CourseLeaf: Courses & Materials (DES)
Last Updated: September 24, 2025 2:53:00 PM PDT
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For Staff in the Division of Extended Studies (DES): Learn about CourseLeaf, UC San Diego's course management tool.
Course Approvals Overview
CourseLeaf is the system of record for proposing, editing, and inactivating courses at UC San Diego. It supports both Main Campus and the Division of Extended Studies (DES), and is used by faculty, staff, the Registrar's Office, and the Academic Senate.
Course approvals play a key role in the academic planning cycle by ensuring course offerings are accurate, complete, and approved in time for scheduling and publication. This system centralizes the approval process and maintains compliance with policy.
Table of Contents
Accessing CourseLeaf
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To access CourseLeaf, log on to curriculum.ucsd.edu/courseleaf (opens in a new window) with your Single Sign-On credentials.
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Request access by submitting a Help Desk ticket to Academic Services. For additional support, please email courseleaf@ucsd.edu.
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If you encounter bugs or technical issues while using CourseLeaf, please contact courseleaf@ucsd.edu or submit a Help Desk ticket to Academic Services.
How Do I Use the Course Approval Form?
Start by reviewing the training for your role: submitter or approver. You’ll learn how to navigate the CourseLeaf dashboard, explore the form fields and the details they require, and track workflow status.
You have the flexibility to complete training at your own pace and can skip to the sections most relevant to you.
CourseLeaf Training
Use these self-paced training modules to learn how to submit and review course approvals for Extended Studies.
The learning resources represent campus-wide standard policies and demonstrate system features. Please follow your department’s internal procedures as needed.
Who Uses the Course Approval Form?
CourseLeaf is used by a variety of users across the university, who have different roles:
| Role | Actions |
|---|---|
| Submitters i.e., Proposers |
Start course proposals, complete the form, and submit to workflow |
| Approvers i.e., Reviewers |
Review and approve, edit, or return proposals |
| Academic Services | Reviews courses for policy compliance |
| Academic Senate | Conduct policy check and determine final decision for courses under their purview |
When to Submit a Course Approval
A new course approval form must be submitted whenever there is a significant change to a course's structure, content or administrative details.
Course approval forms are recommended to be submitted 2-3 quarters before the effective quarter. This provides enough time for approval and for updates to display in the catalog, schedule and student system before enrollment.
Note: Users will soon be able to refer to the quarterly deadline schedule (guidance forthcoming).
A course approval form is required for:
- Creating a new course
- Updating an existing course (e.g., title, description, units, prerequisites)
- Renumbering a course
- Removing a course from active offerings
- Reinstating a previously inactivated course
Benefits of CourseLeaf
CourseLeaf makes creating and approving courses easier and more reliable. Expand the sections below to learn about how it supports an efficient curriculum management process.
Centralized System
CourseLeaf is a single system for proposing, editing and tracking courses, replacing several different systems currently used by DES. CourseLeaf is also designed to be scalable and adaptable to evolve alongside UC San Diego’s changing academic needs.
Built-In Workflows
Manual routing led to delays, back-and-forth emails, and confusion about where a proposal stood in the approval process. CourseLeaf automates routing, sends real-time notifications, and clearly displays status updates, comments, and workflow history. Faculty and staff can instantly see what’s been approved, what’s pending and who’s next.
Version Control and Documentation
CourseLeaf logs all edits and maintains full version history. This helps departments maintain accountability by tracking who changed what, when, and why.
Integrated Curriculum and Catalog Management
In the past, curriculum and catalog updates lived in separate systems, and course changes weren't always reflected downstream. When the Catalog Management Tool (CAT) comes online, it will connect curriculum management with catalog automation and course dependency tracking, so changes flow through the system and impact reports, catalogs and related courses.
For a sneak peek, watch the video below!
Note: All content reflects the current version of CourseLeaf and will evolve with future system updates. Check back periodically for the latest guidance.