5+Systemic+considerations

Course redesign does not happen in a vacuum. Faculty, developers, and instructional designers operate within complex systems which demand additional consideration of various customs, laws, policies, procedures, relationships, etc. The capacity of the institution to support faculty and students making the transition to increased online learning should not be taken for granted. Some additional resources for exploration are given below:
 * Assessing readiness
 * Student support
 * Academic integrity
 * Accessibility

In addition to those, attention to the following are also important:
 * Technical infrastructure
 * Copyright awareness
 * Local intellectual property, course approval, and other official academic policies
 * For example, see [|http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~facaff/documents/policyAug2008.pdf]
 * p. 19: Hybrid Course policy
 * pp. 23-25: Distance Education policy
 * pp. 45-47: Intellectual property and works for hire
 * IT security and student privacy (FERPA)
 * Faculty compensation and recognition (or lack of) in the Retention/Tenure/Promotion process (see Section 2 of this file for download: [|Faculty and Distance Education: Development, Tenure, and Promotion (PDF)] (a policy brief from DistanceEducator.com).
 * Benchmarking and feedback mechanisms to provide useful data on the success of online learning initiatives.

Assessing Readiness
The following links provide examples of readiness instruments designed to help different constituencies assess how well suited they may be for teaching and learning in hybrid or fully online courses.

Institutional and Course
 * http://www.thencat.org/PlanRes/Readiness.htm
 * [|http://www.wascsenior.org/findit/files/forms/GoodPracticesinDistanceEducation.pdf] (download WASC PDF - Good Practices For Electronically Offered Degree and Certificate Programs)
 * http://www.center.rpi.edu/PCR/PCRarchives/GrantGde.pdf (download RPI PDF - review questions on page 11 regarding Institutional Readiness)

Instructor and Faculty Support
 * http://teach.ucf.edu/begin/survey.html (Self-assessment from U. of Central Florida)
 * http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ah7sqmdc692s_44csrb2zdn (Questions used by SDSU instructional designers during initial discussions with faculty indicating interest in teaching online)
 * [|20084_CourseStream_Criteria-SFSU-draft.doc] (Draft document used by SFSU instructional technologists to assess whether to provide course streaming support to a faculty member ... approach and criteria could be adapted to other course redesign situations)

Student
 * http://global.cscc.edu/GettingStarted/readi.asp (Columbus State Community College)
 * http://www.alt.usg.edu/sort/ (University System of Georgia)
 * http://www.marylandonline.org/assessments/online_learning_for_me (U. of Maryland)
 * http://learn.ucf.edu/1intro.html (U. of Central Florida)
 * [|https://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00i/150/fa03/readiness.html] (CSU Northridge)

Student Support
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM07110.pdf In this //Educause Quarterly// article, the author presents tips for online students based on survey data from successful online students. Seven tips are presented: (1) develop a time-management strategy, (2) make the most of online discussions, (3) use it or lose it, (4) make questions useful to your learning, (5) stay motivated, (6) communicate the instruction techniques that work, and (7) make connections with fellow students.
 * How Students Develop Online Learning Skills**

http://www.outreach.washington.edu/ol/handbook/tips.asp This Univesity of Washington site contains a valuable list of strategies and tips for students who seek to be successful in online courses. Suggestions are practical and very easy to apply.
 * UW Online Course Student Handbook**

Academic Integrity and Online Learning
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eqm0348.pdf This article in //Educause Quarterly// addresses important issues of academic dishonesty that might arise in online courses. It contains recommendations for syllabus design, content presentation, assessment, and monitoring of student activities in online courses.
 * Designing Online Courses to Discourage Dishonesty**

**Accessibility**
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/PDF/distance.learn.pdf Another in the set of DO-IT resources from the University of Washington, this article identifies access barriers to online learning, including blindness, learning disabilities, mobility impairments, hearing impairments, and speech impairments. Universal design principles are summarized, including specific recommendations for the design of course web pages, printed materials, and other multimedia resources.
 * Real Connections: Making Distance Learning Accessible to Everyone**

http://access.sdsu.edu/instructmater.htm This is an example of a checklist for faculty to consider when designing instructional materials along with self-help resources and pointers to local support.
 * SDSU Instructional Materials Accessibility site**

http://www.sjsu.edu/cfd/resources/instructional/accessibility/accessible_docs.html Includes links, templates, and how-tos to help faculty create accessible PowerPoints, PDFs, Word documents, and websites. Includes Word syllabus templates.
 * SJSU Resources for Creating Accessible Instructional Materials**

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ajjrjbn2gnrz_38fcpzzzgn This google doc contains an extensive list of additional websites devoted to issues related to making online learning accessible for all.
 * Web Sites on Accessibility in Online Courses**