HIF Program Policies

Course Outline

The term will follow a solid weekly routine and will run from 12:00 AM ET on Monday to 11:59 PM ET Sunday. This gives you the full weekend to work on your assignments. Each week will have several activities which are described in detail elsewhere. Since the course is compressed into eight weeks, it does move quickly, and the reading load is substantial. So, start early!

1. Read the week's content
2. Read the assigned textbook chapters
3. Complete homework assignment on time
4. Post in the discussion area concerning the required readings and additional research (make sure to review the Lead and Class Post requirements)
5. Submit all homework assignments weekly (include your name and the assignment)

Your academic and professional life will be improved if you improve your writing. It often means a letter grade difference since grammar, spelling, logic, organization, etc. are key factors at communicating your message. Good writing, by anyone, focuses on re-writing and editing. Reading out loud can help. Charter Oak State College has a general policy that all papers are to be submitted in American Psychology Association (APA) format. This impacts such areas as margins, spacing, headings, and writing in the third person (no I, We, They, etc.) APA resources are available from the "Writing Resources" link on the left side menu.

It is expected that you will meet all deadlines for each of the weekly assignments, Discussion Board assignment deadlines, assignment deadlines, and the Final Assignment deliverable deadline. A weekly plan of the course can be found within the course syllabus.

Expectations

Course Content

The course content tab is the main hub for Weekly Folders that are used to organize content, activities, assignments, and course resources into specific weeks of the course. You may access the Course Content tab from the link on the left side course menu. Each week you should begin by visiting the corresponding week for an overview and links of the week’s activities, assignments, and deliverables. The Course Content weekly folders serve as an organized place to find all activities for a particular week or unit; however, you may also access some individual activities, such as the Discussion Board Assignments, directly from the respective tool links.

Discussion Board Assignments

The Discussion Board can be accessed from the Discussion Board tool on the left side course menu (or from the corresponding Weekly Folder in Course Content for the week in which they are assigned). You will use the Discussion Board in two ways:

1. To ask questions about assignments or the course with the Q & A forum
2. To engage in discussions about course topics with classmates and the instructor as a course assignment.

Q & A forum: This forum is available throughout the course. You are not required to post to the Q & A forum, but if you have a question about an assignment or some element of the course that you think other students may share or be able to answer, you can post here to get a quick answer. Your instructor will be checking the Q & A forum frequently, typically daily, and should respond to you promptly.

Weekly Discussion Instructions: To enhance each student’s understanding of the lesson, students are expected to participate in the discussion board (DB) forum with other members of the class.

Discussion Board Instructions

Students will participate in DB assignments as either the DB Lead or as a DB Class Post. Leadership is a key competency of the M.S. HI program, and the Discussion Board Assignments are an important component of the overall program. A schedule will be posted identifying the DB Lead for each Discussion.

When you are scheduled to be the DB Lead, you are to follow the DB Lead Rubric to post the initial post for that DB assignment AND respond to classmates who post in your thread throughout the week.

If you are not scheduled to be the DB Lead, your responsibility is to follow the DB Class Post Rubric. You are not responsible for contributing an initial post but are responsible for providing a substantive response to an initial post provided. Do not start a new thread. Simply respond to one of the Lead Posts. Your response must be supported by research and cited via APA writing style appropriately. You are to add material and delve deeper into the subject matter based on the initial post – providing additional information and posing question(s) to the DB Leads and answering the DB Response questions posted by the instructor.

Points are based on the two different Discussion Board Rubrics (DB Lead & DB Class). Please note that both rubrics indicate the expectation for research for ALL discussions and that the post is referenced using APA writing style. This includes both in-text citations (i.e. do not just cite a reference at the end of the paragraph or post) and a reference list. Make sure you conduct your own research beyond the readings listed within the course. All posts should be substantive in nature and enhance the discussion board topic.

PLEASE NOTE: No points will be granted for late DB Lead initial posts.

Discussion Board Rubrics can be found in the Course Policies section of the course.

Your instructor will post the LEAD Schedule for the course. It will be your responsibility to follow the Lead schedule and follow the instructions for Lead Post timelines and responsibilities.

Online Quizzes & Exams

Quizzes and exams can be accessed from the corresponding Weekly Folder for the week in which they are assigned. You can only take quizzes and exams within the timeframe specified by the Course Instructor. Be sure to pay close attention to deadlines, there will be no make-up quizzes or exams. 

Course Instructor Responsibilities

Course Instructors abide by the following guidelines in all courses:

• Introduce themselves to the students and post a welcome message to students to be displayed from the first day of class, set expectations for the course, and provide a communication plan that they will follow in the course.
• Instructors log in and actively participate in their courses at least four days per week.
• Active participation includes creating course announcements, reading, grading, and providing feedback on course assignments, answering student questions, posting weekly announcements summarizing and connecting previous week’s activities to the current week’s activities, and other relevant course-related activities as determined by the instructor.
• All grades, including instructor comments to students are always posted and kept current in the Blackboard Grade Center.
• Respond to any student correspondence within 48 hours (emails, Q&A's, etc.)
• Faculty should not be absent from a course for more than two (2) consecutive days.
• Correct and return major assignments within seven (7) days from the end of the course week; or sooner if understanding of that assignment is necessary for progression to or contributes to improving the quality of the next assignment.

Online Communication Tools

Like Discussions, an online chat or video communication tool may be used for a variety of course activities. Students are encouraged to use these technologies to promote both individual and team communications.

Communication with the Instructor

It is important to remember that while the Internet is available 24 hours a day, your instructor and other students are not. Your instructor will respond to e-mail messages from you within two days of the week and may not be available to respond on weekends. Due to FERPA compliance requirements, all electronic email communications with the Course Instructor must be conducted through the Charter Oak State College email system. There may be times when you as a student may face a situation where outside influences (personal and professional) may impact on your ability to either submit assignments on a timely basis or other issues may arise in the course. Students must first attempt to communicate with and resolve all issues with the Course Instructor in such cases.

Writing Assignment Guidelines

APA Writing Assignment Guidelines 

Students are expected to follow writing formatting and style guidelines as set forth by the American Psychological Association (APA). 

The following exceptions will apply to all written submissions in this program:  

• The primary focus of the usage of APA falls in the areas of the inclusion and proper formatting of citations and references in all written submissions. 
• APA formatted title pages, running headers, and abstracts will not be used in the program. Instead, students must include their name, course number, and project title on the first sheet of the assignment. 
• Students will submit all papers or reports using a size 12 Arial font. 
• All papers are to be double-spaced, with margins set at one inch around the entire page. 
• The first reference always starts on a new page with the title References (title is center justified). 

Grading Policy

Graded Course Activities

The Course Instructor will identify in the syllabus in summary form the types of assignments that students are required to submit in the course with the points that may be awarded for each assignment. The grade you earn is the grade you will receive for the course. Scales are not applied against exams or projects. There are no extra credit assignments available to students. Remember, as a future executive, effort is the absolute minimum standard, however you will be judged and rewarded based solely on your actual results. There are no scales in the corporate world to do your best to hit the mark.

Complete Assignments/Deadlines

All assignments, unless otherwise instructed by the Course Instructor, will be submitted electronically through Blackboard. Students are required to exclusively use the Microsoft Office 365 suite of products including Word, PowerPoint, and/or Excel as appropriate for all assignment submissions. Access to these products is available at no cost to all Charter Oak graduate students. No other software comparable software (including Apple, Google, or other online software) will be accepted.

Directions: Once you log into your Charter Oak email account you will see a small box in the upper right-hand corner that has nine (9) small squares. If you click on this box, you will see the full suite of Microsoft software products available for your use including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Click on the appropriate application to activate. Except for any instructor-led deadline changes, all assignments are due no later than Sunday at 11:59 PM ET of the applicable week due.

Rubrics

Rubrics may be used throughout the courses you take in the master’s program. All or some of the rubrics will be used within each course dependent on the assignments given by the instructor. Course Instructor’s may add a rubric to their course that is specific to a major deliverable associated with the course specific content. The Course Syllabus will identify the total number of points that may be earned for each assignment. Refer to the specific assignment within the Grade Center for the number of points that may be earned within each rubric evaluation category as the point structure may change dependent on the requirements of each assignment.

Late/Missing Work (Including Discussion Board Assignments)

You are in this program to become future senior managers and executives. It is expected that deadlines set in the corporate world will be achieved and the cost of missing established deadlines will be exceedingly high in terms of lost advancement opportunities and in some cases, job termination. You are expected to submit all assignments on time by the deadline stipulated by the course instructor.

This also applies to all Discussion Board assignments. It is the student's responsibility to understand the specific assignment instructions regarding expectations, deadlines, and submission. The Course Instructor has the right to assign a significant grade reduction penalty and/or refuse to accept all late submissions.

Late Work Policies

All assignments must be submitted to the course by 11:59 PM ET Sunday of the week they are due. Work submitted after this deadline will be considered late and will be subject to late penalties. See the institutional Late Assignment Policy, which is available through the "Attendance and Late Policies" link in the main course menu. If a late policy discrepancy occurs with any assignment in this course, the institutional late policy takes precedence. Note, however, that the institutional late policy does not apply to discussions. If you have a scheduling conflict with the date’s assignments are due, please contact the instructor immediately.

Group Assignments Contributions and Grading

Group assignments require all students in the group to:

• Contribute equally in terms of quantity of work performed or submitted.
• Submit deliverables or work to the group that content is of high quality and minimal editing is required.
• Submit work on a timely basis as determined by a simple majority of the group.
• Participate in all group discussions or meetings as agreed by the group.
• Groups are expected to attempt to work out all differences between themselves when conflict arises before requesting instructor guidance with the issue.
• As we are an online institution with students located across the country, groups are not allowed to mandate meetings to occur at specific geographic locations.

Instructors are allowed to assign different grades to students even though those students may be on the same team. The differences in grades assigned are influenced by the instructor receiving reports from team members that a particular team member is not meeting their obligations as stated above.

Viewing Grades in Blackboard

Points you receive for graded activities will be posted to the Blackboard Grade Center within one week of the assignment due date.

Letter Grade Assignment

Final grades assigned for this course will be based on the percentage of total points earned and are assigned as follows:

*Failure - Course Repeat Required

Incomplete Policy

Because online courses rely heavily on threaded discussions, incomplete grades are not given unless there is an emergency. Incomplete grades may be given only in the following circumstances:

• The student's work to date is passing
• Attendance has been satisfactory through at least 60% of the term
• An illness or other extenuating circumstance legitimately prevents completion of required work by the due date (Documentation will be required to be submitted with the Request for Incomplete Grade form)
• Required work may reasonably be completed within a two-week period
• The incomplete is not given as a substitute for a failing grade
• The incomplete is not a means of raising his or her grade by doing additional work after the grade report time.

In these circumstances, a student may request a two (2) week extension. Students must complete the following process to request an incomplete (The "Request for Incomplete Grade" form may be obtained on the MyCharterOak forms tab):

• The student initiates the request for an incomplete grade at least one week before the end of the term
• Graduate students must e-mail the form to the Graduate Program Director, along with appropriate documentation.
• The Program Director will determine if the documentation is sufficient to warrant the instructor to consider an extension. The Director will either approve or deny. 
• If the Director consents, the Director will contact the instructor. The instructor will state the requirements for completion of the course on this form. The instructor will return the form to the Director, and the Director will send a copy of the form to the student. 
• The Director will notify the Registrar of any approved Requests for Incomplete Grades. 
• The instructor submits the final grade to the Registrar on the Change of Grade form. 
• Incomplete grades appear on the transcript for two weeks. 
• After two weeks, if coursework is still incomplete, grades will change to 'F'. 

For additional information about grading at Charter Oak State College including the appeal process, refer to the Academic Catalog.