Online-Distance Education-Blended Course Requirements
The University’s online learning environment includes a substantial expectation of interactive virtual learning activities and engagement. Chat rooms and threaded discussions promote productive class interaction, and allow students to connect with faculty members for help and guidance. Chat rooms are open for discussion with peers (at any time) or faculty (during office hours). Online courses also engage students with interactive learning exercises and animated activities, and can include instant messaging, live meeting rooms, and multimedia materials which provide an audio visual learning advantage. Students are able to see and hear each lesson from any computer with access to the Internet that meets the hardware and software specifications as noted in the University Student Handbook.
Registration Information
- Students may enroll in online courses during the campus open registration period. Students are informed of this registration period via email. Registering for an online class using this process does not guarantee placement into the class; Registrars verify class schedules then place students into respective classes.
- Program offering courses only in an online and/or blended delivery method will be automatically scheduled in the course(s) by the Registrars.
- Access to the online course materials is provided 7 days prior to the start date of the course.
Students enrolled for the first time in online or blended courses are enrolled into the New Student Orientation, New Student Training, or FYS001 courses that include tutorial and training resources. Students are provided access to one of these training courses a minimum of 7 days prior to the start date of the course. The Online Course Calendar provides training week dates.
Instructional Delivery and Facilitation
West Coast University utilizes the Blackboard Learning Management System. Technical support for Blackboard is offered 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. There are minimum system requirements to access not only Blackboard but also any resources that may be posted on Blackboard or utilized in a course. Please refer to the University Student Handbook. for minimum technical requirements. For tech support options, please click on the Support tab located at the top of your Blackboard home page. Blackboard can be accessed here: www.learn.westcoastuniversity.edu
The course provides students ongoing engagement through threaded discussions (Online Discussion Board), announcements, wikis, and blogs. Students are expected to appropriately (netiquette) interact with course peers through threaded discussion dialogue and critiques. Students may further post appropriate imagery, URL links, articles, podcasts, and videos that support evidence the student has mastered the learning outcomes.
The Online Discussion Board is designed to stimulate class dialogue that would normally take place in a face-to-face didactic setting. Participation in the Discussion Board serves as a learning strategy to help demonstrate student knowledge of course content. Each Discussion Board post will be assessed using a rubric (located under the “My Grades” menu). In addition to reviewing the grading criteria in the rubric.
All assignments are to be submitted via the online classroom. Email submissions will not be accepted. Grades and comments on graded items will be posted in the Blackboard Gradebook, unless otherwise specified. All assignments submitted for each course must be created for that particular course and of the students' original work. Any assignment (a paper or presentation) submitted for credit in one course may not be duplicated and submitted for credit in any other course unless approved by the faculty or noted in the syllabus. Substantive written or video feedback will be provided to the student in the assignment rubric. All assignments submitted for a grade will be returned to the student within 72 hours after the assignment due date via the learning management system.