Between now and May 15, State Discipline Chairs will work with faculty from across our CCCS colleges to select the Common Course Materials that will be required for pooled online courses offered through Colorado Online @ in Spring 2024. The decision will be made by a vote, one vote per college, with the State Discipline Chair casting the deciding vote if there is a tie.
We have prepared a one page summary of the process, and hosted several information sessions in early April to answer questions. Each session is a little different based on questions asked by participants we’ve included recordings from two different sessions here.
A copy of the PowerPoint slides, a sample rubric, and other resources can be found in the Course Materials folder on the SharePoint site.
Following are answers to some common question.
Why are we doing this?
- Federal regulations tied to financial aid require that we make students aware of the required materials for all courses, and the associated cost, when they register (Higher Education Opportunity Act, 2008).
- In order to run courses that may not have enough students to run at any one college, the Colorado Online @ Consortium offers pooled sections. These enrollments are combined and sorted into right-sized teaching sections approximately one week before the semester starts.
- Students in pooled sections need to know the required course materials when they register for classes, long before they are assigned to a specific teaching section.
Why now?
- To meet accreditation criteria, we need to transition instruction of all online courses (750+) to the colleges by Fall 2024.
- For courses that will transition to Colorado Online @ in SP24, required materials for pooled sections must be selected by May 15. We will vet the materials over the summer and request board approval for digital fees in June.
How are we going to do this on such a short timeframe?
- By choosing from among materials already in use in existing online courses at CCCOnline or through one of the colleges, we know that the materials have already been vetted through internal processes and any digital integrations work with D2L. There are also likely complete course shells and other resources that can be used by instructors new to using the selected materials so that they can get up and running quickly.
- The selected course materials are only required for pooled sections and will help us support students during the transition. We will have opportunities for a more complete review of materials and learning design after these courses transition to Colorado Online @.
If no materials are selected by May 15, we will use the CCCOnline materials since they were already designed for systemwide use. For courses not taught through CCCOnline, we will use the most complete resource available through the colleges.
SP24 Common Course Materials Submission Form
Thank you for your help with this important project!