The instructions below explain how to successfully complete the proposal form for a course drop. This includes credit courses, credit common courses, and non-credit courses. If you want to propose a new course, please follow the instructions for how to submit a proposal for a new course. If you want to edit an existing course, please follow the instructions for how to submit a proposal to change an existing course.
Go to the CourseLeaf CIM Course Management dashboard at: https://psu-next.courseleaf.com/courseadmin/.
Log in with your Penn State user ID and password.
A dialog box will appear requesting that you complete your login to CourseLeaf. Click the circle icon in the dialog box to proceed to the CourseLeaf CIM Course Management dashboard.
Once logged in, you will see the CourseLeaf CIM Course Management dashboard. In the Search field, enter the course subject abbreviation, course title, or course code (course subject abbreviation + course number (e.g., ENGL 15)) of the course that you want to edit. Then click the green Search Button.
A list of matched search results will appear in the results table. Select the course that you wish to edit from the results table.
To propose to drop the course, click the red Drop Button that appears in the upper right-hand corner of the preview panel.
The course proposal form will open in a new browser window.
The CIM course drop proposal form consists of several fields, which are described below. Before starting on a course drop proposal form, please read the following tips and guidelines to help you successfully navigate form features and requirements.
The CIM course proposal form is a dynamic form. The fields that appear on the form will change depending on your answers to certain questions. For example, if you select "Engineering" for the Proposer's Home College, only the units that belong in the College of Engineering will be available in the dropdown menu for the Proposer's Home Unit.
Fields that are required are outlined in red. You cannot start workflow (i.e., begin the review and approval process) on your proposal until all required fields have been completed. You can, however, save changes to your incomplete proposal and return to complete and submit the form later.
Instructions for each question appear in italics above the question heading and field. Please read these instructions carefully before entering your information into the form. .
Clicking the "Cancel" button will close the proposal without saving any changes made.
Once your proposal is finished and ready to begin the review process, click the "Start Workflow" button to submit the proposal to the approval workflow process.
Once your proposal is finished and ready to begin the review process, click the Start Workflow button to submit the proposal to the approval workflow process.
Many of the CourseLeaf CIM course drop proposal form fields are the same for both undergraduate and graduate courses. The listing below displays all form fields for undergraduate courses. Instructions on graduate-specific form fields can be found on The Graduate School website.
Enter the name or user ID of the person responsible for course drop proposal. This person will serve as the primary faculty point of contact for the proposal throughout the review process. For Graduate level courses, this individual must be a member of the Graduate Faculty. Only one person can be designated as the Principal Faculty Member.
For best results when entering a name, type the faculty member's last name in the form field. As you begin to type, a list of suggestions from the Penn State directory will pop up, from which you can select. Once a name is selected, the person's email address will auto-populate in the Email Field.
Consultation should be requested from all units with a known interest in the subject field, not simply those in the same college. Consultation also should be requested from any other programs listed in the proposal as potentially affected by the course.
The CourseLeaf CIM Course Management dashboard includes a feature called the Ecosystem. The Ecosystem shows courses, programs, and pages from the University Bulletins that are related to the course being dropped and Bulletin pages that reference the course. The Ecosystem allows you to see what other courses and programs reference a specific course as a requisite or program requirement. In other words, the Ecosystem shows you a complete list of courses and programs that will be impacted by a course drop proposal.
When proposing to drop a course, reviewing the information presented in the Ecosystem will help you build your consultation list. Units with courses and programs that reference the course being dropped will have an interest in what changes are being proposed so they can determine if a change proposal is necessary for any impacted course or program.
Instructions on how to view the Ecosystem for a course are available in the Understanding the Ecosystem User Guide.
To add Consultation members, enter the name or user ID of each individual to be consulted.
For best results when entering a name, type the individual's last name in the form field. As you begin to type, a list of suggestions from the Penn State directory will pop up, from which you can select.
The selected individual's name will be added. For the initial round of consultation, select Include in the Include in Consultation field for all added consultants. For additional rounds of consultation, the existing consultants can be either Included or Excluded depending on whether they need to be consulted again. Consultants being added for the first time must have Include selected.
The Consultant's Response field will appear disabled at this point since the response will be selected by the consultant upon review of the proposal.
To add another person, click the Green Plus Sign Button in the form field header to add a new row. Enter the name or user ID of that person.
To delete a row, click the Red X Button to the right of the row.
Disciplinary group lists are comprised of individuals within a specific academic discipline. When a disciplinary list is selected for consultation, all members on that list will be sent an email containing a short description of and link to the course proposal. Individuals who receive the email can: 1) forward it to others who might have an interest in the proposal; 2) comment directly in the proposal; or 3) contact the proposer and request to be added as a formal consultant.
To add a disciplinary group list, select a discipline from the dropdown menu.
To add another disciplinary list, click the Green Plus Sign Button in the form field header to add a new row. Select a discipline from the dropdown menu.
To delete a row, click the Red X Button to the right of the row.
This field will be pre-populated with information from the LionPATH Course Catalog. If the degree level displayed is not correct, select the appropriate degree level of the new course (e.g., Undergraduate, Graduate, Dickinson Law, Penn State Law, Medicine, Physician Assistant, Non-Credit) from the dropdown menu.
This is a read-only field populated by the LionPATH Course Catalog. The field displays all the campuses to have offered this course in the last five years.
From the dropdown menu, select the semester in which the course drop should take effect.
Enter an explanation of why the course drop is being requested.
Upload supporting documentation related to the course as needed.
To upload an attachment, click the green Attach File Button.
A File Upload window will open. In the window, navigate to the location of the document to upload on your computer, select the document and click the Open Button.
The selected document will appear in the Files to be Uploaded box.
To add additional files, repeat the Attach File process.
To remove a file, click the red Remove link next to the file to be removed.
The file upload will be complete once you click the Start Workflow button to submit the course drop proposal.
Once you have completed the course drop proposal form, click the green Start Workflow Button at the bottom of your screen to begin the review process. The proposal will be sent to the first step in the approved workflow.
Note: You cannot start workflow on your proposal until all required fields have been completed.
You will be returned to the main CourseLeaf CIM Course Management dashboard, with a preview of your proposal and the workflow for the course drop proposal.
The automated approval process in CIM is called the workflow. Once you click the green Start Workflow Button, your proposal will begin this approval process.
The required workflow steps are defined by each academic college. As reviewers in each step approve the proposal it will move to the next step of the workflow. As the proposal moves to the next workflow step, the appropriate user(s) will be notified via an automated email that the new course proposal is ready to be reviewed, edited, approved, or rejected.
You can log in to the CourseLeaf CIM Course Management dashboard at any time to see where your proposal is in the workflow process. Once you have located your proposal in the dashboard, the preview will include the full list of workflow steps the proposal must complete. The current workflow step for the proposal will be in bold orange text. Completed workflow steps will be in bold green text.
At any point in the approval process a reviewer might have questions about the proposal. You will have the opportunity to address these questions and/or provide additional information about your proposal at various steps throughout the workflow. You cannot directly edit your proposal until it returns to you in the workflow process. You will be notified via email when the proposal has reached the workflow step for you to review and address reviewer feedback.
A reviewer may also choose to rollback the proposal to a previous step in the workflow. In this case, the proposal will need to repeat the workflow steps from the point the proposal was rolled back to.
More information about proposal review can be found in the Workflow Management User Guide section.
Once the proposal has been fully reviewed and approved, the last step of the workflow (PeopleSoft) is an automated sync process to complete the course drop in the LionPATH Course Catalog. The effective semester for the course drop will be determined by the Office of the Faculty Senate based on the timing of the final approval.
Once the proposal has completed the approval process, the proposer will receive an automated email message notifying you of the proposal approval.
