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Academic Outreach FREE Faculty Services

• Purchase Requests

Any purchase requests made on behalf of College Independent Study and Distance Learning programs, certifications, and courses are processed and paid upfront by us and are assessed to the appropriate course(s) during Closeouts (described below).

• Financial Portfolios

All financial portfolios of Distance Learning programs, certifications, and courses are generated and maintained at no cost. Reports can be designed to you’re your departmental, organizational, or institutional need, as well.

• Textbook Submissions

As courses are set-up for the Master Schedule, our Coordinators will contact you to process any Distance Learning or College Independent Study textbook requests to Barnes & Noble at no cost. It is your responsibility to provide the Coordinator with all pertinent textbook information and to do so by the deadline date. Deadline dates are set by Barnes & Noble and will be communicated to you via email.

• Research Opportunities

We are now launching a campaign to become actively engaged in conducting scholarly research on a variety of Distance Education topics and invites you to join in any research projects that you may find of interest. Authorship opportunities do exist and are encouraged.

• Master Schedule Submission

 All College Independent Study and Distance Learning courses are set-up on the Online Master Schedule by the our Coordinator upon approval of your appropriate Department Head and Dean. College Independent Study and Distance Learning course set-ups follow the same academic deadlines and processes as Main Campus courses.

• Financial Closeouts & Transfers

Distance Learning closeouts are done by program, certification, and/or academic department. Closeouts are processed for each semester on the following schedule and are transferred via lump sum to your appropriate College Dean/Academic Department:

All Summer Sessions – mid-September of each year
Fall Semester – late January of each year
Spring Semester – late May of each year

• Face-to-Face and/or Virtual Orientations

Our Coordinators will develop and attend face-to-face orientations for distance learners throughout the state of Mississippi or via IVN to national groups of students as requested by you and/or your department. All packets and presentation materials are paid and provided for by us, including all travel costs within the state. Should a you and/or your department request that one of our Coordinators go outside the state to conduct a face-to-face orientation, all traveling and related costs will be assessed to your appropriate course(s).

• Distance Learning Instructional Contracts

Although it is most cost-efficient for you to teach Distance Learning courses on-load, there are circumstances that require your department to provide additional pay to you in order to meet the needs of the distance learners enrolled in it programs or courses. In these circumstances, our Coordinator will collect all your necessary information. Your salary and fringe benefits are decided upon in accordance with AOCE Policies & Procedures and are considered departmental costs.

• Course, Faculty, & Technology Evaluations

Every semester, institutional assessments are conducted by us for all Distance Learning courses. Once evaluations are received by the predetermined deadline date, we analyze and disseminate them to you and your Department Head. Copies are filed in an electronic folder for future reference and in order to meet SACS requirements on assessment and evaluation. Students evaluate each course based on the following criteria: (a) technology, (b) instructor, and (c) course content.

• Distance Learner Admission & Registration

All Distance Learning and College Independent Study admission and registration processes are conducted by us according to institutional policy and deadline dates. Due to the nature of distance learning, some flexibility in admission and registration deadline dates are allowed; however, only under special circumstances and at the discretion of your academic department in communication with our Coordinator.

• Student Workers/Graduate Assistants Support

Our Coordinators are permitted one shared Student Worker/Graduate Assistant as a no-cost service; however, if a your department, organization, or institution requests additional staffing for a specific distance learning academic need, we will pay all salaries and/or tuition remission upfront and approve and process all hiring paperwork. All associated costs (salary and fringes, tuition remission, office equipment, materials, and supplies, to name a few) will be assessed to your   appropriate course(s).

• Enrollment & Credit Hour Production Reports

We generate a report each semester of Distance Learning course enrollment and credit hour production that can be designed for your particular department or college at your request at no cost. Reports are available from Fall 2001 to the present. Report availability runs on the following schedule and will be sent via electronic transfer upon your request or standing order:

All Summer Sessions – Available in mid-September of each year
Fall Semester – Available in late January of each year
Spring Semester – Available in late May of each year

• College Independent Study Instructor and Development/Revision Contracts

All College Independent Study courses require a 12-month contract, which is generated once a year. Your instructional pay is based on student completion and is processed every other month as follows:
 
                  $75.00 per student completing the course
                  $50.00 per student dropping the course after the 60th day
                  $25.00 per student dropping the course within the first 60 days

Development/Revision pay is available and is processed upon completion of     work as categorized below -
$1000.00 - course rewrite to include new textbook, new syllabus, no less than 50% update of course materials, and develop structure for publication online
$750.00 - moderate revision to include updated textbook, updated syllabus, updates to less than 50% of the course materials, changes to current tests/examinations, and develop structure for publication online
$500.00 - partial revision to include minimal changes to the syllabus, changes to approximately 25% of the course materials, few (if any) changes to current tests/examinations, and develop structure for publication online
$250.00 - minimal revision to include few changes to syllabus, minimal changes to course/tests/examinations, and develop structure for publication online

• Inter-Institutional, Military, & Interdisciplinary Partnership Development

Should your academic department wish to pursue a Distance Learning or College Independent Study partnership with other departments on campus, with the military, or with other institutions (2 and 4 year), we will bring all partners to the table and generate any agreement necessary. Facilitation and coordination of the partnership will be provided by us at no cost.

• Proposal/Grant Development for Programmatic Needs

There is a wide-variety of opportunities available to you in regards to the method of delivery for any College Independent Study or Distance Learning endeavor. Anytime you or your department wants to engage in expanding existing ventures, transitioning delivery methods, and/or enhancing technological software and tools, then we will develop and obtain approval for all proposals and grants necessary at no cost.

In addition, participation in grants is a great way for tenure-track professors to increase their marketability for tenure and promotion and provides good publicity to the department, the college, and the institution. Grant accounts obtained in partnership with AOCE are managed in an AOCE account.

 

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