Provost course development fund supports new online courses for the 2013-14 academic year
Fourteen courses were selected to participate in the Institute for Distance and Distributed Learning’s Provost Course Development Fund during the spring 2013 semester.
This fund provides financial support to develop new online courses or provide significant updates to an existing online course.
“I applied for the Provost Course Development Fund because I had no previous experience teaching or learning in the online environment,” shares Hannah Scherer, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Extension Education in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “It is important that I offer my course online to reach working professionals across the commonwealth and I wanted to deliver a quality course.” Working with the institute’s instructional designers has been an invaluable experience and my course is much better because of their guidance.”
The online versions of the 14 courses currently in development include
- STEM Integration in Agricultural Education, under faculty developer Hannah Scherer, in the Department of Agriculture and Extension Education;
- Contemporary Issues in Special Education, under faculty developer Debbie Wells, in the School of Education in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences;
- Survey of Art History II, under faculty developer Michelle Moseley-Christian, in the School of Visual Arts in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies;
- Urbanization and Development, under faculty developer Jocelyn Widemer, in the School of Public and International Affairs in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies;
- Multicultural Communication, under faculty developer Aaron Ansell, in the Department of Religion and Culture in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences;
- Sustainable Design and the LEED Green Building Rating Systems, under faculty developer Lisa M. Tucker, in the School of Architecture + Design Interior Design Program in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies;
- Medical Terminology, under faculty developer Renee Selberg-Eaton, in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences;
- Local Government and the Professional Manager, under faculty developer Charles Stripling, in the School of Public and International Affairs;
- Human Resource, Financial, and Performance Management for Local Government Managers, under faculty developer Stephanie Davis, in the School of Public and International Affairs;
- Construction Control Techniques, under faculty developer Jesus M. de la Garza, in the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering;
- Administration of Special Education Programs, under faculty developer Ted Price, in the School of Education;
- Introduction to Mixed Methods Research, under faculty developer Elizabeth Creamer, in the School of Education;
- Advances Studies in Urban Forest Ecosystems, under faculty developer Susan D. Day, in the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation in the College of Natural Resources and Environment; and
- Management Theory and Leadership Practice, under faculty developer Kevin D. Carlson, in the Department of Management in the Pamplin College of Business.
Applications are now being accepted for the fall 2013 Provost Course Development Fund through June 30. The funding schedule and application materials are available on the institute’s website.
Awarding of funds for online course development is determined after the evaluation of a grant application and proposal agreement submitted by faculty and endorsed by the program and department head. The application is reviewed for approval and priority for funding is given to those courses that are a part of or in the process of applying to the university’s Enterprise Fund program. Second priority is given to developing online undergraduate Curriculum for Liberal Education courses and online upper-division courses required for any given major or minor.
Priority is also given to courses in underrepresented departments, service classes, classes with large enrollments, and classes with lab components. When those priorities have been satisfied, support will be given to the development of undergraduate general electives. Additionally, the course must also be offered a minimum of three times over the next three years in order for funding to be granted.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
