Directives

PURPOSE

To provide students access to essential course materials, resources and other relevant information through the College’s learning management system.

SCOPE

This applies to all credit courses offered by Algonquin College.

DEFINITIONS

POLICY

1. For all credit courses, students are to be provided with online access through the College’s Learning Management System to:
   a)  A course home page consistent with a design or template used within the program;
   b)  Professor and instructor contact information;
   c)  The approved Course Outline;
   d)  Course Section Information (CSI);
   e)  Announcements, including but not limited to, general course updates, class cancellations, room changes, due dates of assignments, assessment dates  for tests and final exam as applicable, and other relevant information;
   f)  Available course materials and other resources or materials, as appropriate;
   g)  Up-to-date progress and assessment results either through the use of the Grade Centre feature in Blackboard™ or through other means made available to students through the Blackboard™ course shell;
   h)  Links to online resources such eTexts and eJournals and open educational resources as appropriate.
2. Course materials items “a to d” above are to be made available to students prior to the first scheduled session.  Course materials items “e to h” above are to be made available to students, as appropriate.
3. For courses delivered in hybrid or online course delivery mode, in addition to the above, students are to be provided with:
   a)  A description of how learning is planned in the course, such as an explanation of how the online and in-class sessions support each other and what students are expected to accomplish during the online learning;
   b)  Online assignments, such as quizzes, surveys, submission of materials and discussion forums, and group collaborative activities, such as blogs and wikis and other active learning activities as appropriate.
4.  Unless there are specific written agreements to the contrary, course materials created by College staff, in the performance of their duties for the College, will belong to the College.
5.  Course materials provided to students online must be accessible via the College maintained  Blackboard™ system.   In the case where course materials reside on systems other than Blackboard™, a link to the site must be provided from within the course shell on the College’s Blackboard™ system.
6.  The use of an external ASP to house Algonquin-owned course materials  that may contain reference to student data or student information must include an agreement signed by the Vice President Academic that includes clear information on security, privacy and backup procedures.
7.  It is the responsibility of professors who deliver course materials to College students to ensure  they have access to all course materials.

PROCEDURE

RELATED POLICIES
AA 34    Copyright
AD 02    Freedom of Information
IT 01      Acceptable Use of Algonquin Computer Networks and Accounts
AA 35    Confidentiality of Student Records
AA 26    Course Outlines and Course Section Information
AA 40    Academic Advising
AA 23    Faculty Consultation with Students
RE 05     Intellectual Property

RELATED MATERIALS
None