William,
You are correct that online courses are not easier. Are the labs you mention required? When courses are lab/hands-on intensive, one has to be careful how to select the courses that will "work" online.
Linda Scharp
Our institution has a curriculum development committee which includes the Program Director, Dean of Academics,and the Director of Curriculum Development. All these individuals work together with the Vice President of Institutional effectiveness in the creation and implementation of program policies. In this way, no one individual has ultimate say regarding policies. It is important to note that faculty members are encouraged and expected to also provide input and feedback regarding a specific program to the program director. The program director then relays this information to the committee. In this way, policies that are implemented are drawn and agreed upon by a group of people who are knowleadgable of the field as well as compliance and organization policies and procedures, and who have the students' best interest in mind.
in our institution the policies will remain constant
policies are created by the director of education and review by the advisory board.
like your institution,ours is also revising and establishing new policies to do better on line courses,and in which all members (faculty and academic director)are involved.
Currently those programs were done by our DOE, As program director I am looking to develop a hybrid online on ground course.
How do you create online program polices at your institution and who is responsible for implementing them?
This is our first year to begin. Our University is brand new and only offers online courses. We are fully accredited, so that is where I am beginning. As not only is this University new, I am new to this position. I have two masters degrees so I have taken many online courses and know what to look for, but now I am the one responsible for creating all of it....the policies, procedures, finding the best LMS to use, all implementation...in other words, it is all me. Once we begin teaching, the faculty will be responsible for implementing the program policies, but until that happens....for me, it is a lot of research from our accredited body and discussions with other stakeholders in trying to build and discover the best programs and policies for us to implement.
Heather,
Keep in mind there are groups that you can access for help and support as you move forward on your journey to developing a vital online learning program. There are many people, like myself, who are consultants with years of experience to help; there is no reason to reinvent everything. There are also several online learning forums that can also be helpful to add to your knowledge. Regarding policies, search out institutions with online programs that would be willing to share their manuals or handbooks for adaptation. Don't forget that an advisory board of online educators and/or administrators could also be very helpful.
Dr. Robert Roehrich
I consider that the policies should be created by the online program faculty and Academic Director, they should look for advice and help from other institutions that are working with on line programs already.
Hayme,
Granted, but don't you think there should be alignment with the institution's on-ground policies, especially in the academic areas? Without continuity across policies, you run the risk of raising issues with your accreditation body. How would you ensure that the latter doesn't occur?
Dr. Robert Roehrich
