For Faculty
Deadline Dates for Submitting Courses for Ways*
- Winter Quarter - October 28, 2024
- Spring Quarter - January 10, 2025
- Summer Quarter - February 28, 2025
- Autumn Quarter 2025 - May 1, 2025
*Dates are subject to change
Download the Ways Quick Reference Sheet for Faculty Ways Quick Reference Sheet, html version
Faculty & Departments: Certify Courses for Ways
When to apply
Before submitting your course, you need to understand how the Ways of Thinking, Ways of Doing (Ways) program works. Courses must be a minimum of 3-units and it must be offered for a letter grade except when a letter grade option is not offered and only “Satisfactory/No Credit” is available. Courses offered “Letter or Credit/No Credit” must be taken for a letter grade. Please visit the About page to learn more about the Ways general education breadth requirement, what is required of students, and how the Ways program works with other programs and majors.
You may submit a new course for Ways certification at any time. Courses are reviewed on a rolling monthly basis and uploaded to Explore Courses on a rolling basis, except during the summer when the Breadth Governance Board, who oversees the Ways program, does not meet. If you want a course to appear in Explore Courses by the first day of Open Enrollment, you must submit the course no later than the quarterly deadline below. We encourage you to submit the course as early as possible in the event the board needs a bit more information about your syllabus and/or course, so this does not delay the certification of your course. Courses which have been previously certified for Ways do not need to be resubmitted at this time.
The deadlines for submitting new courses for this academic year are listed below. Depending on the Breadth Governance Board meeting dates, the dates may be revised although they will typically be no earlier than the dates listed below.
Deadline Dates for Submitting Courses for Ways*
- Winter Quarter - October 28, 2024
- Spring Quarter - January 10, 2025
- Summer Quarter - February 28, 2025
- Autumn Quarter 2025 - May 1, 2025
*Dates are subject to change
Which of the Ways is best for your course?
Below is a brief description for each of the eight Ways categories, so you can identify which of the one or two Ways best fits your course. If you would like more information about each Way, please review the Ways Guidelines.
Aesthetic and Interpretive Inquiry (AII): interpretive or philosophical exploration of cultural objects (e.g., art, literature, theatrical works, etc.), or the means of their apprehension (e.g., the mind, beliefs, etc.).
Applied Quantitative Reasoning (AQR): inferential and inductive reasoning involving the direct manipulation of data, models, software, or other quantitative tools.
Creative Expression (CE): study of the creative process, coupled with a skills development process to "practice" creative expression.
Exploring Difference and Power (EDP): analysis of difference across social and cultural domains, showing how difference between groups is produced, understood, and enacted.
Ethical Reasoning (ER): understanding ethical theories or frameworks and, in some cases, applying such frameworks to particular policy domains or cases.
Formal Reasoning (FR): rigorous logical and deductive reasoning methods, typically involving instruction in symbolic manipulation.
Scientific Method and Analysis (SMA): (focusing on natural sciences): understanding the objects, processes and phenomena of matter or energy.
Social Inquiry (SI): probes questions of a social nature; for example pertaining to social arrangements, human behavior, or forms of social, political, and economic organization.