Creating a New Co-Taught Cross-Disciplinary Course

Columbia’s excellence spans 17 schools, and some of the most high-impact scholarship emerges when members of different schools and disciplines come together to explore questions and challenges from multiple perspectives. The best practices document helps Columbia faculty who wish to expand the reach of their teaching beyond their own school and department by co-teaching a course with a faculty from another school.  These co-taught courses respond to the interests of students in enriching their knowledge at the boundaries of distinct fields, where they can learn alongside students from other disciplines. 

 

Designing and Creating a Co-Taught Course

Both faculty should decide on:

  • Title
  • Syllabus
  • Level of course:
    • 1000-, 2000-, or 3000-level, open to undergraduate students only
    • 4000-level, open to undergraduates across the University as well as graduate students
      • Even if both of the faculty’s schools are professional schools, a 4000-level course is recommended if you would like the course to be open to undergraduate students from across the University
    • 5000-level and above, open to graduate students only
  • Location (e.g. Morningside, Manhattanville, or medical campus)
  • Day and time
    • Suitable for students from both schools, accounting for commuting time
    • If A&S is involved, will follow master schedule for A&S and SEAS.  If the course is mounted by Journalism or GSAPP or another professional school, will follow their own master schedule.

 

Both faculty should also seek approval from their department chair or Deans:

  • Confirm the course counts toward the degree programs for students at their own school
  • Confirming the teaching credit for the instructor (e.g. whether it counts fully as teaching one course)

A. Decide on Subject Code.  The faculty should create an appropriate Course Code (which consists of a Subject Code and a Course Number). For Subject Code, there are two options:

  1. Joint Subject Code (recommended)
    • Example: Two faculty from GSAPP and SEAS (Civil Engineering) decide to co-teach a new 4000-level course called “The Future City: Transforming Urban Infrastructure”. The faculty note that the Subject Code for GSAPP is “PLA”, and “CIEN” for Civil Engineering. The faculty decide to create a 4-letter Subject Code with “PLCE”.
  2. An existing Subject Code used in one of the departments or schools
    • Example: 

      Faculty from School of Professional Studies (Narrative Medicine), Arts & Sciences, and Social Work have agreed to create a new course, with a Subject Code of “NMED” for Narrative Medicine.  Here, Narrative Medicine is the unit that mounts the course.

      Note: With a subject code from only one department or school, rather than a joint subject code, students from the other school(s) should be made aware this course also counts as credit towards their degree.

 

B. Writing Course Title and Class Note

  • To facilitate the search for co-taught and other cross-disciplinary courses in Vergil by students across the University, it is recommended that “Columbia Cross-Disciplinary Course” be listed in the Course Title and in Class Notes.

 

C. Select department or school to mount course

  • One school must be selected as the administrative home of the course, i.e. the department that “mounts” the course.

  • This department or school that owns the course number should initiate approval of the Committee on Instruction or Curriculum Committee.
    • Please be mindful of these committees’ requirements and timelines for approval
    • If such a course is recommended as a “technical elective”, instructors should explain to COI the technical nature of the course.  Example: Some instructors have allotted additional technical-oriented assignments to the Engineering students in order for the course to count as a technical elective.

D.  Instruct the other department or school to cross-list course.  After the course has been approved in the school serving as the administrative home, the other instructor should:

  • Gain approval of the Committee on Instruction of Curriculum Committee: to cross-list the course and include the course to count towards the degree of the student
  • Seek approval for cross listing the course in their school.  Ask their Department or school to cross-list the course. 
  • The mounting department or school can also use the “Open To” field to list schools whose students are the target audience of a course. This can be done in a proposal or edited in the course inventory. The “Open To” field appears on the class listing on Vergil Course Search. 

If the the mounting department is in A&S and SEAS, the Registrar will select a classroom.  In schools XYZ, Journalism: classroom: picked a room, but otherwise.  Please note that it is challenging with the physical campuses, and best to build in extra time and motivation for students.

To search for a department’s course listing:

  • In Vergil, search for their “department” (not “subject”).  This course will appear in the department’s course listing (since the department either mounted the course or cross-listed it).

Example: For Architecture Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), searching for ARPL shows the course PLCE4444 because ARPL owns and mounts the course.  For Civil Engineering, searching for CIEN (Civil Engineering) also shows PLCE444 because CIEN has cross-listed the course.

 

To search for cross-disciplinary courses across the University:

  • In Vergil, search for “Cross-Disciplinary Course” as a keyword.  PLCE4444 will appear in the search (as the phrase appears in Course Title as well as Class Note).

Pedagogical Best Practices for Co-Teaching a Cross-Disciplinary Course

Process Flow:

Creating a Co-Taught Cross-Disciplinary Course