Policies and Procedures

Faculty and enrolled students have access to D2L/LIVE, whereas staff do not. In order to gain access, faculty must be fully processed through Human Resources and then added as an instructor to a course. Similarly, students must be registered for a course to gain access. Students who have applied/been admitted, but are not yet registered will not have access to D2L until registered for a course.

D2L/LIVE is part of our single sign-on system so faculty and students will use their Wilkes username and password to log in to the portal and then click one of the available links to D2L/LIVE to enter.

In the instance that a staff member needs access to D2L/LIVE for required training, the person who oversees the training should email ottl@wilkes.edu  email link to request access.

In order to ensure Wilkes is compensating individuals for courses that align to industry standards for high quality online learning and meet all federal, state and local compliance as well as accreditation requirements, interested faculty members and other subject matter experts (SME’s) must enter into a contractual agreement.

This agreement states the rights of both parties when developing online course content and outlines the time frame during which the development process will take place and describes ownership rights.

This is the process that is followed for online course development when faculty desire to be paid for the development work.

1. Faculty should identify the course he or she wants to develop online and seek approval from the department chair and dean.
2. Once approved, the dean or department chair contacts the Director of the Office of Technology for Teaching and Learning (OTTL) to submit the request.
3. The Director of OTTL will contact the interested faculty member to discuss the course, proposed timeline and resources available.
4. Once added to the schedule, an instructional designer will be assigned to the course.
5. The Director of OTTL will issue a course development contract with a detailed timeline for development.
6. Once the contract process is underway, the faculty member is added to the New Developer Onboarding course and must complete before the initial kickoff meetings.
7. Once the onboarding course is completed, the director and Instructional Designer (ID) will meet with the faculty member (separately) to kick off the development process.
8. The ID and faculty developer will collaborate and work together throughout the course development process to produce the online course.
   1. Faculty develop content in line with the guidelines and standards provided by OTTL, submitting according to the agreed upon timeline.
   2. The ID reviews, provides feedback, and builds the course in D2L.
9. At the end, OTTL completes final audits and reviews to ensure compliance with quality expectations and federal requirements.
10. When completed, the department chair or coordinator reviews the course and signs off, which triggers the payment process to the faculty member.

Full course development stipends are coded to the department org but paid out of an account in the provost’s budget. Revision stipends are paid out of department operations budgets so the dean must approve. Paid course revisions are handled in a similar fashion as outlined above with a stipend commensurate with the amount of work to be completed.

The beginning of the process above is adjusted slightly when working with a fully online program. Ideally, the program coordinator provides a proposed launch schedule for all the courses in the program  year in advance so that OTTL can properly plan and allocate the needed resources to support the development.

The Office of Technology for Teaching and Learning (OTTL) has a set of templates and supporting documents that are used throughout the development process. These documents ensure the resulting course will meet quality standards as well as external compliance requirements and expectations. Faculty developing courses under contract will utilize these documents to ensure a smooth collaboration with their instructional designer.

• Course Outcomes Grid  external website - This form provides an overview of the course and ensures that the course to be developed has strong alignment between the learning outcomes, content, activities, and assessments. All developers are encouraged to complete the outcomes grid; however, this is required for Work for Hire courses.
• Module Template  external website - Utilized primarily during contracted course development, this template provides a structure for the developer as he/she is writing the course content.  It helps to ensure courses are well organized and follow a logical and consistent progression as well as include all the necessary components for engagement and assessment.
• Student Load Calculator  external website - All courses that do not meet completely face-to-face are expected to demonstrate equivalent instructional time for how the credit hour contact time is met as part of the University’s compliance requirements for accreditation. The Student Load Calculator allows the developer to clearly demonstrate how the required number of hours will be met by listing all the activities of the course and the estimated time to complete them. This is also a great form to use to evaluate the workload of a face-to-face course to ensure credit hour alignment.
• Minimum Online Course Expectations  external website - This document outlines the minimum expectations of what should be included in a developed online course, such as what should be included in the syllabus, components that should be included in course materials, and laws that require compliance.
• OSCQR (OPEN SUNY Course Quality Review) Rubric - A rubric designed by the State University of New York measuring the quality of the design of an online course.  This most recent version of rubric is available directly from the SUNY OSCQR website  external website. Wilkes uses this document purely as a final course review for elements of quality design and regulatory compliance.
• Start Here Components  external website - Used to help the instructor outline important aspects of the course structure and communication expectations.

In line with the Online Learning Administration Manual, all requests for access to courses where you or the person needing access is not the original instructor should be made in writing via email to OTTL (ottl@wilkes.edu  email link ) and include the appropriate permission, which can be sent in a separate email if needed. Requests to add a faculty member to someone else’s course will not be provided without permission from the original instructor of the course. Be sure the permission you request from the original instructor addresses the intended need - basic viewing or requesting to be able to use the content. Granting access does not imply permission to use the content by another faculty member. Sometimes it is necessary to contact individuals who are no longer with the institution if access is that important.

Similarly, content from courses not owned by the university will not be copied to a different instructor’s course shell without express permission from the original faculty owner. This follows the Intellectual Property policy and general Work-for-Hire agreements in use by the university and OTTL. 

Course Creation

Credit-bearing courses are to be set up through the Registrar’s office in Banner. Typically, no later than after the course schedule is created in Banner for an upcoming semester, OTTL runs the process that allows information to flow to D2L and course shells get created.

Faculty and staff who may need a place to share resources to be used in multiple courses, provide additional support materials to students, offer non-credit style courses to enrolled students and similar types of scenarios should contact OTTL to discuss the best platform to utilize in these situations.

Cross-listed and Merged Courses

Courses that are crosslisted in Banner will receive a course shell in D2L/LIVE with the class rosters combined from both courses. This process runs usually right after the end of the current semester to create the course shells for the upcoming semester. The students are populated closer to the start of the semester.

The new “merged” course is set to inactive, which means students cannot see it because not all faculty elect to use this merged course shell. If you decide to use it, populate your content, assignments, etc and be sure to activate the course before the semester starts following these instructions  external website, so students can access it. If you do not want/need them to access the original course sections, please inactivate those so they are hidden from students.

OTTL does not create merged courses for faculty teaching multiple sections of the same course. However, OTTL can provide various tips and options for helping to manage content across multiple sections and ease the workload, so please contact us.

Course Availability

Initially, all courses are set to “active” in D2L/LIVE when created. This means courses are visible to students. However, OTTL runs a process to inactivate courses that some fully online programs do not want immediately visible to students. These include courses that are part of graduate nursing, ABSN, and graduate education. These programs delineate specific timelines for when instructors must make courses available to students.

Courses that are inactive are not visible to students. If the start date of the course has passed and the course is still not visible, students should first ensure they are still registered (via the portal) and then contact the instructor to request activation of the course.

Courses remain available to students until shortly after graduation when their account is changed to an alumni account. However, faculty may elect to inactivate a course after it is completed. Students with a valid need to access a course that is inactive can request access from the instructor. OTTL will not change the status of a course without permission of the instructor.

Course Enrollment

All faculty with loading, teaching, and/or grading responsibilities must be added to the course through the Registrar’s office. Student enrollment happens through established processes in the Registrar’s office. Faculty and student enrollment data is sent regularly from Banner to D2L with data showing up usually within a short time. However, on rare occasions it can take up to 24 hours. When a student drops, he or she is removed from the course along with any associated completed work in D2L. 

OTTL does not manually add students to courses in D2L/LIVE. Please work with the Registrar’s office to have students added to the course either as registered (RE, RW) or audit (AU) status. The process is the same for drops/withdrawals - contact the Registrar’s office. If you encounter a student who is not on your D2L roster and you have confirmed the student is registered, please reach out to OTTL for assistance.

Adding Others to a Course

Faculty may add other instructors or teaching assistants to their course at any time without OTTL intervention. Follow these directions  external website to add these individuals. If at any time you need one of these individuals removed, please contact OTTL. Faculty may not add students to their classes except as teaching assistants.

Faculty may add a teaching assistant to their course in D2L/LIVE.  Faculty can choose a TA role with or without grade access depending on the support the TA will provide. Faculty should ensure students serving in the TA role are properly trained not only on how to utilize the LMS, but also on relevant university policies regarding access to student information, such as FERPA and Confidentiality policies, as well as academic integrity expectations. Faculty may contact OTTL for assistance with LMS training and the Registrar's office for FERPA and other related training materials. 

All official name changes must be processed in Banner. It is the policy of OTTL to not make name changes directly in D2L. Married and preferred name changes follow the same process. Students must follow the name change policies as outlined by the Registrar’s Office. Employees follow the Employee Information Changes policy located in the Employee Policy Manual available in the portal. 

Please note that if you want your username/email to reflect your new changed name, IT must be included on your request. A basic name change does not automatically include a change in the username so it needs to be requested. 

If you have made the proper requests but find the information is not properly reflected in D2L or you cannot log into D2L, please submit a Help Desk ticket asking them to investigate your account. The Help Desk will involve OTTL to resolve the issue.

Graduated students who return to Wilkes to be an instructor will need to request that their role be updated from student to instructor by the Registrar’s Office once all of their Human Resources paperwork is processed. This will ensure that they will have proper access in D2L/LIVE once they are assigned to a course.   

OTTL follows the policies and procedures established by the Business Operations and Procurement offices when the need arises to purchase new systems or technology tools. In addition, when considering a prospective new technology solution or third party provider, OTTL will enlist a thorough process to review the features and functions of each tool using an evaluation checklist or rubric geared to the specific solution being sought. When appropriate, OTTL will invite additional stakeholders from across campus to participate in the review and vetting process to ensure all parties’ needs will be met. Items for review include, but are not limited to, ease of use, integration with current systems, accessibility and any other compliance requirements, availability and alignment of features to institutional needs, data privacy and security, use of institutional data, artificial intelligence use and policies (if present in the tool), cybersecurity policies, availability and type of onboarding and ongoing support, cost and overall value.

At the stage where it is appropriate, OTTL will request a potential vendor to complete the Educause HECVAT (Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment) questionnaire which can be found at this link  external website. OTTL and other offices will then utilize the responses provided to determine alignment with internal requirements for procurement.

OTTL has the policy to review all technology tools and systems under its purview on a regular basis, typically annually prior to the renewal phase of each agreement. This review process includes at least the following items:

• Faculty adoption/usage rates
• Internal support demands
• Vendor support responsiveness
• Availability, usefulness and value of new features or other enhancements
• Ongoing costs and return on investment
• Continued compliance with external regulatory requirements and other internal policies regarding third party providers
  

Forthcoming

Forthcoming