Faculty Handbook

Course administration

Become familiar with the rules, regulations and procedures outlined in this handbook. Contact faculty members who have participated in previous study abroad programs. They can be very useful in sharing information, advice and ideas based on their own experiences. Begin working with on-site faculty to develop program objectives relevant to the academic courses.

Requests for approval to use any social science course number in a study abroad program offering, regardless of disciplinary area, must go to the Associate Dean of Social Science who has responsibility for study abroad programs.

Contact hours

The deans' designee group has asked that OSA monitor credits to ensure the students have sufficient contact hours for the number of credits offered for each course. The registrar's office has mandated that courses have 14 instructional contact hours for each credit (for instance three credits have 42 contact hours). When considering excursions, field trips count as half credits (therefore, for every two hours of a field trip, including travel time, you can count one hour of instruction). Additionally, for every one hour in class, there is expected to be two hours of study time per day. Therefore, the University has set a maximum of six contact hours per day (which assumes 12 hours of study time). The standard guide suggests one credit per week on-site. Program proposals that significantly exceed this amount will be carefully reviewed by the sponsoring college(s) and the Office of Study Abroad.

If your program has contact hours before and/or after the on-site dates, specify this in the program Web text. Mandatory instructional contact hours outside of the program dates must be indicated in the syllabus and it is assumed that lack of attendance will impact the final grade. If this is the case, consider how you will implement these pre-departure class sessions for non-MSU students who cannot come to East Lansing as well as students who sign up after the sessions have begun.

Ordering study abroad course sections

It is your responsibility to "order" the study abroad sections of courses at least six months before your program begins. Summer participants will generally begin enrolling during the second week of March.

Follow the usual on-campus course section scheduling process. To create the section, contact the colleges/departments that offer courses on your program. When ordering these study abroad sections, you will be asked for the course dates. The begin date should reflect the first class meeting and the end date must reflect the due date of the final assignment. If you chose to have students submit papers after they return home, this date will be later than the on-site program end date. “Trans-semester courses” with dates that fall into two semesters will be assigned to the semester in which the majority of calendar days occur. A trans-semester course cannot last more than 16 weeks unless it is approved for extended term (ET) grading.

As an example, consider a program in Durban, South Africa that lasts July 1 – August 15 on-site and requires that the students submit their final papers by September 15. In this case, the course dates are July 1 – September 15. This is a good choice of an end date since the majority of the calendar days occur during summer. If the final assignment was due October 30, the course would be considered a fall semester course.

To continue with this example: In order to notify the Registrar that you won’t be submitting grades until after September 15 th, request that your college or department scheduling officer notify the Registrar with wording such as: “Study abroad program takes place in Durban, South Africa July 1 – August 15. Final assignments are due by September 15 th.”

This notation will be indicated on the Schedule of Courses so students will clearly understand the dates. As on campus, you will be required to submit grades 72 hours following the course end date.

Winter Break Study Abroad Semester Assignment Rule: Study abroad courses scheduled to begin after the last class day of fall semester and ending (with all assignments/exams completed) before the first day of spring semester will be scheduled as spring semester subterms. The winter break exception that classifies the course as a spring course requires that the course not cross semester dates. If it does, a count of the trans-semester dates is done to determine the appropriate semester. If there are more course dates in December and January, it will be considered a fall semester course. Therefore, if you wish to have your course count as spring semester course, ensure that the majority of your course dates occur during spring semester. We recommend an end-date no later than February 20th.

Fall and spring semester programs that offer MSU courses also require special consideration. If a fall semester course is shorter than 15 weeks or a spring semester course is shorter than 16 weeks, it requires Dr. Dugald McMillan’s prior approval. Courses cannot be scheduled for more than 16 weeks (17 weeks in the spring, including the week of spring break). The only exceptions are for MSU courses approved for ET grading and MSU courses taught by contracted non-MSU faculty teaching at their home university on that institution’s calendar.

There are three reasons why it is important to have study abroad sections for your courses:

• It allows you to adjust the dates to fit your academic and program requirements;
• If designated with study abroad sections, the tuition funds are channeled into the OSA account and therefore, are available to cover the costs of the program instructional expenses such as the faculty salary, classroom rental, guest speakers, etc. If the courses are not designated with study abroad sections, the funds enter the normal university funds and may not be available for the program expenses; and
• By having all study abroad students in study abroad sections, both your college and OSA can track these students. It provides determination of how many of your students are taking courses in other colleges (as well as your own) and how many students from other colleges are enrolled in your courses. The Provost has asked colleges to track the number of SCHs generated from study abroad as well as the number of college students who participate in study abroad.

Overrides

Every week OSA provides the Office of Registrar with a list of applicants; in turn, the Office of the Registrar “flags” all applicants so that they can have automatic access to enroll in study abroad course sections. Non-study-abroad students cannot enroll in these sections. This process applies to both MSU and non-MSU students and alleviates the need for overrides. Usual semester on-campus enrollment restrictions do not apply to summer courses unless your department/college has requested it. If your courses have restrictions that you want removed for your program, contact Karen Tindall in the Scheduling Office. Should you wish to limit enrollment due to majors, prerequisites, specific student populations, etc., you may request a list of participants and PIDs from OSA and provide this list to each sponsoring department to implement overrides. The Office of Study Abroad cannot process overrides.

All students must enroll in study abroad sections. The only exception is for students who take an independent study course that exceeds the minimum number of credits for the program.

Minimum credits for your program

When you develop your budget, you and your college will establish the minimum number of credits in which all students enroll. All students participating in your program will be required to enroll in and maintain enrollment for the duration of the program in this minimum number of academic credits. The number of credits will differ from program to program, and will be specified in the individual program information sheets and on the Web. Students MUST enroll in the minimum number of credits for pedagogical reasons and for fairness to all students. The only exceptions to this policy are reduced course loads for graduating seniors (those studying abroad during their FINAL semester) and graduate students, who are participating in short-term programs requiring enrollment in more than three (3) credits.  These students must take at least one of the regularly-offered program courses. If your program offers variable credits, students must take the course for no less than three (3) credits.  Students participating in programs requiring enrollment in 3 or fewer credits are NOT eligible for a reduced course load, and must enroll in, at least, the minimum number of credits.  Please support this policy, especially when students come to you requesting a reduced course load. If students have difficulty enrolling, refer them to OSA so it can be determined whether this is a course or individual problem.

If students are doing directed study abroad (such as MSU independent study credits with the guidance of on-campus faculty), they are welcome to do so for extra credits above the minimum number of credits for your program.

The minimum number of credits also impacts the budget and college surplus. Because reduced enrollment translates into reduced college surplus, your college must approve any exceptions (other than graduate students and graduating seniors). About one month prior to departure, OSA will check the number of credits, but not the actual courses, that all students are taking. You may request your program course enrollment list at any time from your OSA Program Coordinator. Students who do not enroll in and maintain enrollment in the minimum number of credits indicated in the program information sheet will be charged an additional program fee. The Study Abroad Deans’ Designees approved this policy and procedure in summer 2003.

Monitoring class lists

MSU students enroll in their study abroad courses in the usual on-campus process. Non-MSU students submit course enrollment forms when they accept admission and are manually enrolled by OSA.

Check your class lists just before departure to ensure that it matches the names of the students who intend to take these classes. You may wish to also check these class lists throughout the program to ensure students maintain the correct enrollment. Notify OSA if you or your students have any enrollment problems. “Drop and Add” requests should be directed to the relevant department(s). Any refunds for drops or withdrawals will follow MSU rules and regulations and will be adapted according to your program dates.

The option to select CR/NC instead of grades follows the same rules and regulation as on campus. Choice of the CR/NC system must be communicated prior to the end of the 5 th day of classes of the semester. For abbreviated sessions, students have 1/14 of the number of weekdays (not classes) to notify you that they wish to earn CR/NC.

Course management

When you make on-site course arrangements, especially booking speakers, make sure everything is in writing.

Order textbooks and prepare class outlines and handouts through your department, just as you do for on-campus courses. Advise students about textbooks and materials to be purchased before departure. If you will distribute course materials on site, ensure that the cost of these materials is covered in the program fee and not as part of the instructional line.

Faculty leaders are encouraged to use ANGEL for pre-departure and on-site course management. It is a simple tool for faculty, staff and students and has a useful communication feature. It is free through the Internet so it can be accessed anywhere in the world.

Course completion

Grades are submitted electronically, as they are for on-campus courses. They will be due 72 hours after the end date you indicated when you ordered your study abroad sections. Don’t forget to tell the students when the final assignment is due and when you will issue grades.

Do not issue “incomplete” grades unless the student does not meet the final due date. It is unfair for students to have “I / 4.0” as part of their permanent record if they were not responsible for the delay in assigning and reporting grades.

Once the grades are submitted through the department, they will be reflected on the students’ records. NGR defaults will be assigned only when grades are late.

Have a student participant collect the student evaluation forms to return to OSA immediately following the program. Course instructors should not review student evaluations until after grades have been submitted. Upon return to the US, contact OSA to discuss these evaluations.

MSU Code of Teaching Responsibility

All faculty leaders are expected to follow the MSU Code of Teaching Responsibility as described in the Michigan State University Faculty Handbook. This includes informing students of the grading system before the program and courses begin. This is especially important for programs in which non-MSU faculty members teach the courses and students are issued foreign grades. If you are unsure how to interpret international grades, contact OSA or the International Admissions Office.