WNCC 2010 Self-Study Report - Western Nebraska Community ...

3. Elect to file a written Grade Appeal at the Dean of Instruction's office for referral to the
Peer Review Committee. A formal Grade Appeal may not be filed until steps 1 and 2
above have been completed (RR 136).
Individual files are kept in the offices of the Vice President of Student Services or the Vice
President of Educational Services (new titles since the policy was written). The maintenance of a
single comprehensive student complaint log has lapsed with the lack of continuity in the Vice
President of Student Services position at WNCC.
Currently, the entire judicial code is being revised to clarify and streamline the process. A
procedural guide has been developed for grade appeal processes, and a detailed guide for actual
judicial hearings already exists in policy. However, a clearer pathway for the complaints, concerns,
or comments to be received will be developed, and a central file will be created to aggregate the
complaints so that they can be reviewed to check for patterns.
Transfer Policies
Information about transfer of credits to other institutions and the ability of students to transfer credit
hours into the College to satisfy program or degree requirements can be found in a number of
readily accessible publications, and in handouts available at specific locations, such as:
1. WNCC Catalog (pages 59-60)
2. Student Planner 2009-2010 (page 5)
3. Cougar View packet (page 6)
4. Transfer Advisor’s office
5. Registrar’s office
The Registrar makes the determination for course substitutions for equivalent courses or about
elective credits. In many cases, a consultation is made with a Division Chair or a content expert
from the faculty about whether a course which is not identical in name or in content description can
be used to fulfill a learning equivalency and thus count into the program.
Verification of Student Identity
The College uses an assigned login and password for students taking online classes. For
proctored examinations, the student must first present a photo identification card. To enhance our
academic integrity efforts, WNCC is investigating ways improve the validation of online student
identity. Initially introduced by Blackboard/WebCT as a system enhancement in October, 2009, the
Axiom Identify-X system will be tested in the spring term of 2010. This system verifies the identity
of student via a random and periodic system prompt that ties the student name and address to
publically available databases.
According to the system information provided by Blackboard officials, “On a random basis (as
determined by the institution) students are prompted to enter their first name, last name and full
address. Acxiom Identify-X then queries public databases to generate challenge questions from
more than 100 available question types. Information pulled from these databases is publicly
available. Identify-X allows colleges and universities to confirm student identity in advance of high-
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Western Nebraska Community College