Teaching Online
Expectations for Teaching Online EDTECH Courses
Before the Course Begins
We want you and your students to have a rewarding and successful experience in the online EDTECH courses. This requires some up front work before the course begins.
- Please do your best to ensure your course site is prepared and updated prior to the start of the semester. This means checking course content, dates, links, etc. Refer to the academic calendar for the current semester for dates: https://www.boisestate.edu/registrar/boise-state-academic-calendars/
- E-Mail students no later than the Friday prior to the start of the semester. Welcome them and provide them with information about course start date and how to locate the course. It is also helpful to send then a copy of the syllabus. You can email your students directly from the class roster in My Boise State as explained in the Help document here: https://www.boisestate.edu/registrar-help/view-my-class-roster/
- Make sure that the course has been made available for student access by the first day of class. For instructions, see the help article at: https://boisestate.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/LTS/pages/8978496/Course+Availability
First Week of Class
It is important to check on students regularly during the first week of class. Set up a course introduction forum in Blackboard and check activity to ensure that everyone has logged into the course site. The official class roster in My Boise State will sync with Blackboard and adjust when students add or drop. Please watch for changes.
Faculty Initiated Drop Policy
Faculty may drop a student from a course for failure to attend class or meet course entrance requirements. See policy #4190.
Please let the adjunct coordinator know if you submit the faculty initiated drop form. The form may be downloaded at: https://www.boisestate.edu/registrar/faculty-staff-info/faculty-staff-forms/
Permission Numbers
There are some situations where a student will need a permission number to enroll in your course. This can occur when a student enrolls late or needs to override a prerequisite.
Refer to the Help document here: https://www.boisestate.edu/registrar-help/view-my-permission-numbers/
During the Semester
We do expect our instructors to remain highly involved and visible in the courses they teach for the EDTECH program.
- Please make sure to log into your online course several times per week.
- Respond to student e-mail within 24 hours during the week. Let students know what your availability is on weekends or evenings so that they know what to expect.
- Students love getting personal and detailed feedback in a timely manner. Typically, grades should be posted within a week after the due date and before the next assignment is due. This helps students determine if they need to make changes or if they are meeting expectations.
- Always be polite and professional when communicating with students. We are role models for online communication and professional practice.
- Please let the adjunct coordinator know if you become ill, encounter problems with the course, or have a challenging situation with a student and need advice. We will do our best to help and support you.
End of Course
Course Evaluations
Boise State University uses an online course evaluation system. Near the end of each semesters students will be invited to submit an evaluation for each course they take. For more information see: https://www.boisestate.edu/oit-learning/course-evaluations/
After the course evaluation period has ended you will be sent a link to login and view your course evaluations. You can download the evaluations for your own records. The adjunct coordinator will also review course evaluations and may contact you to congratulate you for exceptional evaluations or ask about possible concerns.
Final Grades
The due date for final grades can be found in the course calendar for the current semester. See: https://www.boisestate.edu/registrar/boise-state-academic-calendars/
Grades can be submitted directly through My Boise State or you can try the option to transfer final grades from Blackboard. Refer to the following help documents for more information.
My Boise State (PeopleSoft):
- Grade My Classes: https://www.boisestate.edu/registrar-help/grade-my-classes/
- Correct Submitted Grades: https://www.boisestate.edu/registrar-help/correct-submitted-grades/
Grade Transfer from Blackboard:
Student Incomplete Policy
The BSU policy on grades and incompletes may be found here: https://www.boisestate.edu/registrar/degree-requirements/grades/
There may be instances when students are not able to complete the course activities by the final due date and will request an incomplete. Incompletes should only be considered if the student has satisfactorily completed coursework up to 3 weeks prior to the end of a given semester and extenuating circumstances make it impossible to complete the course. If the student meets the guidelines and you choose to assign an incomplete, we ask that you specifically identify what activities need to be completed, the due dates for completion, and copies of example assignments. You should also indicate what grade will be awarded upon successful completion of the missing assignments, as well as what grade will be received if not completed.
When you assign an incomplete, please send the following information to adjunct coordinator:
- Student Name
- Student ID Number
- Course Information including Catalog Number, Title, Course Number (i.e. EDTECH 501: Introduction to Educational Technology, 44769 - the course number can be found in your faculty pages within MyBoiseState)
- Activities/assignments to complete
- Due dates for completion (within 6 weeks max preferable)
- Copies of example assignments
- Grade awarded upon successful completion of the missing assignments
- Grade awarded if assignments are not completed
Once a student completes the missing assignments, you will need to notify the adjunct coordinator to submit a grade change card for you unless you are on campus and can do this on your own.
Closing Your Course Site
Please let students know how long they will have access to the course after the semester has ended. It makes sense to keep the course open until after the final grades have been posted. Course sites are automatically made unavailable three weeks after the semester ends.