Online Course Policy
Following the report of the Technology Committee to the full faculty and the faculty's vote to accept the committee's report in Spring 2000, the administration agreed to adopt the major recommendations:
- That individual faculty decide the extent to which technology and online instruction be used in his or her own courses. No faculty member could be compelled to teach online.
- That online courses be reviewed by the Curriculum Committee and its recommendations forwarded to the Provost in all cases, even for an existing non-online course that is proposed for online delivery.
- That the review be different from non-online courses in that online courses cannot be offered in the "special topics" category, which allows a course to be offered up to three times before Curriculum Committee review. Online courses must be reviewed and approved by the Provost before being offered initially (Note: the administration finds this unnecessarily cumbersome but has maintained the policy nonetheless.)
- That online degree programs will not be offered without extensive consultation and review by the Curriculum Committee. (Note: given the residential character of the college, the administration has no plans for such degree programs.)
- That online courses be directed to special populations, not to replace face-to-face courses. (Note: the predominant use of online courses has been for our own students in the summer to allow them to complete GE requirements or, in a few cases, courses that enroll heavily during the year. The objective is to allow our students to progress toward their degrees expeditiously, recognizing that it is difficult for many to attend on campus during the summer.) Courses offered during the year should be for cohorts of students who would find it difficult or impossible to attend on campus.
