The Heritage Institute
Distance and Online Courses

The Heritage Institute encourages collaboration among teachers when taking our distance courses.

Research supports what teachers already know: working collaboratively with other teachers enhances professional development. Working in collaborative groups enhances collegial relationships, builds awareness of research-based practices and reforms, increases knowledge of school-wide issues, and improves teachers’ capacity to undertake instructional improvement.

Make your learning experience in a collaborative group as effective as possible by observing the following guidelines:

1.    Each group member must be registered for University credit.
Clock or CEU hours are not included in the collaboration option. 

2.    After all participants are registered, a group leader should be selected who communicates/emails the names of all group participants to the course instructor.

3.   The group should contain no more participants than the number of assignments in the course, up to a maximum of eight (8) in each group.

4.   Each group member will individually complete the required reading for each assignment as well as, where applicable, the classroom project(s) applying learning to their professional situation. Each member must also author at least one (1) written assignment. For Driving Tour courses, each member must visit the required sites as outlined in the syllabus.

5.   Each group member will author their own unique Integration Paper.

6.   For distance courses each participant must send a copy of all assignments, plus their individual Integration Paper, to the instructor.

7.   For online courses each participant must post a response for all assignments in their individual online response boxes.

8.   There should be a minimum of four (4) group meetings during which the course content is discussed.

9.   To receive University credit:

     a) each participant must attend at least 75% of the group meetings
         (e.g., a minimum of 3 if you have 4 meetings).
     b) the group leader must complete and email/mail to the Instructor the
         Collaboration Documentation Form at the time participants
         submit their Integration Papers (the final assignment).

These guidelines are in effect for course registrations made on or after September 1, 2009. They do not affect groups that are working together and registered prior to September 1, 2009.

Your instructor may revise these guidelines on a course-by-course basis by writing to the Director of The Heritage Institute, Mike Seymour (mike@hol.edu).

Thank you for observing these guidelines. We wish you a beneficial learning experience while studying curriculum offered by The Heritage Institute in a collaborative group.

If you would like to print these Guidelines, CLICK HERE and a one-page PDF document will be downloaded.