UPM #23 – Distance Education – Courses and Registration

Effective Date: February 7, 2005

PURPOSE

This memorandum outlines the policy for recording students participating in courses offered through distance education that will award academic credit. The memorandum explains the coding of the courses to allow them to be identifiable as a group. Distance learning courses offered through different methods such as Internet and televised delivery present unique record keeping problems because instruction originates from one location but can be received at a variety of sites.

General Provisions

This memorandum describes how to classify students who enroll in courses that:

• • Originate from the UNC-CH campus or a location separate from the student.
  • Are received by a student through the Internet or other distance education learning methods at a remote location outside of a campus classroom.
  • Award UNC-CH academic credit for the course.

The College of Arts and Sciences permits an on-campus degree-seeking student to enroll in only one distance learning course when taken in addition to on-campus courses. The College permits a student to enroll in a maximum of two distance learning courses when those are the only courses taken. Academically ineligible students may use these courses to re-establish their eligibility.

This memorandum does not supersede existing policy for extension, NCREN (microwave televised classes), correspondence, CEU or other types of instruction that take place off campus and have specific policy and procedures in place. The instructions in this memorandum are intended for courses offered through the Internet or other distance education methods where other policy does not apply. The courses can have a mixture of on-campus and off-campus students, though all students must register and pay the Continuing Education course fee through the Friday Center for Continuing Education.

If an academic department chooses to offer courses through the Internet, it may set up its own sections as long as enrollment is open only to UNC-Chapel Hill campus students. Once a department decides to offer courses to people who are not UNC-Chapel Hill students, they must go through the Friday Center for Continuing Education for administrative support in admitting and enrolling students or the department must have an approved off-campus studies program.

Designation Courses

Courses are given a specific section number to designate the method of delivery.

1. 1. Courses are given a specific section number to designate that they are available through the Internet.
      1. Off-campus programs administered by the Friday Center for Continuing Education using the Internet will have course section numbers 986 through 989.
      2. The Carolina Courses Online administered through the Friday Center for Continuing Education have a section range of 990 through 994. These courses have a mixture of off-campus and on-campus students.
      3. Departmentally-administered courses in approved programs intended for on-campus students will have a section number ending with “W”, designating a Web course (e.g., ENGL011 01W).
      4. Departmentally-administered courses in approved programs intended for off-campus students will have section numbers 956-974.
      5. Departments offering online courses in their approved off-campus studies programs with both on-campus and off-campus students should set up an on-campus section of the course (e.g., ENGL011 01W) and an off-campus section of the course (e.g., ENGL011 956) and crosslist these sections.
   2. Other course data:
      1. Departments must indicate a principal method of delivery on SIS-C screen 137 for all approved off-campus studies program courses. For online courses, departments have the choice of indicating 05 “Web-Based Asynchronous” or 06 “Web-Based Synchronous.”
      2. The Friday Center for Continuing Education Carolina Courses Online are set up with a footnote (O). Any courses optionally may have a course text remark that indicates that the course is offered through the Internet and that the student must have appropriate equipment designated by the instructor in order to participate in the course.
      3. Carolina Courses Online will be set up with a “controlled enrollment” restriction. Departments may place a “Permission of Department” footnote and restriction on the course to require students to register through the department, ensuring that the equipment requirements can be met.

Course Site

The course site is recorded in the county and state codes on the CE/Reporting Schedule Data screen (screen 137).

• For a single course section with many receiving sites, the county and state are left blank.
• If more than half of the course instruction is delivered on the Chapel Hill campus, Orange County (867) is entered in the county and UNC is entered in the City field.
• Foreign sites will record XX in the state.

Student Site

For internal departmental use, the student location is recorded in the student site code. It can be recorded initially on the admissions screen 206, and on the student term attributes screen 211.

• • If the student is participating in a program where they are moving among multiple sites, the code of “EX” is used to indicate multiple extension sites.
  • For General Administration reporting, if the course has a blank county and state code, the student’s county of origin will be used. The county of origin is entered as part of the biographical information on screen 007 of the SIS system.

Student Classification

Student classification depends on the degree status and enrollment of the student.

1. 1. Students admitted into UNC-CH degree programs or admitted through Continuing Studies (on or off campus, and undergraduate, graduate, or professional) and enrolled in regular on-campus courses maintain their normal degree designation.
   2. On-campus undergraduate degree seeking students not enrolled in regular on-campus courses are classified as Visiting Students (college of VS), using the Independent Study classification (IS). Students moving from VS back to their on-campus degree program must re-apply for admission. Graduate and Professional students maintain their normal degree classification.
   3. Non-degree students are designated as Off Campus Studies students with a college of OS. Their classification is SPU (special non-degree undergraduate level), or SPG (special non-degree graduate level, student has an undergraduate degree), or SPP (special non-degree professional level, student pursuing professional level Law, Medicine, Dentistry, or Pharmacy courses).
   4. Off-campus degree students that take a distance learning course maintain their normal classifications

Student Major

The major depends on degree status.

1. 1. Students admitted into a UNC-CH degree program (on-campus or off-campus) maintain their normal major designation.
   2. Undergraduate and graduate level non-degree students are assigned a major of DIST. Professional level students are assigned the major of DISP.

Publishing the Course in the Directory of Classes

The unit setting up the course decides if the course is listed in the Directory of Classes.

1. 1. The University Registrar’s Scheduling Office will set a Directory print flag if requested to block the course from the listing. The course will appear in the directory unless the University Scheduling Office is notified otherwise.
   2. The University Registrar’s Scheduling Office will set the Program Administrator code of “CO” (Carolina Courses On-line) for those courses administered through the Friday Center for Continuing Education. This allows special sorting for the Directory.

Payment of Tuition and Fees

Enrollment in courses offered through the Friday Center for Continuing Education’s Carolina Courses Online program requires a separate registration and tuition payment for all students.

UNC-CH students enrolled in on-campus courses and enrolling in a Carolina Courses Online course will have the distance education credit hours waived for calculating regular on-campus tuition. These students are charged the Friday Center for Continuing Education course fee as paid by non-UNC students.

Registration and Drop/Add Policy

Follow policy according to student classification.

All students enrolled in Carolina Courses Online follow the registration and drop/add deadlines for on-campus programs. The credit hours will be counted into the credit hour total used for calculating a student’s full time status.

All students enrolling in the Carolina Courses On-line must register through the Friday Center for Continuing Education. On-campus students will not be able to enroll themselves. The College of Arts and Sciences requires students to receive approval through the Associate Dean’s office in Steele Building before enrolling in these courses.

Grading and Examinations”]

Normal grading policy and grading deadlines will apply for these courses. The final examinations should be given according to the published examination schedule, using the “all other” exam time.

Coding for UNC-CH on-campus undergraduate degree seeking students not enrolled in on-campus courses.

Note: On-campus graduate and professional degree students maintain their normal classification.

Field	Code	Remarks
College	VS	Visitor, treated as independent study
Major	Student’s major
Class	IS	Independent Study
Degree	Normal degree	Student’s normal degree
Career	Normal career	Student’s normal career
Student Term Site	County CodeUSFS	Code from 00 to 99 if NCStudent within U.S., not NCForeign Site
Academic Unit	GUDNLWMD	Undergrad, grad, or PharmacyDental ProfessionalLaw ProfessionalMedicine Professional
Admissions level and type	R and REA	Students moving from on-campus to VS college are coded as Readmitted students.

Coding for Off-Campus Non-degree Distance Learner through Internet

Note: Off-Campus degree students that take a distance learning course maintain their normal classification.

Field	Code	Remarks
College	OS
Major	DISTDISP	ugrad, grad, professional
Class	SPUSPGSPP	ugrad, non-degree, graduate, non-degree, professional non-degree
Degree	NONDGUNKUNK	Undergraduate level, Graduate level, Professional level
Career	UGGRP1P2P3PP	Undergraduate, Graduate, Dental Professional, Law Professional, Medicine ProfessionalPharmacy Professional
Student Term Site	County CodeUSFS	Code from 00 to 99 if NC Student within U.S., not NC Foreign Site
Academic Unit	GUDNLWMD	Undergrad, grad, or Pharmacy, Dental, Professional, Law, Professional, Medicine, Professional
Admissions level and type	F and NEWT and TRNG and NEWG and TRN	Undergraduate, no prior college, work, Undergraduate, prior college, work, Graduate Level , no prior graduate work, Graduate Level, prior graduate work