Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTL) CourseShare
This program was established in 2005 to offer distance-learning courses to students at BTAA campuses. Since then, institutions in the Big Ten have shared hundreds of LCTL courses ranging from Basque to Quechua, Polish, Hebrew, Turkish, Wolof, and others.
Only BTAA institutions are part of the program. A list of academic institutions that are part of the BTAA can be found on the Big Ten Academic Alliance website.
Campus contact information
For the University of Illinois, the contact coordinator is Mariselle Meléndez, director of the School of Literatures, Cultures & Linguistics.
For all LCTL CourseShare requests, please contact Mariselle Meléndez at melendez@illinois.edu and CC office manager Linh Tran (tran1@illinois.edu).
Please note requests should not be initiated by students. All contacts with other institutions are to be initiated by the Illinois coordinator. The coordinator will work with the BTAA project coordinator to initiate the process and subsequently with other LCTL CourseShare coordinators.
Enrollment reminders
- LCTL CourseShare was designed to support LCTL instruction courses; at this time, it is not open to expansion to different course types.
- Participation in LCTL CourseShare is for degree-seeking students enrolled at BTAA member universities only. There are no exceptions.
- Per BTAA LAS Deans Guiding Principles, students can audit LCTL CourseShare courses as long as they meet all other enrollment criteria. However, recognizing the work involved with enrolling any student, both the host and the receiving university must agree to their participation. If you agree, then the student may enroll and audit the course.
- Students wanting to take an established shared course are encouraged to check with their advisors/departments to ensure that the LCTL CourseShare course will enhance their studies and apply toward graduation.
- Please note that LCTL CourseShare courses are initiated and created by faculty and departments, not students. If you are a Big Ten student interested in a language course not offered at your institutions, please consult your advisor about course possibilities. Your advisor can liaise with their department head and campus coordinator who all will assess the need in the department for partnering with another Big Ten institution to receive the course.
It is important to remember that some BTAA schools begin their semester earlier than UIUC so as the entire process takes some time, the sooner the request is placed to your campus coordinator, the better.
For more information on the LCTL CourseShare program, please consult the BTAA website.