Course credit exclusions help maintain academic integrity and prevent students from earning credit twice for courses with overlapping content. The proponent should consider credit exclusions in the following situations:
- To prevent students from receiving credit for similar or duplicate content.
- To uphold the integrity of your course and the overall degree program.
When to consider them:
- A consultee requests a credit exclusion.
- You’re proposing a new version of an existing or retired course (e.g., changing from 3.00 to 6.00 credits).
- You’re creating a course that duplicates content from another, even if it’s under a different rubric, as part of your academic freedom.
- You answer yes to: Could a student potentially earn credit twice for repeated exposure to overlapping content?
Questions to guide your decision:
- Who is the course open to?
- What level of skills or knowledge should a student have to succeed?
- e.g., “Students must have completed X number of credits prior to enrolling.”
- Does the course rely on foundational content not covered in the proposed course?
- e.g., “Prerequisites: Course 1000, Course 2000.”
- Is the course introducing disciplinary knowledge that should already be known at the 3000- or 4000-level?
- In most cases, upper-year core/major courses should build on prior knowledge, not introduce it for the first time.