BTAA CourseShare at Rutgers-New Brunswick

As a member of the Big Ten Academic Alliance, Rutgers-New Brunswick participates in the BTAA’s CourseShare program, which affords students from BTAA institutions the opportunity to take, via videoconferencing, courses related to Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTLs), including Korean from the University of Michigan's Nam Center for Korean Studies eSchool, as well as Islamic Studies from Michigan's Digital Islamic Studies Curriculum (DISC). Participating students are not charged any additional tuition or fees, and grades and credits are reported on each student’s home university transcript. The Language Center (TLC) staff administers the BTAA CourseShare program for Rutgers-New Brunswick and provides:

  • liaison between BTAA institutions and Rutgers faculty;
  • registration services for non-Rutgers students;
  • access to TLC's distance learning (videoconferencing) rooms (dependent upon the number of Rutgers students enrolled); and
  • posting of Rutgers offerings and requests to the BTAA CourseShare Inquiry Board, which emails such announcements to all BTAA CourseShare Coordinators.

The CourseShare Coordinator at any BTAA institution interested in receiving one of our offerings contacts the Rutgers Coordinator to arrange a partnership. Similarly, the Rutgers Coordinator forwards each announcement about another institution’s offering to the appropriate Rutgers department to inquire whether that department is interested in receiving it. If a department is interested, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to so indicate and the Rutgers CourseShare Coordinator will follow up on the inquiry.

Every effort should be made to determine CourseShare offerings far enough in advance in order for a departmental scheduler to enter them during regular fall and spring CourseAtlas scheduling windows, which will allow enough time for TLC to complete the numerous administrative aspects of each partnership. If it is not possible to meet a CourseAtlas scheduling window deadline to enter a BTAA offering, then a specific deadline outside of the scheduling window will be designated to submit the online request form.

Once TLC is notified officially via the online request form that a department wants to host or receive a course, TLC staff provides not only the above-mentioned administrative services, but also technological assistance with its own classrooms, including:

  • videoconferencing test calls conducted prior to the start of a semester to ensure the proper functioning of the host and receive site systems;
  • system training for all instructors and facilitators; and
  • ongoing support throughout the semester to address any technical issue that arises. Should a problem occur during class that an instructor or a facilitator can't resolve, he/she can contact The Language Center, and a staff member will go to the room to provide assistance.

NOTE: Posting of a Rutgers offering or a request to receive an offering on the BTAA CourseShare Inquiry Board does not guarantee a partnership with any other BTAA institution.