Full-time MTSU Faculty

Instructor Responsibilities

The TBR determines the number of sections of each course to be offered each semester. If the department cannot staff the course, the TBR will locate another qualified instructor from among the four-year institutions.

Special Note: RODP courses are accessed through the RODP website at www.rodp.org.

Course Cloning Information

RODP course cloning instructions should be sent to the MTSU Distance Learning Faculty Services Office to cladams@mtsu.edu prior to each semester. The dates this information are required are: May 1 for Summer Semester; August 1 for Fall Semester; December 1 for Spring Semester. The semester Cloning Status Report for all RODP courses may be viewed online. Please contact the D.L. Faculty Services Office at cladams@mtsu.edu for the current web address.

Semester Start-up Information

Semester start-up information may be reviewed by all RODP faculty prior to each semester at: www.rodp.org/faculty updates

RODP Course Fake Student Account

Instructions to place a faux student account in a WebCT course are as follows: post a “z-“ concatenated with the WebCT Course ID. For example, to log in as a faux student in ENGL 1010 section R56 for summer (M06C), the instructor would log in using the username z-ENGL1010R56M06C (case is important). The password for ALL fake student accounts has initially been set to:

pumpernickel (all lowercase)

Please log in as this fake student in the first few days and change the password to something only you know. Please realize that if you do not change the password and the pumpernickel password somehow gets out, someone could access your course and see your tests without your knowledge.

Faculty Considerations Form

If you would like to teach a Regents Online Degree Program (RODP) course developed by another instructor, please complete the Faculty Considerations Form and email it to cladams@mtsu.edu.

Faculty Compensation

In Load and Overload Pay, Fall/Spring
MTSU faculty may teach RODP courses within their workload or as an overload. Departments will process the payroll paperwork for faculty teaching in overload using the Continuing Education account and position numbers. Please contact Linda Davis (lmdavis@mtsu.edu) for account and position numbers. RODP R51, R52, etc., sections and all enrollments are not visible on SIS or faculty workloads and should be manually added by the department. Departments may view courses and enrollments at rodp.tbr.state.tn.us/loginadmin.asp. Please contact our office for the password. The Continuing Education department will reimburse (at the faculty extra compensation rate) departments for faculty teaching RODP classes within their workload.

Faculty Compensation - Summer

In previous summer sessions, the following process was in place:

Schools had the flexibility of extending the summer faculty teaching load if faculty were teaching an RODP class. These RODP hours were outside the departments’ original summer allocations.

Any hours taught over the summer workload of 8 hours were paid at the faculty extra compensation rate (dependent upon faculty rank) instead of summer school rate. Departments will process the payroll paperwork for faculty teaching in summer using the Continuing Education account and position numbers. Please contact Linda Davis (lmdavis@mtsu.edu) for account and position numbers.

Faculty Mentors

Faculty mentors provide online mentoring and assistance to RODP instructors. Their role consists of: preparing new faculty members for online teaching and learning; assisting with online and on-ground training of RODP instructors; ensuring courses adhere to the RODP guidelines, course design, and templates; ensuring the recommended faculty-student online communication and interactions; assisting with online faculty development activities; assisting with quality control and standards of excellence for online teaching and learning. Additional information may be found at www.rodp.org/faculty/rodp_faculty_mentors.htm.

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

Teaching Fees

Adjuncts are paid per credit hour dependent on their faculty rank for teaching an RODP course. Departments will process the payroll paperwork for adjuncts teaching RODP courses using the Continuing Education account and position numbers. Please contact Linda Davis (lmdavis@mtsu.edu) for account and position numbers.

Grade Change Procedures

Instructions for submitting an RODP grade change may be found at www.rodp.org/faculty/gradechangeform.htm. Instructors should follow their institution's policy for submitting a grade change form when acquiring signatures. The schedule for revising grades of Incomplete is also included at this website. Please note that the deadline depends upon the student's home school rather than the delivery institution.

Scheduling

RODP Courses

The RODP requests that all courses be offered every semester, and the number of sections offered is dependent on the history of the course. If MTSU cannot staff a course we developed, it is offered to other four-year institutions for staffing.

Special Note: RODP courses are taught in a single summer semester which lasts from early June to mid-August.

Semester Course Cancellations

A list of current semester RODP course cancellations may be found at the RODP website.

Class Size

Minimum and maximum class enrollments for RODP courses are:

Maximum Enrollment:
25 Undergraduate
15 Graduate

Typically MTSU guidelines for minimum enrollments are used for RODP courses.

Special Notes:

• All RODP enrollments are displayed in SIS in the R50 section. Courses are separated and enrollments balanced the week prior to each semester.
• Additional course sections (R51, R52, etc.) must be placed manually in the instructor’s workload.

FTE and Student Headcount

The “home” institution receives all FTE and Student Headcount and 30% of the RODP fee.

The “home” school is the university to which the student has been admitted, and from which his/her degree will be awarded.

The “delivering” institution is the university or community college from which the course is being taught and it receives all tuition.

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.

In addition, TBR will administer surveys to students enrolled in RODP classes to evaluate student services, the Virtual Library, etc.

Testing

Distance Learning Test Center

RODP instructors have the option of requiring two proctored exams (one during mid-term week and one during finals week). Students may select any TBR institution to take their exam or another location that is approved by the instructor. The MTSU Distance Learning Test Center, located in 126 Kirksey Old Main, is a test proctoring site for RODP students. Students may contact skcopela@mtsu.edu, www.mtsu.edu/flextest or 615/898-2743 to make test proctoring arrangements.

Test Proctoring

Instructions for placing your test Proctor Password on the ROCC SIS system for mid-term and final exams are:

• Log into rodp.tbr.state.tn.us and select Faculty Login
• Type User ID and Password (Note: Your ROCC SIS system user id and password are different from the WebCT login id and password. You should have this information. In case you are not aware of your ROCC SIS system user ID and password; please contact Chastity (chastity.cartwright@tbr.edu) or Syed (syed.hasnain@tbr.edu).
• A course listing will appear—select the title of the course that requires a proctor password
• Select Set Proctor Password
• Enter Mid-Term Password/Final Password. (A comment box is available to provide information to proctors on what students are allowed/not allowed to use during examination.)
• When finished, select Submit button.