University of Southern Indiana

Faculty Resources

Faculty as Academic Advisors
Faculty as Distance Education Instructors
Distance Education Opportunities for Faculty
Library Support for Distance Education
Grant Opportunities
Technology Training

Faculty as Academic Advisors:
Students need permission from their faculty advisors to take distance education courses. USI Learning Center can provide both faculty and students with information and assistance related to course offerings and distance education programs. Students may be able to register for a distance education course via the Indiana College Network if USI offers a direct equivalent for this course. Please use the "Advisor Approval for ICN Courses" Outlook form available (while in Outlook, select Tools, then Forms, then Choose Form). Contact the Distance Education Coordinator at 812/465-1010 if you have questions.

          USI Distance Education Information for Academic Advisors
          Indiana College Network
          ICN Course Transferability Grids (Excel document)
               (for both semester-based and correspondence courses)
          Academic Advising at USI

Faculty as Distance Education Instructors:
Distance Education, sometimes referred to as distance learning or distributed education, is any technology-mediated form of instruction. This may include the use of technologies such as Internet, two-way video, videotape, CD-ROM, DVD, desktop video, telephone, FAX or email. USI faculty may use one or any combination of media to deliver course materials and communicate with students. Student-instructor and student-student interactions are encouraged and facilitated through the various technologies.

Internet courses, in particular, are able to foster online discussions virtually any time or place through an Internet connection. Videotape courses allow students to replay key lecture or discussion materials, and two-way video courses allow real-time communication between professors and students at various remote locations.

USI faculty interested in developing a course for distance education may receive assigned time and/or a course development stipend. The process begins with an application to develop a distance education course available from the USI Distance Education Office. All distance education courses outside approved distance education programs must be approved by the faculty's department chair, dean, and the Manager of Distance Education and are reviewed by a distance education advisory committee. The Distance Education Course Application Form and the Distance Education Advisory Committee's Course Review Rubric are available online or by contacting the USI Distance Education Office at 812/465-7182. A distance education compensation policy provides guidelines for assigned time and stipend for course development and delivery.

USI follows distance education guidelines established by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, the North Central Association and the Western Interstate Cooperative for Higher Education.

Distance Education Opportunities for Faculty:
The USI Learning Center in FA41 maintains a small collection of books and videotaped events, such as PBS satellite conferences, available for checkout. Click here for a listing.

USI Extended Services offers a variety of noncredit Internet-based courses. USI employees are eligible for a $25 fee waiver for these courses. If the course is work-related, the department may choose to pay the remaining balance.

Grant Opportunities:
The USI Institute for Online Teaching and Learning provides faculty with a stipend and the training needed to develop an Internet-based course. The request for proposals is distributed each year at the fall faculty meeting, and proposals are chosen on a competitive basis. The Institute meets for two weeks in the summer. Contact Dr. Saxon Reasons at 812/465-1061 for details.

Technology-related grants may be available to faculty. Assistance in identifying resources may be obtained by contacting USI's office of Graduate Studies and Sponsored Research and the USI Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence. Another source is the Instructional Telecommunications Council's Distance Education Grants website.

Technology Training:
The USI Distance Education Office as a division of Instructional Technology Services provides an array of faculty support for distance education, course and program development, technology use for on or off-campus instruction, and instructional technology training and resources.

Instructional Technology Services Programming Manager Dr. Saxon Reasons can provide information about on-campus workshops and Web resources for instruction.

The USI Distance Education Office offers various technology training sessions throughout the academic year, including summer. The staff will also provide one-on-one training upon request. Contact Saxon Reasons at 812/465-1061 for individualized training on Blackboard, distance education course development, or specific application demonstrations for your department or school. For specific hardware use for classroom presentations or off-campus meetings contact Dana Willett at 812/465-7182.

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