13 Policies
Accessibility
Designing accessible course content is good practice and benefits all students, not just students with disabilities. It’s also the law. Check out Sample Accessibility Statements to include in your course. See Accessibility in the glossary.
More information:
- BTC Accessibility Resources
- Section 508
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- Washington State – Online Accessibility Policy (Policy #188)
- State Board for Community & Technical Colleges – Online Accessibility
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Copyright
“Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (Title 17, US Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” that include the following categories literary works: musical works, including any accompanying words; dramatic works, including any accompanying music; pantomimes and choreographic works; pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works; motion pictures and other audiovisual works; sound recordings; and architectural works. Material found on the Internet has the same copyright protection as material distributed through other media. Exceptions include materials found in the public domain, which can be used without permission, refer to any material published before 1923 or 70 years after the creator’s death.”
More information:
Department of Education
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) is the agency of the federal government that establishes policy for, administers, and coordinates most federal assistance to education. Online teaching and learning programs play an important role in providing educational opportunities to those who might be unable to participate in traditional educational settings. DOE policies direct the nature of and expectations for quality online education.
More information:
- State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) Policy
- Regular and Substantive Interaction
- Use of Technology in Teaching & Learning
Financial Aid
For online teaching and learning, the design and delivery of instruction is important for student federal financial aid status. Teachers must be able to demonstrate that regular and substantive academic interaction occurs in all online courses. Correspondence courses, which are usually self-paced and unfacilitated by a qualified instructor, are not eligible for financial aid. See the Federal Student Aid Handbook, or contact the BTC Financial Aid Office for more information.
Privacy
There are several federal laws that protect the privacy of a student. The laws apply to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. More information:
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) Note that student enrollment data is considered protected information, and this impacts certain aspects of managing online courses, including cross-listing or merging courses for reasons of convenience. Contact eLearning with questions.
- Identity Verification (authenticating online learners and teachers) At BTC, we require an individualized username and password for every user for the Learning Management System and other online platforms. Login credentials should never be shared or used by anyone other than the person to whom they are assigned. This is addressed in the Acceptable Use Policy that is linked on the Canvas login page (section 2.1).
Students are assigned a unique system-generated student identification number at the time of admission to any Washington State Community or Technical College. Information that is unique to the student is linked to the ID and stored in ctcLink, the system that manages the colleges’ core functions. Students are enrolled in individual courses through the ctcLink system only, and all programs and courses offered through the online learning management systems require that students login in using their student identification number and a personalized password. The online course management system used for hosting online classes is a closed and secure system that requires student authentication upon logging in. There are no charges associated with the student verification process at the time of admission or at the time of enrollment in any online course.
At BTC, some but not all instructional programs and departments use proctoring software to verify student identity and to monitor high stakes exams. These areas recently switched from the Respondus Lockdown Browser software to ExamSoft software. This technology verifies and monitors students’ identities and activities via webcam and other tools.
See also the BTC Privacy Statement
Check out a few privacy policies here.
Institutional (BTC Policies):
Academic Integrity
- See the Encouraging Academic Honesty Online guide.
- See the Canvas Acceptable Use Policy
- See the Student Code of Conduct.
- See the BTC Library Guide on Plagiarism.
- Check out Sample Plagiarism Statements to include in your course.
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Attendance
Students are notified at registration, reminded during the New Student Orientation, and informed once they log in to the LMS that they must sign in and participate in each of their online and hybrid classes by the second day of the quarter in order to prove attendance and avoid being dropped. This participation MUST be in an academically related activity. Teachers should connect course introductory activities specifically to course learning objectives to meet this requirement (sample introductory lessons are available in Canvas Commons). Consider keeping handy a copy of the RSI infographic for tips on and examples of what qualifies as academic and substantive interaction. The last day of attendance in a class is the last day the student participated in a course activity.
Grading
In addition to the grading scale information you include in your syllabi, it is important to provide a clear explanation of how grades are calculated in your courses along with your policy and expectations for late work. See the BTC Student Handbook for additional information.
Student Discipline
See the BTC Student Code of Conduct.
