The CSU Transforming Course Design (TCD) initiative was launched on March 1, 2007. TCD is a process of comprehensive course redesign, to improve student learning while simultaneously addressing the issue of instructional costs. Examples of improved student learning include the reduction of unsuccessful course grades and improved retention. Examples of addressing instructional costs include reducing student and faculty time needed to achieve desired learning outcomes. The course transformation approach can address instructional challenges in high impact courses by maximizing student engagement, emphasizing active learning and using technology to enable high-quality in faculty and student interaction.

The initial focus of the TCD initiative was to support campuses in their course transformation efforts, to optimize the impact of those efforts, and to insure that ‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts’.  As part of this effort the Chancellor’s Office conducted a campus course redesign RFP process and awarded twenty campus grants  to help initiate or accelerate campus-based course redesign processes.

In July 2007, the Executive Council recognized the need and opportunity to focus on course redesign projects where targeted collaboration across campuses can benefit similar or identical courses on many, most or all campuses through the shared use, development, and assessment of course resources. After consultation with the systemwide Academic Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC), the Provosts’ Technology Steering Committee (PTSC), and the CSU presidents’ Technology Steering Committee (TSC), it was decided that going forward the TCD project would focus on system-centered projects that seek the redesign of courses that have all three of the following features:

• High enrollment: this could be, for example, courses that are in the top 10% in enrollment on a campus; or identified courses could simply be large lecture or multiple section courses deemed ready for TCD work.
• Unsatisfactory student rates of success: courses featuring a high proportion of D, F, and W grades.
• Faculty commitment to participate in and implement the redesign of the course selected.

After receiving a list of high enrollment and low success courses from campus provosts, developmental mathematics and general chemistry were chosen as the first two courses for systemwide redesign in 2008, and microeconomics and U.S. history were selected in 2009.  Faculty from each of these disciplines were selected to work together to understand student learning challenges in these courses and develop strategies for improving learning outcomes while reducing instructional costs.  The outcomes of this work effort are provided in the Projects section.