Master Course Adoption Process

If you are assigned to teach a class at Delta for which you do not have content, you may be able to import and adapt one of Delta's CVC-Quality Reviewed, Badged courses. Most courses are available for adoption. Please review the list closely and any notes regarding adoption.

Note: Courses are available for adoption and use at Delta College only.

Some of these CVC Quality Reviewed Delta courses even use Open Educational Resources (OER) for Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) to students. These courses have been through a rigorous Peer Online Course Review (POCR) process to ensure alignment to the highest standards of online teaching in California.

If you are interested in viewing and/or adopting one of Delta’s CVC-Badged “Master” courses, you must sign the Adopter Agreement form, which is supported by the Canvas Master Shell Content Usage Agreement, an MOU between the SJDCCD and SJDCTA.

Once you sign and submit the Adopter Agreement form, you will be given a brand new Canvas “Development” (DEV) shell that contains the content of the master course. You will find it either on your Canvas Dashboard, or in Canvas under Courses >> All Courses.  It will be named something like:

PSYCH 1 (YOUR NAME) DEV MASTER

If you choose to use the course in your teaching, you can – and should – customize the content to meet your needs and reflect your personality, teaching style, and presence in the class.

Delta College's "Master" courses carry an Attribution Noncommercial Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC). This means:

• You may remix, tweak, and build upon this work, but you agree to do so non-commercially.
• You agree to credit the original author (the faculty member who developed the class) in all revised versions of the course.
• You agree to use the course content and all materials for teaching assignments at Delta College only.
• Under no circumstances will you import any of the course content into other learning management systems or into other institutions' systems.
• You understand that if you fail to follow the guidelines, you will lose access to future master courses.

Faculty who violate the above may be subject to disciplinary action and may forfeit the opportunity to teach online in the future. (Canvas Master Shell Content Usage Agreement § 17.9.5.4)

When teaching with one of Delta’s Master courses, both original and revised versions must retain attribution to the original author, and license information:

Here is a starting list of the most important things you should address before “going live” with the course:

  Clarify Your Role

In addition to inclusion of the CC BY-NC license and author attribution, you should include a statement written in student-friendly language that the course was developed by another Delta College Professor, and students will see videos and other material created by that professor. However, you will be the one teaching the course, grading work, and answering questions.  The following is a sample statement you may edit to your liking. The best places to put this would be on the course Homepage, and in the Syllabus and/or Welcome Module.

This course was designed and developed by Delta College (Discipline) Professor, (Name).  You will see many instructional videos of Professor (Name) throughout this course. However, I am teaching our class this semester and will be here to guide you through our material, grade your work, and answer any questions. The best way to contact me is: (Preferred Contact Info)

Review Every Part of the Course

Review each page you plan to use and replace information specific to the professor who authored the course, with your own.  For example, contact info, images, Bitmojis, welcome video, etc.  While every page should be checked, this is particularly important on the Homepage, Syllabus, Announcements, and the first module, often titled “Welcome,” “Getting Started,” or “Orientation.” References to the course author may also be present in Assignments, Discussions, and Quizzes/Exams.

The following list offers a starting point but is not exhaustive. It is important to check all facets of the course and make sure it is appropriately updated to reflect to you. That said, instructional videos from the original course author are okay, when using the above attribution statements. The goal is not to remove every bit of the original course author, but to simply prevent confusion about who the current instructor is.

1. Homepage

• Update the course name, 5-digit number, and semester

• Remove the course author’s welcome video, images, contact info, etc.

• Include your own custom welcome message/video and images

• Include your contact information

2. Syllabus

• Update 5-digit course number, semester, and all dates

• Replace course author’s contact and other personalizing info with your own

3. Announcements

• Update announcements, especially the first one which is often the “Welcome Letter”

• Check for any announcements that are set to post automatically on certain dates

4. “Welcome/Orientation” Module and Course Completion Module (if applicable)

• Replace course author’s contact and other personalizing info with your own

• Double check any pages titled: About the Professor, Professor Contact Info & Office Hours, Communication Plan, Need Help, or similar

5. Assignments, Quizzes, Exams

• Check for any references to the course author. For example: Questions about this assignment? Reach out to me at: <email address>

6. Update “Available,” “Due,” and “Accept Until” dates

7. Check for locked or date-controlled Modules

8. Check for Module Prerequisites

9. Check all other areas of the course.

Note: It is the responsibility of the course adopter to make sure the course is updated appropriately.

View the Course as a Student

Use the Student View feature to walk through the course as a student.  This will show you exactly what students will see, and allow you to easily identify which Modules, Pages, Assignments and Announcements are Published; which course tools are turned on; and whether your images and videos are visible.

Run the Link Validator

Catching broken links before students do will save everyone a lot of frustration!  See this page to learn how to quickly find and fix erroneous links: How do I validate links in a course?

As of adoption, Delta’s Master Courses are fully aligned to Sections A-D of the California Virtual Campus Course Design Rubric:

1. Course Navigation
2. Interaction
3. Assessment
4. Accessibility

Significant changes made to course content, other than those recommended above, may bring the course out of alignment or cause some content to be inaccessible.

Please reach out to us if you have any questions!

• Course Design: Jennifer.Azzaro@deltacollege.edu
• Accessibility: Martin.LaGrow@deltacollege.edu