Guidelines
for Undergraduate Online Instruction Courses and Submission of Proposals
The
following guidelines obtain for new courses and for existing courses of which
the instructor wishes to change the mode of instruction.
Note: First-time online instructors
will be limited to a class size of no greater than 25 students. Should the
instructor wish, after the initial offering, to increase the class size, this
request must be brought back to the curriculum committee for review. (See
“Change in class size” below.)
What online courses are:
Online
instruction courses are those courses whose sole or primary mode of instruction
is via the web; syllabus, “lectures” and other lessons are placed on the web;
student-teacher and student-student interaction is conducted via threaded
discussion, synchronous chatroom, and other interactive methods.
What online courses are not:
E-mail
correspondence may not be the primary means of student-teacher communication.
Instructors may not simply post lecture notes on a website and call it online
instruction. Further, online courses are not the same as computer-assisted
courses. Online courses presume interaction between an instructor and the
students. Computer-assisted courses presume interaction between a student and a
computer program. The latter might be then offered to large numbers of
students. These guidelines do not address computer-assisted learning. Nor do
they address “hybrid” courses, in which a course is conducted primarily in
person with an online supplementary component.
All courses:
Courses
should use a common platform (either SUNY Learning Network or local
Blackboard). Because of the lack of support staff, instructors should not
attempt to create their own web courses outside the confines of one of the
existing platforms. Further, course materials and methods should be developed
so as to be accessible from any type of computer, including Macintoshes and
older, slower models. Instructors should keep modem speed in mind in developing
course activities and materials.
Credit
hour requirement:
Courses
must cover the same amount of material as a comparable in-person course. Since
credit hours cannot correspond to meeting hours in determining how many credits
a course bears, faculty should use the amount of material to be covered as a
gauge of credit hours. If the amount of material to be covered is comparable to
the amount of material in terms of readings and “lecture materials” in an
in-person 3-credit class, this would be a 3-credit course.
Interaction:
All
online courses must have an interactive component. Either the course can be
conducted seminar-style using online “discussions” or, if it is conducted
lecture style, it must include provisions for significant student-student and
student-teacher interaction. A TA may not be primary contact for students in
the course.
Instructors
may wish to consider incorporating one or more of these suggested learning
activities:
Method
of evaluation:
1.
Exams and quizzes:
Until the technology
offers security options to ensure that the sender is the person who is
registered for the course, instructors are encouraged to use additional writing
assignments as a means of ensuring that the student who has taken the exams and
quizzes is indeed the student who is taking the class. Testing centers might be
an option for larger classes that have exams.
2.
Papers, reports and “presentations”:
Research and
other significant papers should be submitted either in PDF format
electronically or via postal mail. Smaller written assignments may be emailed
or posted in a designated place in the online course. Posting drafts or written
“presentations” in a publicly viewable area would allow others to view and
comment upon the submission to enhance the learning experience.
In-Person Meetings and Real-Time Communication:
The
curriculum committee strongly encourages instructors to develop “hybrid”
courses, which use both in-person meetings and online supplements, using the
advantages of each for the benefit of student learning. Even for more strictly
online courses, the committee encourages instructors to have mandatory in-person
meetings to develop a stronger sense of community among the students in the
class. These might include in-person recitations or an in-person get-together
at the beginning of the semester to reduce the sense of disconnectedness that
students often experience in online courses. In the event there are such
requirements, students who are homebound
or enrolled in a Study Abroad program should be given reasonable accommodation.
In addition to asynchronous sessions, instructors are also encouraged to use synchronous
chatroom-type sessions in which students are all logged into the class at the
same time. (Note: some forums, such as the SUNY Learning Network, prohibit
required in-person meetings or requirements that a student log on at a
particular time.)
Students
registered for online courses are subject to the same rules and regulations, as
set forth in the University’s official publications, including the Undergraduate
Bulletin, Student Handbook, and semester Class Schedules as students
registered for traditional, in-person courses.
The committee
recognizes that online instruction is a new and fast-growing field using
rapidly evolving technologies, in the use of which most faculty are inexpert at
best. The committee wishes to be as flexible as possible in the university’s
initial stages of online delivery in allowing faculty to investigate which
methods work best for their discipline and type of material. The committee will
review these guidelines periodically to incorporate new information or
experience.
ARTS AND SCIENCES SENATE
CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
NEW or REVISED ONLINE COURSE PROPOSAL FORM
(Revised September 2001)
Submitted by
Department_______________________________________ Date:_____________________
Chairperson's Approval:______________________________________________________________________________
Undergraduate
Director’s
Approval:_____________________________________________________________________
*************************************************************************************
INSTRUCTIONS: Please respond fully to the questions below using
this form or separate paper and attach a copy of a planned syllabus and a list of
assigned readings. The syllabus
should indicate the topics of the course on a week-by-week basis. Submit the proposal with 9 copies to the Secretary of the
Curriculum Committee.
Change
of class size:
Instructors
should initially plan to teach no more than 25 students in an online
class. If the experience is successful
and the instructor wishes to increase the class size, the instructor must:
Ø Outline how the
instructional methods will support a greater number of students;
Ø Explain methods of testing
that ensure against cheating;
Ø Explain how student-student
and instructor-student contact will be maintained.
Change of instruction method:
If the instructor proposes to teach an
existing course, or section of a course, in an online environment, this is
considered a change in mode of instruction and must be reviewed by the
curriculum committee. The instructor should address all the issues below as
though it were a new course.
*************************************************************************************
1.
Designator:_______ Number:_______ D.E.C.
Category (see question 16)_____
Full Title:_______________________________________________________________
2. Course Description (Enter exactly as it is to
appear in the Undergraduate Bulletin. If the course is repeatable or not for
credit in addition to any others, this should be noted.):
2.
Purpose
Statement: Please
indicate what benefits for the student you hope to obtain by using this mode of
instruction for delivering the material of the course.
3.
Learning Outcomes: Identify the learning outcomes of the course and how these outcomes
will be achieved.
4.
Assessment: How will students be assessed as having met the learning outcomes.
5.
Please read Guidelines for
Course Prerequisites at the end of this form.
Pre-
or Corequisite(s), if any:
Advisory
Prerequisite(s), if any:
6.
Credits: _________
7.
Initial term offered: ______________. Initial instructor:___________________________
If
designated instructor is unavailable, are there others who can teach the
course?
8.
When will the course usually be offered? (Check as appropriate.)
Fall
_____ Spring
_____ Summer
I _____ Summer
II _____.
9.
Frequency of offering, e.g. every semester, annually, alternate years,
etc.: __________________________________
10.
Estimated enrollment: __________
11.
Interaction: Please outline how student-student and student-teacher interaction
will be conducted.
12.
Computer Use: List any applications that students will be required to use in
addition to the online system.
13.
Minimal Student Skills: Indicate how you will ensure that that students
registered for the class are informed of the system and user requirements, are
appropriately set up, logged on, and prepared for the technical aspects of the
course. (Offering the course through SLN resolves this.)
14.
Instructional Experience: Please indicate your experience with online
distance instruction or how you have gone about acquiring the skills and
knowledge needed to design a course to be offered online. (Inexperienced
instructors should seek the assistance of CELT and instructional design staff,
as well as others who have experience with online instruction.)
15. TA Use: Note: TAs may be used in the same ways they
are used in in-person classes. A TA may not be the primary contact for students
in the course.
Will teaching assistants be used in the course? Yes____ No____. If
yes, please indicate whether graduate or undergraduate and explain how each
will be used:
16. D.E.C.
Credit: Is the course being submitted for inclusion in the Diversified
Education Curriculum? Yes_____ No_____.
If yes, which category?_____
Please explain how the course fulfills the objectives of the D.E.C.
category. Note: a course may fulfill only
one category.
17. Course
Level.
a. For what
level and type of students is this course primarily intended, i.e., freshmen,
sophomores, upper-division students, majors, non-majors, or pre-professional
students?
b. If the
course is primarily for upper-division students, explain why it is an
upper-division course, e.g., its format, difficulty of assignments, and
required level of preparation. (See the Guidelines for Course Levels at the end of this form.)
18. Relation
to department offerings: How does the course relate to the department’s
undergraduate and/or graduate programs?
Does it replace any existing course?
How does it complement other courses in the department's curriculum or
integrate material from them?
19.
Relation to major or minor requirements: The instructor should
consider how the course relates to the department’s undergraduate and/or
graduate programs. Does the course replace an existing course? How does it
complement other courses in the department's curriculum or integrate material
from them? The chair of the department and undergraduate director of the major
or director of the minor should request that the course be allowed toward the
major or minor..
20.
Relation to the institution: Please consider the new course's relation to
undergraduate (or graduate offerings) in other programs throughout the
University. Consider, for example,
whether the course duplicates or overlaps with existing courses? Would the course appropriately be crosslisted
with another department? Might it serve
as a prerequisite for courses in other departments? Might it compete for resources now used for
other purposes? Does the course affect
major or minor requirements in any other department?
Note: If other departments are affected (e.g., the course will change a
prerequisite or a major requirement or considers material typically considered
the domain of another department), the committee requires that the department
consult with the affected departments about the proposed course and its
ramifications and that the affected departments agree to the offering of the
course.
Note: If the proposed course duplicates an existing course, the
instructor should offer the online class as another section of the existing
course. (This information should be clearly communicated to students in the
schedule.) See “Change in instruction
method” above.
The
University distinguishes between prerequisites that are mandatory and those
that are advisory.
Mandatory prerequisites
(noted simply as "Prerequisites" in University publications)
stipulate a level of preparation for a course such that, without this
preparation, the student is unlikely to complete the course satisfactorily. The
prerequisite is usually expressed in terms of a specific skill level or one or
more courses. The instructor/department
has the option to de-register any student who has not completed the mandatory
prerequisites or equivalent preparation.
Advisory prerequisites
(noted as "Advisory Prerequisites" in University publications) are
intended to warn students about the level of maturity, skills, or knowledge
normally to be expected of students in the course. Students who do not meet these levels may
manage to perform adequately in the course but will not obtain the same
benefits from the course as those who are better prepared. They may even risk
failure unless they work harder to compensate for their poor preparation.
Instructors may wish to discourage poorly prepared students from taking the
course; however, they may not seek to de-register students who have not
completed advisory prerequisites.
Permission of the instructor or department is understood (not stated) to be an
alternative to both mandatory and advisory prerequisites, i.e., the instructor
may, through consultation with the student, determine that the student has the
necessary preparation for the course without having completed the specific prerequisites.
Permission
of Instructor or Department should only be stated as a prerequisite if
the department wishes to require every student interested in the course to
consult the instructor/department. In
requesting a stated "permission of instructor/department"
prerequisite, the department should indicate why screening is necessary, how
students will be screened, and how students will be registered. Note: Students will not be able to register
using the automated phone system.
Enforcement of prerequisites under the current University mainframe (Legacy) system may
be undertaken in two ways:
1)
The
department/instructor may review the records of students registered for a
course at any time before the start of the semester. (In the case of students with transfer
credit, this would also involve review of transfer records, available from the
Undergraduate Transfer Office.)
2)
The
department/instructor may require, on the first day of classes, that students
in a course produce proof of having satisfied the prerequisites.
In
either case, the department may then de-register any students lacking the
required prerequisites.
Under the anticipated
PeopleSoft system, it is expected that enforcement of prerequisites will occur
at the time of registration; that is, students lacking the mandatory
prerequisites will be prevented from registering for a course. Students lacking the published prerequisites
will only be able to register after obtaining the instructor’s permission.
100-level courses: Introductory courses appropriate for and
generally taken by freshmen or students with no background in the
discipline. Often without prerequisites,
they may require some basic entry skill, such as mathematics or writing
competence.
200-level courses: Courses of intermediate depth in the
discipline, sometimes assuming some prepratory work on the part of the student,
appropriate for and generally taken by sophomores or advanced freshmen. Prerequisites may be required, especially
when limited specific knowledge or general academic preparation is
necessary. 200-level courses often
provide basic methodology in a discipline or surveys of disciplinary material
that are more restricted in scope than is generally found at the 100-level.
300-level courses: Courses intended for upper-division students
providing advanced treatment of a special subject and requiring a level of
maturity and academic preparation inappropriate for lower-division students. 300-level courses usually presuppose
students’ prior work in the discipline and usually satisfy major
requirements. Upper-division courses
(300- and 400-level) have the following characteristics:
a.
Prerequisites,
consisting of specific courses or skills levels or more general requirements
such as one or more courses in a designated field or D.E.C. category, that
require levels of maturity, skills, or preparation necessary to benefit
satisfactorily from the course.
b.
Assignments
that are more qualitatively advanced than those typically expected of
lower-division students. Among these are
extensive, sophisticated readings; extensive critical or creative writing;
substantial research; a theoretical approach to particular questions; and the
theoretical or field-based application of knowledge already gained. Students may be required to prepare seminar
reports or independent projects where responsibility falls on them for
developing important higher intellectual or creative skills.
400-level courses:
Courses having the same general characteristics as 300-level courses, most
often intended for upper-division students in the major, such as seminars,
directed readings and research, and teaching practica. Some may be limited to seniors.
Note: There are no distinctions among higher and
lower numbers at a given level.
Departments are encouraged to use numbers in accordance with the
structure of its curriculum.