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in the face to face format and are treated equivalently to a face to face course. Students<br />
participating in the online version of a course must meet the same course objectives as<br />
those students seated in the same course being offered in a face to face format. Online<br />
courses are included as part of faculty evaluation processes similarly to evaluation of any<br />
other course material. Each semester, the Liberal Arts department runs one or two “late<br />
start” courses to allow students who may need to alter their schedules time to register for<br />
additional electives. These courses also follow the requirements of the traditional, fullsemester<br />
length course but do so over a fewer number of weeks. This shortening of the<br />
schedule requires that the courses meet for longer periods each week in order to meet<br />
contact hour requirements.<br />
All students enrolled in either 100% online courses or off-campus courses such as<br />
internships and practicums have regular access to their faculty through our online learning<br />
management system, email, phone, or physical contact during site visits. All students<br />
enrolled in distance education must log in through their <strong>RVCC</strong> issued Easy Log-In, a<br />
username and password issued to all students to access their Canvas account, Student<br />
Information System, and email. This Easy Log-In is individual to each student and is the<br />
only option we have as a college to ensure that students who register for an online course<br />
are the ones completing the course.<br />
Appraisal of Integrity in the Award of Academic Credit<br />
<strong>RVCC</strong> does a very good job of ensuring authority and administrative oversight of all<br />
courses for which institutional credit is awarded. The College follows the BoT policies and<br />
all awards of institutional credit have oversight by the VPAA. The VPAA is responsible for<br />
evaluating the schedule each semester to ensure that courses are scheduled for<br />
appropriate lengths of times to meet credit loads. Department Chairs or Program<br />
Directors evaluate all faculty to ensure that course objectives are being met and that<br />
courses are meeting as outlined on the schedule. During faculty evaluations where a<br />
faculty is teaching online, Department Chairs and Program Directors are given access to<br />
online courses to evaluate the virtual learning environment. Courses taught off campus<br />
through Running Start are evaluated each semester by faculty partners to ensure that high<br />
school partners are teaching at the same level and providing comparable assessments as<br />
would be given in the college environment.<br />
One challenge that we have faced as a college is having a central location for reporting<br />
acts of plagiarism or cheating. Most issues are held at the program level but faculty have<br />
brought up concerns related to cross-college cheating and plagiarism issues. Previously,<br />
all issues were reported to the VPAA which allowed a common repository of information.<br />
This ensured that if a student violated student policies in multiple courses, there was a<br />
central location for evaluation of repeated student issues. This process was discontinued<br />
with the VPAA holding the position in 2015 but was reinstated in Fall of 2018 so all<br />
plagiarism issues are again housed in the Office of Academic Affairs.<br />
One opportunity we have as a small college is that we are consistently working to reinvent<br />
and update Liberal Arts electives to keep them current. In the past two years we have<br />
introduced the following courses: Introduction to Drawing, Introduction to Painting,<br />
Understanding World Religions, as well as Introduction to Counseling Theories and<br />
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