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Infusing Consistent Syllabus Templates Across Your College:

A Case Study

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• Introductions

• Case studies

› Rowan-Cabarrus Community College

› Lansing Community College

• Giveaway

• Questions and answers

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▪ The syllabus: Your school’s contract with students. Their roadmap to success.

▪ Typical Scenarios

› Various form factors (paper, .pdf, Word, html)

› Wildly inconsistent, error-prone output

› Inefficient, labor intensive process

› Adjuncts hired at last minute

› Multiple campus locations

› Various learning modalities

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▪ Drivers

› “2nd layer” of info

› Outcomes focus

› Policies, required

statements, etc.

› Information changes

constantly, comes from

every corner of your school

› Managing it and delivering

on deadline is nearly

impossible

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Rowan-Cabarrus

Community College

Presented by Sharon Craig

System Administrator, Information Systems

Rowan-Cabarrus College, NC

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Each semester, RCCC managed 1,200+ syllabi, including 7 templates, such as program and delivery method versions.

Staff handled:

▪ collect hundreds of syllabi

▪ review syllabi for approval or revision

▪ convert all Word documents to PDFs

▪ move approved syllabi to a shared drive

▪ upload PDFs to a website, and finally

▪ insert link to PDF manually in Bb shells for DE offerings.

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▪ Time consuming…an unexpected change could take 30+ hours

▪ Labor intensive…weeks of work for one person each semester

▪ Costly…paper and toner

▪ Obsolete…once printed

▪ No tracking or reporting…multiple versions distributed, no way to audit

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▪ Design, edit and view online (NO PAPER!)

▪ Permission levels

▪ Template levels

▪ Audit tracking

▪ Reporting

▪ Integration with LMS and SIS

▪ Single Sign-on

▪ Global edits

▪ Consistent design for all delivery methods

▪ Archiving

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Institutional Institutional

Course

Institutional

Course

Section

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Course Title & Number

Description

Objectives

Meeting Times & Locations

Contact Information

Outcomes

Materials

Course Policies

Deliverables

Institute Policies

Evaluation Strategies

Schedule

Course

Members

Public

Academic

Community

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/ /

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/

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▪ Authenticated

through LMS

▪ Section creation

through manual feed

file process

› Plans to add to

automation in future

▪ Some access

granted through

group permissions

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▪ Program Chair and Deans modified level access

▪ Plan out template levels

▪ Pull in the right groups for discussion

› Financial Aid

› Student Services

› Policy levels

▪ Plan for the unexpected

› Cancelled and Templates domains/campus

› Leave room for expansion or ‘other’

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Lansing

Community College

Presented by Jamie Stone

Adjunct Faculty Member, Psychology

Lansing Community College, MI

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▪ Third largest community college in

Michigan

▪ Approximately 1,150 courses each year

▪ Career and technical programs,

developmental programs, and transfer

degrees

▪ Online,hybrid, and face to face classes

each semester

▪ Large percentage of adjunct faculty

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▪ Joined LCC faculty as psychology

instructor in 2007

▪ Was given several examples of instructor

syllabi; no standard template

▪ Frankenstein syllabus; different

descriptions, outcomes, etc.

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▪ Started with hard copies, then used Lotus Notes, moved to CurricUNET

▪ Had established syllabus policies and procedures but current syllabus system was not meeting needs

▪ Faculty required to turn in copy of syllabus to department each semester; different start dates led to management issues

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▪ Institutional adoption› Had to migrate data from CurricUNET

› Faculty and staff having to learn yet another system

› No current efficient way to audit syllabi; multiple versions

▪ Personnel› Training

› Time consuming; labor intensive

▪ Accessibility› No integration with LMS or SIS

› Hard to access master courses

› No section syllabi

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▪ Design, edit and view online

▪ Easily searchable and publicly accessible

▪ Control over permissions and templates

▪ Auditing capabilities

▪ Integration with LMS and SIS

▪ Consistent design for all delivery methods

▪ Syllabus archival function

▪ Intuitive for faculty, staff, and students

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▪ Implemented Concourse in 2013

▪ Migrated outcome data from CurricUNET

▪ Descriptions from Banner

▪ Institutional policies managed by Academic Affairs; standardized course information managed by departments

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▪ Linked syllabus templates

▪ Manage specific item permissions

▪ LTI Integration with D2L

▪ Authentication, automated feed

processing

▪ Syllabi managed in one location

▪ Increased consistency and efficiency

▪ Life is better

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▪ Consensus is possible

▪ Engage faculty early on

▪ Set realistic and attainable goals

▪ Get IT involved early…no surprises

▪ Be flexible but prepared

▪ Use Concourse pilot to help with decision-

making

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▪ www.intellidemia.com

▪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOy0ZblQ_3E

(Concourse explainer video)

▪ George Cook, VP Sales & Corp Dev

▪ 312-929-0155

▪ george@intellidemia.com

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