Big Ten Academic Alliance CourseShare Program

If you are a student interested in studying a language not offered at Penn State, you may be able to do that through the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) CourseShare program. It allows degree-seeking students at member universities to take less commonly taught language courses offered at other BTAA institutions remotely (most often synchronously), without paying any extra tuition.

Please note that participating in CourseShare is the result of long-term agreements between departments at each university. Students must be able to demonstrate compelling reasons that the respective language is needed for their education and must receive approval from their academic adviser. Requests for CourseShare courses must be made by March 31 for the following fall semester or by October 31 for the following spring semester. Please send an email to the Penn State CourseShare coordinator Dr. Elena Galinova (galinova@psu.edu) to discuss your potential participation in the program.

Before finalizing their registration, students interested in CourseShare courses should check the academic calendar of the host institution and the times class meetings will be held to ensure they can attend all class meetings. Once enrolled in CourseShare, they are expected to observe the academic calendar of the institution offering the course. This includes start dates, end dates, and holidays. All course materials for BTAA CourseShares are accessed through the host institution’s course management platform. Students are registered twice: for the actual course at the BTAA host institution and for an equivalent course at their home institution, through which they receive their credits and grade.

The BTAA CourseShare Program broadens the opportunities for students to learn less commonly taught languages and connect with students at peer institutions interested in the same languages. Over the last few years, Penn State students have studied, among others, the following languages though CourseShare: Dutch, Nahuatl, Norwegian, Ojibwe, Portuguese (advanced), Quechua, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.

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If you are a language instructor teaching a less commonly taught language and would like to offer a specific course remotely to BTAA students beyond Penn State, please contact the Penn State CourseShare coordinator with a request to publicize the course through the BTAA CourseShare coordinators’ network. Please send your request no later than March 31 for the following fall semester and October 31 for the following spring semester to Elena Galinova (galinova@psu.edu). Please provide promotional materials and have a syllabus ready to share with any BTAA students interested in taking your course.

 

Dr. Elena Galinova
Director of the Language Institute
401 Burrowes Building
(814) 867-1665
galinova@psu.edu