Get Your Students Hired
Our corporate office decides those things, and we have On-Campus Liaisons who then pass them on to the students. The liaison on my campus also created checklists that she makes the students go over and sign, as she is discussing what is expected of them. This is after she takes them through an orientation of how to work in eCollege. I have the priviledge of being her assistant with these students.
We do not as yet offer online courses, but I can see that some of our General Education courses could possibly be adapted to online. I believe the students would really be enthusiastic if we could do so. I would hope that the course instructors would be very involved in developing their own particular courses. I know I would "jump" on the chance to help develop online English Composition classes.
Aime, thanks for sharing how a school can balance overall policies and allow instructors to maintain academic integrity.
We have existing online classes. Policies are created by the Online Program Committee and the Administrators. The online instructor however, have academic freedom in implementing their own policies re: deadlines, extra credits, assignments, exams and forum discussions.
We do not have an online program, yet.
It appears that there would be additional policies to cover specifics of online courses such as when homework is due in, participation requirements, etc. but the existing policies remain unchanged.
Most of our policies are in place for on the ground courses and will remain constant. We have had to adjust our grading percentages a little for online to encourage participation. Stuff like tuition, FA, and other admin policies do not change.
These are a team responsibility including all administration, financial aid, and faculty. I think we would say "student services" if we had a single department.
-Chris
I was glad to hear that you are developing online policies with input from "all hands." Many policies have implications for different departments so it is essential to include representatives from across the University or college to ensure not only universal buy-in and ownership but also compliance. For example, many policies have implications for Title IV funding, so it is essential for Student Finance to be involved in what may appear to be "academic" policies. Having Admissions present is important as well because they set expectations for students.
Mark York
The University Academic Program Committee is ultimately responsible for the creation of all University academic policies. Online policies are often drafted by the online division and then discussed in committees such as the Campus Registrars and the Directors of Education. The Online Registrar is currently editing final academic policy language for the next edition of the catalog as approved by the various subcommittees.
Mark York
We are developing our first online program so all hands are on deck to develop the policies
Since my institution is just now developing online courses, the faculty is greatly involved in developing the policies and procedures for our new online courses this spring.
Policies are set at both the corporate and course level. Of course, there are too many policies to cover them all; one example is when grades need to be posted. Corporate policy is that they need to be posted no later than 72 hours after the unit closes. However the course instructor is free to make any deadline that he or she wishes with in that 72 hour period.