Faculty handbook v4 0 by Tim Merry

Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook

Ubiquity Design............................................................................................................... 2 Definitions ..................................................................................................................... 4 1. Biography and Photo ............................................................................................ 6 2. Course Syllabus .................................................................................................... 6 3. Mediography ......................................................................................................... 6 4. Module Content .................................................................................................... 7 5. Self Development ................................................................................................. 8 6. Facilitated Group Discussion................................................................................ 9 7. Creative Assignments ........................................................................................... 9 8. Peer Review ........................................................................................................ 10 9. Integral Assessment ........................................................................................... 10 Missions .................................................................................................................. 10 Faculty Roles ................................................................................................................ 11 Department Co-ordinator ........................................................................................... 11 Core Faculty Member ................................................................................................. 11 Guest Faculty Member ............................................................................................... 11 Senior Faculty ............................................................................................................. 11 Self Development Faculty ........................................................................................... 12 Teaching Assistants .................................................................................................... 12 Mentor ........................................................................................................................ 12 Course Tutor ............................................................................................................... 13 Faculty Remuneration .................................................................................................. 13 Course Preparation ..................................................................................................... 13 Course Material .......................................................................................................... 14 Self Development Exercises ....................................................................................... 14 Course Facilitation ...................................................................................................... 15 Types of Courses .......................................................................................................... 16 Planned Courses ........................................................................................................ 16 Self-Paced Courses .................................................................................................... 16 Initiative Courses ........................................................................................................ 17

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook Ubiquity Design These are the main areas of student activity at Ubiquity:

What does an online course at Ubiquity look like? The following section describes the journey of creating and running an online course at Ubiquity. If you have any questions after reading it, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. An online course at Ubiquity has the same basic foundation as courses at most traditional universities: It generates 3 credits for the student (out of a total of 120 needed) It is composed of 40-45 hrs of engagement with qualified faculty Students are expected to spend c. 80-90 hours on self-study activity The 40-45 hours of qualified faculty engagement is split into two general areas— Course Materials and Course Activities. Within each, are a number of different components, which you will create and then supervise with your teaching © Ubiquity University 2013

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook assistants or senior faculty. The timings are to ensure compliance with credit hour requirements. Component

Hours

Faculty

Lectures & Presentations

12,5

Core or Guest Faculty

Integration Tasks

7,5

Core Faculty

Self Development

Life Competences Faculty

Facilitated Group Discussion

Core & Teaching Faculty

Peer Review

Core & Teaching Faculty

Course Materials

Course Activities

A course is divided into 15 modules each of which contain c. 50 minutes of presentation and a 15-minute integration task in the middle and at the end.

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook Definitions Lectures / Presentations –are pre-recorded video or audio presentations that contain your primary course content. Each course is divided into 15 modules each containing c. 50 minutes of presentation, with a 15-minute “Integration task” in the middle and at the end. Integration Tasks – are quizzes, learning activities, or short tasks (c. 15 mins) that help students reflect on and integrate the material they’re learning. Self Development Exercises – are activities that guide students in building their Modes of Engagement through different exercises (e.g. kinaesthetic exercise, meditation, visualisation, musical experience). The activities are selected to support students’ engagement of the course’s core themes. Missions – are real-life tasks that students perform to practise and demonstrate the integration of what they are learning. They increase with complexity as students move through the university. Facilitated group discussion – are faculty-facilitated activities like conference calls and online forum discussions that aim to provide opportunities for studentto-student and student-to-faculty interaction. Peer reviews – are faculty-overseen processes that guide students through a critical review of each other’s Creative Assignments. Integral assessments – are structured reflective exercises engaged during and at the end of the course and which aim to guide students through an integrallyinformed assessments of their work throughout a given course. Assessments get more complex as students progress through the program and they may be customized to meet department aims. Creative Assignments – are tasks that the students are given during and/or at the end of the course. The purpose of the Creative Assignments is to have the students engage with the material and experiences they have been exposed to, and build on it through their own creative process. The students will peer-review each other’s assignments. Core Faculty - the faculty member who designs the course and provides most of the material Guest Faculty - a qualified teacher who contributes an occasional lecture or presentation Self Development faculty - faculty members specialized in providing forms for the development of Ubiquity’s self development exercises Teaching Assistants – faculty who support Core Faculty in the delivery of their course, assessment of tasks, and with student interaction.

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook This is an overview of the different course elements that Core Faculty need to produce or supervise:

1. Biography and Photo 2. Course Syllabus Learning objectives & 15 Modules with descriptions

3. Mediography per Module eg. books, papers, video, audio

4. Module content Per module: i. 50 min video or audio presentation ii. Multimedia resources – min 3 hrs material iii. 2 x 15 minute Integration Tasks

5. Self Development 10 hrs of exercises for students to engage in

6. Facilitated Group Discussion Asynchronous online forum & live conference calls (10 hrs)

7. Creative Assignment(s) 8. Peer Review 9. Integral Assessment © Ubiquity University 2013

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook 1. Biography and Photo This should be an engaging text c. 250 words that serves as an introduction of you to the students. It would be nice if it didn’t feel too formal while at the same time communicating your academic pedigree and experience in your course’s subject matter. Feel free to choose a photo that helps the students get a feel for you as a person.

2. Course Syllabus Complete this using the Syllabus Template. You can use the Example syllabus for guidance. The syllabus will contain: -

The short bio above An Introduction setting the context for the course within Ubiquity’s mission and values and relating it to your particular perspective on and passion for the subject. A list of Course Learning Outcomes, which describe what the students should be able to do (quantitative and qualitative) by the end of the course. It should include a list of the Ubiquity Modes of Engagement that it contributes to. A description of Instructional Modes and Methods A detailed Course Outline that lists the 15 modules with a description of which topics will be covered.

A more thorough syllabus storyboard will be developed in a later pre-production phase, to include: -

A story board of the steps in each module A description of any Guest Faculty that the students will be exposed to during the course, including their academic credentials. An overview of the different assessments that you will use so the students can demonstrate what they have learned.

3. Mediography This should list different media material that you want the students to either be required or invited to engage in. It should identify which material goes with which module (or is general background material for the course as a whole), which is required and optional, what format the material is in (e.g. book, article, website, video, audio) and any permalinks that point permanently to the material online. Please format by APA standards. © Ubiquity University 2013

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook 4. Module Content This is where the rubber hits the road! This covers your pre-recorded material that students will engage with online. For the 12,5 hours of faculty presentations (15 x 50 mins), there are a number of scenarios: a. you already have audio-visual material that meet our criteria and simply need to be arranged to fit the course design. In this case, add the titles of your existing material to the Course Outline alongside the appropriate module. b. you have no audio-visual material and it all needs to be created. In this case we will be in touch to arrange the recording and production process. c. you have some material but some of it needs the quality needs improving and other material needs to be created from scratch. The presentation material will be split into 15 x 50 min modules. These 50 min. modules will be split in two by a task, creating two segments of 22-23 minutes. Ideally you will split your video material into smaller segments of c 12 mins, as long as the total contact time with qualified faculty adds up to c. 50 mins per module. This presentation material can either all be presented by you or you can choose to involve qualified guest faculty1 to provide some of it. There will be one integration task at the half-way point of a module and one at the end. These c. 15 minute tasks can take a number of different forms. Their purpose is to help the student to integrate what they have been learning and for the faculty to see how the students are doing and adapt material where necessary. A task could be: A quiz A subjective entry into a learning journal Writing or recording a 300-word summary Starbursting (students draw a star and write who/what/when/where/why and list all they know about the topic under those headings A KWL table (3 columns where the students write what they now Know, Want to know and have Learned) Exit tickets – students write down something they are still puzzled about/ still have questions about/ don’t fully understand yet. Crystal Ball – predict what you think the next segment will be about and why

Faculty need to have a degree in a relevant subject at least equivalent to the level being taught at

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook Use your imagination! If you’re not sure if the technology can support what you want to do, check in with us. This chart can help you to formulate integration tasks in a way that engages the six different domains at the center.

The multimedia resources are the things you listed in your Mediography. You provide us with one of: - the actual file itself - a link to the resource online - the title of a book or article that should be in our online library Please ensure that all written materials are in a PDF format so that people who are visually impaired can access them via a screen reader.

5. Self Development The students are supported in their self development at Ubiquity through a framework of Modes of Engagement. Different activities can support the development of those modes. Ubiquity provides activities for the students to follow to fulfil their requirements for the Self Development track. However, as faculty you may also choose to either specify certain activities or offer your own activities linked to your particular course. The ten hours of activities they follow as a core part of the course must be delivered by someone with appropriate academic qualifications. If in doubt, check with us. Their ten hour guided exercises in course time will be complemented by c. 20 hours per course of further practice in their own time.

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook 6. Facilitated Group Discussion This is ten hours of interaction with their peers on the course in groups where qualified faculty are present. That can be through a regular conference call or a facilitated online forum. The students can of course engage in interaction as much as they want in the online platform, but this time is specifically where a faculty member is present. You can design the interaction as it suits your needs. You fix and announce times of any calls and windows in which you will be active in forums. The more you are present online, the more popular your courses are likely to become, as students highly value the real presence of faculty members.

7. Creative Assignments These are tasks that the students are given during and/or at the end of the course, with an expected engagement time of at least ten hours. The purpose of the Creative Assignments is to have the students engage with the material and experiences they have been exposed to, and build on it through their own creative process. The students will peer-review each other’s assignments. Your job is to: -

design and frame creative assignments for them to choose from provide the criteria through which they will peer-review each other’s work provide assessment and further feedback where appropriate

The assignments can be in any media form – e.g. written, video, audio, presentation, art, digital artefact. Guidelines for the length of the final submission are: -

for visual/audio presentations: 10-20 minutes for written papers: c. 2000 words for art (e.g. painting, collage, sculpture, music): ask student to report briefly on how they spent the 10 hours for digital artefact: ask student to report briefly on how they spent the 10 hours

It is a requirement in the lower-level courses to divide the creative assignment into smaller assignments spread throughout the course. For higher-level courses, having one major creative assignment at the end is permitted. We require students to do at least 25% of their creative assignments at Ubiquity together with other students. We encourage you to think about how to give students that option in the assignments you create. Students will see which courses have group-based assignments.

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook 8. Peer Review Students will be asked to peer review the creative assignments of other students. They will have received training in peer reviewing and be expected to follow our Peer Review Guidelines. Your job is to provide any specific instructions beyond the general guidelines on what the students should be looking for in each other’s work. See also assessment tasks below.

9. Integral Assessment The Integral Assessment is a process that the students go through at intervals during and at the end of every course they take, encouraging them to take a step back and look through an integral lens at the course material and experience they have had. These will be designed at a later stage.

Missions Missions are longer real-life tasks that the student has to perform to practise and demonstrate the integration of what they are learning. They increase with complexity as the student moves through the university. The students have to complete one mission per semester. We expect them to spend about twenty hours of their self-managed course time per course engaged in a mission in the field, and roughly five hours per course creating a report that relates their experience in their mission to the content of the course. So per semester / five courses they will spend c. 100 hours engaged in missions in the field. Students will be able to choose a mission from a selection of Ubiquity’s missionprovider partners. It is also possible for you as faculty to come up with your own mission for your course, bearing in mind the twenty hour time expectancy.

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook Faculty Roles There are a number of different roles that will be supporting students in their learning process:

Department Co-ordinator Purpose: to lead the major concentrations of the undergraduate program Requirement: academically qualified in appropriate subject, preferably Ph.D., and a respected authority in the field of study • • • •

overseeing the coherence of the concentration as a whole finding, contracting and co-ordinating core faculty to deliver the courses overseeing training for faculty incl teaching assistants liaising with appropriate staff on quality and content

Core Faculty Member Purpose: to design and implement (facilitate delivery of) a Ubiquity undergraduate course Requirement: academically qualified in appropriate subject, preferably Ph.D. • • • • • •

Design the curriculum for the course Invite in and manage and guest faculty Provide relevant course material and activity design Engage in activities with students where agreed Train, support and supervise other teaching faculty on the course to the extent agreed in advance Update course content based on student and faculty feedback

Guest Faculty Member Purpose: to assist Core Faculty with design and delivery of specific modules in a Ubiquity undergraduate course Requirement: academically qualified in appropriate subject, preferably Ph.D. • • •

Design specific course modules Update their module content based on student and core faculty feedback Engage with students on their modules if agreed upon with core faculty

Senior Faculty Purpose: to support the delivery of a Ubiquity undergraduate course Requirement: academically qualified in appropriate subject, preferably Ph.D.

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook • • • • •

Assist Core Faculty with curriculum design for the course Invite in and manage guest faculty Provide relevant course material and activity design Fulfill some aspects of Teaching Assistant Role, when required or agreed in advance Train, support and supervise teaching faculty on the course to the extent agreed in advance

Self Development Faculty Purpose: to provide learning experiences focused specifically on the development of the Life Competences (formally multiple intelligences) Requirement: undergraduate qualification or significant experience in relevant area • • •

• •

Provide pre-recorded media that students can interact with online Review and update material periodically Work with Core Faculty to ensure that Life Competence content serves overall course objectives while assisting them to integrate that content into their course Work with Degree/Department Chairs to ensure that Life Competence content serves intra-course and degree stream learning objectives Work with other Life Competence Faculty to ensure intra-degree consistency and efficacy of Life Competence Content.

Teaching Assistants Purpose: to support core and senior faculty in the delivery of their course Requirement: undergraduate level experience in appropriate subject certified by core faculty to deliver course online • • • • • • •

Support students in missions and evaluate reports with feedback Support students in and evaluate creative assignments and peer reviews with feedback Facilitate group discussions Evaluate Integration Tasks (or is this fully automated?) Evaluate Integral Assessments with feedback Help students select appropriate missions Partially fulfill role of mentor when needed.

Mentor Purpose: to support the student ongoingly throughout their Ubiquity experience © Ubiquity University 2013

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook Requirement: a higher division student or graduate who has completed the Ubiquity Mentoring training • • • • •

Build up and maintain a relationship of trust with the student Make the student feel at home in Ubiquity Encourage and support them to stick with their studies Be available to listen to any challenges they are facing and feedback to UU staff where appropriate Evaluate students competence development at certain intervals and help them plan focus

Course Tutor Purpose: to support a student to navigate a particular course Requirement: a student who has already successfully completed the relevant course and the basic Buddy Training • • • •

Help the student understand the structure and requirements of the course Encourage them when they get demotivated Celebrate their successes with them Feedback to faculty any issues that fall outside of your accountabilities

Faculty Remuneration There are four different remuneration categories: Product

Role(s)

Remuneration Structure

Course preparation Course material

Core Faculty Core Faculty, Guest Faculty, Senior Faculty Core Faculty, SelfDevelopment Faculty Core Faculty, Senior Faculty, Teaching Assistants

$10,000 Pay per view - $22,50 per student per course Pay per view (fixed)

Self Development Exercises Course Facilitation

Pay per hour

Course Preparation The upfront development fee for a 3-credit course is USD $10,000. US$1,000 is paid upon delivery of the initial Course Syllabus. The remaining US$9,000 is

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook paid upon completion of the course production. Production costs are covered by Ubiquity in accordance with a budget agreed in advance.

Course Material Course material includes lectures/presentations (12,5 hrs per course – 15 x c. 50 mins) and integration tasks (7,5 hrs). The rates are per hour of student engagement, i.e. for each hour of material or activity that a student completes. For Course Material (Presentations & Integration Tasks = 20 hrs per course), you receive a royalties payment of $22.50 per student. Here are some scenarios to give you a sense of how the model might work per course. This comes on top of the US$ 10,000 development fee. Nos. Students taken course

Course Material Fee

200 1000 3000 5000 10000

$4,500 $22,500 $67,500 $112,500 $225,000

From this amount, you are also required to provide or supply at least ten hours of presence per course in group discussions, either via conference calls or online fora. Guest faculty that you choose to involve would be paid according to the number of hours of course material or activity they contribute.

Self Development Exercises Self Development exercises are modules that the students experience to help them build their Modes of Engagement through different exercises (e.g. kinaesthetic exercise, meditation, visualisation, musical experience). The modules will be selected to support the students’ learning of the particular theme of the course. During each course a student is required to spend ten hours on guided self-development exercises, as well as twenty hours of their

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook own practice. One module can show up in many different courses where appropriate. For Self Development exercises, faculty are paid a flat rate of $0.60 per hour of student engagement in the material. Here are some scenarios to give you a sense of how the model might work. This shows the total income for the ten hours of Modes of Engagement modules, which would be divided amongst the providers of those exercises. Nos. Students taken course

Self-Development Fee per course

200 1000 3000 5000 10000

$1,200 $6,000 $18,000 $30,000 $60,000

Course Facilitation Faculty are paid a flat rate of $20-$30 per hour of student engagement for facilitating activities and assessing tasks. We currently estimate that a faculty member would need to spend 2 hours supporting each student on a course (see Appendix C for the detailed analysis). That means that per student supported on a course, the faculty (often a Teaching Assistant) earn $40-$60. If we assume three different levels of faculty engagement, payment for a course at the $30 rate would look like this: Full time Half time Quarter time

40 hours p/w x 15 wks 20 hours p/w x 15 wks 10 hours p/w x 15 wks

300 students 150 students 75 students

$18,000 $9,000 $4,500

Much of this faculty activity is related to feedback and assessment.

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook

Types of Courses There are three ways at Ubiquity that students can take a course: Planned, SelfPaced, or Initiative. To start with we will run only Planned Courses and bring in the other options at a later stage.

Planned Courses These are courses that are planned to run over a period of 15 weeks on predetermined dates, announced in advance. o

Student perspective: § Students enrol in published course catalogue/schedule § Students complete course on a set timeline with a specific cohort § Ideal for students looking for a more traditional, paced, education with a predictable course-load and degree of student-to-student interaction

Faculty perspective: § Faculty secured in advance for scheduled courses § Faculty and students numbers finalized before course begins § Ideal for faculty who prefer a traditional online teaching setup and who are looking for a time-delimited commitment which they can plan for in advance

Self-Paced Courses These are courses that students are taking at their own pace, independent of any other group. o Student perspective: § Start course at any time § Distinct virtual commons (group) for self-paced students to use for interaction and peer review requirements. § Students must still comply with requirement to complete at least five courses in one year § Peer reviews are facilitated through interaction with other students active in the course at the same time

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook §

§

If overlapping with Planned or Initiative courses, students can participate in those discussion groups. Otherwise the discussion is primarily through online asynchronous forums with other active students. Ideal for students with unpredictable life-styles needing maximum flexibility.

o Faculty perspective § Serviced by faculty who’ve elected to be assigned self-paced students (Available to core, senior, TAs - after vetting) § Faculty set max number of self-paced students they will instruct. System assigns students as they enrol up to max. Faculty can adjust max several times per year. § Pre-established degree of faculty interaction, 2 hours per course (SelfPaced does not increase faculty facetime - i.e. it’s not a tool for students to garner more one-on-one attention) § Discussion groups are more likely to involve asynchronous participation in online forums than synchronous conference calls (although if there are enough self-paced students, this may become an option) § Ideal for faculty with a variable or limited per/week availability and/or who prefer working with a set number of students in a relatively predictable arrangement

Initiative Courses These are courses organized ad-hoc by a faculty member or team, or a group of students, who want to run a course over certain dates and a certain length of time. If faculty initiates the course, they look for students who want to take it. If students initiate the course they recruit appropriate faculty to support them. o

o o

Same criteria as Planned Courses with primary difference being that these offerings are not regularly scheduled and would likely commence with less notice Min. number of students required to launch Initiative Course Two ways to initiate: §

Faculty Initiated • Faculty announce an Initiative Course which is then opened for student enrolment. • Faculty determine pace of course based on their schedule • Ideal for students looking to work with a specific faculty member

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Ubiquity University Online Faculty Handbook §

Student Initiated • Virtual o Students post request/announcement for Initiative Course which is then open for additional student enrolment if desired. o Ideal for students looking to combine aspects from the other two course types: They determine length/pace but they are participating with a cohort of other learners. o Request can be made for certain faculty, faculty are selected from a provided list, or faculty are assigned. • Local/Regional Cluster o Same as virtual option but this time open to enrolment by students in the same town/region o Would only work once a certain degree of scale is reached o Could include in-person student (or faculty - for additional charge) engagement.

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