Acadeum: ACC Course Sharing Initiative

How It Works

Course sharing is facilitated by the Office of Distance & Alternative Education (DE). Roughly 4-6 weeks prior to the start of the registration period for the respective upcoming semester, the Distance Education Acadeum Coordinator (Chris Davis) will reach out to the deans and department chairs for-credit courses with a list of online course sections DE would like to offer limited select seats in. The departments and area deans are provided a period for comment and review in which they may designate additional sections they would like to offer or courses they identify as not ready for course sharing. The DE-selected sections are identified using the information provided in the online course schedule with particular emphasis placed on:

DE may also contact the deans and department chairs throughout the registration period with specific requests from consortial partners who have specific needs.

Upon conclusion of the review period, DE will upload to the Acadeum online course sharing platform the approved list of course sections. The Acadeum registration period is intended to start day and date with ACC’s and lasts up to approximately 3 weeks prior to the start of the respective course section.

Benefits of Participation

ACC’s participation in course sharing is done as a service to in-need students from other higher education institutions at competitive pricing rates. In addition to the benefits students see in saving money and not delaying their educational plans, ACC departments and faculty see the following benefits:

1. 1. Increased Success Rates: Students coming from other institutions through Acadeum tend to be strongly motivated to complete their course(s).
   2. Program Growth: ACC departments and programs with a growth trajectory may consider utilizing Acadeum to help their courses expand.
   3. Endangered Section Status Protection: Course sections that are designated as “endangered” may be protected if the section is near the required “make” seat count and has registered Acadeum students enrolled in it.
   4. Texas Education Goals: Participation in Acadeum will help THECB in reaching the “60x30TX” goal of having 60% of students aged 25-34 in holding a college degree by the year 2030.

Course Section Requirements for Participation

ACC courses must meet certain requirements in order to qualify to participate in Acadeum course sharing. The following are the requirements for participation and listing on the Acadeum platform:

1. 1. The course must be taught in Blackboard. Course sections that utilize Google Classroom are not acceptable. Courses that use software and tools that are not locked behind an ACC student email address (ie. MyMathLab, etc.) are acceptable.
   2. No on-campus participation requirement. Courses fit for the Acadeum platform cannot require a student to come to either an ACC campus or their home college campus. Any visitation must be entirely student-voluntary. As such, only courses taught using the ONL asynchronous or DLS synchronous course modes are typically acceptable.
   3. No content can be locked behind an ACC student email address. Students coming from Acadeum have very limited access to ACC resources. Because they are NOT entered into Ellucian/Colleague, they are not issued an ACC email address and thus cannot access any content locked behind one. While Acadeum students will thus not have access to common ACC resources (tutoring, library, etc.) they will still have the resources of their home institutions to utilize during the class.
   4. A publicly-available course syllabus must be supplied. Per the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) rules and Texas HB 2504 requirements, a syllabus is required to be listed in every Acadeum course listing. DE will either request a copy of the assigned instructor’s most recent syllabus or provide a master syllabus from the ACC Master Syllabus Repository (MSR). Syllabi uploaded to the MSR must be publicly accessible and not restricted to ACC.

Faculty Expectations for Participation

Faculty teaching course sections with participating Acadeum students will not be required to do any extra work in most instances. The only exception applies to the final grade for the student. Participating faculty will need to create a new column in their grade book in Blackboard entitled “ACADEUM” and enter the letter grade equivalent for the respective Acadeum students. No further action will be needed.