Welcome!
SDSU to Launch Innovative Curriculum and Catalog Management Systems
Project Updates
Online Catalog (Acalog) Project Status
2 November 2020: Campus-wide email sent from the Office of the Provost announcing the launch of the 2021-2022 online test catalog. This is an important step to ensure accurate and user-friendly catalogs moving forward. Please note that for all University purposes, the three print/PDF catalogs will remain the official catalogs for 2020-2021.
October 2020: Curriculum Services is currently optomizing the new online catalog by identifying and correcting errors, removing duplicate information, and fixing any formatting issues. This work is in preparation for the soft launch for campus feedback and testing, and the 2021-2022 catalog revision cycle. Please check back for updates about the soft launch.
June 2020 –September 2020: Curriculum Services is currently building the 2020/2021 online catalog in Acalog. A soft launch for campus feedback and testing will take place during the Fall semester. Please check back for updates.
17 April 2020: The inital build of the 19/20 online catalog is complete. Curriculum Services staff will continue to learn about Acalog features, practices, and functions.
7 April 2020: Completed the final review of the combined online catalog. The project team verified change requests and began the activation process and scheduled the wrap-up session to deploy the solution.
23 March 2020 – 6 April 2020: Conducted the final review of the combined online catalog. Curriculum Services staff verified content, validated functionality, and reported issues.
Curriculog Project Status
Fall 2020 (Ongoing): The Project Team and College designated Faculty Liaisons will continue to develop and improve the approval process forms within Curriculog, consult with key stakeholders on workflows and processes, create training materials, and test the solution in preparation for a successful Spring 2021 launch.
August 2020: The Fall 2020 Curriculog launch and campus-wide training is delayed until Spring 2021. Please see the implementation timeline section on this page.
The major change from the previously shared timeline for this academic year will be
the continued use of CurricUNET. The delay in moving to the new Curriculog curriculum management system reflects
(1) emergent challenges in integrating SDSU’s three separate print catalogs into a
single online catalog (which is necessary for Curriculog’s use), (2) the desire to
not delay the start of this year’s curriculum proposal cycle, and (3) an appreciation
that campus-wide training for a new system during early fall would be challenging
given broader pandemic-related challenges.
17 July 2020: The build of Curriculog is complete. Curriculum Services staff will continue to learn about Curriculog features, practices, and functions in preparation for Spring 2021 training.
17 June 2020 – 23 June 2020: The project team is conducting the Curriculog final review and user testing. The team will validate Curriculog functionality, report issues, and document any change requests.
21 May 2020 – 27 May 2020: Through consultation with the vendor, the project team developed the curricular proposal forms for the system, and built out the workflow for Curiculog, which included an updated list of users.
24 April 2020: Curriculog project began. The project team attended advising sessions and worked with the vendor to devlop the new curriculum management platform.
March 2020 – 1 April 2020: Reviewed and revised curricular proposal types, prompts, and routing in advance of submission to vendor; examples of implemented and proposed changes include:
- General Education: Remove requirement to provide distinct Activities and Assessments for three Essential Capacities and each Area Goal and instead explicitly align and connect these with specific Course Learning Outcomes and their related activities and assessments.
- 500-level Courses: Remove prompt requiring formal differentiation of Undergraduate and Graduate grading for undergraduates and graduates.
- Program Proposal Example: Integrate “missing” CSU and WASC requirements (e.g., curriculum maps) into program proposal, removing the need to “loop back” to proposers after campus-level approval.
- Course Proposals:
- Continue requiring a draft syllabus to overview nature of course.
- Reviewers shall evaluate proposals based on responses to prompts, but can provide informal feedback on draft syllabus.
- As per Provost via Faculty Advancement, academic units will be accountable for syllabus policy compliance for implemented courses.
- Deadlines: Shift review approach from deadline-based to “at-risk for next catalog.”
- Goal: Increase accountability and reduce rubber-stamping.
- Language: “Proposals not approved by <program/college/university> by <date> are at risk of not appearing in the next catalog.”
- Reduction of review levels and implementation of parallel reviews:
- Implement parallel university-level review for General Education and 500-level courses.
- Capture resource impacts from college-approved program proposals and remove “final stop” review by Academic Resources and Planning.
Project Overview
- Review and evaluate curricular and catalog production processes
- Increase transparency in curriculum development across the institution
- Produce a cloud-based and mobile-friendly (responsive) online catalog solution in service to students, prospective students, advisers, faculty and staff
- Establish streamlined workflows and proposal prompts for Curriculog in order to streamline the process and expedite approval time
Additional benefits include:
- Sustainable and eco-friendly (replacing the current printing of over 11,000 catalog copies annually);
- Ability to do local edits with universal updates;
Perhaps most importantly, while the curricular timeline will largely remain the same during the AY20/21 implementation year, this integrated catalog-curriculum system can help SDSU increase the speed of curriculum approval in future years, and thereby potentially shorten the time from formally proposing a new course or program to its appearance in the catalog.
- 15 Aug 2020: CurricUNET opens for proposals for 2022/2023 online catalog
- 31 Oct 2020: 2020/2021 online catalog released for feedback and testing; 2021/2022 online catalog revisions begin
- 5 Apr 2021: Curriculog launched with training for campus community in service to 23/24 online catalog
- 30 Apr 2021: 2021/2022 online catalog released
- Early Sept 2021: Senate deadline for approval of CurricUNET-based proposals
In addition to the above milestones, this fall’s 2020 deadlines for college-level approval of submitted CurricUNET proposals for the 2022-2023 online catalog will be:
- 25 Nov 2020: Health and Human Services, Professional Studies and Fine Arts
- 4 Dec 2020: Arts & Letters, Business, SDSU-IV, FAAS/CAA (formerly DAESA)
- 11 Dec 2020: Education, Engineering, Sciences
- Proposals approved by the Fall 2020 college-level deadlines will continue being reviewed in CurricUNET. If your proposal was not approved you will have to resubmit in Curriculog.
- Proposers should strive for approval by all university-level committees before the end of Spring 2021. Committees are not active over summer and proposals need to be approved at the September 2021 University Senate meeting to make AY22/23 catalog.
- Proposals without University Senate approval by the December 2021 meeting will have to be re-submitted through Curriculog.
- Curriculum proposal types and their prompts have been substantially reduced and clarified through consultations with various curriculum-focused senate committees.
- Curriculog will go live in April, and faculty and staff will be supported in various ways, including: step-by-step instructions, visual aids, on-demand video tutorials, and online and in-person training.
- Check back to this website for updates, templates, and training opportunities and resources.
- 2 Novemenber 2020: Campus-wide email from the Office of the Provost announcing the launch of the 2020-2021 test online catalog and ongoing project deadlines.
- Virtual Senate Town Hall (26 March, 2-4pm): Provided an overview of the transition to an integrated online catalog and curriculum management platform and answered questions and concerns.
- Virtual Senate Town Hall Zoom recording and audio transcript.
- Virtual Senate Town Hall presentation.
- Academic Policy and Planning Committee (25 Feb): Focused on program proposals, especially in light of past AP&P efforts.
- Graduate Curriculum Council (13 Feb): Focused on 500-level courses and program proposals.
- Academic Resources and Planning Committee (11 Feb): Focused on program proposals, especially in regard to resources.
- General Education Curriculum and Assessment Committee (10 Feb): Focused on GE-specific components; revisited combining of UCC/GECAC.
- Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (6 Feb): General presentation and open discussion; revisited combining of UCC/GECAC.
- Council of Chairs (5 Feb): General presentation and open discussion.
Project Teams
S. Hector Ochoa, Provost, Academic Affairs
Jerry Sheehan, Chief Information Officer, Information Technology Division
Dr. Stephen Schellenberg, Assistant Vice President for Educational Effectiveness, Division of Academic Engagement
and Student Achievement
Dr. James Frazee, Chief Academic Technology Officer and Associate Vice President, Instructional Technology Services
Andrianna Martinez, Project Manager, Instructional Technology Services
Dr. Gregory Wilson, Director, Curriculum Services
Kelly Boyle, Content and Production Specialist, Curriculum Services
Olga Malvrina, Programmer and Analyst, Enrollment Services Information Technology
College of Arts and Letters: Dr. Audrey Beck, Assistant Professor of Sociology
Fowler College of Business: Dr. David Ely, Associate Dean
Education: Dr. Meredith Houle Vaughn, Associate Professor of Science Education
Engineering: Dr. Yusuf Ozturk, Interim Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies
Health and Human Services: Dr. Larry Verity, Associate Dean (Emeritus), Professor of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences (Emeritus)
Professional Studies and Fine Arts: Dr. Donna Conaty, Associate Dean
College of Sciences: Dr. Cathie Atkins, Associate Dean and Dr. Carmelo Interlando, Professor of Mathematics
SDSU Imperial Valley: Dr. Belén Hernando-Lloréns, Assistant Professor of Education
Graduate Affairs: Dr. Andrew Bohanak, Interim Associate Dean
SDSU Global Campus: Casey Rothenberger, Executive Director of New Program Development
Questions or concerns related to this project may be directed to the Project Manager, Andrianna Martinez.
For questions regarding curricula and/or catalog content, please reach out to the appropriate contact listed on this website's About page.