Instructional Delivery
Standard Course Delivery Modalities
The university offers the following course modalities:
In-Person Courses: Instruction whereby both students and faculty are expected to meet in person in an assigned room at assigned times as found in the schedule of classes; final exams are also regulated by the published schedule. In-person courses may be offered on campus or at a SACSCOC-approved off-campus instructional site. Field experience, practicum, internship, or co-op courses may require meeting at local placement sites.
Online Courses: Online courses are conducted via the internet and provide educational access by separating learners and instructors by distance and/or time. Online courses will have no required in-person, on-campus activities including no required in-person exam proctoring. Students who request in-person proctoring at a location convenient to the student may be approved by the instructor. A university-licensed and supported learning management system (LMS, e.g., Blackboard) is provided and required for the offering of the university’s online courses. Participating faculty must ensure that instructional time is accounted for, meets the SACSCOC minimum contact hour requirements and complies with the U.S. federal regulation on regular and substantive interaction.
- Online, Asynchronous: 100% online instruction where no synchronous activities, including assessments, may be required. Instructors and students are expected to engage in learning activities via the approved university system for delivering online education (Blackboard).
- Online, Synchronous: 100% online with any required synchronous class meetings, including assessment, in addition to any asynchronous expectations. All required synchronous meetings must be published in the schedule of classes before registration. Final exams are regulated by the published schedule.
Blended Learning Courses: Blended learning courses combine the affordances of instructional components from in-person classroom experiences and online experiences. The meeting pattern of required synchronous sessions (in-person and/or online) must be consistent across the semester and must be published in the schedule of classes. The in-person class meeting reduction is off-set by designed online learning experiences that support learning objectives and take approximately the same amount of time as the reduced class meetings. These online learning experiences may be:
- completely asynchronous (i.e., no “same time” class meetings),
- completely synchronous (i.e., requiring “same time” class meetings via the internet), or
- primarily asynchronous with some synchronous options or requirements.
Standard Program Delivery Modalities
University of Louisville strives to provide flexibility in course and program delivery wherever possible. In any given term, many programs offer some classes that are available in an in-person, online, or blended modality.
Students who are seeking a specific modality for courses in a program should review the schedule of classes carefully. Programs that can be completed entirely online will be identified on the Overview tab of the academic program’s catalog page. However, unless the program’s overview in the catalog indicates that it can be completed entirely online, UofL programs reserve the right to offer some courses in a single modality (i.e., only online, only blended, or only in-person). Unless specifically stated on the Overview tab of an academic program’s catalog page that a program may be completed entirely through a single modality, students should expect their program to be completed through courses offered in various modalities.
