4.162 Provost
SHORTENED-FORMAT AND OFF-CAMPUS COURSES
Date Adopted/Most Recent Revision: 11/7/03
  1. General
    Shortened-format courses are offered at Midwestern State University to meet a special need. The majority of these courses are graduate level education courses, physical education activities, workshops taught during the summer session and graduate level political science courses taught at Sheppard Air Force Base. The courses taught at Sheppard Air Force Base are presented on a trimester system. Shortened-format courses are comparable to those offered full term in number of contact hours, testing, course requirements and other learning activities.

  2. Minimum Contact Hours
    The minimum number of class contact hours for courses in the shortened format will be forty (40) scheduled hours, which is the equivalent number of contact hours required in regular format classes.

  3. Summer Sessions
    Two (2) weeks with at least ten (10) meetings is the minimum duration for a three (3) semester hour course during the summer session. Minimum duration for one (1) or two (2) semester-hour credit courses would be figured proportionally to the three semester hour course requirements. During the fall and spring sessions, shortened-format Saturday classes meet a minimum of six (6) times with at least forty (40) academic hours being required. Only workshop or seminar-format courses qualify for the minimum requirements defined in this section.

  4. Standards
    The institutional standards and quality control for shortened-format courses are substantially the same as for other credit courses. It is the responsibility of academic department chairpersons and deans to monitor and certify that these courses maintain the same institutional standards as all other courses.

  5. Graduate and Senior Level Courses Only
    Courses approved in shortened format are carefully selected. Courses taught in a shortened format will be graduate or senior level.

  6. Course Approval
    Deans have primary approval responsibility for all courses offered by their colleges. Final responsibility for approving all shortened-format courses on and off campus rests with the Provost operating with the advice of the Academic Council.
  7. Tracking
    The procedures for tracking shortened-format courses will be the same as established for the regular format courses. Schedules will be submitted by the academic program chair to the dean for approval. The schedule will then be sent to the Provost for approval before being submitted to the Registrar for compiling and printing.

  8. Registration
    Registration for shortened-format courses may be done at the regular registration period or on the first day of class. Since courses taught at Sheppard Air Force Base are presented on the trimester system, the drop and withdrawal dates are different than those established for the fall, spring, and summer semesters. Otherwise, drop and withdrawal dates will be the same for shortened-format courses and normal duration courses. Students will not be allowed to take two (2) shortened-format courses simultaneously in the summer session. Students may register for one (1) shortened and one (1) regular course simultaneously or two (2) shortened-format courses consecutively.

  9. Admissions Standards
    Admission standards are the same as for courses taught in the normal time frame.

  10. Off-Campus Courses
    All off-campus courses, including shortened-format courses, must be approved by the Provost.  The dean concerned submits the course proposal to the Director of Extended Education for verification of compliance with Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board rules. Upon internal approval by the Provost the proposal is submitted to the Northwest Texas Higher Education Council and the Coordinating Board for final approval as per Tx Education Code 601.51(j) Coordination of Institutions of Higher Education.