ONLINE LEARNING: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND ONLINE COURSE STANDARDS

of the Provost
Nazarbayev University
August 2020

Fall Semester Task Force: Student Engagement Working Group.
These FAQs are

provided for guidance, if needed, during the COVID period, they do not supersede approved NU policies.

These course standards (adapted from the QM Higher Education Rubric) reinforce the standards provided by the Office of the Provost in the Innovative Learning Hub (ILH).
Please note: ILH staff regularly present webinars for faculty, including on engaging students in online learning.

Learning Hub (ILH) portal has developed and curated online teaching

resources and has provided links to training courses from The Open University and LinkedIn Learning.
ILH provides training for new Graduate Teaching Assistants.
ILH presents regular webinars on Zoom, Moodle, Turnitin, Digication, Qualtrics.

For students
Contact the IT helpdesk with any technical questions such as passwords.
Review resources in the ILH.

learning?
For faculty: Innovative Learning Hub Resources include:
NU Course Design Guide
NU

Recommendations for Online Teaching
NU Online Assessment Guidelines
NU Quality Indicators for Online Courses
NU Guide for Engaging Students Online

For students
Refer to your course syllabus and School resources.
Always feel free to ask your professor, and your Department Chair and your Vice Dean for Academic Affairs.

online learning?
For faculty
Online learning provides opportunities for creative, low-stakes and

frequent formative discussions and assessment to ensure student engagement.
We expect active student engagement, so we are asking more from both instructors and students.
Faculty might consider creating several points of engagement each week.

For students
Your professor will challenge you to engage with course material very frequently. He/she will need to see that you are active in all online activities.
Your access to Moodle will be automatically checked every week through the IT system and the results sent to your Dean. Be prepared to receive a call from your professor or GTA if you are not active online.
If your attendance is affected by your well-being, please contact the NU Psychological Counselling Center. They are there to help you.

learning?
For faculty and students
Students will need to provide evidence

if they seek medical excuses for extensions.
Medical excuses may need to be verified so instructors have some independent confirmation.
During the COVID period, documentation may include screen shots, emails and other evidence.

have chosen to customise this policy adapted from The Open

University. These extracts are presented for guidance for those Schools which might find them useful, they are not compulsory.

"SA 3.2.1 Cut-off dates You must submit your assessment task(s) in accordance with the published cut-off date unless you have been formally granted a discretionary postponement. The deadline for receipt of assessment tasks is noon (Nur-sultan local time) on the cut-off date. NU operates a grace period of 12 hours so work submitted before midnight (UK local time) on the cut-off date will be accepted without penalty. If you fail to submit an assessment task and you will receive a Fail result.”

have chosen to customise this policy adapted from The Open

University. These extracts are presented for guidance for those Schools which might find them useful, they are not compulsory.

SA 3.2.2 Late submission If your submission is received up to 24 hours after the grace period (e.g. after midnight local time) on the cut-off date and before midnight (local time) . on the day following the cut-off date), the assessment will be accepted but the task score will be reduced by up to 10 percentage points or to bare-pass level, whichever gives the higher score. Submissions received beyond this point will not be marked and you will not be considered to have completed the assessment task. You will not be offered another opportunity.

email as the main form of communication between faculty and

students so that there is a formal record.
Clarify your requirements in the syllabus (communication channels, frequency, hours).
For instance, clearly state if you will use Zoom, Google meets or other platforms.
Ideally 24-48 hours response time for emails.
Buddy systems can be useful for some students, especially undergraduates.

For students
When in class, be sure to keep your camera on and remain in view so instructors can see you are engaging in the discussions.
Refer to guidelines from NU Marketing Department on use of social media.
Use NU email, not personal email or social media, for formal communication with your professor.

Student Code of Conduct
Turnitin (which can be used by faculty

as well as students for formative purposes)
Interesting, frequent and engaging assessment tasks, using group work as appropriate.

For students
If you think it is easy to cheat online, think again. The NU Student Code of Conduct explains the severe penalties, including dismissal, for cheating.
Check with your professor if a quiz or essay or exam is closed book or open book. Open book exams are more common online, but the questions will be harder and the professor is likely to demand more thorough responses. Don’t cheat. Don’t take shortcuts.

faculty
NU Rules on Academic Mobility define transfer credit policies.
Students

who were taking online courses at another university during their NU Spring semester cannot transfer credits at all.
Students who were taking online courses at another university during their NU Summer term, can transfer their credits if 1) all paper work was submitted in advance 2) they did not register for any NU courses during Summer 

For students
Your Department Chair or Vice Dean for Academic Affairs will need to approve any course for credit IN ADVANCE.
Do not ask for credit after you have completed a course.
Your Department Chair/VDAA may review your completed assessments very closely and clarify any areas of concern.

Standards from the QM Higher Education Rubric, Sixth Edition)
1 Instructions

make clear how to get started and where to find various course components.
1.2 Learners are introduced to the purpose and structure of the course.
1.3 Communication expectations for online discussions, email, and other forms of interaction are clearly stated.
1.4 Course and institutional policies with which the learner is expected to comply are clearly stated within the course, or a link to current policies is provided.

1.5 Minimum technology requirements for the course are clearly stated, and information on how to obtain the technologies is provided.
1.6 Computer skills and digital information literacy skills expected of the learner are clearly stated.
1.8 The self-introduction by the instructor is professional and is available online.
1.9 Learners are asked to introduce themselves to the class.

The relationship between the use of instructional materials in the

course and completing learning activities is clearly explained.
4.3 The course models the academic integrity expected of learners by providing both source references and permissions for use of instructional materials.
5.3 The instructor’s plan for interacting with learners during the course is clearly stated.
5.4 The requirements for learner interaction are clearly stated.

2.1 The course learning outcomes provided to students are measurable.
Assessment
3.2 The course grading policy is stated clearly at the beginning of the course.
3.3 Specific and descriptive criteria are provided for the evaluation of learners’ work, and their connection to the course
grading policy is clearly explained.
3.5 The course provides learners with multiple opportunities to track their learning progress with timely feedback.

course provides learners with information on protecting their data and

privacy.
7.1 The course instructions articulate or link to a clear description of the technical support offered and how to obtain it.
7.2 Course instructions articulate or link to the institution’s accessibility policies and services.
7.3 Course instructions articulate or link to the institution’s academic support services and resources that can help learners
succeed in the course.
7.4 Course instructions articulate or link to the institution’s student services and resources that can help learners succeed.

8.1 Course navigation facilitates ease of use
8.2 The course design facilitates readability. 8.3 The course provides accessible text and images in files, documents, LMS pages, and web pages to meet the needs of diverse learners.
8.4 The course provides alternative means of access to multimedia content in formats that meet the needs of diverse learners.

Conduct
Online Course Standards, QM Higher Education Rubric: https://www.qualitymatters.org/sites/default/files/PDFs/StandardsfromtheQMHigherEducationRubric.pdf
Code of Practice

for Student Assessment for The Open University
https://help.open.ac.uk/documents/policies/code-of-practice-student-assessment/files/14/student-assessment.pdf

Contacts: Office of the Provost
il@nu.edu.kz. Aiman Khamitova and Ricardo Brancaga