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NDEO is seeking Members who can create and teach NEW OPDI Online Courses for 2024 and beyond. We are seeking educators who have expertise in a particular area of dance or dance education, are current NDEO Members, and are comfortable not only developing a course from scratch but also teaching the course, at least initially. In alignment with our commitment to Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work, NDEO is seeking new and diverse perspectives for future online courses .
The 2024 Course Proposal Application Form will open 10/1/24
Before submitting the Course Proposal Form, please review all existing OPDI courses (course catalog) and make sure your proposal does not overlap too much with an existing course. Also familiarize yourself with how our OPDI courses are structured and how they are run (how do OPDI courses work) so that your proposal fits within that structure.
Also please be aware that OPDI offers professional development courses. Our target audience is "dance teachers / educators" who already have teaching experience, however, on occasion college students will take OPDI courses to fulfil a last minute requirement to graduate.
We provide numerical and letter grades for our courses along with a completion status of either Pass with Distinction (A+ or A), Pass (B, C, D) or Audit (anyone who does not complete all assignments or receives an overall failing grade at 59 points or below.) Only Pass with Distinction or Pass statuses count towards the completion of the Certificate of Dance Education.
NDEO's OPDI is not a college or university and does not provide a degree, however, we have partnered with Oakland University in Michigan to offer college credits on some of our courses, however, additional fees apply and the student must register directly with Oakland University first. If a student is taking an OPDI course for college credit through Oakland University, then the student will receive a letter grade which could range from an A to an F.
Keep in mind that courses can have a few as 3 and as many as 35 students in a course, although the average is 15. When developing assignments keep in mind your ability to keep up with grading and providing written feedback. Don't overload the course with assignments that are difficult to grade every single week. Also consider the students' workload as well - weekly assignments should not take more than 6 hours to complete.
While our courses tend to rely on asynchronous assignments, we do include at least 2 LIVE virtual zoom sessions between the professor and students. These LIVE sessions are entirely optional for students, there is no grade for attending, and they are recorded. The LIVE sessions are further enrichment and a chance for all to connect. Courses can have more than 2 LIVE sessions. The Professor can choose the dates and times that work best for them.
NDEO is accepting OPDI Course Proposals from its members through November 2, 2023. Proposals will be reviewed as they come in. NDEO can support up to 10 new online courses for development and launch between Spring 2024 and Spring 2025 ~ we will call this Cohort #1. If more than 10 proposals are submitted, those not selected to move forward may be slated for development in late 2025 or 2026. Some proposals may not be selected at all.
You should expect to hear back from us by November 20, 2023, although this is the first time we are implementing this process so timelines could be extended. Priority consideration will be given to course proposals that present content that is completely new to OPDI.
For those moving foward with Cohort #1, a Zoom meet and greet session will be scheduled before the end of 2023. After that Zoom meet and greet, if we all decide to move forward, NDEO will provide a Development MOU (memo of understanding) for review and signature. Timeline on this phase may vary.
Course Developer begins working on a Course Outline and Syllabus utilizing a format provided by NDEO. This would be reviewed and approved by the NDEO OPDI Staff. Then Course Developer would receive training on how to upload materials into our LMS system, Sakai. Course Developer is reponsible for providing PDF files of all readings, links to any required video (or video files), and the name of any books or textbooks that are required, followed by an Assignment List, Discussion Board List, and Grading scale. In general, all final materials are due 3 to 4 months before course start date if OPDI Staff will do the uploading into Sakai and 2 months before course start date if the Course Developer also does their own uploading into Sakai. A later deadline may be approved by OPDI Staff if challenges arise.
NDEO may choose not to pursue a course idea at any time during the process for many reasons, including but not limited to, if the content is in conflict with our mission, if the course idea does not fit into how OPDI courses are structured, if course developer does substantiate their experience or expertise in the subject matter, is of a controversial nature, is too promotional, or overlaps too much with existing OPDI courses.
NDEO will be involved in the development of any new course and will make or suggest edits and revisions. Final decision on edits and revisions are the purview of NDEO's Executive Director.
Development fees are paid once the course is developed, fully uploaded into Sakai, our LMS system, and the Developer has emailed NDEO an invoice. Fees current as of 1/1/24,
In addition to this one-time Development Fee, NDEO pays a Teaching Fee each time the course is taught by the Professor of record which may or may not be the Course Developer. Teaching fees are detailed in NDEO's Teaching MOU and generally range from $1,000 for a 4 week course to $3,000 for a 12 week course. * Development and teaching fees stated above do not apply to past course development or teaching, or previously signed MOUs and are only effective for courses to be run in 2024 and beyond.
Developing a course for NDEO is considered a work made for hire and will be NDEO intellectual property. Please note that this applies only to the specifics of the course: Course Modules, Syllabus, Course Outline, and Supplemental materials where copyrights are not expressly retained by the Course Developer or any other party. The concepts, processes, methods and ideas inherent and included will not be considered NDEO intellectual property.
NDEO understands the Course Developer may want to use their personal copyrighted/published material as supplemental resources. In addition, many OPDI Course Developers have often published a book and their book becomes the basis of the course. These materials and/or books are not considered part of NDEO’s intellectual property. Unless a copyright symbol is provided on the materials, Course Developer should provide written notification that any supplemental materials were created by Course Developer prior to the NDEO relationship and that Course Developer wishes to retain rights, but NDEO is granted a royalty-free, perpetual, sublicensable license to use those materials in connection with the OPDI course as described in the syllabus.