Department of English
Teaching Online English Courses
MTSU Online
MTSU Online, housed within University College, coordinates all online, hybrid, and synchronous online (formerly “remote”) courses at MTSU. Support is offered through Online Faculty Services, and the English Department’s Online English Committee (OEC).
[For those seeking information on teaching blended (formerly web-assisted) courses, visit Web-Assisted Courses in English.]
List of Approved Online English Courses
Online Certification
To be eligible to teach any existing or new online or hybrid English course, English faculty and graduate instructors (GTAs) must first complete the Mastering Teaching Certification Hub (MaTCH) course. The MaTCH course is now available for self-enrollment under the Discover tab on the home page once logged in to D2L. Exceptions may be made on an individual basis for those with previous online teaching experience. Contact the Online English Committee (OEC) chair Dr. Elyce Helford with any questions.
The course is self-paced and thorough, requiring ample reading and several practice exercises. Once completed, you will receive a completion notification and a certificate from MTSU Online. Please let the OEC chair (Dr. Helford) and Department chair (Dr. Severn) know that you have been certified to teach online courses at MTSU once this occurs.
Graduate Students: If you are an English graduate student (MA or PhD) and wish to be eligible to teach online, you must begin by getting your email account designated “instructor” instead of “student.” Contact Dr. Elyce Helford for help completing this step.(Only after this change is made can you enroll in the MaTCH course identified above.)
Developing a New Online English Course
Once you are approved to teach online, you are eligible to develop a new English course to be taught online, based on the needs and requirements of the department. Here are the steps to follow:
- If the course has never been offered in the English Department in any fashion (on ground or online), begin by creating a formal course proposal to be approved by the relevant English Department Curriculum Committee (General Education, Undergraduate Studies, or Graduate).
- If the course already exists in both on-ground and online forms, you may not contract to design a different online version of the course. See the sections below on Teaching an Existing Online Course and/or the ENGL 2020 exception for next steps.
- If the course already exists in on-ground form but not online and you either (a) are the course creator or (b) have confirmed with the course creator that they do not wish to create/teach the course online, you may develop an online version of the course. Instructions, required forms, and application deadlines are available from MTSU Online at their Course Development page. Once approved for development by MTSU Online, you will be assigned an Instructional Designer and learn all steps required for completion.
- Compensation: MTSU Online provides supplemental compensation for the work of creating a new online course, currently $4000 for a 3-hour course. Not all proposals are approved when first submitted; decisions relate to departmental/university need. Compensation is paid after the course has been completed and approved at all levels. Note: You may not request reassigned time or claim this effort as part of your regular workload, and there is a supplemental pay form to sign to this effect.
Teaching an Existing Online English Course
The process for teaching English courses already created and offered online does not involve a new contract or design. Instead, once you have completed the Online Certification Course, you work with the English Department’s Lead Instructor for that course, who will install their approved course shell into D2L for your course by semester and serve as a mentor. You will need to personalize the Syllabus (put in your name, office hours, etc.) and update due dates, etc. You will also have control over some content aspects of the course, but you must use the Lead Instructor’s shell the first time you teach the course unless you have ample online teaching experience and request approval from the OEC chair and Department chair. Begin by adding the Lead Instructor to your scheduled online course as a “co-Instructor” (see names for Gen Ed courses below).
Lead Instructors for General Education English Courses:
- ENGL 1010 – Jennifer Wilson (jwilson)
- ENGL 1020 – Candie Moonshower (cmoonshower)
- ENGL 2030 – Jennifer Wilson (jwilson)
Instructions for adding a Lead Instructor to your online course:
- Go to “Classlist” under Communication tab.
- Click “Add Participants” and “Add Existing Users.”
- Click Set all Roles to “Co-instructor.”
- Type instructor’s name into search box and click magnifying glass search icon.
- Scroll down to instructor’s name and click “Role” (co-Instructor) and relevant section(s).
- Click “Enroll Selected Users” at bottom of page.
You can visit Online Teaching Resources and click on “Adding Users to Your D2L course” for a brief video demonstration. You may also contact ITD for assistance with this matter.
ENGL 2020
Although multiple English faculty members teach ENGL 2020 online, they teach a unique theme, much like a Topics course at upper-division and graduate levels. Thus, ENGL 2020 is thus considered a “new” course (requiring a proposal as described above) when the faculty member creates a new theme/topic that has first been approved by the General Education Committee.
Faculty who wish to teach already existing online 2020 topics are welcome to do so but must (1) complete a departmental 2020 Proposal Form and submit for approval to the General Education Committee, and (2) use the Lead Instructor’s course shell the first time the course is taught. Once the proposal has been approved, please contact the OEC Chair to be put in contact with the relevant Lead Instructor.
Scheduling Online English Courses
The OEC does not schedule online courses. However, within the broader role of Director of Online Operations, the OEC Chair will make recommendations and review each semester’s schedule to ensure adequate and appropriate offerings of online courses, especially now that we offer an online English major as part of a fully online B.A. or B.S. degree. (Note: If you request to teach an upper-division course that is offered in a single section per term or less often, keep in mind that the course creator will most likely be considered first for scheduling.)
English Department Online English Committee
- Dr. Elyce Rae Helford, Director of Online Operations for English / OEC Chair
- Dr. Laura Dubek, Online English major advisor
- Dr. Jennifer Wilson, Online Instructor
- Amanda Swenson, Assistant Professor of English
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Department of English
Mailing Address:
Department of English
Middle Tennessee State University
Box 70
1301 East Main Street
Murfreesboro, TN 37132
Main Office: Peck Hall 302
Chair: Dr. Stephen Severn
Email: stephen.severn@mtsu.edu
Telephone: (615) 898-2648