Policies

Specially Designated Course Policy

Policy Purpose

The purpose of the policy is to ensure that specially designated Applied Learning, Writing in the Disciplines, and Distance Learning courses meet the criteria for the designation.

Persons Affected

Faculty, Staff

Policy Statement

In order to ensure that specially designated Applied Learning, Writing in the Disciplines (WID), and Distance Learning courses meet the criteria for designation, an application and review process must be completed. Each type of course — Applied Learning, Writing in the Disciplines, and Distance Learning — has its own associated review board, committee or staff responsible for reviewing each application, and approving or denying designation. Specially designated courses are required to be reviewed on a four-year cycle.

Procedures

1. Faculty members must complete an application through Axiom Mentor for their course to be designated as Applied Learning, WID, or Distance Learning.
2. Chairs and deans must approve the application in Axiom Mentor prior to Applied Learning Review Board, WID Committee or Distance Learning staff review.
3. The Applied Learning Review Board, WID Committee or Distance Learning staff approve or deny the application and notify the applicant, chair, dean, and Registrar of the decision.
   1. Subsequent to staff approval, Distance Learning courses require an additional content review by the Chair before courses can go live.
4. Applications for specially designated courses must be resubmitted every four years to maintain the designation.
   1. Only approved courses will be scheduled with the appropriate designations.
   2. Courses not approved or not submitted by the due date will no longer be coded with the specialty designation and will not be able to be offered in that format.
5. For specially designated courses in existence prior to this policy, the Applied Learning Review Board, WID Committee or Distance Learning staff will create a schedule to review courses and re-evaluate their designation. This will require faculty to submit new applications for the special designation. Applicants, chairs, and deans will be notified when the new applications are due.

Definitions

Applied learning - is an educational approach whereby students learn by engaging in direct application of skills, theories and models. Students apply knowledge and skills gained from traditional classroom learning to hands-on and/or real-world settings, creative projects or independent or directed research, and in turn apply what is gained from the applied experience to academic learning. The applied learning activity can occur outside of the traditional classroom experience and/or be embedded as part of a course.

Writing in the Discipline (abbreviated “WID”) - is a program used to assist instructors across disciplines in using student writing as an instructional tool in their teaching.

Distance Learning - is instruction delivered through electronic means and is a type of educational process where the majority (minimum of 50%) of the learning takes place with the teacher and student at different locations. In distance learning, teaching and learning are not conducted in a traditional classroom setting, though hybrid courses will have some face-to-face components.

• An online course section is one in which the direct instruction of the curricular content is delivered 100% online via asynchronous and/or synchronous methods. Requirements for on-campus/in-person orientation, testing, academic support services, or internships/fieldwork do not exclude a course from being classified as online.
• In a hybrid course, online activity is mixed with classroom meetings, replacing 50% of face-to-face instructional activities with online learning experiences and activities (Online Learning Consortium).

Responsible Office

Provost Office

Policy History

Approval Date: 12/4/2019