Your role is vitally important in helping students evaluate the myriad educational and career options available to them. In one-on-one sessions with students, you can identify solutions for the issues that sometimes overwhelm and eventually derail aspirations. The end result is a personalized course plan and schedule designed to keep the student engaged and on the road to completion and graduation.

The purpose of this Advisor Guide is to answer questions you might have about the TN eCampus student experience so that you can confidently recommend TN eCampus courses as a viable option.

This Advisor Guide will:

Explain aspects of the TN eCampus partnership which make it truly unique from online education offered on your campus
Assist you and students in understanding resources available when taking TN eCampus courses
Facilitate relationships between you and TN eCampus staff members who can provide assistance
Clarify policies and procedures
Show how TN eCampus aligns with the academic standards of your institution

INTRODUCING TN eCAMPUS

TN eCampus is the online education initiative of The College System of Tennessee, the state’s largest public higher education system governed by the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR). All thirteen TBR community colleges and several locally governed state universities participate in TN eCampus.

A Unique Online Partnership

Since 2001, students needing online courses to remain on track for degree completion, to maintain full- or part-time status, or those needing the flexibility of a fully-online degree program have turned to TBR’s online campus partnership for their learning needs. The development and delivery model built to support cooperation among partner institutions is still one of the most unique and successful models for online education in the United States.

Today, TBR’s 13 community colleges and four independent public universities participate in the TN eCampus online partnership. All participating institutions are regionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

Access and Choice

TN eCampus offers more than 450 online courses, including many of the core general education courses needed for seamless transfer into select bachelor degree programs offered by Tennessee public and private colleges and universities. Additionally, many of the general education and major field core courses needed for A.A.S. degree completion at our System’s community colleges are available through TN eCampus.

Academic Rigor and Approvals

TN eCampus online courses are rigorously designed and academically equivalent to those offered at physical campus locations. A variety of student support resources similar to those physically offered on campus are available to help students excel in an online learning environment.

TN eCampus courses are reviewed and approved by faculty members on your campus. Faculty teaching TN eCampus are vetted and approved by your campus administrators.

IS ONLINE LEARNING A GOOD FIT FOR YOUR STUDENT?

When assessing if a student is a good candidate for online education, these traits, expectations and technology needs must be considered.

Does your student possess these traits?

Self-motivation
Self-discipline
Goal-oriented
Schedule-oriented
Proficient in reading
Communicates well in writing
Has basic computer skills
Has familiarity with email, web browsers and word processing software

Student Expectations

Participation in all aspects of the course
Communication with the professor and other students in class
An ability to navigate within the learning management system
Communication with professors and classmates using the assigned course management system email address rather than a personal email address
Quick resolution of technical problems
Observance of course “netiquette” at all times when sending emails and posting comments to the discussion board. Students must refrain from using inappropriate and/or offensive language, comments or actions.
High standards of honesty and integrity. Academic dishonesty is prohibited.

Technology Needs

Reliable internet access
A computer system that meets the basic minimum requirements for using the learning management system platform. A system check can be performed to make this determination.
Course specific software and accessories as noted by the professor in the course syllabus.

Student Preparation for Online Success

Share these tips with your students to ensure they are adequately prepared for taking an online course.

Establish a location at home or work where there are no distractions.
Make sure there’s good lighting and adequate space in the study area.
Plan study time. A good rule of thumb is to reserve a two-hour block of time several days within the week for study time.
Keep computers in good working order.
Read the course syllabus in full.
Read announcements on the course home page. The announcements often contain helpful or important information.
Purchase textbooks, course materials and access codes from the recommended bookstore. Other online textbook vendors may offer cheaper alternatives and used options, but those alternatives don’t coincide with the course material or provide access codes to online labs.
Do not assume or take anything for granted.
Check the course calendar frequently to ensure deadlines are met.
When assignments aren’t understood or questions exist, communicate with the course professor.
Establish rapport with other online classmates and form online study groups if possible. • Use library and tutoring resources.
Don’t wait until the last minute to complete or upload assignments.

TN eCAMPUS COURSE BENEFITS

Access and Scheduling Flexibility

TN eCampus provides students with a flexible option for filling out their schedules. Because TN eCampus courses are staffed by faculty across the state, TN eCampus is always able to add more sections to accommodate students—keeping them on track toward graduation and accelerating degree completion. The availability of 100% online, asynchronous courses is perfect for working students, students with family responsibilities and students who can’t travel to campus.

Students who take course loads of fifteen or more credit hours are more successful academically and are more likely to earn a degree on time. TN eCampus courses can help students round out their fifteen credit hour schedule.

“Home Campus” Concept

Students can participate in TN eCampus on a full- or part-time basis and are typically enrolled as a degree-seeking, non-degree seeking or dual/joint enrollment student. Each student must select, apply and enroll at one of the TN eCampus partner institutions. The campus where the student is enrolled is the “home campus.”

The home campus performs the following functions:
Accepts and admits the student
Advises the student
Enrolls the student in online courses
Bills the student for all courses
Collects tuition and related fees
Reports fees collected to TBR
Facilitates transfer of earned course credit
Awards degrees

Admission acceptance is purely a campus decision and is granted by the “home campus.” TN eCampus administrators have no role in the acceptance process.

User-Friendly Registration

Institutions display a complete list of courses offered each semester by TN eCampus in the Banner system.

TN eCampus courses are numbered in the Banner system as shown below:

R50 – R79 (full-term courses)
R80+ (learning support courses)
R01 – R24 (seven-week accelerated courses offered at beginning of semester)
R25 – R49 (seven-week accelerated courses offered in middle of semester)
R35 (10-week term)

If a TN eCampus course is not listed in Banner, but a student needs to take the course, the student or advisor can contact TN eCampus directly. Email us at tnecampus@helpspot.com to receive information on how to register for the desired course(s).

Seamless Transfer of Course Credit

TN eCampus courses are transcripted through the student’s home campus. This means there is no need to transfer credits among institutions.

TN eCampus courses taken by students appear on their transcript as courses taken on your campus—even if the professor is located at another campus. TN eCampus courses are reviewed and approved by faculty members on your campus. Faculty teaching TN eCampus courses are vetted and approved by your campus administrators.

Course Fees

Fees associated with TN eCampus courses are used strictly to support YOUR students. TBR and TN eCampus fund many of the resources students use both on campus AND online. Fees flow directly back to our partners as both revenue and student resources and services. Many TBR colleges do not charge their students an online course fee—or they are able to keep the fee low—because of the TN eCampus partnership. Supporting TN eCampus is a win-win for everyone.

While neither the TN Reconnect nor TN Promise last-dollar scholarship programs cover TN eCampus fees currently, many students choose eCampus courses in an effort to complete enough credit hours to keep their TN Reconnect or TN Promise scholarships.

DISABILITY SERVICES

The Vocational Rehabilitation Act section 504 and The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) stipulate that postsecondary institutions are responsible for providing necessary accommodations when a student discloses a disability.

TN eCampus students can request an accommodation. However, it is the student’s responsibility to initiate this process with the disability resource center or campus office at their home school. If students are unsure whom to contact, they can start with the student liaison at their home campus (found in the TN eCampus Knowledge books). Their liaison can get them in touch with the appropriate person. Information on disability services and TN eCampus is located at this link: https://tnecampus.org/disability-services.

If a student currently enrolled in a course notices an accessibility issue, such as non-captioned videos or images without alt-text, please email tnecampus@helpspot.com with the course name, section number, and link or location (screenshot is always good) where the accessibility issue is occurring. Our team will correct the issue as soon as possible.

Initiating the Accommodation Process

A student with a disability has a responsibility to initiate the accommodation process with the disability resource center or campus office to request a reasonable accommodation. The office determines whether the student is eligible for services and, if so, coordinates appropriate accommodations and services in consultation with the student, faculty and other professionals, as appropriate. All students must follow policies and procedures and meet the graduation requirements of their particular program.

TN eCampus students are further encouraged to notify their professors of accommodations needed immediately at the start of class and be prepared to provide documentation and/or a contact person at their campus resource office.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

In their academic activities, students are expected to maintain high standards of honesty and integrity. Academic dishonesty is prohibited.

Such conduct includes, but is not limited to:
Attempt by one or more students to use unauthorized information in the taking of an exam
Submit as one’s own work, themes, reports, drawings, laboratory notes, computer programs, or other products prepared by another person
Knowingly assist another student in obtaining or using unauthorized materials

Plagiarism, cheating, and other forms of academic dishonesty are prohibited.

Students guilty of academic misconduct, either directly or indirectly through participation or assistance, are subject to disciplinary action through the regular procedures of the student’s home institution. Refer to the student handbook provided by your home institution to review the student conduct policy.

In addition to other possible disciplinary sanctions that may be imposed, the professor has the authority to assign an “F” or zero for an activity or to assign an “F” for the course.

TN ECAMPUS RESOURCES

Campus-based Student Liaison for In-person Support

Each partner institution has a designated Student Liaison that assists TN eCampus students with a wide range of questions and issues.

Most liaisons assist with registration and attendance issues; complaints and grade appeals; and withdrawals and course drops. However, the Liaison is also the go-to person for any TN eCampus issue. Liaisons can help with matters related to financial aid, bursar payments, disability accommodations and more. Even if they do not directly handle the issue in question, they can assist the student with locating resources who can assist.

Find your institution's Student Liaison here.

The Student Liaison can provide guidance and assistance for the following:

Degree program and course information
Questions concerning hardware or software requirements
Course registration procedures
Course log-in and other minor technical issues
Grade appeals
Facilitation of timely resolution for concerns and issues
Complaint process regarding a professor or classmate

LEARNING PORTAL ACCESS

To access TN eCampus courses, students must log in to https://gotoclass.tnecampus.org. Students who are unable to log in, will need to submit a ticket to tnecampus-support@d2l.com for assistance.

ONLINE RESOURCES

Knowledge Books

Knowledge Books are a support resource for students (https://tnecampus.helpspot.com/) and faculty and campus administrators (https://tnecampus.helpspot.com/faculty/). The books contain a variety of links and tutorials which explain products, processes and information.

Academic Calendars

TN eCampus maintains an updated academic calendar with dates for the start of classes, exams, refund dates and more on tnecampus.org.

HelpSpot Ticketing System

HelpSpot is used by staff, faculty, administrators and students requesting help for a variety of issues. HelpSpot tickets are created for training requests, learning management system support or additional requests for help.

To submit a ticket, go to tnecampus.helpspot.com/faculty or email TNeCampus@helpspot.com.

VIRTUAL TUTORING

A free, online virtual tutoring service is available to all TN eCampus students on a variety of subjects.

With the tutoring service, students can:

Access a live, personal session with a tutor in Drop-in Tutoring
Schedule a personal session with a chosen tutor in Scheduled Tutoring
Submit writing for any class to the Writing Center
Send a question to a tutor through “Submit a Question”
Set up a group tutoring session with classmates to work on projects or tough assignments. Tutor assistance can be requested and professors can join the sessions too!

VIRTUAL LIBRARY ACCESS

TN eCampus students are not always able to travel to campus to conduct library research. TN eCampus provides a Virtual Library for all students. Using the Virtual Library portal on the course homepage, students can conduct the same research through the same major databases they would access at their campus library.

VIRTUAL BOOKSTORE

Students are encouraged to purchase all their textbooks and course materials from the TN eCampus Virtual Bookstore at bkstr.com/tnecampusstore/home. Since many courses use e-books and access codes, ordering from third party book vendors including Amazon is discouraged. Access codes are NOT universal and change from semester to semester. If ordering from another book vendor, students might pay for an access code that is no longer valid. The Virtual Bookstore nor TN eCampus can offer refunds or are responsible for refunds of books ordered from other bookstores, including a student’s campus-based bookstore.

Refund information on books ordered from the Virtual Bookstore can be found on the Virtual Bookstore website.

Questions about book orders can be emailed to tnecampus@helpspot.com. The Virtual Bookstore
can be directly contacted at bookstr.com/tnecampusstore/store-info-contact-us.

VIRTUAL TEST PROCTORING

Some TN eCampus courses require proctoring for mid-term and/or final exams. Test and exam dates are set for each course at the beginning of the semester and are included in the course calendar. Students are responsible for scheduling proctoring arrangements well in advance of the exam, as proctoring appointment times fill quickly. Students needing accessories to use the virtual proctor should contact TN eCampus for a webcam and/or microphone.

Options for testing include an approved testing center, virtual proctor or a proctor at an alternative testing site. An approved testing center or virtual proctor are the preferred methods. Professors must be given ample time to make preparations for each proctoring option used by students.

HELP DESK

Our 24/7/365 Help Desk is available to all TN eCampus students for assistance with technical course issues including errors loading a document, pages not loading or login failures. Students can call, email or chat with a Help Desk agent from the course homepage or from the learning management system login page at gotoclass.tnecampus.org.

Students needing accessories to use the virtual proctor should contact TN eCampus for a webcam and/or microphone.

TEXTING SERVICE

Every semester, newly-enrolled students with valid phone numbers in their campus Banner system are automatically signed up for TN eCampus’ free texting service. This texting service notifies TN eCampus students about important deadlines throughout the semester like completing attendance reports through the Student Participation Survey, dates for mid-term and final exams, and any course or system-specific problems. Through the texting service, students have direct contact with a Student Success staff member to ask questions or discuss issues. The Student Success team also periodically reaches out to “check-in” on students to see if help is needed.

Students can text 615-882-4350 to subscribe to the texting service.

GRADE APPEALS AND COMPLAINTS

All TN eCampus students have the right to file complaints and grade appeals if they feel it is warranted.

Complaint Process

Students wishing to file complaints about a professor, another student or a class must submit their complaint in writing via email. The Student Liaison from the home campus and the delivery campus will be involved in notifying and communicating with the appropriate parties for a decision and resolution.

Grade Appeal Process

Students wishing to appeal a grade must contact their professor to verify that the grade awarded agrees with the grade on the transcript. Grade concerns must be submitted in writing via email.

The Student Liaison from the home campus and the delivery campus will be involved in notifying and communicating with campus administrators to obtain a decision. The student has the right to appeal the decision following the Student Rights and Appeal Process at the “home campus.” The home campus is responsible for the final grade appeal decision.

RESOURCES AND KEY CONTACTS

Website
tnecampus.org

Prospective Students
inquiry@tnecampus.org

HelpSpot Ticketing
tnecampus@helpspot.com

TN eCampus Knowledge Books
tnecampus.helpspot/faculty.com OR tnecampus.helpspot/student.com

Texting Service
Text for Current Term: 615-882-4350

Test Proctoring
https://tnecampus.org/proctoring-overview

Tutoring
tnecampus.org/virtual-tutoring

TN eCAMPUS STAFF CONTACTS

Sarah Hazelton

Interim Sr. Director for TNeCampus

sarah.hazelton@tbr.edu

Dr. Nicola Wayer

Director of Instructional Design and Training

nicola.wayer@tbr.edu

Contact Nicola with questions about: Accessibility, Course Development, Curriculum Committee, Instructional Design, Publisher Integrations, Course Master Copies and Course Development Copies

Jim Dye

Director of Technology

james.dye@tbr.edu

Contact Jim with questions about: Maestro Database

Colbe Wilson

Director of Campus Relations

colbe.wilson@tbr.edu

Contact Colbe with questions about: Course Staffing, Faculty Liaisons, Faculty Support Services and Communications, Internal Operations, Academic Calendars, Master Course List, Course Master Updates and Semester Preparation, Summer Academy

Dr. Callie Wise

Student Success Manager

callie.wise@tbr.edu

Contact Callie with questions about: Attendance, Complaints Regarding a Student, Student Complaints, Student Liaisons on Campuses, Student Technical Support, D2L’s End User Help Desk, Grade Appeals, Online Tutoring

Tennessee Board of Regents

TN eCampus

1 Bridgestone Park,

2nd Floor

Nashville, TN 37214

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