Working Group on Online Education

Charge:  

To evaluate the costs and benefits related to developing a strong online instructional presence at Rice; to issue recommendations on its implementation; and to address general policy issues related to online communication.

1. Coursera makes it possible for professors to produce and "publish" classes as online courses open to a mass public. What should the faculty's role be in administering Rice’s relationship with Coursera? Issues include: IT and other support for instructors; faculty training; potential revenue sharing; and identifying criteria for course approval.

2. Coursera courses currently count for no credit at Rice and provide no certificate showing successful completion. Should they? If they should, then how should Rice ensure that such courses conform to the standards set by SACS and the standards of our own university?

3. Currently the university as a whole has no clear policy on granting credit for online courses in general. Should online courses count for transfer credit? Is it possible that such courses could count at the University level, but that a department could refuse to count them for credit? By what criteria should such courses be approved for transfer credit?

4. Should online courses count for placement purposes? How should such placement assessment take place?

5. What other challenges does online teaching pose for Rice University? E.g., how does one verify course participation and prevent cheating?

     Chair:  David Alexander

     Members: 
          Margaret Beier
          John Greiner
          Don Johnson
          Kirsten Ostherr
          Fred Oswald     

Working group approved by the Executive Committee on September 19, 2012.   

To view the final report from the working group, dated May 2, 2013, please see the Senate wiki space:  ONLINE EDUCATION.