Teaching In Person F2F Courses

Current Cochise In Person Course Policy

The Cochise College Teaching Modalities Policy is available to the college community under Policy 3004 Academic Standards.  It is effective March 2025 and due for review in March 2028.

Classes taught at the college may employ any one of these teaching modalities:

1. In Person: Attend lectures and/or labs at a physical location, typically a Cochise College campus or center, and learn directly with your classmates and instructor on specified days and times.

2. Hybrid: Experience a combination of lectures and/or labs at a physical location and online learning with fewer in-person meetings than full in-person classes.

3. Synchronous: Join your classmates and instructor in a digital, web-based, online classroom where your lectures will happen at specific days and times.

4. Asynchronous: Learn and participate regularly online while completing learning activities consistently through the term according to the instructor’s class schedule. There are no set virtual meeting times.

5. Online Combo: Experience a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning where some of your learning will happen at specific days and times in a virtual environment while other course activities do not have a specified meeting time.   

In addition to the above, the following types of specialized classes may be scheduled that use one or more of the teaching modalities:

1. Modular: A class where students complete a series of modules and demonstrate mastery at the conclusion of each module. Students are expected to reach specific milestones during the class term. Modular classes may be taught using any of the modalities.
2. Collaborative: Two or more independent classes where instructors conduct joint activities; for example, a reading and sociology collaboration may have reading activities assigned from sociology books. Students must register for both classes. The two courses may be taught using any of the modalities.
3. Concurrent: Two or more classes that meet as one. For example, a basic and advanced section of a class may meet as a single class, and the instructor would conduct activities appropriate for both sections. These classes can be taught using any of the modalities.
4. Independent Study: Independent study may be provided for students on a case-by-case basis due to unique circumstances (e.g., the course is required for completion of a program of study and is not otherwise available or to accommodate other special student needs). An independent study contract between the student and the instructor must be completed in advance and approved by the appropriate academic dean. These classes can be taught using any of the modalities.
5. Cooperative: A class in which a student completes work-related objectives or projects that are negotiated between the student, an employer related to the student's field of study, and the instructor. The student regularly submits assignments and other reports to the instructor.
   
   These classes are coordinated by an academic dean or instructor and do not follow any particular modality.

While the college does not make specific policies about teaching execution or content, the Office of the Vice President for Academics expects instruction in all course modalities to exhibit substantive interaction as per US Department of Education guidelines. Substantive interaction refers to regular, substantive, instructor initiated contact between students and their instructors. Courses where students primarily initiate contact with the instructor quickly fall into the realm of correspondence courses, which the college is not authorized to offer.

Although face-to-face instruction does not rely on any online elements to present material or to interact with peers and instructors, the college does require that every course on campus have an open, active Moodle site with an uploaded syllabus and that grades are tracked in the Moodle gradebook. The Faculty Support Center strongly suggests that Moodle is also used to turn in materials, and to load weekly course materials for student access and review. In Person instructors may choose make extensive use of Moodle as a supplementary tool for face-to-face teaching.