Definition

A course evaluation/peer review is required for each new and revised correspondence course upon completion and prior to final course approval and delivery. The purpose of this review is to promote correspondence course excellence and quality .

Special Notes

 Course designers must be afforded the opportunity to address items noted on the Peer Review prior to final approval.

• If the course designer is the department chair, the FPA may be the final approval.
• The review process must be completed and the Peer Review/ Evaluation Form placed on file in the Distance Learning Faculty Services Office before course development/revision fees are paid.

Faculty Peer Assistance (FPA) Program

The MTSU Faculty Peer Assistance (FPA) Program was established to ensure that a standard of online course excellence and quality are promoted by providing assistance to new and veteran online course designers and instructors in the following areas:

• online course development;
• course review/evaluation process;
• course approval process;
• initial course delivery.

Since an online component is mandatory for each correspondence course, reviews are conducted in the same manner as online courses using a review/evaluation form pertinent to correspondence course design and delivery.

Veteran online course designers and instructors who have earned the Certified Online Instructor (COI) designation serve as Faculty Peer Assistants (FPAs), or mentors, to new course developers and to those revising existing courses.

Review Process

When a course is ready for review, the course designer should contact his/her assigned FPA to begin the evaluation process. All course designers (or those revising existing courses) are encouraged to conduct a self-review using the Peer Review/Evaluation Form for Correspondence Courses and the correlating Rating Descriptions Form, which are also used by the FPA in the formal review. The formal review may be conducted in a variety of ways:

• The course designer may conduct the self-review and discuss the results via email, phone or face-to-face meeting with his/her Faculty Peer Assistant;
• The course designer may meet with his/her Faculty Peer Assistant to conduct the review;
• The course designer may request that the Faculty Peer Assistant conduct the review and meet via email, phone, or face-to-face to discuss the results.

Regardless of how the review is conducted, the course designer or reviser must be afforded the opportunity to address issues noted in the review and to revise the course accordingly prior to sending the review to the Distance Learning Faculty Services Office and to the chair for final approval.

Final Course Approval

After the review has been conducted, all issues addressed by the course designer, and the evaluation form has been signed by the Faculty Peer Assistant, all course materials and the review document are then forwarded to the Distance Learning Faculty Services Office in hard (Box X109) and electronic (chayes@mtsu.edu) formats.

The Chair Approval Form is attached to the course evaluation and these documents and the course materials are sent to the respective department chair for final review and course approval. The course designer may provide access to the online course component to the department chair at that time.

When the Chair Approval Form is signed, the review and approval forms and the course materials are returned to the Faculty Services Office. The course materials are then reviewed for consistency, grammar, style, and ease of reading after which the manuscript is sent to Publications & Graphics for editorial review. A proof is returned to the Distance Learning Faculty Services Office for a final review prior to printing.

Payment of Course Development Fees

When the Chair Approval Form is signed and the review and approval forms are returned to the Faculty Services Office to be placed on file, the development fee is paid.