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We will be
accepting students into our Distance Ed program chiefly due to
one of two reasons - either a timetable conflict in the school
exists, or the school you are attending does not offer a
particular course. These will form the majority of students who
will be accepted into the Distance Ed program. Class size
limits are 25 in any one course, and it is NOT necessarily
first come, first served. The TCRSB will be trying to
provide service for those most needing the courses first, and
then looking at people who are trying to fill in timetables, or
who have other conflicts and so forth. Students may take one
(1) Distance Ed course in addition to a fully scheduled
course load as well, but again, registration is limited.
Attendance
of a student is essential, as with a regular classroom course.
Attendance can not easily be monitored by the distance teacher,
so daily contact by the student with the distance teacher is
required - students will be assigned to a classroom or other
educational space during the period they are taking the Distance
course, and will be in the presence of an NSTU member. After an
absence of two days (i.e. no messages or tasks completed in two
days), the Distance Ed teacher will send a message to the
contact person at the student's school inquiring of the
student's whereabouts.
Changes in
course registration must be done within the first two
weeks, students who drop after this date will receive a mark
equivalent to whatever their mark is at that time.
The school
contact teacher will ensure that the students have access to a
computer and encourage students to work diligently on their
courses. If contacted by the instructor regarding a
student's work, the school contact teacher will meet with the
student to discuss the Distance teacher's concerns.
If the student has difficulty with the software the contact
teachers can assist the student to contact support through the
Distance Education teachers, or from the Tri-County Board's
Technology support services.
To allow the
teacher to see work that is being done on a daily basis, a
student who has not completed an assignment is asked to submit
the unfinished work as In Progress. If the assigned work
is being done off-line, the teacher would like to receive a note
in the course room informing him/her as to the work that has
been completed. Assignments given by the teachers for the most
part have a date range rather than a due date, but all
assignments due dates can be seen on the Course Calendar. This
allows for technical problems, school interruptions and other
conditions that the student cannot control. It should not
be used as an excuse to procrastinate. If an assignment is not
completely finished at the end of a date range, the finished
portion should be marked submit for grading to
allow for partial value OR late assignments will lose 20%
of their value each day they are late.
If a total
of five lessons have not been submitted on or before the dates
due, a warning note will be issued to the student with a copy to
the principal informing the student that he/she should contact
the Distance Ed. teacher as soon as possible.
The
percentages assigned to exams, tests, projects, assignments,
etc., will be specified by the teacher in each course. This
information will be contained in the START HERE section of each
course. Each reporting period teachers will supply
schools with a mark, comments and any missed assignments.
The time
spent working on the course each day is the duration of one
semestered class plus time at home (off-line). Students
can expect to spend as much time working at home as they
normally would for a course which they are taking in the
classroom. There will be off-line activities such as reading
assignments, planning and drafting responses. Students may take
one on-line course per semester, course enrolments are limited
and totally at the discretion of Barry Heffernan,
Consultant-Community Based Learning.
There will
be no exemptions for the final exams in any of the Distance
Education Courses, as the exam forms a part of the marking and a
part of the insurance of authenticity for the Board and the
student's protection. A midterm and final exam will be written
under supervision arranged by the contact teacher at the
student's school. The completed exams will be couriered or
mailed to the Distance Education teacher. Other assessment will
be done through the course on-line. Non-electronic projects
should also be couriered to the appropriate distance ed teacher.
If the
school does not have the necessary books, Distance Education
will purchase the books needed by each course. These books are
the property of the Distance Education Program and are to be
returned upon completion of the course.
Schools must
ensure access to a computer with the following minimum
requirements (which can be obtained/installed by Technology
Services ):
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