Master Courses
Master courses are developed to provide a cohesive and comprehensive approach to course content, learning activities, and assessments for classes taught by multiple instructors. In addition to developing the course content, a subject matter expert helps develop a master course instructor guide to be used by any instructor subsequently assigned to teach a section of the course.
The combination of the master course content and instructor guide makes it easier for instructors to ensure student achievement of learning outcomes. It also provides a consistent quality of teaching and learning experiences across multiple sections and semesters.
Master courses may be developed for either fully online or hybrid courses. Ideally, a master course may be developed to be agile.
The UNLV Office of Online Education defines a master course as meeting the following criteria:
- The developer of the course is a departmental faculty member or part-time instructor with a terminal degree and department chair approval. Courses developed by graduate assistants without the supervision of a departmental faculty member are not considered master courses.
- The course objectives align with degree program outcomes established by the department.
- Faculty/instructor developers know that the course may be used by other UNLV instructors approved by the department to teach the course.
- Faculty/instructors intending to use course material outside of the NSHE system must contact the Office of Online Education so that any proprietary content provided by third-party sources with whom UNLV has contracted can be removed.
Agile Courses
Agile courses provide high-quality instructional content for traditional in-class, hybrid, and fully online course delivery. Agile courses are master courses designed specifically to be delivered in the format(s) that best serves the needs of the academic department and its students in a given semester. The instructor guide specifies how to configure and utilize the instructional content for a given delivery format.
Agile master courses allow academic departments to be more creative and flexible in how they schedule and deliver classes to facilitate student retention, progression, and completion.
Develop an Agile or Master Course
If you are interested in working with the Office of Online Education to develop an agile or master course, please review our course development process and request a .