Course reviews and the requirement that online classes be certified by CDLI has been suspended during COVID. The Department of Education has temporarily waived or relaxed some of its standards regarding the delivery of online education. However, it's expected that these standards will come back into effect after the pandemic passes. Therefore, we are reinstating these standards beginning in Fall quarter 2023. All online courses (synchronous or asynchronous) must pass CDLI review in order to be offered beginning in Fall quarter 2023.
The best way to build an online course is in conjunction with CDLI through the Course Design Program where you will work with a cohort of your peers and partner with a CDLI Instructional Designer whose job it is to help you develop an online course that meets the Seattle University standards for online courses. Course Design and one-on-one course development slots and stipends are limited and nominations should be sent to deans.
If you completed course design previously and have been assigned to build a new online course, you may also work one-on-one with an Instructional Designer in place of attending course design again. This courses should be completed at least 60 days in advance of your course start date so that enough time is given to review, revise and certify your course. You should begin the development process with CDLI two quarters in advance of your start date. For example, if your course start date is summer quarter you should reach out to CDLI to begin development at the start of winter quarter.
Per University policy, CDLI reviews all new, and substantially revised, online courses before they are taught to ensure that the university maintains legal and accreditation standards related to online courses and programs, as well as the best practices in digital delivery. The criteria used to review online courses can be found on the Course Review Standards.
An online course is defined as follows:
All course activity is done online. There are no required face-to-face sessions within the course and no requirements for on-campus activity. Most online course activity and coursework are completed asynchronously (no requirement to be online at the same time), although there may be occasional synchronous meetings but they do not necessitate that students be on campus. Online courses cannot be self-paced, independent study courses and should instead provide rich learning experiences with a high number of instructor-student and student-student interactions.
Your assigned instructional designer will conduct your review and communicate all important deadlines to you. Courses must be submitted for review at least 60 days before the term begins. To submit a course for review, fill out the CDLI Online Course Checklist (.docx) and email it to your instructional designer. Courses need to be completed* before they are reviewed. Your instructional designer will present your course to one or more instructional designers - and in some cases someone from your department. The reviewers typically identify some minor revisions that need to be made before the course goes live. If there are significant revisions that need to be made, the reviewers will ask to check the course again before the course begins.
* A completed course is one in which all of the materials for the course are included (i.e., all of the instructional videos are done and captioned, links are working, copyrighted materials are available via library links or a digital course pack, discussions and assignments are ready and content pages have been written and proofed).