Course Coordinators in our required Pharmacy courses have a special set of responsibilities to ensure that faculty are fully supported in their teaching efforts (but accountable for established course policies), and that all students in the course (regardless of campus) have a quality learning opportunity. Recent years have brought increasing challenges for Coordinators in terms of (1) the number of faculty involved in team-taught, integrated coursework, (2) the offering of courses that cross traditional divisional boundaries, and (3) delivering both required and elective courses at a distance. Thus, it is imperative that the Coordinator and his/her teaching faculty have a shared understanding of course policies and expectations before the course gets underway, and that problems arising during the semester are addressed expeditiously and consistent with the established course policies.
This Guide is intended to provide helpful information and links to assist Course Coordinators in the management of their assignments. First and foremost, we want to thank you for your willingness to accept such an important and challenging (but oftentimes thankless) responsibility. Secondly, we would ask your feedback on the information provided, along with any additional information you would like to have linked to this page.
Again, thanks much for all you do! Patrick J. Davis, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
#1: FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, ICE THAT SYLLABUS!
It is imperative that all course policies, schedules, etc., be clearly articulated in the course syllabus. If you have trouble with students or faculty, there is no substitute for being able to point to your well-thought-out syllabus and say "... as is clearly indicated right here,..!". Further, if we ever do run into serious course issues (e.g., policy challenges by students), the first question that will be asked by the Provost's Office is: "What does it say in the syllabus?"
You will avoid 95% of the common headaches with a comprehensive, clear syllabus. An example syllabus is provided, not because it is the best, but simply to show the headings that should be addressed and some sample wording. Specific areas you may want to pay special attention to are as follows:
We frequently get inquiries from Faculty as to whether a particular student has a history of requesting early or postponed exams, and there is no way for us to respond unless faculty are diligent about using these forms. It also gives us an opportunity to intervene with students that show a pattern of abuse.
Also, be careful of your policy wording if a student misses an exam without prior authorization. There is a big difference between "...will receive a grade of zero..."and "...may receive a grade of zero..." Each wording has its own merit, but substantially different implications in terms of what will (or can) be done.
Finally, make sure that your policy/decisions on missed exams makes sense. For example, does it make sense that, if a student misses an exam, the score on the next exam will be counted for both exams (i.e., the current one and, again, for the one missed)? Such a policy is neither educatioinally sound nor defensible.
Also, make sure your faculty do not respond to any of these requests until the submission deadline passes. If points are awarded prematurely, it's amazing how fast the message spreads that "they'll give you the points if you simply argue the following...!"
It is important that you instruct your exam proctors on what to do in cases of suspected academic dishonesty before they actually witness an incident and discover that they don't know how to handle it. Please be sure you are familiar with the University's expectations of faculty in terms of academic integrity. If you have questions or concerns, particularly if they relate to an incident, do not hesitate to contact Assoc. Dean Davis.
In addition, recognize that the Services for Students with Disabilities (SSB) Office will provide a letter to you as course coordinator with the specific accommodations that must be addressed (nothing more, nothing less). In the absence of that letter, a disability to be accommodated does not exist.
#2: DECIDE COURSE VIDEOTAPING/VIDEOSTREAMING POLICIES BEFORE CLASS STARTS! This became a critical issue considered by the Education Technology Committee in Spring-02. As a result of their deliberations, a form was developed to help Course Coordinators to decide on a policy with their faculty, and communicate the decision(s) clearly to the LRC (and, hence, to all campuses) what the policy for that course will be. It is imperative that your faculty understand what's happening in terms of their lectures being recorded/streamed, and that students know what to expect in terms of availability (see sample statement). A number of questions concerning faculty prerogative, pedagogy, and logistics arose, which have been fully addressed by the faculty-oriented FAQ's generated by the Education Technology Committee.
It would be great if there was a uniform policy for your course (i.e., for all faculty), but if you have, for example, a lone faculty member who does not want to have their lectures taped/streamed, that can be accommodated on the form. That said, be sure to let that faculty member know that it is their responsibility to inform the class that their lecture taping does not follow the general course policy, not yours (this falls under the heading of "don't try to be a hero!"). A suggested policy statement for video-streaming is on the sample syllabus.
#3. CLEARLY DEFINE THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF YOUR LOCAL COORDINATORS! Because of the logistics issues associated with coordinating courses broadcast to multiple campuses, we have implemented the practice of identifying local coordinators on the non-originating campuses to deal with these issues. They are there to help you make the course run smoothly, but it is imperative that both you (as Course Coordinator) and your Local Coordinators have a clear understanding of everyone's responsibilities. Attached you will find the semester-based survey we use with Course and Local Coordinators to assess whether there is a clear understanding of everyone's responsibilities in course setup and execution. This form can be used as a 'checklist' to make sure the key bases are covered. Examples of the types of questions that need to be addressed are as follows (certainly not an exhaustive list, but they are issues that have come up in the past):
#4: SET YOUR COURSE POLICY ON PACKETS/HANDOUTS, AND HOLD FACULTY TO IT! This has been one of the biggest headaches for Course Coordinators, and it doesn't have to be so! A course packet is preferred in most cases, and you can simply tell your faculty of the deadline for submission (typically two weeks prior to the first class day so they can be duplicated), and if they are not submitted by that deadline, it is their responsibility to provide copies of the handouts for distribution. Now, that may sound harsh, but in the absence of such a policy, you'd better be thinking about who's going to copy and distribute the handout faxed to three campuses 30 minutes before the lecture, because that's what your going to have to deal with!
There's lots of possibilities here (e.g., the policy above; a policy that "handouts need to be electronically posted on the website two days before the lecture"; a policy that handouts must be Fed-Ex'd to all campuses two days before lectures, etc. etc.). But again, the key is to set your policies so faculty clearly understand the expectations, and hold them to it! Clearly, their Division Head will be interested to know that the handouts are being duplicated at Divisional expense because the faculty member did not get their handouts in by the deadline.
How about an anecdote? A number of us recently attended a Teaching Seminar, in which the handouts for a very process-oriented keynote weren't duplicated in time. Over the first 45-60 minutes, batches of handouts (generated as fast as the Xerox could go) were filtering into the room, starting at the back tables (naturally, we were good citizens sitting at the front). We all do recall that someone gave an explanation as to why the handouts weren't ready, but, to a person, not one of us can recall the explanation! Why? Because we didn't care why! All we cared about was that we didn't have the darn handout!
Now I know how the students feel in these circumstances. And you'd better believe that they don't care if the office assistant didn't bring them down versus they were never sent. All they care about is that they don't have the darn handout! Oh, and by the way, never-never-never plan on duplicating faxed powerpoint handouts! They're terrible!
#5: YOU'LL HAVE ENOUGH OF A CHALLENGE IN CONDUCTING YOUR OWN TEACHING EVALUATION; DON'T TRY TO DO EVERYONE ELSES TOO! This also falls under the "Don't Try to be a Hero" rubric. We now have a formal process in place for faculty to request their teaching evaluation materials. The form used for this purpose is straight-forward, but there is still occasional confusion when we add the complication of courses being taught at a distance. Clearly, if a faculty member is lecturing to four campuses and is going to conduct their evaluation next Friday morning, there is considerable coordination necessary for all four sites to have the forms to conduct the survey at the same time. Can you imagine what message it sends to students if the home site is conducting the lecturer's evaluation but the three remote sites aren't?
Because of the increased complexity in the logistics associated with our professional curriculum, we have prepared a set of "Guidelines for Faculty and Area Coordinators For Course Instructor Surveys"which (we believe) addresses many of the questions that come up. What should be of interest to you, in particular, is the process and responsibility outline for the faculty and area coordinators in requesting the forms, and for the course coordinator and local coordinators (on the other campuses) in terms of the logistics of conducting the surveys. In case you don't like narrative, there is also a flowchart that explains the process.
As some Course Coordinators have already learned, your life will be greatly simplified by requiring a particular faculty member to conduct the survey at the end of their series of lectures, rather than taking time from the next lecturer (who will then require time from the next lecturer, etc., etc.). In any case, the worst scenario is to have an avalanche of surveys done during the final examination period. The last thing students want to do is fill out a bunch of forms on faculty they haven't seen for 8 weeks, and their evaluations typically reflect it. The College policy on Peer Assessment of Teaching (PDF Format) is also available online.
#6. PROVIDE YOUR FACULTY INSTRUCTORS INFO AS TO HOW TO HAVE WEB INFO POSTED. Many faculty now want their slides, reading materials, or links to literature posted on web page for the course they are participating in. Do you want these materials first sent you prior to forwarding to Belinda, or do you want Faculty to forward the materials directly to Belinda? Documents prepared in Powerpoint and Word are easily saved as html documents via one of the 'Save' commands, which is how Belinda would prefer that the original document be forwarded for posting (rather than having her do the conversion). Filenames should be simple (no spaces or special characters), but descriptive (e.g., syllabus143m02. Remember that you and your faculty can also use one of the established courseware packages (WebCT or Blackboard) where you have complete control of what's uploaded, electronic grade reports, etc.
#7. PLAN AHEAD FOR ADDITIONAL ROOM NEEDS. In addition to the regularly scheduled classroom, a number of faculty want to have additional room assignments for review sessions, Academic Assistant tutorials, etc. Please see Janice Sutton before the semester starts so that we can reserve your space as part of your 'regularly scheduled' class time (and block out those rooms). In contrast, you may have occasional needs for ad hoc room assignments (e.g., a spontaneous request for a review session). Such ad hoc requests are now handled using an online request form.
#8. KEEP IN TOUCH WITH YOUR FACULTY DURING THE SEMESTER; DON'T RELY ON JUST THE INITIAL SYLLABUS MAILING! Faculty are busy and may or may not have recorded their lectures and examination dates on their calendars. It's a good idea to send out weekly reminders (e.g., every Friday) the faculty who will be teaching the next week as to the schedule and what their handout status is they may have forgotten that they didn't provide copy for the course packet and so need to duplicate their class handouts and get them to the respective campuses). For example:
Greetings to all. Just a reminder of who's 'up' for next week in the Pharmacotherapy IIa-IIc sequence. Thanks.IIa Monday: 9am-12pm Davis (handout in packet, pages 68-93)
IIb Wedednesday: 10am-12pm Koeller (handouts need to be provided)
IIc Friday: 9am-12 Talbert & Frei (handouts in packet; pages 109-123)
Likewise, you can use this same system to give faculty a 'heads up' on exam questions so you're not scrambling to get questions the day of the exam:
Just a reminder that we have our last summary exam in Pharmacotherapy IIA (375E) next Wednesday at 8am, so I would request that I receive your exam questions by Monday at the latest. Based on the schedule, the breakdown would be as follows:David: 10 lec x 5 questions/lec = 50 questions
Danielle: 1 lec x 5 questions/lec = 5 questions
Thanks much.
#9. STAY IN CLOSE TOUCH WITH THE LRC (OR YOUR LOCAL BROADCASTING STAFF) CONCERNING AV NEEDS AND ANY TECHNOLOGY-RELATED PROBLEMS THAT ARISE. While technology across multiple campuses works very well most of the time, there will be the occasional glitch that interferes with effective delivery of lectures. It is important that we document incidents as they arise so that we can determine the source and get it corrected before it becomes a problem. I encourage you to use the LRC's new online "Incident Reporting Form" available at http://146.6.115.99/. Click on incidentrep.fp5; and click "new" to generate a new form. Again, we cannot track and address problems that arise across four campuses unless we are made aware of them. This form is a convenient centralized way of doing that.
#10. IF ALL ELSE FAILS ... Hopefully most of the problems you may encounter are addressed in this Course Coordinators Guide. If not, please feel free to contact me t any time, and I'll try to help in any way I can. Again, thanks much for all you do in coordinating our professional courses.
Patrick J. Davis, Assoc. Dean for Academic Affairs.
12 July 2007
College of Pharmacy at
UT Austin