CourseShare

CourseShare

Big Ten Academic Alliance institutions have a long history of sharing faculty expertise by making specialized courses available to students from member universities. The Big Ten Academic Alliance Deans of Arts and Sciences took this concept to another level by launching CourseShare, an ambitious and visionary program that offers distance-learning courses to students at Big Ten Academic Alliance campuses.  

CourseShare allows students to take less commonly taught language courses offered at other Big Ten Academic Alliance institutions from a distance. 

The CourseShare framework allows students to register for shared language courses at the same time and in the same manner as regular courses. Grades and credits are reported on the student’s home university transcript. There are no additional fees associated with shared courses, making them even more attractive to students.

Shared courses can only be initiated and approved by faculty and department contacts at the institutions. Students wanting to take an established shared course are encouraged to check with their advisors/departments to ensure that the CourseShare course will enhance their studies and apply toward graduation.

To date, over 130 different less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) and area studies courses have been shared using CourseShare including Swahili, Thai, Vietnamese, and Islamic and Korean Studies courses. 

Please note that CourseShare courses are initiated and created by faculty and departments, not students. If you are a Big Ten student interested in a language course not offered at your institutions, please consult your advisor about CourseShare possibilities. Your advisor can liaise with their Department Chair and campus CourseShare Coordinator who all will assess the need in the department for partnering with another Big Ten institution to receive the course.