Expansion of the SCF Required Course Syllabus for an Online or Blended class.

SCF has a common Course Syllabus Template, and it is important to follow that template and to provide all of the elements required by SCF. At the same time, the asynchronous nature of the online class requires some additional information to the student to understand what is expected in the class. If you examine the syllabus for this class that is online, and the SCF Syllabus Template, you will note some additions and clarifications that are discussed below.

We have tried to note differences between syllabuses, and the reasons for those differences in the discussion below. Most of them serve a double duty, acting as a clarification for students and explaining what is expected of them. Syllabi also serve to reduce the frequency of student questions and uncertainty. A syllabus can protect you against potential student complaints that can be made against you and SCF, should questions arise regarding conduct of the online course.

Email:

Since Canvas has its own internal messaging system (Inbox), it is important that you confirm to students where they should send their email. The vast majority of instructors prefer that all class mail be send through the Inbox Tab in Canvas, and that only non-course email be sent to their SCF email address. Regardless, it is important for students to know which email to use and when. It is also good practice to inform students how to customize their notifications so they can receive course announcements and changes by the method they prefer.

If you also forward your email to your SCF email, you will always know what is happening in the class without actually checking in. Additionally, you can also schedule your smartphone to accept canvas notifications, making you even more connected. While that is certainly optional, and I appreciate that may be more connection than you really want, when you have an exam that isn’t showing up in Canvas when it should, or there are issues with your class that may need correcting immediately, notification early on can be very helpful. Since your course email will still be visible in your course, you can ignore it or delete it from your SCF outlook as it comes in. There are several email settings to use, but whatever you choose clearly instruct students what you expect.

Course Feedback and Instruction:

SCF course design standards require that the instructor’s plan for classroom response time and feedback on assignments be clearly stated. Students are better able to manage their course activities when the instructor has stated their time frame for responding to student emails and discussion postings and lets students know in advance when they will receive feedback on assignments and when grades will be posted. By sharing this information, you clearly deflect unrealistic student expectations of 24/7 service. Also helpful is to specifically address your “end of evening” time after which you will not answer email, as well as your policy on contact over weekends. Setting clear expectations here can pay off significantly over the duration of the class.

If it is necessary to alter the response-time standards during the course or you are going to be late on a particularly important assignment, it is your responsibility to clearly communicate this to students.

Attendance Policy:

While students do not actually attend an online class at particular times, it is still required that you be able to account for student attendance in the online course for student financial aid purposes. To accomplish this task, you must define a particular event in your class to count as the student attendance for the week. This event must be one where some student work or response is needed, and preferable would be the same event from week to week. Passive activities such as login to the course and checking on a course grades are not sufficient. While not required, an event at the end of the class week is also preferred.

Here are a few positive samples:

Attendance in this class is defined as completion of the original “Post” in a discussion Forum for the week.
Attendance in this class is defined as completion of the weekly course quiz.

Here is a negative example:

Attendance in this class is completion of all the class activities scheduled for the week. (This is considered course performance, not attendance, since it requires every assignment for completion.)

This attendance event is particularly important in federal financial aid to determine the Last Day of Attendance (LDA). When you have an attendance event, you would report the last completed attendance event as the students LDA. This is an absolutely foolproof method for both you and SCF.

Late Work Policy:

While late work is increasingly more common in all courses, I cannot overstate the importance of defining your late work policy- and to follow it absolutely. The online course is different than the face to face course in that there is a record and tracking of all course work submissions that is saved with the course. Whether no late work is accepted, or work is accepted whenever it is done until the last day-- whatever you decide your late work policy is you need to state it, and follow it for all students. While rare, there have been Federal Office of Civil Rights complaints on just this topic alleging discriminatory behavior on the part of the faculty member for differential application of late work policies.

Class Week:

It is important to define the class week, and when assignments open and are available to students. It allows them to plan ahead for your class and their activities to ensure they know what to expect. Most instructors follow a Monday-Sunday class week, but there are no required standards.

Here is a good example: The class week for this class will run from Monday at 8:00 AM until Sunday at 11:59 PM. Individual assignment due dates are posted in the weekly class schedule. The material for any class week will open by Saturday by 8:00 AM of the previous week.

This policy provides the student the ability to start on the class materials the Saturday before the class week if they want to work “early” or to get ahead for an upcoming vacation, allow other students a complete week to do the material, and lets the late completer have until the last weekend to get the material done. Surveys of online students consistently note that Sunday evening is the single most active part of the week for online learning assignment submission- regardless of policy. The early opening at 8:00 AM on Saturday allows for any questions to be asked of the faculty member during the normal work day- and could be corrected or clarified prior to the actual start of the week.

Netiquette:

Expectations for how students are to communicate online and in the classroom are clearly stated. Since student behavior is culturally influenced, it is important to be explicit about standards for communication that apply in the course. There are several good resources that outline generic standards for netiquette. This is also the place for you to outline your standards for grammar, spelling, and other course-specific information.

Course Specific Technical Skills:

General as well as course-specific technical skills students must have to succeed in the course are specified. Examples of technical skills might include:

1. Using the learning management system.

2. Using email with attachments.

3. Creating and submitting files in commonly used word processing program formats.

4. Accessing external resources or software.