five years, the course is inactivated in the Student Information System (SIS). It therefore will not be published in the upcoming General Bulletin.
- Each spring, following the publication of the summer and fall class schedule, the University Registrar’s Office inactivates courses that have not been offered in five or more years and are not currently scheduled in a future term.
- The list of courses that have been inactivated is distributed to department chairs and department/school representatives who manage the schedule of classes in SIS.
- If the course will be offered in the upcoming academic year, department chairs may request that course(s) remain active by emailing courses@case.edu and indicating the term the course(s) will be offered.
Archived Courses
Courses that have been inactive for five consecutive years are considered archived. Archived courses can only be reactivated by following the new course process and submitting a new course proposal via a course action form (CAF).
Reactivation Process (with no course changes)
Inactivated courses, that have not been archived, can be reactivated by having the department chair submit an email request to courses@case.edu when their department is ready to schedule the course.
Reactivation Process (with course changes)
To make any changes to course details upon reactivation (e.g., update the bulletin title, course description, adding/removing cross-lists, credit hours, etc.) a CAF is required and the CAF will proceed through established schools/college and university-level curricular processes, as applicable.