Policies and Procedures for our On-line Classroom

1. Guidelines
and
Procedures
Overview
INSPIRE TEXAS BY
REGION 4

2. As we begin the course, here are a few expectations and a few reminders :
Quality of Work
 All work that you post to Blackboard should be of final draft quality
 All work posted, including assignments and discussion boards, needs to
meet the level of professional correspondence (avoid the informality of
text messages)
 All assignments will be typed; NO ASSIGNMENTS’ will be accepted
handwritten.
 Assignments must be submitted in the correct format (.doc, . docx, .pdf,
or.rtf) through the Blackboard Platform. Instructors cannot accept
assignments through email or Blackboard messages.
 Discussion Board posts should be a minimum of 5-7 sentences long.
When responding to classmates, please remember to post more than
one sentence. Your responses should be meaningful and applicable to
the conversation.
QUALITY OF WORK

3. Late work is not accepted except in rare and
specialized circumstances.
Here is the process:
No more than two late assignments will be
accepted per course. (CUIN, ELAR, FOT, ESL,
FOBE, SPED, BTS, or TIC) More than two late
assignments will result in having to retake the
current course. Fees will apply.
LATE WORK POLICY

4. First Late Assignment:
 Contact your instructor via email as soon as you know your work will be
late, and prior to the deadline
 All late assignments will be due no later than 2 days after the original
deadline.
 No points will be deducted if prior arrangements are made on your first
late assignment.
 If there is no prior notice of your first late assignment, the instructor
will re-assign a deadline and deduct ½ of all possible points.
Second Late Assignment:
 With or without prior notice of your 2nd late assignment, the
instructor will re-assign a deadline and deduct ½ of all possible
points.
LATE WORK POLICY CONT.

5. Academic Honesty Policy:
Plagiarism includes copying information directly from
a source without giving credit, using friends or
classmates’ work, buying papers on line, re-using
one’s own work from previous classes, etc., all
constitute plagiarism. The expectation for quality,
original work applies to all assignments, including
discussion boards. If you turn in any plagiarized work,
you will receive an automatic zero for the assignment
and also face a mandatory repeat of the course; which
could potentially result in dismissal from INSPIRE
TEXAS Educator Certification Program by Region 4.
Plagiarism will result in a retake; additional fees will
apply.
ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY

6. Attendance Policy:
Region 4 requires that online students log in 5
out of 7 days a week. Failure to comply with
attendance 3 times during one course will
result in repeating the course; additional fees
will apply.
ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS

7. Course Completion:
To receive credit for an online course, the
student must complete each course with an
overall average of 80% or above. Students who
do not meet the required overall average must
complete the course when it is offered again in
another cycle; additional fees will apply.
END OF COURSE AVERAGE

8. No Zero Policy:
Completion of all on line assignments is
required in order to receive credit for the
course. Region 4 will not grant PPR approval,
grant certificate approval, or recommend
certification for students who have not
completed all coursework. A zero in the course
will result in a retake; additional fees will apply.
NO ZERO POLICY

9.  Use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox as your
browser. Blackboard does not work well with
Internet Explorer of Safari
 If you have Yahoo or Hotmail email, you will not be
able to send email through Blackboard
 If you log in from a tablet or mobile device, your
attendance might not register. In this case, please
send a Blackboard message to your instructor that
day letting him/her know that you logged in.
MISCELLANEOUS HELPFUL HINTS

10. I acknowledge that I attended the ‘virtual’ orientation for my
cycle.
If I was unable to attend, then I watched the recorded session
that was sent to me.
ORIENTATION