Course Modalities

Composition Course Modalities

Courses in GMU’s Composition Program are offered in several face to face and online course modalities. To help determine what these modalities are and how they work, information about each is provided below as well as on each course’s individual webpage. As can be seen below, courses with any online components will have a yellow banner above them explaining the course modality. No courses are self-paced; all courses, including online courses, have regular, weekly due dates for homework and writing projects. 

Face to Face Courses

  • Face to face courses meet 1-3 times per week on campus at particular days and times. 
  • Students will complete regular reading and homework outside of class, but class activities and instructional support primarily happen in the classroom. Due dates can be expected several times each week, many of which correspond with class meeting days. 
  • Students must be able to consistently attend the in-person class sessions. 

As seen below, for these classes PatriotWeb lists: 

  1. what campus they are taught on, 
  2. what days and times the class meets, and 
  3. what building and room number the class meets in. 

Face to Face Hybrid Courses

  • Face to face hybrid courses (noted on PatriotWeb as “a hybrid section”) have one set class meeting day and time on campus each week with other work completed each week through online modules. 
  • Students will complete regular reading and homework outside of class and will complete class activities and receive instructional support through both in-person classes and online modules. Due dates can be expected several times each week. 
  • Students must be able to consistently attend the in-person class sessions. 

As seen below, for these classes PatriotWeb lists:

  1. what campus they are taught on, 
  2. what day/time the class meets, 
  3. the building and room number for the face to face class sessions, and
  4. an additional line for the course noting the online asynchronous work with no days of the week listed and the note Building: ON Room: LINE

Online Asynchronous Courses

  • Online asynchronous courses (noted on PatriotWeb as “a distance education section”) are the only courses offered that do not have set class meeting days and times.
  • Students will complete regular reading and homework outside of class and complete class activities and receive instructional support through online modules. Due dates can be expected several times each week. 
  • These courses do often include 1-2 conference weeks during which students will set up a specific day/time during which to meet their instructor and/or other students about their ongoing writing projects. 

As seen below, for these classes PatriotWeb lists:

  1. No days of the week listed and the note Building: ON Room: LINE
  2. Campus listed as "Online"

Online Fully Synchronous Courses

  • Online fully synchronous courses (noted on PatriotWeb as “a distance education section taught synchronously”) have set class meeting days and times. Instead of meeting in a physical classroom on campus, however, students will meet as a class through an online video conferencing tool such as Zoom or Blackboard Collaborate.
  • Students will complete regular reading and homework outside of class similar to face to face courses, but interactive class activities and instructional support primarily happen in the online classroom. Due dates can be expected several times each week, many of which correspond with class meeting days. 
  • Students must be able to consistently attend and engage/interact with other students in the online class sessions just as they would for a face to face class. Students will need a computer or tablet with a camera and microphone.

As seen below, for these classes PatriotWeb lists:

  1.  what days/times the class meets and the Building: ON Room: LINE
  2. Campus listed as "Online"

Other Hybrid Course Options

  • There are other hybrid course options. These could include:
    • Courses that meet once per week synchronously on an online conferencing tool such as Zoom or Blackboard Collaborate and other work is completed online asynchronously. 
    • Courses that meet once per week in person and once per week on an online conferencing tool such as Zoom or Blackboard Collaborate. 
  • Make sure to note what days/times courses meet and whether these are listed with on-campus building/room numbers (for face to face meetings) or with "online" buildings/rooms (for online meetings).