Faculty Handbook Common Course Project

In her March 2004 State of the College: Fulfilling the Promise remarks, Dr. Nunley noted, “Our classes, particularly high-demand courses like English and math, fill quickly, sometimes shutting out students for lack of room.” She suggested, among other things, “Turning to distance learning and other space-saving ways to deliver education.” In identifying ways in which distance learning can effectively ameliorate some of Montgomery College’s space difficulties, it’s useful to note that, in the Fall 2002 semester, 80 percent of enrollment hours were realized in fewer than 20 percent of the courses offered. This is a consistent and ongoing pattern in enrollment. It would be sensible, therefore, to create additional sections of those few courses using a distance learning format. Student access to high-demand courses would be enhanced and enrollment would increase without the constraints imposed by a need for physical facilities.

Increasing the number of available distance learning sections of high-demand courses is dependent on availability of trained faculty. Currently, faculty training to establish competency using WebCT, the course management software used at MC, is lengthy and demanding, because it is directed to those faculty who will develop new online courses. Faculty, both full-time and adjunct, are sometimes unwilling or unable to devote the requisite time to participating in a lengthy training process.

Definition of Common Course

A common course is a generic course, which can be replicated for use by multiple instructors with minimal training. It is:

The process of creating common course sites will be collaborative, optimally including discipline representatives from all three campuses. For each common course, the development team will include:

The development process is anticipated to span two semesters. During the first semester, faculty will participate in a structured course design process. As part of that training the proposed common course will be planned and one prototypical week or unit will be created. During the second semester, faculty will complete development of the common course site. Multiple sections of the common course will be included in the schedule for the following semester.

There are two suggested models for the development process, including ESH distribution, which delineate the level and duration of participation of the lead faculty and the supporting faculty. The three participating faculty will determine which model they prefer to use. They may also decide on an alternative model.

Model 1 Team Developers				Model 2 Lead Developer with Reviewers
ESH distribution:				ESH distribution:
	Sem 1	Sem 2	Ongoing		Sem 1	Sem 2	Ongoing
Lead faculty	2	2	2	Lead faculty	2	3	2
Support faculty	1	1.5	as needed	Support faculty	1	1	as needed
Course Creation Phase				Course Creation Phase
Team meeting for overview and planning define essential elements of the common course develop project plan schedule regular meetings create writing development schedule				Team meeting for overview and planning define essential elements of the common course develop project plan create review schedule
1st Semester Course Design lead faculty participates fully, or, if experienced WebCT instructor, participates only online support faculty participate only online All faculty share one development site. Lead faculty has designer access. Support faculty have student access. team faculty develop a weekly course materials “template” to structure the course team faculty share responsibility for materials creation, using the course materials template lead faculty imports files and creates course site At the end of training, the common course is planned and a minimum of one prototypical week or unit is finished. Course site creation continues into the second semester with all team faculty participating in materials creation and review. The lead faculty continues with file importation and course site creation.				1st Semester Course Design lead faculty participates fully, or, if experienced WebCT instructor, participates only online support faculty participate only online All faculty share one development site. Lead faculty has designer access. Support faculty have student access. team faculty develop a weekly course materials “template” to structure the course lead faculty has responsibility for materials creation, using the course materials template lead faculty imports files and creates course site support faculty review course materials At the end of training, the common course is planned and a minimum of one prototypical week or unit is finished. Course site creation continues into the second semester. The lead faculty continues with file importation and course site creation.
*All team faculty members will be expected to deliver a course* *using the common course site a minimum of one time.*

After a common course site is developed, the lead faculty member of the development team will have a series of ongoing responsibilities, including:

Common Course Site Structure

Common course sites will be built on the standard Montgomery College course template and will include the following elements and tools:

Training for common courses will have two components: pedagogy and technology. Therefore, training sessions will be conducted under the leadership of co-trainers. The pedagogical component will be conducted by the lead faculty member. Tom Cantu will provide technical training.

An integral part of the development of common course sites will be meetings attended by all common course developers to share experiences, make suggestions, discuss best practices, and assist in identifying and solving problems unique to this type of offering. In addition, team faculty members can share information about common course sites with their colleagues and solicit feedback from them.

Common Course Project

Goal

Definition of Common Course

Common Course Site Structure