Onboarding New Online Instructors

Online Instructor Guidelines

If the enrollment in an online class reaches 16 + students, the instructor has the opportunity to hire a facilitator to aid with course delivery, interacting with students and keeping track of assignments and grades.

1. Classes with 15 or fewer students will not have facilitators assigned.

2. The assignment of facilitators as a function of class enrollments at the beginning of a course will be as follows:

• Enrollments of 16 to 30 students – 1 facilitator
• Enrollments of 31 to 45 students – 2 facilitators
• Enrollments of 46 to 60 students – 3 facilitators
• Enrollments of 61 to 75 students – 4 facilitators
• Enrollments of 76 to 90 students – 5 facilitators
• Enrollments of 91 to 105+ students – 6 facilitators

3. To the extent possible, students should be distributed uniformly across the groups, with number of students in a group ranging from 15 to 20.

4. In courses with enrollments between 76 and 90 students the course instructor can select one of the existing facilitators to serve as the lead facilitator, with additional course responsibilities, including the management of the other course facilitators. A lead facilitator will be assigned automatically to any online class with 91 or more students.

5. All courses with 106 or more students may have the option of splitting into two sections, depending on the nature of the course and the availability of qualified instructors. Once a course enrollment reaches 106 students, the instructor may contact the program director and department chair, as well as the associate dean for academic affairs, the assistant dean for executive affairs, and the assistant dean for administration & finance to have a discussion on the possibility of splitting the course into two sections.

Requests for exceptions to these guidelines will require a justification provided by the department chair and an approval of the associate dean for academic affairs.

Online Calendar

1. Online and on-campus start, end, and add/drop dates differ.
   • Fall and Spring on-campus dates can be found on the BU Registrar’s calendar.
   • Summer on-campus dates follow the BU summer calendar.
2. Drop and refund deadlines for students in online classes vary by state and course. Unless a student lives in Maryland, Wisconsin, Oregon, a US territory, or internationally, students may follow the dates below. If students are taking courses outside BU Wheelock or if you live in Maryland, Wisconsin, Oregon, a US territory, or internationally they should use this resource to check their withdrawal and refund deadline schedule.

More Information

For more information for new faculty teaching online courses, visit the Online Instructor FAQ.