E-College 

Providing quality classes ensures that high academic standards will be achieved and also helps establish your University as an institution that believes in quality education for our students. With only a week break between quarters, a lot of work must be completed in a short time. Therefore, QA would like to help you with this checklist of requirements in preparing your course for the upcoming quarter.

       SYLLABUS: QA is currently conducting syllabi audits for all the classes. The deadline to post your syllabus is imperative to meet. Please ensure that your syllabus is consistent with the generic syllabus as posted on the Faculty Portal under Syllabi link. Your syllabus needs to be customized based on the syllabus checklist (posted online at the Faculty Portal under Audit Process tab). This document will outline all of the requirements and expectations for creating a complete and flawless syllabus.  

       It is imperative to provide detailed information on your expectations for all assessment items under “Course Requirements” section of the syllabus. The students should not have to guess about what is required of them to achieve maximum points. Detailed information in the Course Requirement section allows the faculty to transfer these instructions to their course shell.

       Be sure to have your late policy clearly described with any penalties.

       All due dates for assignments must be listed in the syllabus.

       There are 2 content items under Course Home for the syllabus in eCollege. Syllabus content item needs to list instructor’s customized syllabus. Syllabus: contains the University policies; therefore, remove the University Notices and University Services sections from your customized syllabus and add a note for students to review policies in your Syllabus.

       Ensure that you have the correct edition of the “Instructional material” for the course(s) you are teaching. Incorrect instructional material equates to incorrect teaching, incorrect quizzes, and exams.

       A writing assignment must be included

·         All graduate courses must include assignments totaling a minimum of ten pages of writing. The writing requirement may be fulfilled through one long research paper or several shorter writing projects such as journal reports, journal entries, book or article reviews, class projects or essay examinations as deemed by the instructor to be appropriate for the discipline.

·         All undergraduate classes must include a writing assignment for the purpose of developing writing skills that requires students to use proper English, grammar, spelling, proper organization and contain at least one APA citation. The topic should relate to the class material or course objective and should be at least 7-10 sentences paragraph. These requirements need to be listed on the syllabus.

       At least 2 seminar sessions (1 in mini-session) must be listed on the syllabus. If you already have the exact dates and times for these live sessions, clearly list these dates on the syllabus. If you are planning to take a poll to see what would best suit your students, provide generic information and let them know that exact date and time will be announced via the Announcements area. QA recommends offering the first live session in the first half of the quarter and the second session in the second half of the quarter. Students should be given at least one week notice for a scheduled seminar session to provide them with sufficient time to view the Announcement and make the necessary arrangements to attend. Remember, these sessions are required for the faculty but the attendance for students is optional.

       GRADEBOOK SETUP: Gradebook must be set up correctly. Make sure that you include all gradable assessment items. QA requires that the total possible points, breakdown of points and item labeling in the gradebook setup exactly match the “Evaluation Methods” section of your syllabus. If you are using weighted grades, make sure that you set up your gradebook by percentage, using this available option under “Preferences” tab in the gradebook setup area of eCollege. Additionally, do not forget to use the “Extra Credit” option to set up your extra credit items.

       WELCOME ANNOUNCEMENT: Have you posted a welcome announcement to your students via “Announcements” tool in your course shell? Remember, content manager has changed the look of the announcement area. The instructor can add a host of new features to the announcement area such as dates, time, new characters, horizontal lines, etc.

       OFF TO A GOOD START: Have you created an “ice breaker,” diagnostic, or syllabus activity for your students, which will allow them to get to know each other, the course, and you, the instructor? Develop a sense of community that may otherwise be missing in online environment. If you have a “Class member introduction” discussion thread, you should make the first posting to let students learn about you as well. Additionally, welcoming each individual student to the course via this thread will demonstrate the instructor’s presence in the online classroom. Week 1 is a busy week with students adding and dropping classes; therefore, it is a good practice to provide students with something to do without overwhelming them.

       COMMUNICATION CHANNEL: QA requires that a communication channel (e.g. “Q and A” or “Virtual Office”) is provided in each course where students will be able to ask their questions/clarify doubts. This thread will encourage students to use the online course shell to communicate with you and many times students may find the answers to their common questions in this area. Adding such a thread will lessen the number of emails and phone calls that you will need to track down and respond to as well provide a great way to reduce redundant questions and to know what the students are thinking. Remember, you are required to respond to students’ postings within 24-48 hours.

       WEEK 1 CONTENT: Have you created and posted all of the course content items that need to go under the weekly tab for Week 1? Please remember that in eCollege, students have access to the “Course Home” area throughout the quarter, while they gain access to the weekly tabs at the start of the respective week. However, in Blackboard environment, students have access to all weekly units so instructors need to restrict the display dates or the availability of content items/exams, as appropriate.

       SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: Have you offered supplemental materials relevant to the weekly expected learning outcomes for Week 1? It is imperative to enhance student learning with additional materials and class activities that help bring in your knowledge, experience, and presence to the online classroom. Your teaching methods determine how much learning occurs in the online classroom. QA requires posting supplemental material in at least 3 out of 11 weekly units. Supplemental material needs to be offered in a separate content item within the weekly unit, not through Discussion Forums, Webliography or Doc Sharing areas.

       UPDATED INFORMATION: Have you ensured that no area in your course shell reflects outdated, incorrect, or irrelevant content/information? Remember to update the shell to reflect your current Quarter.

        “OBJECTIVES” AND “LECTURE” CONTENT ITEMS: Have you checked on the standard “Objectives” and “Lecture” content items throughout the weeks? These items are locked and can not be moved or removed by the instructor. Contact your Quality Assurance Specialist without any delay if you notice any inconsistencies in your online classroom.

       GROUP WORK: All group work for assessment purposes should be eliminated in all online classes. Because our geographic footprint stretches to the West Coast, involves three time zones, and encompasses countries outside of the United States (military personal) group work has become too cumbersome. Please update your syllabus and course shell accordingly.

       USER ACTIVITY REMINDER: To meet your contractual agreement, you must log in to your course at least 5 out of 7 days each week. Since the Weekly User Activity Report is based on your access of a course within a conventional week of Monday through Sunday corresponding with the University’s academic calendar week, ensure that you do log on to your course on five separate days of each of the calendar weeks. Appearing on the User Activity report 3 times in a quarter will result in an automatic Unacceptable audit rating. If you are teaching more than one course, open one course at a time instead of the separate courses in separate windows as this would not record your access activity accurately.

For any additional changes to improve educational excellence, please seek the advice and counsel of your Associate Campus Dean (ACD).

Your efforts in providing quality education to your University students is a valued and appreciated effort.