Course Types
Effective with the Summer 2022 semester and going forward, MTSU has redefined course types to better align with current practices in the classroom. We hope these updated definitions will help students better identify classes that meet in person versus online, as well as those with a mixture of the two. The most common course types students will take are as follows:
Examples of other course types include Independent Study, Clinical, Practicum, and Research courses. When looking at your schedule or looking up classes in PipelineMT, you can identify course types by the location, section number, meeting type, or attributes of the course. See descriptions of each course type below, along with screenshots of how to identify them. If you have any concerns about how a course will be offered, please contact the instructor of the course or the department offering the course.
A few notes about course types:
- The meeting pattern of the course when you register does not change unless the course is canceled. Required meeting dates or times cannot be added once a class is on your schedule.
- Out-of-state students seeking to take advantage of the eRate tuition must be in "Online" courses only. Registering for any courses with a meeting pattern, including Synchronous (Remote) courses, will not qualify a student for eRate tuition.
- The Distance Education course fee will be charged to all courses with a "D" in the section number, including Synchronous (Remote), Online, and some Blended courses. NOTE: The Distance Education fee has been waived since the Summer 2020 semester and has not been reinstated.
- Course types are not changed on courses once Priority Registration has started for a semester and students are registered in the course. Any changes to a course type would require the course to be canceled entirely. Students would then have to choose a different section of that course or another course entirely. Departments will send an email notification to enrolled students if a course has to be canceled for any reason before the semester begins.
Here's a brief video going over the changes if you'd like to view it:
ON-GROUND COURSES
- These are your conventional classes that meet in a classroom either on campus or at an off-campus satellite location.
- All instruction takes place on-ground and in-person.
- In PipelineMT these courses will have scheduled days/times and assigned classrooms.
On PipelineMT under "Look Up Classes" you can identify Conventional courses by their
meeting days, times, and location as seen in the blue boxes below:
BLENDED COURSES
- A combination of in-person and online instruction. Students should expect to meet on-ground for at least a portion of the course.
- All Blended courses will be marked with a "B" or "DB" in the section number of the course.
- The meeting pattern of the course will tell you exactly what days and times you'll meet in person and (if applicable) what days and times you'll meet remotely. All other instruction not listed in the meeting pattern will take place online through D2L.
- A course with a "DB" section number will meet less than 50% of the time on-ground and usually will only have a few meetings during the semester. All scheduled meetings will be listed in the meeting pattern of the course when students register.
On PipelineMT under "Look Up Classes" you can identify Blended courses by the section
number and the attribute in the far right column. Days, times and location are included:
On PipelineMT under "Schedule (Grid Format)" you can identify Blended courses under the "Session:Meet Type:Course Dates" column, listed as a "BLEN" meeting type. See the red boxes below. The arrow is pointing to the days and times of the course a student is required to meet on campus:
SYNCHRONOUS (REMOTE) COURSES
- All instruction is delivered online via Zoom or other university-approved platforms (Microsoft Teams, etc.).
- Instruction will be synchronous, meaning students will participate in instruction sessions at the assigned times of the course just like they would with an on-ground course.
- In PipelineMT the location will be listed as REMOTE to help you easily identify if the course is delivered this way.
- These courses will have a "D" in the section number and the meeting type is listed as "SYNC" on your schedule.
On PipelineMT under "Look Up Classes" you can identify Synchonous (Remote) courses
by the attribute in the far right column and the "D" in the section number. Days and
times are included for when students will be required to meet for instruction, and
the location of the course is listed as "REMOTE/REMOTE": 
On PipelineMT under "Schedule (Grid Format)" you can identify Remote courses under
the "Location" column, listed as a "REMOTE/REMOTE" location. See the red box below. Days and times are included for when students will be required to meet for online
instruction:
ONLINE (ASYNCHRONOUS) COURSES
- Instruction is entirely online in D2L.
- In PipelineMT, these courses do not have any scheduled days/times or assigned classrooms.
- These courses are designated with a “D” in the section number and have a meeting type of "ONLN" on your schedule.
On PipelineMT under "Look Up Classes" you can identify Online courses by the attribute
in the far right column that says "Distance Learning" and the Location of the course
listed as "ONLINE/ONLINE." Days, times and location are NOT included, instead just
showing "TBA" as the time to meet. 
On PipelineMT under "Schedule (Grid Format)" you can identify Online courses under
the "Location" column, listed as an "ONLINE/ONLINE" location. See the blue box below.
The meeting type is also listed as "ONLN" and there are no days and times on the course.
