Whenever a member of the Kentucky State University faculty requests and receives an online course load, they are considered an online faculty member in matters related to their online course load. The same would be true for an adjunct faculty member who teaches a residential course; if the adjunct requests and receives an online course load, they are considered a member of the online faculty in matters related to their online course load. This is a status in addition to any faculty status held concerning the residential campus and faculty. The purpose of the online faculty designation is to properly orient individual faculty members to the online administrative structure and requirements based on the nature of their duties.
The table below shows how various statuses and hypothetical contractual assignments relate to the “online faculty” designation.
| Primary Type of Employee | Employment Status | Contracted Traditional / Hybrid Courses (per sem.) | Online Courses assigned by Office of Online Ed | Considered a member of the online faculty? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fulltime faculty | Fulltime employee | Fulltime course load | At least 1 course during a semester | Yes – concerning online courses independently of contracted load |
| Fulltime faculty | Fulltime employee | Fulltime course load | None | No – apart from teaching an online course and being plugged into the online admin structure |
| Adjunct faculty | Part-time employee | No contract, but teaches 1 residential course | At least 1 course during a semester | Yes – concerning online courses only; reports to Dept. Chair for residential course |
| Adjunct faculty | Part-time employee | Teaches 1 residential course | Does not request or receive approval to teach online courses | No – apart from teaching an online course and being plugged into the online admin structure |
| Adjunct faculty | Part-time employee | None | Hired to teach online courses | Yes – concerning online courses |
See 2.1 – Faculty Status and KYSU Online/Global.
The Office of Online Education appoints or approves Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). They are credentialed faculty who are the primary source of academic expertise for the content in an online course.
The relationship of SMEs to an online course take two forms. During the development of an online course, the initial SME develops the course content. This involves contributing to the selection of learning resources, the production of instructional content, and the development of course assignments and assessments. Sometimes, this also includes completing the instructional design of the course in the LMS. Whenever KYSU Online/Global contracts outside course development services to reduce the development load on faculty, SMEs will not be required to design the course in the Learning Management Systems. However, the SMEs will work closely