Credit Workshop Guidelines

The workshop director must be a permanent employee of Miami University faculty.

Workshop titles are limited to 30 characters, including spaces and symbols and should concisely describe the workshop's content to a general audience.

Graduate Faculty Standing: Faculty directing or co-directing workshops which offer graduate credit (course numbers 500 and above) are required to have Miami University Graduate Faculty standing. Guidelines are found in Graduate Student Policies in the Policy Library.

Course numbers: Obtain a new course number or modifier by emailing courseapproval@MiamiOH.edu.

Credit course approval status: Once a temporary credit workshop course (those that end in 98 or 99) has been offered five times, it must go through full curricular approval. The approval process should begin after the third time the course has been offered to allow sufficient time for the approval process.

• 2,250 instructional minutes, or 37.5 instructional hours, is the minimum Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) requirement for each academic credit hour. For faculty-led study abroad experiences, this equates for each credit hour to 12.5 formal instruction contact hours and 25 hours of other forms of guided student learning experiences.
• Contact hour is instruction from a designated and approved Miami University faculty or staff member, or designated and approved guest speaker. Each program has unique design and pedagogy, and demands in the location; therefore this instruction is not limited to time spent in a classroom or in online instruction. Basic risk management and/or orientation activities may be counted as contact hours.
• Formal assignments (readings, papers, tests, projects) should be weighted no less than 50% of the expectations for an equivalent course on campus.
• Other student learning experiences do not necessarily involve instruction by a designated and approved instructor. Experiences must be relevant and directly related to the student learning outcomes, preferably to the global learning outcomes as identified by the AAC&U rubrics. Experiences may include (but are not limited to) field trips, site visits, daily or weekend excursions, cultural immersion activities, orientations that include more than the basic level of risk management training or preparation, service-learning, studio or studio-type opportunities, directed home-stay activities, internship or internship-like opportunities, practicum, out of class assignments (individual or group), cultural interventions, and language or culture immersion activities.
• These experiences must involve all students in the program with an equivalent level of involvement for students.
• Transportation time generally does not count toward contact hours unless all students are included, and it is designed to provide cultural interventions, contact hour instruction, or guided preparation and/or reflection.
• The expectation is that alternative delivery modes will maintain standards of educational integrity and demonstrate a degree of engagement consistent with the intent of standard federal and OBOR credit hour requirements.

This section of the proposal provides information on the academic content and procedures planned for the workshop. Please describe the content of the workshop with stated goals and objectives. Include curricular rationale and an assessment plan.

Workshop curriculum and course must offer the same quality assurances in place for all Miami University credit-bearing offerings.

The Credit Workshop budget is the financial plan for the workshop.

The proposed budget is a plan based on estimates and should be revised when enrollment and actual expenses are set at the go/no go decision

Because credit workshops are enrollment-contingent, enrollments must be monitored carefully by the workshop director. If the actual number of students registered is lower than anticipated a deficit can result; in this case, the workshop director will revise the expense budget accordingly to bring the workshop into financial balance before the workshop begins.

Workshop directors should submit revised budgets to Global Initiatives.

Unless your workshop is a domestic offering that does not have restrictions, students will not register via BannerWeb. Registration for credit workshops are processed through Formstack survey forms. The system allows students to request registration for credit workshops. GLI will process the registration requests. Student then pay for their tuition through the OneStop. All students must register through Global Initiatives to participate in the workshop. Workshop directors are responsible for making certain that all students attending a workshop are registered.

Significant binding financial commitments for purchases of supplies, equipment, or services cannot be made in advance of enrollments without written indications of contingency support from department chairs or divisional deans to GLI.

Initial workshop proposal budgets are plans; i.e., estimates or proposals. When actual enrollment is lower than the proposed enrollment, directors are required to revise and finalize the proposed budget based on actual enrollment and anticipated expenses.

The amount of funds ultimately available for expenditure is entirely dependent upon the actual enrollment in the workshop.

All purchases from credit workshop accounts must be made within Miami University purchasing and payments policy.

Expenditures from all accounts, regardless of source, are University funds and will be administered in accordance with applicable University policy. All purchases and expenditures will be administered by the purchasing office in a uniform manner, and in conformance with University procurement policies and procedures.

The payment of salaries for workshop directors, Miami University full-time and part-time employees, student employees, and all consultants must be initiated by the workshop director. Payroll documents, whether to pay Miami University employees or consultants, must be approved by the department chair, divisional dean, and Global Initiatives in consultation with Academic Personnel and Human Resources. Guidelines for Summer and Winter Term Salaries apply for workshops.

All EPAFs and payroll documents must be approved by Global Initiatives, and are verified against the workshop budget. Remember: It is essential that faculty and consultants be listed in the budget by name, number of days or percentage of salary (rate), and total amount to be paid. Changes in personnel or salaries should be submitted as early as possible to avoid delayed payment.

It is important that the director plans ahead when considering hiring of and payment to non-US citizens, either for on-campus or off-campus employment; contact Payroll Services for assistance.

Payments are not made outside of the regular payroll schedule. If a deadline is missed, the payment will come at the next regular payroll date (last working day of the next month). Please call Academic Personnel with any and all questions.

Workshop Director

The workshop director should complete and submit the online proposal form. GLI will route for approvals with recommendation to approve or deny.

Global Initiatives

Global Initiatives reviews the proposal, and, if necessary, negotiates the details. The goal for GLI is to get the proposal to an approvable stage for routing. GLI reviews all details of the proposal, including, but not limited to:

• Connection to Miami University mission, vision, values and internationalization strategy
• Curricular innovation and quality, as well as global, intercultural, and lifelong learning competencies building
• Needs assessment
• Contractual obligations
• Personnel and salaries (in collaboration with Academic Personnel)
• Appropriateness of budget and compliance with policies, guidelines, and standards
• Financial sustainability in consideration of enrollment, student credit hours, location of program, and other areas.
• Publicity
• Risk management
• Program fees and participant support
• Adherence to international, federal, state, university, and accreditation standards

Once all issues have been resolved, and the proposal is in an approvable state, GLI will send forward for additional approvals with a recommendation. If all issues cannot be resolved, the recommendation will include details and rationale for concerns.

The assistant provost provides final review and approval for all credit workshops on behalf of the provost. If any issues remain unresolved, the provost will be consulted and provide final approval.

Academic Chair

The Chair is responsible for the most important review. The chair reviews the proposal for:

• Academic appropriateness and quality.
• Verification of faculty graduate standing for graduate credit workshops.
• Determination if the workshop will be held for full curricular review under MUPIM 11.1.
• Relationship to the priorities of the department.
• Appropriateness of budget expenditures, including salaries.
• If not satisfied with any aspect of the proposal, the chair may request additional information from the director, GLI, or choose not to approve and return it to the faculty member.
• If satisfied with the proposal, the academic chair approves.

Academic Division

The Dean, or designee, reviews the proposal for:

• Academic appropriateness, quality, and rigor.
• Relationship to the curricular priorities of the academic division.
• Appropriateness of budget expenditures, including salaries.
• If not satisfied with any aspect of the proposal, the division dean may request additional information or choose not to approve.
• If satisfied with the proposal, the academic division dean, or designee, approves.

Office for the Advancement of Research and Scholarship (OARS)

If the workshop is operating under a grant or other sponsor, the associate dean for OARS will verify the sponsored workshop details and approve.

Graduate School

The associate provost and dean of the graduate school will review the proposal for fulfillment of graduate credit criteria, including final verification of graduate standing of faculty, and sponsorship. Concerns or questions may be referred to GLI or raised directly with the workshop director.

Final Approval and Notification

Once all approvals have been received, Global Initiatives will notify the workshop director, including any caveats, and provide an index memo indicating the workshop index number. At the same time, GLI will build an online registration form and send the link to the director.

Deadlines

Due to the enrollment-contingent nature of credit workshops, deadlines are important. Winter Term Study Abroad/Away programs are required to be submitted in February for the following year, and Spring Break/Summer Term programs are required to be submitted in August for the following year. On-Campus/Non-Travel workshops should be submitted at least 6 weeks before the start date.

Workshop directors are responsible for monitoring enrollment in their workshops and making timely "go/no go" decisions in collaboration with the Global Initiatives staff. When the determination is made to cancel a workshop, the director will notify Global Initiatives. The director should ensure that students are notified. If it is a study abroad program, efforts will be made by the Study Abroad staff to retain the student(s) into another program.

Directors of traveling workshops, both domestic and international, are encouraged to make "go/no go" decisions well ahead of time, in consideration of student effort and expense.

While it is the responsibility of the workshop director to make “go/no go” decisions, Global Initiatives will contact the workshop director prior to the workshop start date if the enrollment is significantly lower than proposed.

The Miami University workshop cancellation policy says that students must withdraw from a credit workshop registration prior to the start of the workshop for a full refund of tuition. To withdraw, students will contact Global Initiatives at global@MiamiOH.edu or 513-529-8600. If Miami cancels the course, all tuition and administrative fees are refunded to the student.

Program fees for study abroad/study away programs are typically not refundable unless there are prior arrangements made and students are notified of the policy prior to committing to the program.

Tuition costs for workshops can be located on Global Initiatives website. Fees are subject to change by the Miami University Board of Trustees.

Allowing faculty and staff colleagues or family members to register for workshops may be a conflict of interest. Faculty directors should review MUPIM for guidance, and seek prior approval before accepting registrations from family members or Miami University faculty and staff.

Family members traveling with programs is not recommended. Please review the Miami University Companion Policy, available from the Program Coordinators in the Study Abroad office.