ONLINE Instructor Standards

All courses will be audited to evaluate the instructor’s adherence to Online Division standards. Each instructor will receive a detailed report indicating the current status of their course, strengths of the course, and areas for improvement. This is a formal audit that will go on the record of the instructor for use in assigning future courses. Audit Form

Prior to the course:

At least 2 weeks prior to each term start, instructors are responsible for evaluating their course shells to ensure the accuracy of the course contents including the gradebook, syllabus, and if applicable outcomes, assignments, discussions, and assessments. If any areas of concern are found, the instructor should contact a member of the Instructional Design team (DesignTeam@vatterott.edu) and they will work together to smooth out any issues.

Instructors are responsible to order their Instructor copy textbooks using the Instructor Deskcopy Textbook Request Form. Link <<Click here to download the desk copy request form. Instructors should email the completed form to the SME. Link <<Click here for SME List. When an instructor no longer needs the textbook, it should be returned to the DOE for reuse.

Instructors are also responsible to set all due dates and available to and from dates within the course. (Canvas Guide How To) All modules should open on Monday of the set week. (Canvas Guide How To) Student due dates should be set as follows:

Discussions- Initial post Wednesday and peer/instructor responses due Sunday at 11:59pm

Assignments and Quizzes- Due Sunday at 11:59pm

Week 10 is an exception to this rule. Week 10 should open on Thursday of Week 9 and should end on Thursday of Week 10 at 11:59.

All Discussions, Assignments and Quizzes should have an available to date no later than Thursday Week 10 at 11:59pm to keep students from completing items after the course has ended.

Contact Announcement- The instructor must post an announcement titled Instructor Contact Information to the students with the following information: Example

Instructor Name
Phone Number
Email Address
Office Hours
PD and/or DOE contact information

During the course:

Instructor must log in to the course shell at least 5 days out of the week. Instructors who fail to meet this standard will be put on probation. All subsequent attendance issues will affect the assignment of future courses.

Instructor must utilize at least 1 Web Application per course (Wikipedia, Twitter, Youtube exe..)

Weekly Announcements- Instructor must post a minimum of one substantive, course-relevant announcement per week. The announcement should directly relate to the content being taught that week with a short learning piece. You may include reminders about gradable items, but that should not be the main topic. Examples

Questions- Instructor must respond to student inquiries from the "Questions" area, the announcements area and their Canvas inbox within 24 hours of the student’s initial post. Questions in the Questions area and announcements area need to be responded to in those areas for the benefit of all students unless the answer is confidential in nature. Example

Gradebook Feedback- Instructor must provide constructive feedback of gradable items within one week of the specified due date. This feedback must be personalized (address student by name), constructive, and relate to the specific topic. If an assignment is handed in after the due date, the timeline in which the item is graded will be determined by the instructor. All items turned in late must be graded by the end of the term. Vatterott does allow instructors to implement their own individual late policy. However, we do ask that you clearly state your late work policy within a Week 1 announcement. You will want to express how many points will be taken off and at what intervals. You will also want to state if you will make exceptions. You are not required to have a late policy though. You are welcome to accept late work throughout the course without deducting points. This option would not need to be placed in an announcement.

Gradebook Standards and Best Practices- Instructors must use the mandatory discussion rubric placed in courses for grading discussions. This is to ensure students are being held to the same discussion participation standards throughout all online courses. It is recommended for instructors to create rubrics for all assignments that aren’t multiple choice. (Link to creating rubrics in Canvas Guides.) Instructors must grade all items within one week of the due date including assigning a 0 score to any items not submitted at that time. Midterm and Final grades are exceptions to the one week rule as Midterm grades are due Monday of Week 6 by noon and Final grades are due Friday of Week 10 by noon. Gradebook Examples

From the Instructor (FTI)- Instructor must provide a presentation using publisher materials (the text book and/or the items given as the publisher resources) incorporating an audio and/or video lecture from the instructor by Monday of each new week. This section should be thought of like your classroom lecture and provide knowledge from your experiences in the field and give instruction that will help students better understand and commit to memory the textbook information/publisher materials. Audio and/or video must provide a minimum of 5 minutes of core content. Instructors are welcome to use any platform to create their video, including Canvas. Here are instructions on how to use some of the most common platforms, YouTube, Prezi, Presentation Tube. Examples of acceptable FTI content are as follows:

Video Recordings (Minimum 5 Minutes of Content) Video Example 1
Video Example 2 Video Example 3 & Screen-cast Example & Presentation Tube Example
Audio Recordings (Minimum 5 Minutes of content) Example

Discussion posts have been pre-built. If you do not think the discussions inspire high level thinking, contact the Design Team with a suggested replacement to have this changed.

Discussion Response Rate- Instructor must respond to at least 40% of original student discussion thread posts. This percentage is based on the total number of students who have posted to a thread. For example, if you have 10 students in your class, but only 5 have posted a discussion thread, you should respond to at least 2 students. Discussions should be locked down after each week to prevent students from participating late.

Discussion Feedback- Responses must encourage deeper thinking, elaboration, or evaluation of the student’s response. Example

Student Outreach- Instructors are responsible to have ongoing contact with students throughout the term. This contact needs to be completed and uploaded to the Faculty portal for each student.

First Day- Welcome students to the class. Discuss expectations. Request contact information from student to ensure you get a response. You can offer extra credit for this to encourage a timely response. Record both your outreach and the student’s response in the portal under INS- General Advising
Attendance- Attendance is registered when a student posts in the discussion, submits an assignment, or completes a quiz. When a student misses a due date, it is the instructor’s responsibility to contact that student daily until they have returned to class. If email has been unsuccessful multiple days in a row, the instructor will need to reach out by phone as well. Log all attempts into the Portal under INS- Attendance Call or Email.
Academic Progress- When a student has below 70% in the course at the time of weekly grading, it is the instructor’s responsibility to reach out to this student to offer guidance in improving that score. Log this into the Portal under INS-General Advising.
Midterm Advising- By the end of Week 4, Midterm Advising must be completed. Midterm Advising needs to include the student’s current grade for weeks 1-4 and how that grade can be improved and/or continued. Copy and paste this email to log it into the Portal under INS- Midterm Faculty Advising.
Final Advising- By the end of Week 8, Final Advising must be completed. Final Advising needs to include the student’s current grade for weeks 1-8, how that grade can be improved and/or continued and a reminder that the course ends Thursday, Week 10 at midnight. Copy and paste this email to log it into the Portal under INS- Final Faculty Advising

Meeting Standards-

There are several times throughout the term that you will get communication from the DOE to assess how well you’re meeting the standards. You will see the following audits/reports:

Name of Audit/Report	When You Should Get This	Who Gets This	What this Audit/Report Helps
Student Outreach Report	Tuesday and Friday each week	Instructors who haven’t met student outreach standards	This report helps remind you to meet the student outreach standards.
Beginning Audit	During Week 2	New Instructors and Instructors on Probation	This checks that you are on the right path with the starting of the new term.
Midterm Advising Report	Beginning of Week 5	Instructors who didn’t report Midterm Advising in the portal	This helps remind you to complete the midterm advising by the end of Week 4.
Midterm Grades Audit	Beginning of Week 6	Instructor who didn’t post midterm grades correctly in the portal	This helps remind you to complete the midterm grades by Monday at noon of Week 6.
Midterm Surveys	During Week 6	Everyone	These are your surveys from students. This can help you improve based on student responses.
Official Audit	By Week 9	Everyone	This is your official audit that measures your success at meeting standards. This can help you know what to improve for the next term.
Final Advising Report	Beginning of Week 9	Instructors who didn’t report the Final Advising in the portal	This helps remind you to complete the Final Advising by the end of Week 8.
Final Surveys	During Week 9	Everyone	These are your surveys from students. This can help you improve based on student responses.
Final Grade Audit	Friday of Week 10	Instructors who didn’t submit Final Grades correctly.	This report will let you know if there were any incorrect grades submitted that will need to be changed.