Our large multi-section Calculus courses serve students from every one of USC's varying colleges and disciplines. In each of these courses we try as much as possible to maintain a uniformity in the quality, content, and level of difficulty across instructors and semesters.
But we also encourage individual instructors to innovate and experiment with new teaching methods and materials, especially in the face of changes to classroom environments and emerging technologies.
To balance these competing motivations we maintain some department guidelines for coordinated courses:
Each course has a required textbook and a list of essential topics based on that book, both established at the department level. In each semester the group of instructors should meet to discuss which additional topics they plan to cover in their own courses. If one such topic will be covered by all instructors, they may choose to have it represented on the final exam.
Each course should have a common system for homework, established by the department. For Math 118, we have used the WileyPLUS accompaniment to the textbook for many years. For other common courses, we have standing agreements with Viterbi for undergraduate graders to provide feedback on written work. These undergraduates are hired to (anonymously) grade written homework, and should not be used to grade assessments like quizzes or exams. The group of instructors should discuss the grade weight assigned for such work and ensure that it is roughly consistent across the group.
Individual instructors often assign an additional format of classwork such as weekly quizzes, computer or programming labs, discussion activities for small groups, oral exams, or semester-long capstone projects. There is wide flexibility here. Such additions are welcome but not required.
Each course has a common final exam that reflects the textbook and topics mentioned above. The group of instructors will write the exam collaboratively and decide the conditions for that exam, especially whether or not to allow calculators or formula sheets. They should also discuss the grade weight to be assigned for the common final, which is typically 30-40% of the final course grade. The exam will be graded by the group of instructors and graduate teaching assistants.
If a student must miss the final exam due to an emergency or logistical issue, taking an Incomplete Grade in a common course, they may resolve their IN by taking the course's common final in a subsequent semester. That semester's Course Coordinator will communicate with such students and inform them of the conditions and topics represented on that semester's exam.
For example, regarding the final exam, Spring '19 of Math 126 did not include problems from the optional sections, did not allow calculators, and allowed the use of both sides of an 8.5"x11" note sheet, hand written by the student.