Fall 2024 Dual Credit Briefing
Fall 2024 Dual Credit Briefing
for
Counselors, Administrators, and Site Facilitators
Updated 07/28/2024
Notice to students and parents: This information is intended for distribution to schools and districts only and may contain details that do not apply to your local district’s participation in MTDA services. If you are interested in enrolling in courses with Montana Digital Academy, your first contact should be with the counseling department or administration of your local public school to discuss what is available locally. MTDA does not take enrollments directly from students or their parents.
Important Note
MTDA continues to treat our dual credit courses as a separate term and program, due to the significant difference in setup and requirements. Site facilitators and administrators must remain mindful of the fact that dual credit courses have increased rigor and requirements of students and should be utilized only when it is an appropriate placement for students.
Cost-Sharing Information
Per an agreement with the Office of the Commissioner of High Education, MTDA will not require a cost-sharing payment for our dual credit catalog for the 2024-2025 school year.
However, site facilitators and administrators should aware of the fact that a dual credit option should not be utilized as an alternative to MTDA’s original credit program simply because of the cost differential. Dual credit courses are more demanding of students and require registration for college credit with the appropriate institution.
Registration
- Please review our student registration page for information on data collection, entrance counseling, and student registration in the site facilitator handbook.
- Please be mindful of course requirements and prerequisites. We rely on local school officials to determine appropriate placement in MTDA programs and services. If you are in doubt about particular course placements, please contact the MTDA support desk for guidance and advice. Dual credit courses are typically limited by our partner colleges to students of junior and senior standing who are at least 16 years of age. Schools are responsible for working with any students who don’t meet those criteria to fill out the appropriate waiver with our partner college.
- As noted in our facilitator handbook, each student account must have an accurate, unique, and functioning email address for each student enrolled in the system. If your district’s student email system blocks outside emails, please work with your IT department to unblock MTDA email addresses BEFORE enrolling. Also note, Apple iCloud.com addresses do not allow access to many automated email systems; please use an alternative.
- Registration for Fall 2024 dual credit courses is open now. We will again enforce an “Initial Course Request Deadline” on Wednesday, August 28, 2024. MTDA will finalize sections on that day and assign teachers. We may or may not have additional slots open in any particular course after this day. If you choose to enroll a student on or after the course start date on September 3, 2024, you must play an active role in helping that student get into the course and catch up to pace. Students who are enrolled after the course starts have a significantly higher drop rate and ultimately lower success rate.
- Please use the enrollment counseling forms when enrolling students and give a copy of the form to the student after enrollment. This form helps decrease confusion on behalf of the student and their parents and opens up communication lines. Our enrollment counseling page is here: LINK.
Program Information
- Our course list for Fall 2024 is here: LINK.
- Our 2024-2025 Academic Calendar is located here: LINK.
- Our 2024-2025 course catalog and course offering lists are located here: LINK.
- Significant program changes (please check back here for an up-to-date list):
- NEW Learning Management System – Canvas
- In conjunction with the Montana University System, MTDA has converted all programs to the Canvas Learning Management System. All support handbooks and orientations are being updated through the 2024 spring term.
- NEW Learning Management System – Canvas
- Course Enrollment Limitations
- All dual credit courses are candidates for a course cap due to the need for staff that qualifies for faculty status at our partner colleges in Montana.
- NCAA: If you are considering MTDA courses for a student who could be a future NCAA athlete, be sure to review our page regarding MTDA and the NCAA.
- IEPs/504 information: If you have a student that has 504 or IEP accommodations, please review the required procedures for sharing accommodation requests in our site facilitator handbook (short link to specific pages: link)