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Ask Vickie - Credit Information and Attendance Policies

Credit Information

UEN Professional Development courses may be taken for re-licensure credit, and licensure points are available for all of our courses. However, districts maintain their own policies regarding lane change and re-licensure. Please check with your district to verify that our certificates of completion (points), Utah State Office of Education (USOE) and Southern Utah University (SUU) credit are accepted for lane change and re-licensure.

Types of Credit

USOE Credit:

Southern Utah University Credit:

Re-licensure Points Only:

Steps for Receiving Credit or Points

In-person Course Attendance

You must attend the entire class to receive points or credit.

Tardiness is disrespectful to participants who are on time, and frustrating for the instructor. We always have plenty of material to fill class time, and therefore make every effort to begin our classes on time!

We suggest you allow an extra 20 minutes to accommodate the car and pedestrian traffic on campus, and for finding the building if you are not familiar with the University of Utah campus. ALSO, allow 10 minutes to come in and get your parking permit, park your car and come back to the classroom.

Online Course Attendance and Credit

Attendance

These policies apply to online courses developed and facilitated locally by UEN professional development staff, and to some extent to the UEN-TV workshops facilitated by UEN.

Online Orientation

All participants must review materials provided to help them function in the Blackboard online course environment and to understand the unique expectations and activities for each online course we offer. To assure that everyone begins their classes with a solid understanding of what is required for success, UEN provides an orientation module within each online course.

Participants must review all of the orientation materials, after which they complete a short quiz also found in the orientation module. When the participant achieves a score of 100% on the orientation quiz, the materials for the first week of class are released and appear in the course area. Participants may take the quiz up to three times in order to pass. If unable to pass after the third attempt, please contact the facilitator.

Weekly Deadlines

All UEN-created online courses follow a scheduled asynchronous model. This means that there are scheduled weekly deadlines, but within the week participants may choose the best time(s) to complete the work.

A week always begins at 6:00 a.m. on Monday, and ends at 12:00 midnight the following Sunday. Therefore, all assignments are due by 12:00 midnight Sunday of that week. Most courses require logging in two times during the week - once early to post in the discussion board, and a second time later in the week to reply.

We recognize that in a six or eight week period, unexpected events may interrupt a participant's study. For that reason, we have a standard late work or make up policy.

  1. You must inform the instructor as soon as you know you will be unavailable to complete your work - the more advanced notice you can provide, the easier it is to accommodate you.

  2. Assignments:

    1. Are made available based on a calendar within the Blackboard course environment. Every assignment has a fixed due date and time, usually midnight Sunday of the week in which the assignment was given.

    2. Are set up with a one-week grace period during which they may still be submitted, but marked late.

    3. Are no longer available for participants as of midnight the Sunday one week after the due date. Thus, if you are unable to complete a week's assignment(s) on time, you must make it up within one week.

  3. Discussion postings:

    1. Are key ingredients for most of our online courses. In order for truly interactive discussion to occur, each person must post initially early in the week, and then return to respond to the postings of others.

    2. Because the number of participants and the number of postings varies widely among our courses, we can't specify an exact number of postings to read. However, as a rule of thumb you should plan to read all the postings in the board. If there are many postings, you must read at least 20 or 50% of them - whichever is GREATER. Instructors can view the total number of postings made, the average number read by class participants, and the number which you have read. If you read less than others in class, you might be asked to increase your participation. Refer to your course rubric for course-specific guidance.

    3. If you miss a weekly discussion, no one will respond to your posting, and the effectiveness of this mode of learning is dramatically decreased for everyone in the class. Therefore, you are allowed to make up one week of discussion only in a six-week class.

    4. In exceptional circumstances, the instructor has the discretion to allow you to make up two weeks of discussion. However, if you miss three weeks of discussion, you have effectively missed half of the class and this can't be made up. You are effectively dropped from the class.

  4. Keeping up is key to a successful and positive online class experience following the model that we use for online courses. If you find yourself falling behind, please contact your facilitator immediately.

Online Credit Requirements

Because our courses are Pass/Fail, participants are expected to complete all of the assignments, discussion and other activities in a timely manner and to a minimum standard of quality to qualify for credit. All courses include rubrics; evaluation, feedback and expectations for each course are covered in detail in the orientation materials online for each course.

Assignments are due with make up allowed as explained above. Most classes include a three to seven day grace period after the official last day of class for participants to complete work. After the grace period, the class is officially closed. Materials and assignments are no longer available for participants to complete, and make up is not possible.

If a participant misses 50% of the course - three or four weeks of assignments - you are automatically dropped from the course because it is just too hard to make up more than half of an online course, particularly the interactive discussions. Some participants find the online environment doesn't work for them, others underestimate the time commitment or their availability, and still others have unexpected events intrude. We encourage you to contact your facilitator at the first sign of trouble, and if you aren't able to complete the class that session, try it again another time!

Southern Utah University and Utah State Office of Education credit is approved based on time in class. We develop materials based on extensive teaching and learning experience, and refine them over several repetitions to be sure the time required of an average participant is consistent with that required to earn credit. One semester credit requires 18 hours of work; two credits require 36 hours of work.

For UEN-TV workshops which are one credit, but 8 weeks in duration, participants should spend 2 hours per week viewing programs and participating in discussions, and then submit a final project.

For other (6 week) one credit classes, participants should spend 3 hours per week completing reading, viewing, discussions and assignments. For example:

Two credit classes are intensive, requiring research and project development that takes a significant time commitment. These six week classes require 6 hours per week of time online.

The key to a positive online learning experience is that you get out of it what you put into it. Some people can complete the minimum requirements of these courses in less time, but they do not receive nearly the benefit from the experience. Also, if you are struggling with the technology, you might find it takes you longer to complete each week's work. If you are persistent however, you can master the delivery mode and then take more classes in which you'll have the advantage of experience!