4 Benefits of Cross-Listing Courses in Higher Education

Gone are the days when higher education institutions operated mainly around organized departments. Cross-listing is building momentum today because students are more diverse and want the academic offering at their universities to reflect that. With cross-listed courses learners can connect to the world outside of their academic program giving them the opportunity to interact with instructors and students from different disciplines. In this article, we focus on four benefits of cross-listing courses and how this method is being used to re-imagine education.

1. Ensure sufficient course enrollment:

   No matter the institution, course enrollment is always a top priority. Cross-listing allows students to register for courses from other departments while remaining enrolled in their core program. The department meets its targeted enrollment numbers and students get their required credits.

2. Collaborate and share resources:

   Limited budgets and resources is an on-going reality for many departments. With cross-listed courses each department shares responsibility and contributes resources to the course. This will promote higher standards of teaching and learning and can lead to ongoing collaborations between departments and programs.

3. Encourage intellectual curiosity:

   Cross-listing can encourage intellectual curiosity in students which can lead to further training and advances into other disciplines. Exposing students to instructors and learners outside of their core program allows them to gain a fresh perspective. If a student decides to expand their studies, the university benefits from additional tuition revenue.

4. Share responsibility in course delivery:

   In cross-listed courses, responsibility for the course delivery is shared among instructors. To ensure a fair evaluation that focuses on each individual instructor, software such as Blue allows students to select which instructor they wish to evaluate. This tool also ensures that administrators can easily view results by aggregating data, i.e. course – instructor – student etc.

Does cross-listing create additional value for your institution? To learn more about Blue’s cross-listed course evaluation toolkit, contact us today.