General information

What is The Big Ten Academic Alliance

One of the initiatives of The Big Ten Academic Alliance is the CourseShare program. This program allows the member universities to share courses with each other via distance technology.

Students register for shared courses at the same time and in the same manner as regular courses. Grades and credits are reported on the student’s home university transcript. There are no additional fees associated with shared courses.

HOST vs HOME

The HOST institution is the one teaching the course that is then shared with the other universities. The HOME institution is the institution receiving the course from the HOST. (The students register and pay tuition at their HOME institution, but the course is taught by the HOST institution.)

Start dates/scheduling/exam dates

Start dates must be negotiated between the CourseShare universities because the academic schedule is often different. This means a course may begin earlier or later than normal and final exam dates might not fall in the HOME university's schedule. It also means that course times won't usually be standard times at all universities. Typically, everyone follows the HOST university's schedule, but at times, that can vary.

Modes of Instruction

Most CourseShares are are now taught via zoom. These courses are typically not self-paced courses and usually require at least one hour a week of a virtual meeting.

Commitment

Students taking a CourseShare course must be very committed to the course. Many hours of careful planning at multiple universities go into offering a CourseShare, so poor attendance, poor participation, or dropping a course creates a lot of wasted effort. If you are committed, you have the benefit of having a course that you may not otherwise be able to take.

Patience

Patience is required as the two or three universities sync rosters at the beginning of the course. This may take some time, so there could be a delay in getting all students into the appropriate course management systems. Patience is also required as students/faculty wait for grades to show up as reported--syncing grades at multiple universities with different reporting deadlines often means that grades are reported late for some institutions.

Late adds

Typically, late adds are not allowed due to the issues of syncing rosters and working with different schedules.

Course management systems

Students will need to be added to the HOST institution's course management system. This enrollment sometimes takes a little extra time and does require students to learn how to access and use a new system. Many institutions will offer a guest account to enroll quickly, but then students need to switch to the official account as soon as that is available. Students will receive an email from their host institution with directions on how to register for their course management system (it could be D2L, Canvas, Blackboard, or another similar system.) If students do not receive an email within a week of enrolling, please email the MSU CourseShare coordinator AND the host institution coordinator for direction.

Student to do list

  1. Check D2L for an announcement and wait for the email from the host institution with instructions on how to get your host institution id and course management registration (check spam folders too)

  2. If you do not receive any email within 1 week, email MSU coordinator AND your host institution coordinator immediately.

  3. If you do not receive a response within 3 days, email again marked urgent.