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Student Participation posts are graded and given credit separate from DQ responses.  DQ responses receive your feedback and score, and each is worth 5 points.  Separate from that, per the undergraduate level, students need to post at least 6 substantive Participation posts over at least 3 different days each week to earn full credit. Per the graduate level, students need to post at least 3 substantive Participation posts over at least 3 different days each week to earn full credit.

Marking Participation posts as Substantive as you read them throughout the week serves two purposes.  One, you give students immediate feedback during the week, because they can see which posts you mark as substantive, and two, it makes your grading of Participation at the end of the week quicker and more accurate.

When you grade student Participation when the week is over, go to your Gradebook and choose the Participation week and then click Start Grading.  Underneath the student's name are the words ﻿View Participation Posts﻿.  Click on that, and you can see the student's Participation posts for the week.  If you have been marking the Participation posts as substantive, all you have to do is count the number of substantive posts and check to see they posted on at least three different days that week.  Grade accordingly.

If a student earns full credit for Participation for the week, best practice is to provide written feedback, but it is not required.  For full credit, instructors need only enter the score. If a student does not earn full credit, instructors are required to provide holistic written feedback explaining how he did not meet requirements that week and how he can meet them going forward.  For example:

Undergraduate - Name - You posted 5 substantive Participation posts in week 2.  To earn full credit you need to post a minimum of 6 substantive posts over at least 3 different days and you did not quite meet those numbers.  Please see the requirements as they are posted in the Student Success Center under Classroom Policies and let me know if you have any questions about this policy.

Graduate - Name - You posted 2 substantive Participation posts in week 2.  To earn full credit you need to post a minimum of 3 substantive posts over at least 3 different days and you did not quite meet those numbers.  Please see the requirements as they are posted in the Student Success Center under Classroom Policies and let me know if you have any questions about this policy.

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Discussion question feedback is due 7 days from the end of the module. Best practice is to provide DQ response feedback as you read the responses during the week, to give students immediate feedback for their work and also to help you engage in the DQ forum discussion in a timely and relevant way, but you have 7 days after the week ends to provide that feedback.

All DQ responses that earn full credit do not require any written feedback, only the points awarded.  It is best practice to give students some positive or affirmative written feedback in the feedback box, but it is not required.

DQ responses that do not earn full credit substantive, individualized (using students name), and comprehensive feedback assessing how the student did not meet the requirements for the discussion question prompt, so the student can improve going forward.

Instructors can provide affirming feedback as part of a post in the public DQ thread, to instruct all students in the DQ forum.  See three examples below:

A)     Hi ,

I really enjoyed your post!  I particularly appreciated your comments, "I refuse to get up and spew out knowledge and teach to a test in order to keep my job. Rather, I plan to take my state learning standards and fight like crazy to make sense of them and show my students how they apply to their lives and share the responsibility with them of learning as we grow together."

This is so very important!  Standardized testing can hold an educator hostage, depending on the circumstances, because an educator can feel forced to "teach testing materials" and neglect curriculum, instruction and standards alignment.  When we as educators focus on what should be taught, the way that it should be taught, everything else falls into place.  Great post!

B)     Hi ,

I like your idea to set up IXL and education.com accounts for your students to provide extended learning opportunities.  You also mentioned the benefit of the data tracking feature while the students played math games.  Would you set up targeted math intervention opportunities for your students when assigning IXL and education.com or would your students play general math games for extended learning opportunities?  Additionally, if your focus is targeted math intervention, how specifically would you achieve this goal?

C)     Nice post and I loved the Scripture that you shared from Ephesians.  It was perfect!

I think the community volunteering is a great thing to do with students.  When I was teaching, one of my positions was a class of students that had been permanently expelled from their school district due to behavior issues.  My class had them in academics with me half the day and the other half of the day they were in a trade class, learning a trade.  It was one of my favorite times teaching.  My principal at the school was very supportive and wasn't afraid to go out on a limb if it would help students stay in school and be successful.  I also had an aide in the classroom that became one of my best friends.  We would take our students to the local Humane Society every Friday and walk the dogs.  It totally turned the kids around.  They felt needed and important.  Plus, they received the unwavering love of a four legged friend.

We expanded our love of animals to senior citizens.  We had a pet food drive and donated (and delivered) pet food to the seniors in the area.  We delivered over 10,000 pounds of dog food alone, and we had many gift certificates and other items also.  Students wrote letters for donations, advertised for seniors to sign up, went and spoke at senior citizen events, and delivered the food.

The students I had during that time became very successful.  Each graduated and I still hear from many 15 years later.

I hope you can do volunteer work with your students also.  The rewards in seeing students turn their lives around is amazing!

Discussion questions that were not posted by the due date should be accepted according to the guidelines of the university late policy (10% deduction per day for each day the response is late). Feedback on discussion questions should not address participation feedback, as that is graded separately.

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Facilitation is at the heart of Classroom management throughout every module so it is important to use different methods of being involved in the conversation. Remember that as the instructor you are not just observing conversation but you are involved in the discussions. Questions are helpful to use in the forum but it is also important to not use them exclusively. Here are some other facilitation ideas to develop:

Share personal and professional experiences related to the weekly topics or objectives

Use open-ended questions that require analysis, synthesis, and evaluation

Provide students with additional resources as links to current events, academic web sites, and other web sites

Copy and paste a sentence from the student's post and reflect upon it with your thoughts and experience

Use a student's post to take the discussion in a different direction

Ask students to review an article and provide critical feedback

Ask for an application of the material to a student's current vocation

Use a You Tube video to stimulate a conversation

Join in on a conversation link and address multiple students with a post

Send a student or group of students on a Google hunt

Use material from the readings or lecture as a basis for student interaction and connection to the real world

Share current research on a topic

Add pictures as attachments to reinforce a point

Write an academic substantive post of 2-3 paragraphs using GCU library references and citations.

Here is a school Prezi on Participation Techniques:

http://prezi.com/qt571zy1ctbm/a-variety-of-participation-techniques/?kw=view-qt571zy1ctbm&rc=ref-21143055

It is helpful to vary the posts in technique and length. Also, it is best for instructors to avoid all the posts being simple one sentence interactions that affirm or ask a question. We are always keeping in mind that this is a college level class, so modeling substantive posts by occasionally using longer academic posts with citation/resources as required by the students is of great importance. The best way to prompt students to interact with journal articles and other academic resources and ideas is to model them with your own writing.

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I wanted to begin to introduce the idea of Classroom Assessment Techniques, or CATs, which are a faculty requirement for GCU that should be implemented each week in the discussion forums.  Best practice for adding a CAT is to go the Discussion Forum and click Add and add a post underneath the DQ you want the CAT to apply to, and title the post to draw student’s attention to it as an opportunity to respond and earn Participation credit.  For example you can start the title with Earn Participation  or Question for All or Topic 1 DQ1 Question.
Check out this Prezi's to see if they help you with understanding CATs

http://prezi.com/xt0qqg7rm9pe/five-simple-classroom-assessment-techniques/?kw=view-xt0qqg7rm9pe&rc=ref-21143055

http://prezi.com/ukbksg1xqukv/faculty-using-cats/?kw=view-ukbksg1xqukv&rc=ref-21143055

I am also attaching two documents, CAT’s FAQ’s and 50 CAT’s that might help as well.  Please take a few minutes to check them out and then let me know if you have any questions!  I will look forward to seeing which ones you choose to implement for your course.

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As you continue in week 2, I wanted to share someinformation with you about assisting studentswho for whatever reason are struggling in your course, at any time, but especially at the startof acourse.If a student hasnotposted to class, or has not submitted the week1 assignment, or is submittingpoor work, or is struggling in anyway- and through all of this is not responding to yourcommunication attempts to try and assist - you can filean Early Alertforthe student. This alertwill besentto the student’s Advisor with a request that he reach out to try and assistthe student.To submit an Early Alert fromyour Halo classroom, scrolldown to Early Alerts, log in and clickthe course and then student.To submit an Early Alert via a case submission, please see the steps in the attached PDF.

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As you teach online at GCU, questions will ariseor issuespresent themselves with whichyou would like some assistance from us atFaculty Training and Development. Asanexample you may havea suggestion for a correction to course content and you want toget that information to Curriculum Development. You cancontact us by submitting acase that will be sent to one of our Faculty Specialists who will try to assistyou.There are two ways to submit a caseto FTD. First, you can go tohttp://fsi.gcu.eduandlog in andfollow the prompts, clickingNo Studentif the issue does not concern a studentin your course. Or, you canaccess the case submission fromyour classroom by going toFacultyResource Center > Login > Classroom Administration > Early Alerts. ClickNoStudentif the issue does not involve a student.

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GCU Mission and Vision, and Christian Worldview

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GCU Mission and Vision, and Christian Worldview

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You will notice that oneof the criteria on the weekly evaluation formis includingintegration of GCU’sMission, Vision and Christian Worldview.I wanted to providesome additional resources and guidance as to how to integrate thesecomponents into theclassroom.I’ve attached two documents that further help articulate this policy.One option istoinclude scripturewithin the weekly announcements. Secondly, one cancreate a prayer forum. Finally, instructors cancreate Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATS) that connect weekly objectives to spirituality. Below are some additionalresources thatsupportinstructors in integrating faith in the classroom.Please note that the integration of faith is more of a holistic approach. The goalis notnecessarily to “checklist” each component for every week, but rather, that the classroomdisplays thesecomponents overallDoctrinal Statement On-Demand Workshop:https://cirt.gcu.edu/gcufaculty/frc/facultyacademy/odw/doctrinalstatementIntegrationofFaith & Learning:https://cirt.gcu.edu/online_teaching_showcase_2014/integration_of_faith_and_learning_stephanie_maher_palenqueVideoon CWVfrom Dr. Hiles:http://lc.gcumedia.com/cwv101/welcome-video/v1.1/GCU Mission& Vision for Students:https://www.gcu.edu/why-gcu/christian-identity-and-missionGCU Christian Worldview:http://www.gcu.edu/About-Us/Christian-Worldview.phpMath CourseExample:https://www.gcu.edu/blog/theology-ministry/solomon-and-pi

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When a student communicates he is repeating a course at GCU, instructors should do the following:

1) Contact Faculty Training and Development to verify the student has taken the course previously at GCU.

2) You can accept assignments that the student submitted from the previous course attempt.

3) Check all Citation and Grammar Tool reports for assignments submitted by the student.  If a high score is caused by the submission by the student for the previous course attempt, you can accept it and place a note in the assignment dropbox something similar to High Citation and Grammar Tool similarity score due to the submission for the previous course attempt.  No plagiarism indicated.

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Grand Canyon University believes in supporting the online faculty adjuncts by providing ongoing training every month. Explore the possibilities for developing online skills by viewing the workshop opportunities available.

Go to the Faculty Resource Center (CIRT) from the Faculty Resource Center tab in your classroom where you will find a schedule for online workshops and On Demand workshops.

I've copied two links to On Demand workshops below.  On Demand workshops really do a good job of packing alot of good and helpful information into a time honoring format.

CAT’s - https://cirt.gcu.edu/gcufaculty/frc/facultyacademy/odw/cats.

Participation - https://cirt.gcu.edu/gcufaculty/frc/facultyacademy/odw/participation

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Please take a look at the detailed contact information for Faculty Training and Development here, including a list of individuals by college (be sure to sign in): https://cirt.gcu.edu/gcufaculty/frc

1)      Faculty Training and Development offers professional development, continued resources and can answer any questions you may have while facilitating courses.

2)      Please note that Faculty Training and Development does not schedule your courses or complete payroll. You can contact Faculty Services (Facultyservices@gcu.edu) for this information.

3)      Once you have reviewed this information, please make a note of the Direct Contact List and name the individuals who work with your college specifically. Please make note of their information.

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At the start of the last week, post an announcement to students reminding them to complete the End of Course Survey available to them via their Student Portal.  Remind them that no assignments are accepted after the course ends.  And communicate to them that your final week's feedback and final course grades are due 7 days after the course ends.  I also like to remind them to make sure they have my phone number and GCU email to contact me after the course ends if needed.

If you have any students with SDS/ADA accommodations, or to whom you have awarded an Incomplete, and have extra time to complete and submit assignments, make sure you communicate with them in Messages about submitting assignments to you first via the classroom, but if they can’t access the classroom, via your GCU email.  Also remind those students of the dates by which the assignments must be submitted.

If you have any students who are currently failing, or in danger of failing the class at this time, I strongly recommend you file an Early Alert for those students.

You can submit your final grades in two ways:

1)      Once you have completed all grading, click PUSH in your gradebook.  The grades will be queued, and then will show Completed.  Any grades that do not submit via that method should be submitted via a Grade Change Form or through your Faculty Portal.

2)      Once you have completed all grading, go to you Faculty Portal and follow the prompts to submit final grades for this course.

If you have a student to whom you are giving an Incomplete, that grade must be submitted via the Faculty Portal or via a Grade Change Form.

Final course grades are due within 7 days of the end of the course.

Be aware that 4 weeks after your course ends, you will no longer be able to access it.  Assure that you have saved any information from the course you want to maintain before that time.