Spring 2010 Course Requests

The Faculty Request Interface, FRI, has been updated with a link to your Spring 2010 courses. This means you can NOW make your course requests for the spring semester and the new course shells will be created overnight. Go to http://losrios.edu/ess (Employee Self Service).

The official course request is completed when you click the Submit Request button and see the confirmation that the course/s will be created overnight. Student enrollment will not happen until 5 days before the start of classes, or about January 12, 2010.

If you want to see or email enrolled or waitlisted students for spring, use the Online Grading System - http://inside.losrios.edu/.

Students in Safari 4 can't see linked content set to open in a new window

Students attempting to view links that are set to open in a new page may experience problems viewing the linked content if they are using the Safari 4 browser with the default security settings. Below is an explanation of the problem and proposed solutions:

When clicking on a content link that is set to open the page in a new window (not inside the D2L frame) the default installation of Safari is set to block pop-up windows. This prevents the links from opening in a new window. The result is that the D2L screen appears to "blink" (as the page refreshes) but there is nothing in the D2L content frame and there is no new window displaying the linked web page.

At this point, we know of two solutions to this problem:

1) Access the Safari preferences, and on the Security tab, un-check the option to "block pop-up windows."

2) If the student does not want to un-check the option to block pop-up windows, they can force D2L to display the external link in a new window by clicking the "un-dock this page" icon located near the top of the empty (blank) D2L content frame after they initially clicked on the content link.

Internet Explorer 7 and the latest versions of Firefox do not appear to have this problem with the default security settings.

FERPA - Student Confidentiality

There have been several instances this semester where student record information was inappropriately released to third parties by email or phone. We have developed the attached FERPA Guidelines for Faculty and Staff that provide specific information regarding the rules that apply to the release of student information. Copies will be distributed to all employees.

I would like to point out three important guidelines.

1. All requests for the release of student information (enrollment status, transcripts, etc.) should be channeled to my office for processing. This is the central location that houses all student requests to withhold the release of information.
2. In most cases, information should never be shared by phone – we have no way of identifying who we are speaking with. If you have a business need to release information to a student that is specific to their personal record, please contact me so that we can discuss ways in which we can ensure the security of their records in terms of establishing proper identification before releasing such information (student’s no longer live in the area).
3. Parents do not automatically have a right to their child’s educational records. Please defer all of these requests to my office for processing. Students must provide their parents with a written release, authorizing them access to their student records. These requests are also centrally located in my office.
   

Thank you for your cooperation!!

Catherine Fites
Dean, Enrollment and Student Services
Sacramento City College

Enrolling TAs

Instructors can enroll Teaching Assistants (interns, IAs or student help) for Discussions or for Grading. There are two "roles" with different permissions. The TA Discuss is allowed to read and post to the discussion areas, the TA Grader can see the gradebook and not post in other areas of the course.

Enroll a TA using the Course Home Instructor Links Widget > Add Students by IDs which is a short cut to the Edit Course > Self Registration > Add Participant path.

Search for the TA by name, email or employee id number, click the checkbox to the left of the name, (ignore the section list presented) and click the Enroll button.

If your course has several SECTIONS combined into one D2L course, the TA roles will see what they have permission to see. The TA Grader can use the Grades link, then choose View by Sections > click Apply.

Sometimes I have enrolled someone in the class and in haste, enrolled them as "Student" instead of "TA Grader." From the Classlist link, find the name, click the checkbox to the left of the name and roll your mouse over the icons to find the Role Switch icon (looks like a tiny id card). Click and choose another role for this user. Do NOT switch roles for students who are taking your class for a grade!

Update on Turnitin & D2L Issues

The TurnItIn hotfix from D2L installed successfully this morning. The update to D2L should prevent new submissions from getting stuck “In-Progress”. There are however, still some existing submissions stuck “In-Progress”. We are waiting for TurnItIn to make an update to their internal system that will resolve these. D2L is helping to coordinate this and they are pushing for this to happen today.