Full-time MTSU Faculty

Course materials are prepared through Publications & Graphics and Printing Services following development.

Instructor Responsibilities

Instructors should be aware of the following responsibilities when teaching a Correspondence Course:

• Grade, record grades, and return assignments to students promptly.
• The Distance Learning Faculty Services Office pays for postage and provides envelopes for the return of assignments to students.
• The instructors department is responsible for providing the instructor with any labels required for the class (windowed envelopes are now available).
• Maintain regular office hours (including phone) for student consultation.
• Conduct any exams and/or meetings at the Murfreesboro campus.

Faculty Compensation

• $95 per student enrolled at time of census paid to faculty when teaching course out-of-load;
• $95 per student enrolled at time of census, paid to department offering course when faculty teaching course in-load.

Learning, Teaching and Innovative Technologies Center
mtsu32.mtsu.edu:11069

The Learning, Teaching and Innovative Technologies Center (LT&ITC) is a partnership between Academic Affairs and the Information Technology Division to further faculty development in learning and teaching excellence. The objective of the LT&ITC is to create a community of faculty who develop, improve and integrate creative and effective use of appropriate pedagogy and technologies to enhance student learning.

Adjunct Faculty

Adjunct faculty may be hired by a department to teach correspondence courses. They are paid a fee of $95 per student enrolled at time of census.

Scheduling

On-campus Meetings for Distance Courses

Distance educators may include one-time meetings/orientations and give tests on campus, and the course is still considered correspondence.

Academic Space

Complete and submit the Distance Learning Meeting Request form to reserve academic space for on-campus meetings for distance classes. Submission of this form notifies the MTSU Scheduling Center of the reservation for classroom use.

College of Business Computer Labs

If your on-campus meeting requires use of a computer lab, reservations must be made online, and it is necessary for the course instructor or department to notify the Scheduling Center in order for the information to be placed in the semester Schedule Book.

Distance Learning Courses

As with traditional course offerings, the department chair decides when to offer MTSU correspondence courses. The Scheduling Center should be notified of all distance courses being offered for inclusion in the Distance Learning Section of the Schedule Book.

Class Size

The academic department determines class seat limits for correspondence courses since needs differ from one course to another. It is recommended that consideration be given to a lower class size for first-time correspondence instructors. After the first online teaching experience, and depending upon the course, departments may wish to increase class enrollment. After the seat limit is set and the course is full, it is the department’s decision to allow extra students to add by issuing a POD (Permission of Department).

In order to assist departments, the Distance Learning Committee at MTSU has recommended a maximum enrollment for MTSU Correspondence Courses.

Recommended Maximum Enrollment:
48 Undergraduate

MTSU Minimum Enrollments:
6 students for 7000 level courses
8 students for 6000 level
10 students - 3000, 4000, 5000 level courses
15 students -1000, 2000 level courses

(Faculty Workload I, G and Summer School Guidelines VI, 1)

Student Evaluations

A special distance learning evaluation form is used by distance learning students to evaluate their instructors. Upon request, our office will assist departments with the student evaluation process by mailing the green distance learning evaluation forms to students. Please request assistance at distance@mtsu.edu.

The process is as follows:

• Distance instructors, or their departments, request from the Information Technology Division that the green distance learning evaluation forms be used for their class. The department forwards the forms with the course and instructor number to our office. The evaluations with postage-paid return envelopes are mailed to students.
• Upon return of the completed evaluation forms to our office, the course name and number are logged in and forwarded to ITD for processing. (Course information is noted on the outside of the return envelope prior to mailing.)
• Faculty members who administer their correspondence course final exams on campus may request that our office personnel conduct the evaluation prior to the exam. Email distance@mtsu.edu to make arrangements for this service.

  Testing

  Distance Learning Test Center

  The Distance Learning Test Center, located in 126 Kirksey Old Main, is available for distance faculty to accommodate only those students whose schedules conflict with posted test dates/times. Faculty who wish to provide this service for their students must provide a copy of the exam to the Test Center, and students may schedule to take the test based on the instructor’s timeframe. Contact Sheila Copeland at skcopela@mtsu.edu or 615/898-2743 for additional information.

  Test Proctoring

  Students who live at least 50 miles away or cannot make driving arrangements may have their exams proctored at an approved off-campus location such as a public library, high school, college, etc. The AODL Testing Center requires at least two weeks notice for this service. Students may requests exams be sent to an approved off-campus proctor at www.mtsu.edu/flextest or by calling 615-898-2743. The proctor must have at least a bachelor’s degree and be of no relation to the student. The exam must be taken in a public setting (i.e. library). We do not allow students to take exams in proctors’ homes or other private settings.

  Special Notes

  • This service is provided only for faculty who develop their distance courses through the MTSU Distance Learning Faculty Services Office.
  • The Test Center cannot accommodate entire classes. This service is only for those who cannot make a scheduled exam due to extenuating circumstances.

  Turnitin Educational Suite

  The Distance Learning Faculty Services Office provides a subscription to all distance instructors to Turnitin (www.turnitin.com), an online educational suite which assists faculty with plagiarism prevention. Some students may not know what plagiarism is or that they are violating copyright laws especially if the information they are using is obtained from the internet. The MTSU definition of plagiarism is located at www.mtsu.edu/~handbook/rights.pdf.

  Another helpful site is at the RODP Virtual Library, vl.rodp.org/cite.htm, and provides students information on how to avoid plagiarism and cite their sources.