Entering Online Course Shells

Purpose:

As a result of the college’s responsibility to meet regulatory requirements, there are times when a faculty member’s course may be entered by users other than the instructor of record or enrolled students.

Special Access Users:

College instructional design faculty, instructional deans, ACCJC or other required external reviewers, distance education committee, or the peer online course review facilitators.

Rules of Engagement:

A faculty member’s course can only be entered for one of the reasons described outlined in this handbook below. Any entry into a course should result in the faculty member being notified as to the date, reason, and person who entered the course.
If concerns are found in the course, the faculty member should be notified of the nature of the concerns and what steps should be taken to address the concern in a timely manner.
The reasons for initial course entry are specifically outlined in this handbook below, however, if users observe other issues of concern while inside the course they should address those concerns with the instructor as if they came to light through regular interaction.

Reasons Justifying Course Entry

Reason: To ensure regular and substantive student interaction instructor contact.

The appropriate administrator or instructional designer may enter the course to determine the last date of student contact and verify that regular and effective contact has been occurring. Such a review should be in response to a credible concern that interaction is not occurring; such as a student concern, course review, or regular review of interaction reports from Canvas.

Reason: To meet the accessibility obligations under the ADA and Rehabilitation Act section 508.

The appropriate administrator or instructional designer may enter the course to determine the accessibility of the course materials. Such a review should be in response to a credible concern that content is not accessible; such as a student concern, course review, or report from Canvas or other accessibility software.

Reason: To copy a course, without student information, to conduct a Peer Online Course Review

The instructional designer, DE Committee Chair, or course review leader may enter the course to copy its contents to an empty shell for course review. Note: Common practice in the WCC POCR process is to notify faculty before the course is copied to verify the version.