Courses cannot be instructed in an auto-run delivery, utilizing only auto-graded activities as periodic assessment/feedback and without instructor initiated collaborative components. Collaborative components and faculty assessment/feedback on students’ performance must be present periodically within the course activities.
E-Packs, Cartridges, Building Blocks and Third-Party Instructional Sites
The majority of course instructional content must reside in the College Learning Management System -- Blackboard (Bb). The use of e-Packs, Cartridges, Building Blocks and/or Third-Party Instructional Sites cannot constitute the majority of the course content. Instructional components such as discussions and assignments must be performed/submitted within Bb. If external sources are used for testing purposes, grading criteria must be provided in Bb and all grading records must be transferred/posted into Bb’s grade book.
Course Certification Requests
When an instructor finishes development of their Bb course site, a request for certification needs to be sent to the e-Learning department. The site will be reviewed using the 'Online Course Certification Guidelines' and the instructor will be notified of the result. PantherNet (Workday) will be updated to reflect instructor's approved certification status.
The instructor needs to notify their department of their approved certification(s) and request to have their course(s) listed/updated in PantherNet (Workday) with a special designator(s) to reflect the Component, Hybrid or Online status for the next semester. This designator needs to be added into PantherNet's (Workday) Instructor Resource Management system in order for the course to be offered (and have a course site available) via the Blackboard learning (course) management system. If this course modifier is not in place before first day of registration of the upcoming semester, the Bb course site will not be activated for that term and delivery of instructional content via Blackboard will not be possible.
Granting of Certified Course Use
Individual faculty members can volunteer to allow other instructors to use a copy of their certified course for instruction or designate the course as a ‘departmental template.’ Permission of such must be granted in writing (sample form below) and be authorized (co- signed) by the supervising administrator. A copy of the form must be forwarded to the e-Learning department for record keeping. Once such form is received, the e-Learning department will provide a certification record for the faculty granted to use the certified course and copy the designated certified course into the receiving faculty’s section. This instructor can then be assigned to instruct such course as long as the instructor possesses basic skills for online instruction. If the course is designated as a departmental template, e-Learning will archive the course and distribute copies per departmental needs. The department must assign a course template manager to provide management/updates of the course template and serve as a course template liaison to the e-Learning department.
Sample Form:
I (name of faculty) give permission for (name of faculty/department) to use my certified (course prefix/number) Bb course site (reference number of section to copy) for instruction.
Granting Faculty Signature: Supervising Administrator: _____
Online Course Template Development (Department/Cluster Owned Templates)
Based on the needs of a department and/or cluster, development of an online course template can be requested by the department’s dean, associate dean or director. The department’s dean, associate dean or director needs to fill out the ‘Scope of Work – Online Course Template Development Form’ (http://edtech.palmbeachstate.edu/elearn/Resources/Academic- Manual/Scope-of-Work-Work-for-Hire---Course-Template-&-QM-Certification.pdf) and submit the Form for approval per procedure designated in the Form.
Upon approval, the department/cluster may contract with a content expert to develop the instructional material per compensation guidelines listed below. The content expert will be expected to work closely with an assigned e-Learning instructional designer that will assist the content expert with development of the course template and instructional content, ensuring the course template meets the College’s online course certification standards. The e-Learning instructional designer will format, structure and publish the instructional material into the course template. Instructional Technology staff member will be assigned to assist with development of multimedia instructional material.
The course template will then undergo a review process (as listed in the Scope of Work – Online Course Template Development and Maintenance Form). Upon approval, the content expert will be compensated for the development of the instructional material and the course template will become property of the College.
The department/cluster must appoint a template manager (must be a full-time employee) that will serve as a liaison to e-Learning, and ensure the template’s instructional material remains current and ready for deployment for instruction. The e-Learning department will assist with template updates and revisions.
The department/cluster must adopt the course template for instruction in all online sections of this course for subsequent terms. The department’s dean, associate dean or director will submit to eLearning a list of all online sections at least 10 workdays before the first day of each term, and the e-Learning department will manage the template’s distribution, populating all course sections based on the provided list.
The department/cluster may assign any instructor to teach the courses – e-Learning will provide template-based faculty certifications. It is the department’s dean, associate dean or director responsibility to ensure the instructor has the skills to instruct online utilizing the College provided LMS. Should any training needs be identified by the department, e-Learning will provide such training based the department’s request.
The following guidelines govern the compensation for online course template development/redevelopment as requested by Palm Beach State College.
College Requested Online Course Template Development
- A department/cluster must submit the ‘Scope of Work – Online Course Development and Maintenance’ form and receive an approval from the Vice President of e-Learning before any compensation is offered to a content expert/developer and development of the template is started.
- A scope of work, with deliverables and timelines will be completed and signed by the contracted course content expert/developer. The document will state that once the course is fully developed and approved, the course belongs to the College and can be assigned to any faculty member.
- The content expert/developer must request a mid-development review by department dean, associate dean or director and the e-Learning director to ensure course instructional content (at mid-point of development) meets department’s standards, is aligned to course outcomes, and meets approved course template structure.
- Payment of $2,100 for a completed course template will be issued upon approval of the Vice President of e-Learning. Additional $700.00 compensation is provided for facilitating Quality Matters (QM) Template course Certification.
College Required Online Course Template Redesign
- When a department/cluster and/or e-Learning requests that a College-owned course template be substantially redesigned, the department/cluster must submit the ‘Scope of Work – Online Course Development and Maintenance’ form and receive an approval from the Vice President of e-Learning before any compensation is offered to a content expert/developer and development of the template is started.
- The needed changes have to be clearly identified by the department/cluster. The e-Learning director will review the needed changes and determine the percentage of course modification to be developed.
- A scope of work, with deliverables and timelines will be completed and signed by the contracted course content expert/developer. The document will state that once the course is redeveloped and approved, the course belongs to the College and ca n be assigned to any faculty member.
- The content expert/developer must request a mid-redevelopment review by department’s dean, associate dean or director and the e-Learning director to ensure course instructional content (at mid-point of development) meets department’s standards, is aligned to course outcomes, and meets approved course template structure.
- Payment for redevelopment will be calculated based on the percentage of the course to be redeveloped and calculated as a percentage of the full course development payment of $2,100 (e.g., 50% of template redevelopment = $1,050). Payment for template revision will be issued upon approval of the Vice President of e-Learning.