Delivery Modality

The delivery modality will determine your teaching strategies and contact time with students. Although all credit courses have a presence on FanshaweOnline, the modality will help you decide what content is posted, what tools are used, and how you and your students will engage with the content, activities, and each other. There are three distinct delivery modalities at Fanshawe:

  • Face-to-face (F2F): Classes are in-person during set times, with supplementary online content. Also called web-enhanced.
  • Online: Classes are web-based, with no face-to-face meetings.
  • Blended: These courses are a combination of face-to-face and online hours, e.g., 2 hours F2F and 1 hour online weekly.

Additionally, online hours (in an online or blended course) can be delivered in these modes:

  • Synchronous study involves real-time, instructor-led online learning in which learners attend simultaneously via a video-conferencing platform such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
  • Asynchronous study involves learning where there is a delay between intermittent instructor-student interactions. For example, students work through online content which might include using digital learning tools or watching recorded videos from their professors.

You can identify the delivery modality and mode of your course(s) by reviewing your Class Schedule.

Access Your Schedule

Your class schedule or timetable is available online through WebAdvisor's Faculty menu (login required). By viewing your ‘Faculty Class Schedule’ as a ‘List’ or a ‘Grid Layout,’ you will see the following details for each course you’ve been assigned:

  • course code and title
  • start and end date
  • weekly days, times, and hours
  • delivery location

For the delivery location, a room number indicates a face-to-face class. A scheduled hour without a room indicates an online, synchronous class. A class without a room or time and labelled “unscheduled” indicates an online, asynchronous delivery.

Please note that classes should start promptly at the indicated time and end at least 10 minutes before the end-time indicated on the schedule to allow for students and faculty to have a short break and to transition between classes. Additionally, key dates such as semester start and end, grading deadlines, exam periods, and holidays for the current academic year are available through the Fanshawe Academic Calendar.

If you have any questions about your class schedule or how to adjust your teaching to the academic calendar, contact the Academic Planner or Hiring Manager in your School or Campus.

Review Your Course Outline and Course Plan

For every course, professors and students are provided with two documents that outline what, when, and how teaching and evaluation will happen. Specifically:

The course outline is a standardized document that summarizes the essential course information, including learning outcomes and evaluations for all sections of a course in the current academic year (September to August). The course outline identifies the responsibilities and expectations of the students, professor, and College, and represents a contractual arrangement between the College and the students that supports the achievement of learning outcomes and academic progression (see Policy A113). Generally speaking, the outline is a public document, and its content must be adhered to by faculty and students. You cannot make changes to this document during the semester.

The course plan shows the sequence a course’s topics, required preparation for each topic, and corresponding learning resources and evaluations, typically week-by-week. If a course has sections with differing delivery methods, there may be more than one course plan for a course. The course plan is a private document that provides context and detail for the outline in support of an active course section or sections. In the case of unanticipated disruptions (e.g., inclement weather) or in accordance with students’ learning needs, it is possible to adapt the course plan during the semester. Any such changes should be communicated to students via FOL (and in advance where possible) and discussed with your Academic Manager and/or Program Coordinator.

Students and professors have access to these two documents through FanshaweOnline:

  1. Log in to FOL with your Fanshawe username and password.
  2. Click on the respective course under My Courses on the FOL homepage.
  3. Click on the ‘Content’ menu option.
  4. Click on ‘Course Outline’ at the top of the list of contents in the sidebar menu to view, save, or print either of these documents.

If you need to review your course outline and course plan before you have your FanshaweOnline access, or if have any questions about their content, contact your academic manager or the program coordinator for the program your course is associated with. Current contact information is available through this website’s directories for Academic Schools and Regional campuses.

Understanding Your Course Outline

The course plan uses plain English to clearly break down the weekly (or unit by unit) lesson topics, required resources, activities, and evaluations. On the other hand, the Course Outline uses terminology that may be unfamiliar to new professors or students. If you have access to this document, you may want to refer to it to better understand each section. After the header block which summarizes the course information (including the course code & title, associated School, Campus, and program(s), etc.), the course is described by the following sections.

Course Description

The course description describes the scope of the course content or what the student will learn in a few concise sentences. This description is typically written to “sell” the course to students and uses generic, jargon-free language to ensure that it does not need to be modified frequently.

Course Learning Outcomes

Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) represent the knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes taught and evaluated in the course. These statements are written to identify what the student will know or be able to do by the end of the course.

Essential Employability Skills

Essential Employability Skills (EESs) are transferrable skills critical for success in any academic setting, workplace, and day-to-day living and life-long learning. These are also taught and evaluated, and are classified within these six categories: Communication, Numeracy, Critical thinking and problem solving, Information management, Interpersonal, and Personal skills. Note: for degree-level courses, these skills are represented as “Degree-Level Standard benchmarks.”

Vocational Learning Outcomes

Most courses are associated with one or more programs that combine a list of courses to collectively prepare a student to achieve a set of program vocational learning outcomes (VLOs). VLOs represent the culminating level of vocationally-specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes that a student must be able to reliably demonstrate by the end of the program.

A course will rarely address every VLO for a program, but it should contribute to the students’ learning for a least one of the VLOs in the program(s) your course is associated with. This is why the VLOs on a course outline might not begin with VLO 1 or include all numbers in sequence. General Education electives are the exception, as students from a wide range of programs may take one simultaneously, so they are not associated with a program or VLOs.

If you are interested in seeing all of the VLOs for the program(s) your course is a part of, you can visit the program page on the website for your Academic school or Regional campus. Program pages have a section detailing their ‘Learning Outcomes’ as well as the full list of courses offered in the program. Alternatively, you may ask your Program Coordinator for a program map. This information will help you understand how your course fits into the program and contributes to students’ achievement of the VLOs.

Levels of Learning

On your course outline, next to each VLO is the level of learning achieved in the course. This will help you identify at which level of mastery the concepts or skills need to be taught and evaluated.

Level of LearningExplanation

Introductory

(I)

This level of learning is foundational.

Concepts and skills are introduced in a program for the first time.

The student has little or no prior knowledge of or experience with the concepts and skills taught.

Building

(B)

This level of learning builds on the foundation established by the introductory level of learning.

The student has met the concepts or skills before but requires additional practice to continue to refine and integrate it with other knowledge.

Culminating

(C)

This level of learning is the highest stage of learning appropriate to the given credential and for an entry-level practitioner.

This level depends on a solid foundation and on prior opportunities for students to build their knowledge and skills.

At this level, students can integrate their learning with other concepts and skills.

Evaluations

Evaluations used in the course are listed here with the weighting of each evaluation type (i.e. what percentage of the final grade will be determined with that evaluation method). The course plan and FOL course will show you how many evaluations of that type are used in the course. For example, the course outline might indicate ‘Quizzes/Tests (60%)’, and the course plan or FOL course might show tests worth 20% each at three times in the semester. The course outline also indicates which learning outcomes – CLOs, EES, and VLOs – are validated or assessed with each evaluation type. All learning outcomes must be taught and evaluated in the course, but each evaluation will likely not evaluate every outcome.

Learning Resources

This section details the learning resources that students are required or recommended to purchase or access to support their learning in the course. Learning resources include textbooks/publications, instruments/equipment (e.g., calculators, lab coats, lab kits, tools, uniforms), and computing resources (e.g., software, hardware). Obtaining your access to these resources will be covered later on this page.

Learning Activities

The course outline describes or lists the types of learning experiences that students will have in the course (e.g., lectures, hands-on lab activities, assignments, group work).

Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition

In some cases, it is possible for a student to challenge a course for credit based on knowledge and skills gained through experiential and/or non-formal learning. This section describes the method of assessment that could be used to evaluate that a student has met the learning outcomes for this course through the Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) process. This process is usually supported by a program coordinator, but if your hiring manager contacts you about it, there are resources from the Centre for Academic Excellence (Fanshawe login required) to support your role in that process. If your students have questions about PLAR, you can direct them to the Pathways website.

College Grading

The course outline will indicate the grading system used for your course. Most courses use a letter grade system where D (at 50%) is the passing grade. Alternate grading systems (e.g., pass/fail, or other minimum passing grades) are uncommon, but are most typically used for courses that are regulated by an external accrediting body.

Additional Information

The final sections of the outline describe additional practices, procedures, and policies. This will include Course- or School-Related Information around topics such as attendance, late or missed evaluations, use of uniforms or personal protective equipment, course delivery methods, etc., as well as College-Related Information concerning the rights and responsibilities of the students, and the services available to support their success.

Gather Your Course Resources

Professors should check their course outline(s) to see what learning resources, such as textbooks and software, that your students will need for the course. You will need access to these resources too; the course plan will indicate when they will be required. Your class schedule indicates where courses will be delivered so that resources can be selected appropriate to the space (e.g., online, in a classroom, in a lab or kitchen).

This section includes some general guidelines about free software and accounts available as well as the process for obtaining copies of textbooks. Through your School/Campus-specific on-boarding and orientation activities, you will learn the processes and procedures for accessing, acquiring, or purchasing other technical software, equipment, materials, and/or consumables you will need to deliver your course. If you are teaching in a specialized space (e.g., lab, shop, kitchen), you will be introduced to the Technician(s) and/or Manager(s) responsible for those spaces. Visit the Fanshawe website for links to the web pages for each of the Schools and Regional campuses where you will find the contact information for these people.

Free Software and Accounts

All employees and students at Fanshawe can download and install the latest version of Microsoft Windows, Office 365, and any Adobe products free of charge from Software@FanshaweIT (https://connected.fanshawec.ca/ms/) (login required).

As part of our commitment to student and employee privacy, all users need to verify their login using Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) when accessing college systems such as FanshaweOnline (FOL), MyFanshawe or other College-related software. For information about this process and to set up the mandatory authenticator app, see the Fanshawe Online Tools page.

The College also supports three virtual classroom platforms for employees.

  • Zoom is integrated directly into FOL and can be set up and launched from there. Users can also connect through the Zoom website or through the Zoom mobile app. When prompted to log in, use the SSO (single sign-on) option with your username@fanshawec.ca e-mail address to log in. When the popup window asks for the domain, input fanshawec-ca.
  • Bongo is also integrated as an FOL tool which can be set up and launched from within each course page.
  • Microsoft Teams is a platform that prioritizes collaboration and web-conferencing. You can access and sign into your employee Teams account from Microsoft Outlook Online or on any device with the Microsoft Teams app.

Some Schools or Campuses have decided to use one or more of these tools exclusively. Ask your EST, Program Coordinator, or Academic Manager if there is a specific, preferred platform used in your area.

Live training sessions for these products are available through registration at FanshaweLearns, which will also email you weekly to suggest new resources and upcoming training and professional development opportunities available to you. There are also recorded webinars available from the Faculty Development Webinars Playlist on YouTube. For technical help with any college-supported software, contact the IT Service Desk:

Textbooks and Instructor Resources

Many textbooks include a variety of instructor resources such as the following materials:

  • Teaching materials (e.g., PowerPoint slide decks, virtual lessons, lab manuals)
  • Multimedia (e.g., figures, diagrams, videos)
  • Evaluation materials (e.g., question banks, online quizzes or tests)

You can use any of these resources as a starting point for any teaching materials or evaluations you may need to create. You are responsible for ordering your own textbooks and course materials. Ask your academic manager and the Program Coordinator for the program your course is associated with first to find out if there is already a copy of these resources available for instructor use. Otherwise, Retail Services can provide you with the contact information for the publisher of your textbook so you can contact the publisher to request a desk copy to review and use as the course instructor. Use your @fansahwec.ca e-mail address to verify to the publisher that you are a faculty member.

Digital desk copies for most publishers are also available from VitalSource. You will need to sign up for an account at https://www.vitalsource.com/educators and select the textbook(s) you would like to sample. Use your @fansahwec.ca e-mail address because the publishers will need to verify that you are faculty member to allow you to access the digital desk copy. You can sample up to 50 titles at one time, and titles will remain in the Faculty Bookshelf for up to one year. More information and support with using VitalSource is available through the company’s Faculty Resources FAQs and 24/7 Support tools.

If your course doesn't have an assigned text or you are looking for supplementary resources, you can also explore the use of Open Educational Resources (OERs). OERs are teaching and learning materials that are provided openly and without cost to students. There is a large and growing availability of these materials, including the opportunity to adapt existing open resources or publish new ones through the College. For more information, see Fanshawe's Open Educational Resources website.