1. Policies and Procedures Gwinnett Online Campus

2. You must have reliable Internet access EVERY day. Have a “back up” computer to go to in case yours fails to work. Technical problems are NOT an excuse for late work! You need to go to a friend’s house, a public library or a computer lab to complete your work if your computer is not working at home.

3. 1.Email should be your first means of contacting your teacher. Put your first and last name as well as what class you are enrolled in on EVERY email Make sure you are emailing from your GOC account After setting up your GOC email address, make sure you put your GOC email into the D2L class. You need to go to My Settings on your My Home page when you first login to the Gwinnett Online Campus website. 2.If an urgent matter arises, you may call your teacher. Their cell phone number is located under the Teacher Info widget on the Course Home page of your class. Make sure to leave a message when you call your teacher.

4. 1.Teachers will respond to all emails and phone calls within 24 hours Mon-Friday. You need to contact your teacher ahead of time – do not wait until the last minute! Failure to get in touch with your teacher does NOT excuse you from submitting your work on time! 2.Please remember that your teachers have the weekends off. You do not have deadlines on the weekends so your teachers are not expected to be available during this time. Emails and voicemail messages during the weekend will be responded to the following Monday. 3.If you have emailed your teacher, please check your email again for a response – if you have not heard back from them within 24 hours, get in touch with them again – they must not have received your original contact. Things do get lost in cyberspace so please follow-up. Also, always keep a copy of all emails that you send to your teacher.

5. Three things to check DAILY:  Your email (GOC email)  The checklist as well as course events/calendar  The course News DAILY!!! Keep in touch with your teacher…Let them know how you are doing with the course…

6. You have work to complete each week Monday through Friday. Please work AHEAD when you can so that you do not have so much to complete during the following week. If you have any events that will prevent you from completing your work on a given day (sports event, out of town trip, planned medical visit, etc) you need to work ahead and complete your work BEFORE the deadline.

7. Your course due dates can be found on your Course Home page under the checklist. To ensure that you are submitting all of your work each day, you MUST look at your due dates list EACH day to see everything that is due!!

8.  The Gwinnett Online Campus honors any GCPS-approved excused absence from your local school. As defined by state law, this may include: – Personal illness: individuals whose attendance in school would endanger their health or the health of others, – Death or serious illness of an immediate family member, – Recognized religious holidays, – Student under orders from a government agency, – Service as a page in the Georgia General Assembly, – Conditions rendering school attendance impossible or hazardous to students’ safety or health, – Registering to vote or are voting, for a period not to exceed one day. – Military leave of a parent and/or guardian

9.  It is expected that online students will work ahead in their online course(s) if a scheduled event conflicts with a known class deadline or due date. Online students are given a calendar checklist that includes ALL of their course deadlines and due dates for the entire semester at the beginning of each semester.  If a student has an event occur during the term that falls under a GCPS excused absence, they need to contact their teacher immediately. We do reserve the right to require documentation for all “absences.”  Also, please remember that we do not have very much flexibility during the mini terms – it is very short. We want to ensure that all students are successful.

10. If you are unable to submit your work due to an emergency (car wreck, serious illness after school, family emergency, etc), please contact your teacher and have your parent also contact your teacher ASAP to see if a make-up schedule can be arranged. Emergencies should be few and far between. We reserve the right to request documentation in emergency situations. If you have a pre-arranged event or TRIP, please notify your teacher at least a week ahead of time and be sure to submit your work prior to the pre-arranged event or trip.

11. Please advise your teacher of any IEP Accommodations that you have, so that we may serve you best. If you do not have any accommodations or do not know what this is, don’t worry about it. It does not apply to all.

12. Readings and Notes – while these are not collected for a grade, it is very important that you read all readings and study all notes as outlined in your due dates. These are where your base knowledge comes from so they are key to your success in your online class.

13. You may only enter these ONCE (unless otherwise noted). They are timed. You will be allowed access to the online portion of these early but they are due by the date listed on the due date list so you must take them by then!! In other words, you may work ahead but you may not submit work late!! You must take all assessments by midnight – they close at midnight on the day they are due. So, for example, if a quiz is due Monday, Sept. 12 then you need to take and complete that quiz no later than 11:59 PM on Monday, 9/12.

14. You may NOT use any outside resources to assist you on tests or quizzes unless otherwise indicated. If you have any other Internet windows open while you are taking a test, a quiz or a homework check, you may get kicked out of the assessment and not be able to submit your work. So, do NOT have any other Internet windows open while you are taking an assessment. Be sure to save your work every few minutes and save your work one last time before you click submit. If you experience any technical difficulties while completing an assessment, please contact your instructor immediately.

15. Discussions are threaded discussions (like blogging) – they are NOT chats. They are content items within your course. Instructions for how to respond to each discussion will be listed for you within the discussion itself. Make sure you do a great job on these showing your knowledge and demonstrating sincere effort.

16. Online Collaborate (Elluminate) chats may be held for your class once or twice a week. These may take a variety of forms (review sessions, activities, etc). These must be made up if missed by viewing the recording. Chats are recorded so you may always listen to the chat recording if you are unable to attend the actual chat. You will need to do this promptly so you can turn in your assignment. Please refer to the Collaborate (Elluminate) Links widget on your Course Home page to access your chat link, the chat schedule for the semester, the recording link as well as Collaborate (Elluminate) technical support information. Live support is for our full time kids during Live Lab. Please follow the Live Lab schedule.

17. Dropbox work – be sure to review your returned work in the dropbox within 24-48 hours of submitting it. Quizzes & Tests – click on the link to the quiz or the test within the content. Then click Quiz List/Quizzes Home. Find the quiz or test you want to review and click on Submission. Do this within 24-48 hours of taking a quiz or test. Discussions – please check the Grades tab to review your score and teacher’s feedback within 24-48 hrs.

18. If you experience technical difficulties, please contact your instructor with the following information: – What Internet browser you are using (Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Chrome, etc); and – A description of the problem you are experiencing along with screen shots if possible.

19. We will be using the D2L gradebook. Grades will no loner be sent out via the Igpro gradebook Your grades are available within the D2L gradebook and should also be available on the parent portal. Look at your grades regularly and contact your teacher immediately with any questions that you have. Please do not wait to address any questions or concerns that you have. Your parents will have an auditor role so they can check daily to see how you are doing!

20. All classes will take an essay portion of the final exam. This will be online like all other tests and quizzes. The date for this is already listed on your Due Date Checklist. The multiple-choice portion of the final exam or the End of Course Test (depending on which course you are taking) will be taken in person at Gwinnett Online Campus. Specific dates and times will be posted under News inside of your course and on the website. Final exams and End of Course Tests are MANDATORY – you cannot receive any credit for your courses without taking these assessments. We do not offer Senior Exam Exemptions!

21. If your score on your final exam/EOCT is 25 percentage points lower than your class average, you will be required to take another comprehensive assessment in person. Whatever you score on that assessment will become your test average for the class and we reserve the right to NOT issue you any credit for the course if you cannot prove your knowledge of the AKS. In other words, do not cheat and study a great deal because otherwise it will catch up with you in the end.

22. We reserve the right to have you come in and complete any assignment or re-take any assessment in a proctored setting at any point in time. You will be given 0’s on any work where academic dishonesty is suspected and disciplinary action may be pursued. This includes possible discipline referral or removal from the course. Please be sure to read the Gwinnett Online Campus Policies and Procedures under the Gwinnett Online Campus Orientation Unit of your course!