The Council on Academic Affairs approved a change to a communication course after approving a nominee for the 2014 Faculty Laureate award.

The council unanimously approved a request from Mike Bradd, the associate chair of the communication studies department, to revise CMN 3100, Persuasion, to be taught online as well as in-person.

“This is a course we have offered for many years in our department, and this request is to teach the course online,” Bradd said. “I think there is also a hybrid option as well.”

The revision came about after the council attempted to amend the course at thier meeting last week, but the proposal form was incorrect in certain areas.

After amending the grading scale, as well as certain course objectives, Gronnvoll was able to talk about the course, as she teaches certain sections of it.

“Our initial plan is not to be hybrid—it is entirely online,” Gronnvoll said.

Bradd said the hybrid option is for “down the road somewhere maybe.”

The council also discussed the possibility of Bachelor of General Studies students taking the course online.

“It will be popular with BGS, as it is an upper division and kind of a broad course, which crosses multiple disciplines,” Bradd said.

After amending the communication course, the council then approved a change to its course proposal format form.

The change incorporates a new form for any department wishing to amend or submit a new course for approval to the council.

After approving the new course unanimously, the council discussed how best to implement the new proposal form and when to stop allowing the old form for revisions or new course proposals.

The group reviewed the best way to make the form accessible to departments, as well as the option of making an online form where departments could fill out all of the information in forms on the Eastern website.

The group decided to confer with the Center for Academic Technology Support and review the issue in the future.

Out of the four applications, the CAA faculty laureate committee endorsed Grant Sterling, a philosophy professor, as the CAA’s recommendation for the award.

The faculty laureate honor, currently held by Michael Mulvaney, a recreation administration professor, allows the recipient to speak at the convocation for new students at the beginning of the Fall 2014 semester.

Marita Gronnvoll, a communication studies professor, said receiving four applications for the award is “quite the bounty.”

Jack Cruikshank can be reached at 581-2812 or jdcruikshank@eiu.edu.