RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE ONLINE ACADEMIC PROGRAMS TASK FORCE
Overriding Principle:
MU's goal should be to provide the best possible, highest quality environment to support engaged, deep
and meaningful learning for every student.
Summary of Recommendations
Curricular Decisions
All curricular decisions must reside in the academic .
Mode of Delivery
MU resident students should be provided access to all course
sections regardless of mode of delivery.
Course Approvals
All new courses, regardless of mode of delivery must go through
the same approval process.
Identifying Mode of Delivery
MU must indicate the mode of delivery in the Schedule of
Courses. Five category designations are recommended for
consideration.
MU must provide all units with information on the delivery
mode of course sections taken by students.
MU should make available a free assessment tool for student
readiness for online learning
MU must educate instructors and department schedulers
regarding course designations and use of “Notes” section for
course descriptions
Quality Assessment
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies is charged with
development and advancement of quality assessment efforts.
Compensation/Intellectual Property
Course development/instruction may be designated as normal
job responsibilities by academic unit chair/director.
If release time is used to facilitate course development it must
not trigger the excessive resources clause of intellectual property
rules.
Use of academic support services and staff for assistance in
course development should not trigger excessive resources
clause of intellectual property rules.
Courses developed or taught in addition to normal teaching load
require approval by the academic unit chair/director.
Compensation for teaching above the normal load must be
arranged through the academic unit chair/director.
Intellectual property ownership questions resulting from
compensation must be agreed upon in writing between faculty
member and academic unit chair/director.
Budget Model
The current separate and distinct budget models for
online/distance students vs. classroom based or online/resident
student needs to be examined. We recommend that the budget
models be re-evaluated by a new task force.
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Advisory Council
We recommend creation of a standing advisory committee,
eLearning Advisory Council, to facilitate strategic growth of
online education in program areas of strength at MU.
General Principles:
Curricular Decisions
As much as possible, responsibility for all curricular decisions must reside at the level of the academic
unit. Design of academic degree programs is a responsibility of academic departments and colleges;
within the guidelines of the university and campus, degree-granting units must have full control of the
requirements for their degrees.
Given that some units may want to monitor the extent of use of courses with different delivery modes in
their degree programs, the campus should provide all units with information on the delivery mode of
course sections taken by students. That information need not be reported on official transcripts.
Mode of Delivery
When quality is the touchstone, the mode of delivery of "coursework" is dictated by how best to serve a
particular body of students - other than that, the mode of delivery does not matter.
Students clearly differ in their learning styles and that means not all students will be equally well served
by the same learning environment. MU must make every attempt to provide as many different highquality learning environments as possible within the constraints of the funding and mission of the
campus. That means MU must support multiple modes of interaction between students and their faculty.
In so far as possible therefore, all MU courses ought to be treated the same, regardless of mode of
delivery. Further, within the limitations set by degree programs and departments, MU students should be
provided access to all course sections regardless of mode of delivery.
Course Approval
MU has a responsibility to the State and to the public to manage resources wisely and that includes
avoiding unnecessary duplication of faculty effort and university resources. To that end MU has
designated curriculum committees within colleges and at the campus level to "approve" new courses. All
new courses, regardless of the mode of delivery, must go through the same approval process.
Identifying the Mode of Delivery
The choice of mode of delivery for a particular section should be driven by the desire to provide the best
learning environment for students in that section and that is a decision usually best made by faculty
members and as a result of discussions at the academic unit level.
To best promote student learning, MU should facilitate conversations between advisors (professional and
faculty) and their students about the students’ most effective learning styles and therefore their strategies
for studying -- and then match student learning "skills" with class learning structure. In addition, there
may be practical reasons for students to consider one mode of delivery over another. For those reasons,
MU must indicate the mode of delivery in the Schedule of Courses. MU also should make available free
of charge to students, an assessment tool that allows them to determine their readiness for online learning.
We recognize that there is not a set of discrete modes of presentation; rather there is a continuum from
pure face to face with no electronic materials to pure on-line with no face to face interaction between
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faculty and students. Given the desire to communicate adequately with students about the mode of
delivery during the course pre-enrollment period, and the constraints posed by that mode of delivery, we
recommend the following distinctions be listed in the Schedule of Courses, recognizing full well that
there will be always be grey areas. We also encourage MU to educate instructors and departmental
schedulers regarding course designations and particularly use of the “Notes” section for course
description to better describe the planned delivery methods and expectations.
CB: Classroom Based: all class sessions are held at scheduled times in a classroom with an instructor.
BL: Blended: some classroom sessions and some online sessions or content. The amount of online
material may vary considerably and students are encouraged to check the Notes Section of the course
description. Classroom and online sessions occur within a defined time frame (semester, summer session,
and/or block).
OA: Online Asynchronous: all sessions delivered online. There is no set schedule for students to gather
online for instruction. Online sessions occur within a defined time frame (semester, summer session
and/or block). Examinations may be scheduled at specified times within the instructional session.
Alternatively, in person proctored exams may be required. Please check Notes Section of the course
description.
OS: Online Synchronous: all sessions delivered online with scheduled times for students to gather online
for instruction and/or assessment. In person proctored exams may be required. Please check Notes Section
of the course description.
SP: Self-paced: all sessions online. Sessions do not necessarily occur during defined time frames such as
semesters, summer sessions or blocks. Rather, students complete course material and assessments within
9 months but not before 6 weeks after initiating the course. In person proctored exams may be required.
Quality Assessment
Primary responsibility for the quality of teaching and learning resides at the academic unit level.
We recommend that the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies encourage use of existing resources,
tools and expertise to enhance the scholarship of teaching and learning on the MU campus. Importantly,
the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies must lead in the development and promotion of new
approaches to quality assessment and teaching with technology that will position MU at the forefront of
teaching innovation. There exists an opportunity for MU to make a real contribution to the assessment of
learning outcomes that is not addressed by peer review and student questionnaires.
Course Development, Compensation and Intellectual Property
Course development as part of the faculty member's normal responsibilities:
The development of any quality course requires significant investment of faculty time. If an academic unit
believes that offering a course is in the best interests of the academic unit and its students, then faculty
may, as part of their job responsibility, be reassigned at the discretion of the academic unit chair/director.
If an academic unit uses release-time to enable course development, that release time must not trigger the
excessive resources clause of the intellectual property rules.
If the development of any course requires technical expertise beyond that a faculty member could
reasonably be expected to possess or to develop, the academic unit and MU will do their best to provide
that technical expertise. Because this is a support function that MU should provide its faculty to enable
them to provide the best learning environment, utilization of such staff expertise should not change the
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normal distribution of intellectual property rights. Where there is ambiguity in intellectual property rights
or ownership, individual faculty members and academic unit chairs/directors are encouraged to formalize
in writing any arrangement or agreement regarding said property.
Course development in addition to normal responsibilities:
Any faculty member can develop and/or teach a course in addition to their normal responsibilities with
the approval of the academic unit chair/director. As long as the course is taught as a MU course all the
stipulations above about intellectual property should apply. Compensation for developing or teaching
courses in addition to normal responsibilities must be agreed upon by the individual faculty member and
the academic unit chair/director prior to undertaking the additional work. Where there is ambiguity in
intellectual property rights or ownership, individual faculty members and academic unit chairs/directors
are encouraged to formalize in writing any arrangement or agreement regarding said property.
Compensation and Incentive Plans:
The Current Budget Model:
The Budget Model for online sections delivered to on-campus students during a regular semester
currently is within normal department budgets. No extra compensation flows to departments for inclusion
of resident students in an online session.
The current Budget Model for online sections delivered to off-campus, distance students includes return
of a percentage of the tuition dollars (and some fees) to the college and/or departments that offer the
course or program. These sections may be synchronous or asynchronous but are taught over the duration
of a semester in contrast to self-paced sections. The distribution of tuition for such sections currently is
55% to the college/department, 25% to Mizzou Online and 20% to the provost. The future distribution,
proposed by the Provost’s office is:
60%
25%
15%
Returned to the unit (units decide how this money is used)
Mizzou Online (covers cost of maintaining operations, state regulatory fees, etc)
Provost Office
Self-paced sections which can be completed by students anytime between 6 weeks and 9 months
(formerly offered through CDIS) are developed by faculty members hired specifically to develop that
section. These sections are not taught in a traditional semester period. Faculty members who develop a
section are compensated $3200/credit hour for development. The faculty member who is listed as the
instructor of record receives 20% of tuition per student for instruction (~$3100 for 20 students). The
instructor is expected to be available to help the student for a period of up to 9 months. In some cases,
students complete computerized course modules with automated instructor feedback. For these sections
there is simply an “Instructor of Record” who receives $500 per year. At present there are no funds
returned to the unit for these sections but this model is under review.
Budget Model Recommendation:
The Online Academic Program Task Force recommends that online/distance sections be treated the
same as traditional, classroom based sections: creation of courses must reside at the academic unit level;
the approval process must be the same for online and classroom-based; online sections will be listed with
classroom-based sections and available to resident students; and, intellectual property rights must be the
same for online and classroom-based sections. In that context, the Online Academic Program Task
Force recognizes that the current separate and distinct budget models for online/distance students vs. for
classroom-based or online/resident students needs to be examined.
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Given the complexity of the issues, and a preference that any future budget model or models integrate
with a broader incentive program, the Online Academic Program Task Force recommends that the
current budget model(s) be re-evaluated by a new task force. The charge to this task force should include,
but not necessarily be limited to: (1) evaluating our progress in online/distance education and its impact
on classroom-based learning -- and vice versa; (2) considering, and recommending if appropriate, the
establishment of formal opportunities for faculty development in teaching and learning and the
appropriate support systems; (3) evaluating, and recommending if appropriate, mechanisms to incentivize
highest quality in teaching and learning; (4) evaluating, and recommending if appropriate, mechanisms
to incentivize innovation in teaching and learning; and (5) evaluating and recommending mechanisms
to incentivize the scholarship of teaching and learning. We encourage rapid deployment of this new
task force to enable a report to the faculty by January 2014.
Online Advisory Council
To facilitate strategic growth of distance education in program areas of strength at MU, as well as
enhancement of eLearning technologies in appropriate campus courses, the Online Academic Program
Task Force recommends that Faculty Council create an Online Advisory Council (OAC). The OAC will
work with campus divisions to facilitate new and existing online/distance sections and degree programs.
OAC will review and recommend policies and procedures related to online/distance program delivery,
including any required faculty and student support, assessment, technology resources, financial
arrangements, compliance and state regulations. OAC membership will include representation from
undergraduate and graduate faculty as well as administrative staff with expertise in distance learning.
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