Course Management: During the Term

During each term, faculty should be aware of and complete the following steps:

Student Progress Reporting
Faculty-Student Engagement in Online Courses
Mid-Term Warnings

Student Progress Reporting

Undergraduate Procedure:

Starfish has been very effective in helping us make the process of reporting on the academic progress of our undergraduate students as easy and efficient as possible. Through this survey you will have a quick way to inform us and your students about their progress in your class.

At this juncture, faculty are asked to identify any concerns thus far, such as lack of attendance and/or engagement, even if they do not currently have any official grades. Faculty can also have the option to congratulate students who are currently doing well in the class

To access the surveys for your course(s):

Login to MyIU and click the Starfish icon.
On the next page, click on the MacPass single sign on.
If you have never completed setting up your hours office, you may do it now or, if you do not wish to set up your office hours, un-check the box in front of the sentence "Show me this office setup again.... " and click Close. This will take you to your homepage. A link to your Outstanding Progress Surveys will be displayed at the top of your Starfish homepage.
Click on the first survey on the Starfish homepage. Check the area of concern for each student. If you have no concerns for a student, leave it blank or congratulate the student by clicking "Keep Up the Good Work ". You will have the option to add comments to the kudos. (Please note: the student will see your comment ).
When you have finished considering every student, click Submit. Note: unless you submit, your responses are not recorded. Furthermore, you may only submit once, so be sure to evaluate all the students.
Complete each survey following the same procedure.
Items you raise will be addressed by the appropriate support services on campus.

If you have any difficulty accessing or completing a survey, please contact Kathy Memmo at kmemmo@immaculata.edu or by calling extension 3195.

Graduate Procedure:

Any student concerns not resolved at the student level may be referred to the program director or to the graduate office by emailing Sandra Rollison.

faculty-student engagement in online courses

Faculty for online courses are required to maintain an interactive online presence in the class regularly (e.g., a minimum of four days during each class week). Your active participation in chats, forums and discussions throughout the course is directly related to student success and complies with the university's documentation and calculation of AIEs (instructional time required by the Pennsylvania Department of Education).

Respond to all student inquiries within 24-48 hours.
Regularly send the students messages utilizing the Course Announcements forum located within the course shell. This resource generates a forcibly subscribed email to each student registered for the course and lets them know they can now see the course in their list of courses on the LMS. This feature provides the student a central location to view all messages throughout the course in one easy to locate folder.
Do not be absent from the online classroom for more than two (2) consecutive days. Should an extended absence be needed (in case of emergency, travel, etc.), faculty should create an announcement to the class using the LMS indicating the absence period to prevent confusion or frustration on their part. CUS faculty who will be absent from a course shell for longer than three (3) days of a given week should inform their program director/chair. CAPS faculty should alert Tina Floyd. CGS faculty should alert Karen Necker.
Provide regular feedback during forums, discussion and or chat sessions. Critical success factors for retention in online courses include student-student interaction, faculty-student interaction and, most importantly, feedback from faculty. Please be aware that students can view the last day and time the faculty members were in the course under the participants tab.
Regular positive, and specific feedback to your students in chats, forums and discussions is a required faculty responsibility for teaching online courses at IU. Faculty participation in discussion forums is paramount to the facilitator-student engagement within the course. It is imperative that the facilitator’s voice is present within each thread; that presence may look different based on course content and the nature of the overall discussion. Please refer to the discussion forum best practices on the Faculty Hub (under Academic Resources).
Promptly evaluate, grade, and return all written assignments and respond to discussion posts within three (3) days of the assignment due date. Follow the grading criteria indicated in the syllabus and be sure to provide specific feedback on the graded items, Post grades for weekly assessments in the Moodle grade book.
Promptly evaluate, grade, and return the final paper/projects – with written feedback - to students in the Moodle course shell within five (5) days of course conclusion. NOTE: if teaching a course over a full semester or in the second part of a given term, grades may be due at an earlier date. If so, adjust your final grading timeline accordingly.

Mid-Term Warnings

Undergraduate faculty will receive an email from the Registrar indicating that web grading has been activated, allowing faculty to enter mid-term warnings. NOTE: Mid-term warnings are only posted for full semester courses (not accelerated course sections).

Please complete the mid-term grade review process for each course. Mid-term warnings are restricted to the following grades: C-, D+, D, and F. Please do not post higher grades, as they will need to be deleted prior to running the warning report. NOTE: you need to submit a mid-term grade for every full semester course you teach, regardless of whether any student is performing unsatisfactorily (see further instructions below).

The mid-term warnings are due on or before published date on the Academic Calendar indicating Mid Semester Grades Due.

Thank you for the time you will spend calculating and posting students' grades. In our many efforts to help students be successful, the mid-term warnings have proven to be very effective. They also provide a record for later conferences when students find themselves in academic jeopardy. This honest appraisal at mid-term can begin the process of academic remediation.

To enter midterm grades online, go through the MyIU portal to SSIU:

1. From the SSIU Main Menu, click on FACULTY & ADVISORS.
2. From the Faculty Services Menu, click on MID-TERM WARNING GRADES.
3. Select the appropriate TERM and click SUBMIT.
4. Select the appropriate CRN (Course Reference Number) and click SUBMIT.
5. Enter the appropriate mid-term warning grade for each student performing below satisfactory work - OR - simply click SUBMIT to acknowledge the mid-term grade review has been completed.

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