6. Online Course Update Policy

6.1 Purpose

The Online Course Update Policy governs how changes are made to online courses. The intent of this policy is to balance the need for appropriate approvals from Course Council members with the need for efficiency in making course decisions. This policy works in conjunction with the Integrated Curriculum Model and the Online Course Access Policy.

6.2 Course Maintenance

1. The Course Council is the decision-making body and primary maintenance resource for an online course. Course Council members collect any maintenance or improvement ideas on a shared course council agenda linked with the Course Map in the Instructor Resources section of the course. They prioritize, discuss, and act on items once a semester in a synchronous course council meeting. The agenda helps streamline course council communication and serves as a record of past, current, and proposed changes.
2. Most small fixes can be handled by the course council as part of routine maintenance before the next-semester sections are copied. The curriculum designer will help the course council schedule more involved improvements separately so resources (such as load release or a development contract) can be planned and critical deadlines taken into account.
3. If an urgent issue arises--where current students can’t progress unless something is fixed--a course council member adds the issue to the agenda and alerts the rest of the council with an email to coordinate timely resolution.
4. Instructors may suggest and upvote maintenance and improvement ideas on the Course Improvements and Ideas Exchange in their online community course group. ACLs review these suggestions as they prepare for course council meetings. For urgent issues, instructors contact their ACL.

6.3 Master Course Update Policy

1. Course Councils communicate about and document changes on the course council agenda prior to updating the course.
2. Master Courses are updated by Course Councils (see  section 7.0).
3. Changes to master courses appear in sections the following semester, provided they were made prior to the maintenance deadline.
4. Changes that require significant resources are scheduled as improvement projects.
5. Changes to course outcomes, fundamental design, or philosophy may impact other courses within the program, the program itself, or accreditation. These changes should be discussed with the department chair before proceeding.

6.4 Section Update Policy

1. Individual sections of online courses are considered published and are generally not updated during the semester.
2. Instructors may choose to fix non-critical errors in individual sections. Any changes made by instructors are not to alter outcomes, content, key assessments, or design of the course contrary to the Integrated Curriculum Model.
3. Changes made to individual sections will not persist to the next semester. Desired changes to the master course should be proposed in the community course group for course council consideration.