Regis Faculty Online

Standards and Expectations Guidelines for Online Faculty

1. Post introduction and expectations by the Thursday before term start.
2. Faculty are expected to check into the course and check email and/or Course Mail at least five days per week. Faculty should inform students of their expectations and the days they will not be available.
3. Faculty should not be away from a class for more than 3 days during a session. Students should also prearrange with faculty for any planned away time during an online course session. Faculty should notify their faculty chair if there is any unexpected away time.
4. Under no circumstances should faculty be absent during the first week of class.
5. Faculty in online courses are expected to respond to student communications within 48 hours.
6. Discussion Forums must be utilized in every online course. RegisNet email or Course Mail should be used for private communication with a student regarding specific issues and for sending and returning graded work. Forums should be used to build rapport and interaction among students in a class and as a place to facilitate active learning. Students should be directed when to use email vs. posting on the Forum. Most situations where email is used require private responses, and will include questions of clarification, or will inform faculty of issues, which must occur in a timely manner.
7. Faculty should interact with students in the Forum (asynchronous discussion) areas of their courses as needed to facilitate class discussion and support the learning outcomes. When discussions are lively and self-directed, faculty need to participate less frequently but sufficiently enough so that students know you are present and actively engaged. At a minimum, faculty should introduce each new week within the Forum week folder and provide closure and/or transitions to the next week. Be alert to opportunities to give students feedback and acknowledgement of their responses. Enhanced participation by faculty is warranted when the discussion lags or goes off track, incorrect information is posted, or questions arise. Faculty are expected to interact in the Forum, re-direct discussion, summarize, recognize contributions, provide additional materials, content clarification, etc. Pre-loading messages into the Forum for the entire term is not encouraged, as the direction of the course may change based on the learning that occurs within each week.
8. Email, Course Mail, or the Assignment Drop Box are the primary conduits for submitting and returning student assignments. Make sure you specify which method of communication you will be using in your class in your expectations posting. We encourage you to use the Assignment Drop Box whenever possible.
9. Inform students of how they should submit assignments (Drop Box or email). We encourage the use of the in-course Drop Box.
10. Graded assignments should be returned within 96 hours of the due date. Schools may alter this requirement at their discretion (e.g. research and capstone courses may require more time).
11. Provide specific feedback about the quality of the student work and rationale for the grade on all assignments (quizzes, tests, papers, Forum work, and participation).
12. Live chat sessions cannot be required for a grade. The session must be optional. When chat sessions are planned, it is important to determine what works time-wise across multiple time zones and plan sessions to accommodate all students. While chat sessions are good learning spaces, they do detract from the flexibility for which students often come to distance education. Chat transcripts are available in WorldClass.

Guidelines for Posting Faculty Introductions & Expectations

The introduction post should include:

1. Contact information including email address.
2. Your credentials to teach the course.
3. Some personal information you are willing to share, like your hobbies, pets, etc.
4. Your hiring department.
5. Expected turnaround time for email responses (best practices require a 24-hour response to emails, with an upper limit of 48 hours, unless other arrangements have been made for special circumstances).
6. Expected participation of you, the faculty, in the Forum Discussion. (E.g. "I will check into the Forum regularly, read all postings, and respond frequently. I may not respond immediately to each posting, as I hope to foster a learning community in which you collaborate and assist one another.")
7. Alert students if you prefer email or Course Mail for private correspondence.
8. An invitation for students to reply and post their own introductions.

The expectations post should include:

1. Due dates and required formatting for assignments. This is especially important if you are going to vary from what is pre-loaded in the Week-by-Week or Assignments page (e.g. "By Sunday I will post the items due for the week and make any modifications of due dates, etc.").
2. Expectations in terms of participation in Forum Discussions for the student. What merits full vs. partial participation? How will you grade participation? How will you handle a student that disappears and reappears weeks later? Identify what you consider respectful communication on the Forum, what will and will not be tolerated. Is there a topic thread or area where students can take the discussion off line away from the content of the course and just talk? Review the resources attached for some ideas.
3. Expectations on how to handle time away. When faculty or students travel and will not have access to the virtual classroom, it is imperative that they notify the faculty, or the faculty notify the class, of this plan. Faculty should not be away from a class for more than 3 days during a session. Students should also prearrange with faculty for any planned away time during an online course session. Under no circumstances should faculty be absent during the first week of class. Students should not be allowed to do so either except under extreme circumstances and with prior agreement and conditions set by faculty. Faculty should notify their Faculty Chair if there is any unexpected away time.
4. Expectations for academic performance; how grades are determined; expectations as to Forum participation; and such policy items as guidelines for success in the class, your policy about late assignments or late postings, the plagiarism policy, or any other policy statements that affect academic performance. Review resources attached to this document.
5. FERPA statement and request for students to post their permission to receive scores and grades via email as a reply to the expectations document. The FERPA statement is as follows: Students using online formats for study at Regis University do so in a protected environment. However, these learning environments may at times be viewed by faculty (both current and those learning to become online facilitators), Distance Education staff and other experts who are working with us to maintain the highest quality online courses. We use email to communicate regarding levels of performance and grades. Understand that this is not a secure environment. In order to receive your grades via email, please post your permission as a REPLY to this posting. If you do not reply, your grades will NOT be emailed to you and you must wait until they are sent to you in the postal mail.  For additional information regarding FERPA visit the following URL (http://www.regis.edu/regis.asp?sctn=sr&p1=ureg&p2=ferpa).
6. Faculty should describe course guidelines for respectful discourse. Faculty are encouraged to add a section to their course expectations that reminds students about online etiquette and collegiality.
7. Ask students to respond to your expectations posting saying they grant permission for you to send them grades via email. If they do not post this response, you may not email them grades according to FERPA regulations!