Program Design Process at Algonquin College

While designing a program may appear somewhat daunting, it's also an exciting opportunity. The mandate for Ontario Colleges is to prepare students for the current job market, so there is always a need for new programs to meet the evolving labour market. If you have an idea for a program, there are three phases to the program approval process.

Phase I - Initial Scoping

Even at the most preliminary stage, a certain amount of research must be completed before a proposal can be submitted. The first document to be submitted for a new program idea is the New Program Planning Template. If your program idea can be offered within current space/resource requirements, you can complete and submit the Template to the Academic Development office anytime during the year. If, however, your program idea requires development funds and resources (both space and personnel) for delivery, then you can submit a proposal either at the beginning of April or the beginning of October.

Submission of the New Program Planning Template must include preliminary research that shows there is a labour market or societal demand for the program.

Department Chairs/Deans will present the proposal to the Academic Services Management Committee (Deans Council), resource people from Physical Resources, Marketing, Finance, ITS and the Registrar's Office. This group will review the submissions with respect to smart growth criteria and the resources required to deliver the program. Deans Council, taking into consideration the input of the resource people, will determine which program proposals move to Phase 2 which is the development process.

Phase 2 - Program Development

Preliminary Curriculum Review Committee (CRC) Stage

The CRC will review the New Program Planning Template that was submitted during the Initial Scoping phase. Feedback from the CRC will be provided to program developers. At this stage, a Labour Market Analysis will be undertaken. Also, program developers must begin to complete the Program Proposal Template. As this completion of this document can be quite involved, program developers can seek guidance from the CRC, Academic Development, the Vice-President, Academic's office, Academic Operations and Planning, and the Centre for Organizational Learning.

Intermediate Curriculum Review Committee Stage

There are three components of the program proposal to be completed at this stage:

Step 1 - Curriculum Development

A curriculum consultant from the Centre for Organizational Learning will be assigned to assist new program developers in preparing the following: program description, program outcomes, admission requirements, program of study, draft course descriptions, identification of delivery mode, and key results of the Labour Market Analysis. The CRC will then approve this step.

Step 2a - Cash Flow Analysis

Academic Operations and Planning will assist new program developers in the completion of and will be responsible for the approval of the Cash Flow Analysis Template.

Step 2b - Identification of Facilities and Equipment and Learning Resource Centre Requirements

Academic Operations and Planning and Physical Resources will assist new program developers in completing the Five Year Equipment and Furniture Spreadsheet. A facilities assessment will be completed by Physical Resources. Informed by the results of the Physical Resources facilities assessment, this step will be approved by the College Space and Infrastructure Committee and Academic Operations and Planning.

New programs developers have now reached a critical stage in their proposal. At this point, CRC will recommend one of three things:

• approval at the intermediate stage; program development should continue
• not approved at the intermediate stage with a recommendation to revise and resubmit components that weren't approved
• not approved at the intermediate stage with the recommendation to discontinue program development

Final Curriculum Review Committee Stage

1. External Labour Market Analysis/Societal Need and Applicant Demand Studies

These analyses will be completed by parties external to the academic area. The results will be reviewed by the Curriculum Review Committee.

2. Curriculum Completed

The Centre for Organizational Learning and Academic Development will assist new program developers with the following tasks:

• making curriculum revisions based on feedback from the Labour Market Analysis
• completing the course learning requirements, program of study, and identification of hybrid hours
• completing all relevant curriculum maps and supporting documentation
• assigning course codes and entering course descriptions into GeneSIS
• validating program outcomes by the Program Advisory Committee
• completing and submitting the Program Creation/Update Form to the curriculum consultant along with the final program proposal.

At this point, the faculty/school presents the final proposal to the Curriculum Review Committee. The final program proposal (including course numbers) is to be submitted to the Vice-President, Academic's office one week prior to the CRC meeting date.

Final Approval Stage

The CRC Chair presents the final program proposal to Deans Council for approval. The faculty/school prepares the President's Executive Committee/Board of Governors Presentation Template (available from Vice President, Academic's (VPA) office). The VPA's office schedules the item on the President's Executive Committee's agenda for presentation by the VPA and the Executive Dean, Academic Development. The VPA's office will schedule the Board of Governors' agenda and the Executive Dean/Dean presents the program to the Board of Governors for approval.

Algonquin Program Design Resources

You may find some of the following resource materials helpful in your program design:

Lifesaver #1 - Program Standards in the College System

Lifesaver #9 - Guidelines for Essential Employability Skills

Lifesaver #5 - Guidelines for General Education Courses

Lifesaver #11 - Credentials Framework

Directive E2 - Program/Departmental Councils

Directive E21 - Certificates and Diplomas

Directive E44 - Essential Employability Skills

Directive E41 - General Education

Additional Program Planning Resources

Curriculum Review Committee Blackboard Site: Use “guestcrc” as both the username and the password. Click on documents to find a wealth of program proposal templates and other information.

To access all College Directives, go to My Algonquin, click on Forms and Documents, then Documents, and scroll down to Directives.

To access all Lifesavers, click here

Program Developer's Manual, Curriculum Review Committee (In progress)