Course Reviews

Step 1: Request a Review

• The faculty course representative should complete the Online Course Review Request form.
  • Faculty course representatives must secure approval from their academic dean or division chair to have their course reviewed before submitting the form.
  • Since schedules are based on student need, certifying a course does not obligate the division chair to schedule a faculty member for that course.
  • Note that since we review online courses' design and delivery, we review previously live (but now closed) sections of courses. A course that you have never taught is only eligible for an unofficial course review.
  • All course reviewers have been trained to follow FERPA guidelines.
  • Reviews will be conducted on a first-come, first-served basis. Upon receipt of the Online Course Review Request form, Teresa Hutchins, CETL Faculty Fellow for Online Learning, will communicate with faculty course representatives regarding the anticipated start date of the review.

Step 2: Review Conducted

• The review is conducted by Teresa Hutchins, CETL Faculty Fellow for Online Learning, and a trained GHC faculty reviewer with the Online Course Review Rubric.
• The reviewers typically complete the review within four weeks of when the review is requested.
• The faculty course representative must not make any changes to the course while it is being reviewed.

Step 3: Initial Review Complete

• After the initial review has been completed, Teresa Hutchins meets (via teleconferencing software or face-to-face) with the faculty course representative to discuss the course review report—which includes both reviewers’ reviews—and a plan for meeting any unmet expectations.
• If there are any unmet expectations, Teresa Hutchins will enroll the faculty course representative in the Online Course Review Resources D2L site.
  • In the D2L site, for each unmet expectation, the faculty course representative will explain why the expectation is worth meeting and how they will meet the expectation.
• If revisions are required, at or after the course review report meeting, Teresa Hutchins will share a link to a new blank D2L shell (named [Course Prefix & Number] [CRN] Revised) in which she and the faculty course representative have been enrolled.

Step 4: Revisions Occur

• If major revisions are required, the faculty course representative is responsible for copying the reviewed course into the blank D2L shell provided.
• All revisions to the course must be made in this shell.
• The faculty course representative has four weeks to complete any revisions requested.
• By the end of four weeks, the faculty course representative should email a link to the revised course to Teresa Hutchins, who will confirm whether the course meets expectations. Requests for additional time to revise courses will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
• Teresa Hutchins will communicate directly with the faculty course representative regarding whether additional revisions are needed

Step 5: Course Certified

• When the course has met all expectations, it is certified.
• The certified course is added to the public list of GHC certified online courses. Letters of recognition are available upon request.
• The faculty course representative receives a certification badge which may be displayed in the course. Contact Teresa Hutchins to request a JPEG of the certification badge to use on print materials.
• Course certifications are valid for five years. After five years, a course must be re-reviewed to retain its certification.
• Since schedules are based on student need, certifying a course does not obligate the division chair to schedule a faculty member for that course.

Questions? Email cetl@highlands.edu.