Call for Courses: Online Courses for Spring/Fall

UMOnline assists faculty, staff and students in creating and participating in quality educational experiences through course supplements, blended and fully online courses. Online courses are generally funded through state-support; credit and non-credit courses may be offered. Blended courses consist of reduced classroom contact time combined with online coursework. Blended courses are between 30% and 80% online.

Courses are delivered through the Learning Management System (Moodle). Moodle provides a number of tools to promote interaction and engagement such as the discussion forum, web conference, survey, quiz and wiki.

UMOnline provides training and support for faculty to develop online and blended courses. To learn more visit http://umonline.umt.edu/administration/or contact Robert Squires at x6056

Develop an Online or Blended Course

Courses that have not previously been taught online or as blended are developed in association with the instructional design team. Please contact Robert Squires at x6056 at least one semester prior to the intended course delivery date. New online and blended courses require substantial development time and must be approved by department chairs and deans. Development of courses takes place during the semester prior to delivery. Relevant forms can be found at:

http://umonline.umt.edu/administration/new_online_course.php

http://umonline.umt.edu/administration/new_blended_course.php

Request a Moodle Supplement

Any UM instructor may request an online course supplement for web-enhance face-to-face course delivery. To request a supplement, visit http://umonline.umt.edu/faculty/supplement_request.php. 

Technical support is available for all users of Moodle. Contact information for UMOnline Technical Support can be found at: http://umonline.umt.edu/tech_support/. 

A course that includes any face-to-face meetings cannot be considered an online course. Only courses that meet 100% online and primarily asynchronously can be scheduled as online courses. Blended courses have reduced classroom time; i.e. students in a three-credit course may meet only two hours per week in a blended format. The reduced classroom time is replaced with online activities. Blended courses are between 30% and 80% online.

An online course must be delivered within the bookend dates of the semester. The dates below are inclusive of finals week.

• Spring 2014: January 27 – May 16 

Use Consent of Instructor (C/I) only when absolutely necessary. To prevent unauthorized registrations, please list restrictions and prerequisites on the Course Schedule Spreadsheet.

All cross-listed courses must be approved by the Registrar’s Office and the chair of the cross-listed department(s) prior to scheduling. To obtain a list of approved cross-listings, please contact the Registrar’s Office.  

Deans and department chairs should ensure that courses are adequately enrolled to attain unit enrollment goals. Decisions to conduct or cancel under-enrolled courses must be approved by the department chair and dean. If a department/school decides to cancel a course, please contact Jeff Wimett, x4470, jeffrey.wimett@umontana.edu.

Online courses will be assigned a section number from 50 to 59.

All fully online sections should be scheduled using the Course Schedule Spreadsheet. This form was included with your Call for Courses packet and updated versions will be distributed periodically. The most recently distributed version of this form is available online.  If you need training or support for this form, please see the overview below or contact Jeff Wimett, x4470, jeffrey.wimett@umontana.edu. 

To make changes to the course schedule:

Add, delete or change the information in the cells of the spreadsheet. Please remember to include instructor UMID numbers when adding instructors.

Highlight all changes that are made.

To add a new course section:

Copy the rows of the new course section block.

Insert the copied rows into the course schedule.

Add, delete or change the information in the cells of the spreadsheet. Please remember to include instructor UMID numbers when adding instructors.

To cancel a course section:

Highlight the course section in red.

Once all the desired schedule changes have been made, please save the file and email it to jeffrey.wimett@umontana.edu. 

It is the responsibility of the academic department/unit to hire an instructor and ensure completion of all hiring paperwork. This includes administering and paying for the background investigation and acquiring transcripts and curriculum vitae or résumés. Necessary forms are available here: http://www.umt.edu/hrs/hiring%20guide/.

It is also the department’s responsibility to complete the Instructional Position Description (IPD) and Request for Personnel Transaction form (RPT). If an instructor lives out-of-state, please indicate that on the hiring forms. For current faculty working at 1.0 FTE, please complete an Extra Compensation Form.  The formula for determining Extra Compensation is provided below.

The salary formula used for online courses depends upon whether or not the instructor is teaching within or above load (1.0 FTE).

Instructional duties at or below 1.0 FTE:               (Academic Year base salary / 2) x online load FTE

• For Mountain campus and COT faculty on an AY contract, each 3-credit course is 0.2 FTE.
• For COT adjuncts with a 20-credit AY semester load, each 3-credit course is 0.15 FTE.

Instructional duties above than 1.0 FTE:                (Academic Year base salary / 9) x load factor

                Load factors:      1 credit hour =       0.1875
                                              2 credit hours =     0.375
                                             3 credit hours =     0.5625                    

FY duties and Classified Staff

• For salaried faculty and administrators on a FY contract, each 3-credit course is 0.075 FTE.
• For employees with a primary position as hourly classified staff, please contact Jeff Wimett at x4470 or jeffrey.wimett@umontana.edu for more information.

• Please use the Budget Summary Form to communicate salary information to SELL. Instructions are included in the form. If you have questions, please contact Jeff Wimett at x4470 or jeffrey.wimett@umontana.edu.
• Load FTE is not the same as payroll FTE. The Budget Summary Form will automatically calculate Payroll FTE for inclusion on contracts.
• There is a minimum pay floor of $1,000/credit. Payroll FTE will differ from Load FTE for duties that fall under the minimum pay threshold.
• There is a maximum pay ceiling of $2,000/credit. Payroll FTE will differ from Load FTE for duties that exceed the maximum pay threshold.
• Academic Year base salary is determined as of August 1, 2013. The current base salary at this date will be used as the basis for Autumn Semester compensation.

Did you remember to…

• Consider general education or major requirements and enrollment trends?
• Ensure that courses reflect changes from Common Course Numbering and the new General Education groups?
  • Common Course Numbering: umt.edu/newnumber
  • General Education: http://www.umt.edu/registrar/students/generaledreq.aspx
• Update the Course Schedule Spreadsheet?
• Complete the Department Budget Summary Form?
• Submit all information by the appropriate deadlines?