Appendix A: Penn State Berks Approval Process for Offering a New Online Course
Online learning has been increasing at Penn State Berks in the past several years. This process is to assist Berks faculty in seeking their academic divisional approval to offer a new online course from Berks campus.
Definition of Online Courses
An online course is delivered entirely online with no face-to-face class meetings. Some courses may require proctored exams on campus or on a site near the student. The schedule of courses designates online courses by indicating WEB in the Day/Time column.
Request for Delivering an Online Course
- The request for delivering a course in online format must be made at least one semester prior to the start of the course. A quality online course generally takes two semesters to design and develop.
- Faculty interested in redesigning a face-to-face course for online delivery or offering a brand new online course are strongly encouraged to check out the University's Faculty Competencies for Online Teaching and take a Faculty Self-Assessment for Online Teaching to determine if they are ready to teach online.
- Schedule a consultation meeting with the faculty member's Division Head to seek approval.
- With the approval of the Division Head, submit a formal Request for Proposal for Online Course Development Form to the Senior Associate Dean, who will communicate the RFP to the Director of the Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT).
- The CLT team will contact the faculty member to schedule a meeting to discuss the details of the course design and development as well as the availability of assistance and resources.
- The faculty member will grant the CLT team editing access to his or her course. A CLT team member may share any issue with the faculty membr's Division Head and/or the Senior Associate Dean.
Intellectual Property Rights
Read and understand the University?s policy regarding intellectual property rights by referring to the University's Policy IP03 Courseware. As stated in the policy, for University personnel-initiated works, if they are "within the scope of the author's University employment, the University will be granted a non-exclusive, royalty-free right and license to use the materials for instructional purposes within the University."
Berks Online Course Quality Grant
Faculty who have received the approval to create a new online course are eligible to apply for the Berks Online Course Quality Grant.
Additional Resources
- Berks Online Course Quality Grant Program
- Penn State Quality Assurance Standards
- Web Learning @ Penn State
- Course Accessibility Guidelines
- OL 2000: Effective Online Teaching
Designed for faculty preparing to teach their first World Campus course online and is open for all Penn State faculty/staff. Learn essential skill sets necessary for teaching online while giving you a student perspective of an online course at the same time. It is estimated the course will require approximately 3-4 hours/week during the four-week period. You will be participating as a student in an instructor-led "cohort" and will follow a prescribed schedule of readings and activities. You will also be interacting with the course instructor as well as the other participants in your cohort. - Berks eLearning Academy
A learning opportunity for faculty to design and develop an online or a hybrid course.