The College of Education will launch the Master of Science in School Counseling degree this coming Fall 2021 semester.
The Alternative Certification Program (ACP) has gone under curriculum revisions and will launch in the new 7-week format this Fall 2021 semester.
Academic Partnerships started marketing for the new MBA concentrations: Healthcare Administration and Criminal Justice. They will be unique to TAMIU, which will help our University stand out in competition to other MBA online degree programs. These two concentrations will begin May 10, 2021.
QM Professional Development Opportunities
The eLearning Team now has on-campus facilitators for Quality Matters' Designing Your Online Course (DYOC) workshop. In March, 11 faculty members were trained (virtually) in the DYOC workshop over two afternoons.
As of March, 96.5% of faculty teaching online courses have completed the QM workshop requirement for teaching an online course.
If you or department wish to be a part of the next DYOC workshop delivery (or wish to inquire about any other QM workshops), contact your DEITC representative or the eLearning team at elearning@tamiu.edu with your QM professional development questions.
Online Course Development
In TAMIU's effort towards getting all online courses QM-certified, questions over the course development process continue to come up by faculty preparing for the summer and fall semesters. Clarifications on upcoming certification requirements were requested from the provost. The below exchange was between Pat Abrego and the Provost:
Question #1: Would faculty be allowed to continue to record their lectures AND make them available to students? Faculty may record their lectures and have the discretion to make them available to students with an excused absence and as review immediately before (within a week of) a test. Faculty are not required to record their lectures nor, if they do record them, to make them available to students for review.
Question #2: Are they allowed to continue administering their tests online? Yes, as long as the quality of the test is not compromised by over-reliance on exclusively multiple-choice tests.
Question #3: Virtual Office Hours: Now that faculty have raised their comfort level using Bb Collaborate will they be allowed to continue using it to conduct virtual hours? Faculty will need to be present on campus for their official posted office hours (the minimum 4-6 hours a week), but they may make use of Bb Collaborate to meet virtually with their students. In addition, faculty may schedule additional office hours (hours beyond those posted for on-campus conferences) at times that are convenient for their students to include evening hours.
Question #4. Would you consider a synchronous hybrid delivery like TAMIUFlex which will enable face-to-face students in the classroom and remote student from various locations to attend class Or will this be left at the discretion of the faculty member? Not at this time, no. Individual exceptions might be made for highly unique situations, upon the request of the faculty member and with the approval of the chair, dean, and provost.
Question #5: Would you support requiring all students to take a module with pertinent information about plagiarism? No, not for all students in all classes, but I would strongly favor the creation of such a module and to making it available to faculty, who will then have the discretion of making successful completion of the module a course requirement. Also, I support the idea of adding a sentence regarding the students’ understanding of what plagiarism is and what the consequences may be for violation of the Honor Code to the syllabus acknowledgement form in every course and adding the Honor Code pledge plaque to the Blackboard login screen.
For an overview of the course development process, visit our Development Process of Distance Education Courses page.
INTRODUCTION OF PART-TIME INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER
Jan Brott is one of our part-time Instructional Designers. She is a past president of the Texas Distance Learning Association (TXDLA) and sits on the board of the U.S. Distance Learning Association (USDLA). She brings a wealth of knowledge in distance education.
Plagiarism/Cheating Concerns
There has been a rise in certain cases of academic dishonesty performed by students in writing assignments and other assessments. In this intervention-oriented approach, some students may claim to faculty or to the Honor Council that they simply "did not know" the full policy of what constituted as cheating or plagiarism.
DEITC members are currently in discussion over preventative measures of how the University can increase awareness over the types of cheating and plagiarism. The eLearning team will research several methods over how plagiarism prevention can be accomplished - via Hoonuit, Library modules, eLearning orientation, or from other available tools. These methods will be presented to the DEITC at the next month's meeting to continue the discussion.
Moving forward, the eLearning is already in the works of updating Blackboard by displaying the Honor Pledge on the first pages of the system. New course shells for the summer and fall semesters will included updated Syllabus and Polices acknowledgement statements to include reference to the current policies over Academic Dishonesty from the Student Handbook. Updates will be presented to the committee in our April meeting.
If you have any suggestions on how to raise awareness of TAMIU's Academic Dishonesty policies or have any other concerns over any forms of cheating, send your comments to your DEITC representative.
Learning Technology Advisory Committee
The PhD in Criminal Justice got approval by the LTAC, adding prestige to TAMIU. There are only four PhDs in Criminal Justice in Texas. As of right now there is a proposal of a cohort of 10 students.
Graduate School Announcements
PROF Session: “Facilitating Large Graduate Classes” on April 16, 2021. One of the largest influences on adult student satisfaction and success in online courses is a faculty member’s regular and substantive interactions with the students. This session will discuss best practices for facilitation, provide strategies for facilitating large graduate courses in the online environment, and introduce the role of the Academic Coach. Presented by Jennifer Coronado and Torie Wynn of AP.
Upcoming Professional Development Sessions through the TAMIU ARC (Advanced Research and Curriculum) Program. Visit ARC's Professional Development website for more information.
Graduate students who need assistance with a writing assignment can make an appointment with Mr. Franco Zamora, Graduate Writing Consultant. Online appointments are available. Pellegrino 203, writingconsultant@tamiu.edu; 956.326.2477 or visit ARC's Writing Consultation website.
