Course Proposal

In the first years of distance education in the College of Agricultural and LIfe Sciences, courses were developed by "early adopter" faculty members interested in the potential of the emerging field. However, some courses during that time had few students, and the demand for some others just wasn't there.

Now after several years of distance education course development behind it, CALS has gone to a demand-driven strategy: identify specific courses with high demand to support CALS initiatives (for example, Research and Education Center degree programs and the Soil and Water Science Department Master of Science - Environmental Science Track) and support these courses. You may be approached to develop a high-demand course to address a specific need.

Before you begin the development of a course, you should consult with the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences' Associate Dean to identify the demand for your proposed course. A form helping you identify a course's projected demand, costs, and resource needs is on the IFAS/CALS Distance Education Web site (http://disted.ifas.ufl.edu) and must be completed prior to a course's development. You can view and print the form here or on the IFAS Distance Education website http://disted.ifas.ufl.edu/faculty/proposal.htm. In order to estimate the cost of developing your course, you should consult with an IFAS Communication Services instructional designer.

The college provides limited financial support for distance education course development and implementation. Courses identified by the college, departments, and Research and Education Centers as having the highest demand will receive support priority.

Thinking Like Students

As you develop your distance education course, you may wish to start thinking like a student. As has been noted in other sections, keeping your audience/learners in mind is extremely important in the instructional development of any course. In distance education, this concept is especially important. Distance education students have special requirements. Following are some of these differences and special requirements for distance education students.

Enrollment and Registration

The following is some student-specific information that you, as a faculty member, should be aware of in your distance education course:

Students must meet the University of Florida's admissions requirements. Degree students must complete admissions forms and send them to the Registrar's Office. The residency requirement form on the web also must be sent to the Registrar's Office. These forms are available at the "student registration" web page at the ICS web site.

Students register for distance education courses online (ISIS).

Campus coordinators at Research and Education Centers assist students at RECs with registration.

Students must complete and submit a Distance Education Course Request Form (found in the Distance Education Course Catalog or online at http://disted.ifas.ufl.edu/registration/registration_info.html) to the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences' Distance Education Coordinator well in advance of a course's start.

Students also must contact a course's instructor before the class starts in order to receive materials in a timely manner and to find out about any online resources prior to class. It is the student's responsibility to contact the instructor of record.

If non-degree students complete the online Non-Degree Registration Form, the residency information section must be printed out, signed and returned to the CALS Distance Education Coordinator, not to the Registrar's Office.

All current distance education information is at this site: http://cals.ufl.edu/distance/

The CALS Distance Education Coordinator will provide the instructor with a list of enrolled students on the first day of class.

If a student is in class the first day but does not appear on the course roll, the student should be advised to contact the CALS Distance Education Coordinator as soon as possible. The instructor also should take down the student's contact information: name, Social Security number, address, phone number and e-mail address, and provide the information to the CALS Distance Education Coordinator (Please make sure that person information, such as a student's Social Security number, is not accessible to other students. This is especially important in the open videoconferencing environment. E-mail after class or a fax from the student may be the best way of attaining the information). Most students not appearing on the roll on the first class day are non-degree students (Extension agents and school teachers) taking the course for professional development or teacher certification.

Continue on to the "Timeline" for course development.