Online Courses

Mathematics & Physics Departmental Policies for Online Courses

Attendance/Participation:  All of our online courses require student participation on a regular basis.  The instructor will provide a minimum of two attendance assignments per week.  These attendance assignments may not be graded.  Failure to complete a required attendance requirement will result in the student being counted absent.  In accordance with the department attendance policy, if a student is counted absent for more than 10% of the attendance assignments, your instructor may withdraw the student from the course unless satisfactory justification is given.

Testing Requirements:  All tests and exams in online math and physics courses must be proctored.  Students in online sections will take their tests at the Wake Technical Community College testing center.  Information, including location, phone number, and hours of operation for the testing center can be found at:  http://distanceed.waketech.edu/testcnt.html.

If an online student is unable to use the testing center at Wake Technical Community College, alternate arrangements for having the test proctored are possible at the instructor’s discretion.  You must contact the instructor at least 2 weeks prior to the test or exam in order to make these arrangements.

Expected Workload:  Our online courses are not self-paced; every course will have regular assignments, with specific due dates that must be met.

Students must also be prepared for the amount of work necessary in an online course.  Students in a seated section of a 5 contact hour course meet for approximately 5 hours each week.  On top of this time, there would be the homework, labs, projects, and study time necessary for the course.  This puts the time commitment for the seated section at 15 - 20 hours per week.  An online course would require a similar time commitment if not more.  Similarly, students in a 4-contact hour online section should expect a time commitment of 12 – 16 hours per week.

FERPA:  The Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) restricts the instructor’s ability to communicate about student grades via e-mail.  So that the student and instructor can have quality discussions about graded assignments in the online environment, students are asked to sign a waiver giving their instructor permission to discuss grades via e-mail during the semester.  This form is not required; but if you choose not to sign the FERPA waiver, then you must make alternate arrangements with your instructor for the return and discussion of graded materials.