About
Curriculum Planning
An important step in the course development process is considering how the course meets curricular needs in the department or program or in the Harvard College curriculum (General Education, First-Year Seminar, or Quantitative Reasoning with Data, for example). Faculty members should work with their Department Chairs or curriculum committees on curricular planning and course offerings. Generally, curricular planning in departments begins in the fall and takes place in the context of annual department planning meetings with the Divisional Dean.
Dates for the 2023-24 academic year
In October, faculty members will begin planning course offerings for the full academic year 2024-2025.
Harvard Courses
As you develop a new course, it can be helpful to understand how your course fits into the broader curriculum and what other courses have been offered on related topics. Below you will find links to current and past Harvard courses; undergraduate concentration, secondary field, and language citation requirements; and the Harvard College Curriculum.
- Harvard course catalog
- Fields of Concentration – the official record of requirements of Harvard College’s Concentrations, Secondary Fields, and Language Citations
- Overview of the Harvard College curriculum
- Harvard Syllabus Explorer – allows you to search more than 10,000 Harvard syllabi
- FAS previous course offerings
Process
Course Approval
Each Department and program has their own course approval process; consult your Chair about internal deadlines for departmental decisions about courses for the coming year. If you are applying to have your course approved for the Program in General Education, First-Year Seminars, or the Mindich Program, consult the program’s website for the most up-to-date information. Application deadlines can be up to a year before the course will first be offered.
Information about proposing courses for the Harvard College Curriculum:
- Teaching in General Education
- Teaching a First-Year Seminar
- Teaching in the Mindich Program in Engaged Scholarship
- Teaching an approved course for the Certificate for Civic Engagement
Dates for the 2023-24 academic year
FAS Faculty will vote on course offerings for Academic Year 2024-2025 on March 5, 2024. Note that this is two months earlier than prior years.
Catalog Submission
In addition to writing a course description, you should work with your departmental curriculum coordinator to determine other course features that are part of the catalog submission, including meeting times for classes, sections, and labs; whether there are enrollment caps and if students must receive permission from the instructor to enroll; and prerequisites. Your departmental curriculum coordinator will submit this information to the Registrar by the middle of the preceding semester (see the Registrar’s registration planning document for current and upcoming deadlines).
- Guidelines for catalog submissions
- Information for curriculum coordinators on submitting catalog information
- Faculty Handbook: creating or modifying a course in the course catalog
The Registrar’s Office maintains a course planning checklist that covers all of the important information to include in your catalog submission.
New! For Spring and Fall 2024 courses, catalog submissions should include meeting times for sections as well as primary class meetings.
Course Description
Your course description—which will be published in the course catalog—should introduce students to the key questions they will be considering in the course and the materials and tools they will be using to investigate these questions.
- Bok Center guidance on writing a course description