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"Technology will have a major impact on how we do our work of instruction. Will the Internet classes and technology take the place of professors? No. Will it change what we do? Yes, in very significant and profound ways." (David A. Bednar)

Foundations

Online Learning: Extending and Deepening the BYU-Idaho Experience

 

“I see ahead a great season of creativity and innovation, a season of powerful new ideas and new curricula. In a day not far from now, we will be able to break down the barriers of time and space…and create outstanding, interactive educational experiences [where] students will teach one another in new and powerful ways…. The capacity to educate effectively across time and across space will allow us to leverage the capacity of the university and reach many more young people” (Kim B. Clark, Inaugural Response).

 

Online learning is an initiative to extend and deepen  the BYU-Idaho experience. This initiative will allow the university to:

  • Serve more students by adding capacity of over 100,000 student credit hours by 2012, a 20% increase of university capacity.
  • Reduce the relative cost of a BYU-Idaho education through economies of scale with additional students served, and
  • Increase the quality of the learning experience by extending and deepening the transformative BYU-Idaho experience, with robust curriculum development, on-going course revision processes, and on-going instructor development efforts.

Online learning at BYU-Idaho can be defined by the following characteristics:

 

1.  Integrated Curriculum

  • Deans Council selects the courses, faculty development teams, and course priorities.
  • As part of the BYU-Idaho core curriculum, online courses are developed by teams of full-time BYU-Idaho faculty working with a full-time curriculum development team.
  • All BYU-Idaho online courses follow the university curriculum development process and quality standards.

2. Cohort, Semester-based Structure

  • Online courses are cohort-based, composed of students on- and off-track, local and remote.
  • Classes move together through a structured learning experience based on a semester calendar.

3. Learning Model Alignment

  • Online courses are built around the Learning Model principles and process.
  • “Teach One Another” is a hallmark characteristic of BYU-Idaho online courses, with significant personal contact in a course between students and their peers and with their instructor.
  • Online courses are organized around close-interacting groups of 10-15 students, with no more than 60 students in a section.
  • Online courses and instructors are evaluated each time the course is offered.

4. Trained Remote Instructors

  • BYU-Idaho extends its capacity to serve many more students through remote adjunct instructors.
  • Department Chairs select academic criteria for new online instructors, which include a masters or doctorate degree, teaching experience, ecclesiastical endorsements, and a love for the students and mission of BYU-Idaho.
  • Online instructors are hired and managed by the Online Learning Department of the Division of Continuing Education.
  • All online instructors participate in a range of professional development activities, including an instructor training course, teaching groups, and both peer and student evaluations.
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