2012 Courses of Distinction (COD AWARD) Nomination Guidelines
(nomination deadline is April 15, 2012 )

Purpose:

The tremendous creative work and talent that go into offering an eLearning course will be honored at the 8th annual Massachusetts Colleges Online Conference on eLearning: Sharing Best Practices. While it is recognized that every eLearning course includes innovative teaching and creative uses of instructional technology, each MCO institution may nominate two courses: one that demonstrates outstanding faculty innovation and course practices in an online format and one that demonstrates outstanding faculty innovation in a blended format. The nominated courses will be recognized with a MCO Course of Distinction (COD) award named after the Bay State’s unique association with the “Sacred Cod.”

Among the purposes of the MCO Courses of Distinction awards are to

• Encourage faculty to incorporate successful strategies/techniques into their online/blended courses.
• Showcase the courses and faculty in presentations at the June 6, 2012 MCO conference and allow the attendees to view the courses from a student’s perspective.
• Serve as an excellent public relations opportunity for the nominating institutions, the faculty members, and MCO to publicize the success of online and blended learning and course quality.

The college’s MCO liaison will coordinate the nomination process, but all entries must be approved and made in conjunction with the institution’s chief academic officer. Receipt confirmation and follow-up correspondence will be sent to the campus liaison.

• Each MCO institution may nominate one online course and one blended course.
• The nominees will be honored at the June 6 MCO Conference on eLearning. COD award winners will receive a plaque of recognition at the conference.
• The nominated courses should be based on content created by the nominees. Courses that are substantially based on publisher-provided content and content not developed under the direction of the instructor are not eligible for nomination. An online course nominee must offer more than 80 percent of its content online.
• It is expected that the faculty nominees will present a 20-minute overview/Q&A about the course at the June 6th conference.
• The colleges and nominees agree to provide to the conference attendees student access to a demonstration version of the Course of Distinction from June 6 through November 1.
• The nomination forms must be submitted online by April 15.
• In order to avoid privacy issues, an instructor should solicit permission from the nominated course’s students to allow conference participant access, or a version of the course can be created with specific student identification removed.

Every effort has been taken to streamline the online nomination form. Care should be taken in providing the requested information, since it will be used in developing the conference program, and award ceremony introductions. A sample of a representative nomination is available as part of the nomination form.

The COD distinction should provide the colleges with an excellent public relations and marketing opportunity. Liaisons will be asked to coordinate these efforts with their institution’s PR staff.

SECOND CATEGORY: COURSES OF DISTINCTION FOR BLENDED COURSES

Each MCO institution may nominate a second course designated by the institution as a blended course. Although definitions may vary, a blended course combines face-to-face interaction such as in-class discussions, active group work, and live lectures with typically web-based educational technologies such as online course cartridges, assignments, discussion boards, and other web-assisted learning tools.

For purposes of the COD nominations, the Sloan-C definition will be used: a course will be considered a blended course if 30 - 79 percent of the content is delivered online.

To be nominated, the course should be based on content created by the nominee. Courses that are substantially based on publisher-provided content and content not developed under the direction of the instructor are not eligible for nomination.

2012 MCO Courses of Distinction Nomination Form