Definition

The Correspondence Course Development Agreement runs for a 3-year term. Course designers are required to substantially revise existing courses after that period if they wish to renew their agreement for another 3-year term and to receive the revision stipend.

Special Notes

• Compensation cannot be paid if the course revisions are completed prior to contract approval.
• Faculty Peer Assistants (FPA) are assigned to each course designer who is revising an existing correspondence course, and the same review and approval processes used for new course development are required.
• Deadlines for providing hard and electronic copies of course materials:
  • October 1 - Spring Semester courses;
  • March 1 - Summer Semester courses;
  • June 1 - Fall Semester courses.

Course Revision Process

Courses whose three-year contracts have expired are eligible for course revision and payment of the revision stipend of $1,000. Courses must be substantially revised and must follow the same review and approval processes used in new course development to be eligible for the revision fee. A Revision Contract must be completed, approved and placed on file in the Distance Learning Faculty Services Office prior to revising and teaching the course.

Course Review/Evaluation Process

Revised courses are reviewed/evaluated using the same process as is used for new course design. A Faculty Peer Assistant (FPA) is assigned to each faculty member involved in the revision 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 who are revising existing courses are encouraged to conduct a self-review using the Peer Review/Evaluation and the correlating Rating Descriptions Forms, which are also used for 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 faculty member who is revising his/her course 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 Revision 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.

Revision Exceptions

If substantial course revisions are necessary prior to contract expiration due to textbook changes, course designers can receive, with prior approval from the Distance Learning Faculty Services Office, the $1,000 revision fee. Written requests for early revision may be made to cladams@mtsu.edu.