Educational Technology provides a process to help faculty develop a new online or hybrid course at NMC. With some exceptions, this process is only for courses that have never been listed with the online or hybrid delivery method. This process is not for courses that have already been taught online or hybrid by a different instructor in the past.

Step 1: Approval Process

Consult the Course Development Timeline: Fall Delivery or the Course Development Timeline: Spring Delivery to determine the best time to submit the appropriate paperwork to begin course development.

• If the intention is to deliver the new online/hybrid course for the first time in the Fall semester, paperwork should be submitted by the previous November so the course can be developed and reviewed prior to registration opening in March.
• If the intention is to deliver the new online/hybrid course for the first time in the Spring semester, paperwork should be submitted by the previous May so the course can be developed and reviewed prior to registration opening in October.

Begin the proposal process by filling out the Online/Hybrid Proposal Form in the Course Information Management (CIM) system. The form provides context for why the course is being moved into online/hybrid delivery and what types of resources/support are needed and also indicates if the developer will be compensated. Once the workflow is started, your Academic Office Manager will receive a notification to approve the request. It will then be sent to the Academic Area Chair for approval and then to the Vice President for Educational Services for final approval. Once approved, Educational Technology staff will be notified and will reach out to you to schedule a course development meeting.

Step 2: Kickoff Meeting

Once the necessary paperwork is approved and sent to Ed Tech, we’ll schedule a kickoff meeting with the course developer to:

• determine the scope of the project
• create a development roadmap
• set development milestones
• identify any shared tasks
• schedule additional meetings with the developer as needed

Step 3: Course Development

Many faculty choose to meet with Ed Tech frequently throughout the development process to share tasks and work together to develop the course. Some course developers elect to tackle the bulk of development on their own, checking in with Ed Tech as needed and consulting the Review Guide Feature Chart or either the Online Course Review Guide or Hybrid Course Review Guide.

Step 4: Course Review

Once development is complete, Ed Tech will use either the Online Course Review Guide or Hybrid Course Review Guide to assess the course. Feedback will be provided to the instructor and Academic Area Chairs.

If a course doesn’t meet 80% of the criteria on the guide, faculty are invited to work with Ed Tech on various aspects of the course. This usually involves sharing and completing tasks until the missing criteria are met. Communication during the review process is never one way. It’s typically a dynamic back and forth between course reviewers and developers to ensure accuracy and accountability.

Not meeting 80% of the criteria never involves punitive measures. It’s common that a course will not pass an initial review. Once initial feedback on the course is given and once faculty have a chance to address missing criteria, courses almost always pass the final review.

Step 5: Registration

Once the course reaches 80% of the criteria, it can be listed for registration. The new online or hybrid course will have to go through the review process again in roughly five years, per Higher Learning Commission (HLC) requirements. Learn more about the Course Review Cohort & five year review cycle.

Any questions about the New Course Development process can be directed to Mark DeLonge (mdelonge@nmc.edu) or Ryan Bernstein (rbernstein@nmc.edu).