Your department administration is responsible for requesting some key course set-up procedures. The following outlines some of these administrative details.

Course instructor access

You must be identified as the “instructor of record” for access to the Instructor Systems. Your department will enter your data in the Course Load, Instruction, Funding and Modeling System (CLIFMS) as the Instructor of Record. Along with other information, this record automatically causes the course space to be created in MSU’s Learning Management System (LMS). Typically Teaching Assistants and Graduate Assistants are also entered into CLIFMS.

Schedule of Courses

Your department administrator can add special information about your course into the Notes field of the course listing in Schedule of Courses. For example, if your students will be required to purchase materials in addition to textbooks (e.g. iClickers, graphing calculators), be sure to include that in the course description in the schedule of courses.

Student Instructional Rating System (SIRS) forms

The university also collects student feedback through a secure online systems. They provide access to standard Student Instructional Rating (SIRS) forms to departments. Many departments create customized SIRS forms for their specific needs. Check with your department to find out what system to use for your course.

Marketing your course

Many departments will host preview pages for each course on their departmental web sites. These pages provide pre-class information for students interested in particular courses.

Informing departmental academic advisers of your program or courses can be beneficial. Many students who need to fill credits are made aware of courses by their advisers. Also, some departments advertise nationally in professional journals, attend career fairs and professional conferences.

MSUglobal is Michigan State University’s entrepreneurial academic business unit. They partner with campus units and worldwide networks to develop and promote online institutes, programs, and services. For more information, please visit http://msuglobal.com.

If you have a program that relates to international study aboard, you might consider participating in the Study Abroad Fairs held twice a year at the MSU Union. Study Abroad Fairs are comprehensive information fairs for students (and others) interested in learning about study abroad opportunities available at MSU. For more information, please visit http://studyabroad.msu.edu/safair/index.html.

Models for funding

Departments fund their courses in a variety of ways such as:

• grant funds
• reinvestment of revenue generated from online courses and programs
• funds available through the graduate office
• offering summer courses so that the revenues generated provide direct income to the department.

Course coordinator

Many departments designate a course coordinator to work with individual faculty of each course to ensure standards and quality are maintained for the program. The coordinator also acts as the contact person and mediator between faculty and on-campus support units. A course coordinator could be a faculty member or administrative support personnel from the department.

Course administration

Departments have developed diverse approaches to managing the administration of their courses. For example:

• Department of Geography: Hired a full-time coordinator. The coordinator maintains and updates the courses and handles all the administrative functions. The courses are taught by Teaching Assistants.
• Department of Psychology: Trained a faculty member who now acts as a mentor for others.
• Department of Sociology: Hired a student to learn the tools and act as technical support to faculty.
• Food Safety and Toxicology: Uses a half-time coordinator who also teaches courses. Coordinator responsibilities include organizing the program, promotion and scheduling.
• Department of Nursing: Hired a faculty member full-time to provide technical support.