Course Policies
This course is provided free of charge to participants approved by the instructor. Participants are expected to abide by the requirements below to continue their involvement in the course.
• Integrity Policy: Participants are trusted to avoid plagiarism, cheating, and other forms of dishonesty that may impact their participation in the course. Breaking this trust can lead to cancellation of course involvement.
• Attendance and Participation: Please commit to attending all required synchronous Zoom sessions and completing the session activities, including watching and discussing the session videos, participating in role-playing, completing the quizzes, and submitting reflections in writing or an alternate format. A course completion certificate will be issued after the requirements are met.
• Classroom Response Time and Assignment Feedback: The instructor will do their best to respond to learnersʻ inquiries within two days of receiving it. Assignment feedback, if required, will generally be returned within seven business days. If circumstances prevent the meeting of these timeframes, the instructor will communicate with the participants.
• Learner Interaction: Participants are expected to interact with the instructor and fellow learners during this course, including during live Zoom sessions, role-playing, and other activities. If conditions or circumstances make this difficult, the learner can reach out to the instructor and discuss alternative formats or accommodations to make learning possible and to meet this expectation.
• Evaluation: This course is not graded. An evaluative rubric is provided to students in the course syllabus to gauge their progress through the course. In addition, pre- and post-training surveys are distributed to measure progress made in the course and to gather feedback from participants about their perspectives on what they learned and how they might apply the lessons in the workplace.
• Communication Guidelines: The major channels of communication with participants will be through email and Zoom sessions. Learners are asked to respond within two days of an instructorʻs email if it requires a response. If the participant has an alternative means of communication that is preferred, please inform the instructor at the start of the course.
• Prior Knowledge: No previous training is required of introductory courses, such as the Introduction to Workplace Social Skills course. General knowledge of the subject of the course, such as knowing who one reports to at oneʻs job, is usually enough to take the beginning classes.
• Technology Requirements: Course learners should prepare for the sessions by ensuring they have a working desktop or laptop capable of viewing videos; access to reliable WiFi; and Zoom application (download from Zoom.com). Learners will also be using Google docs and the Kahoot! Quizzes. Please ensure you can access these as well.
• Technology Skills: Participants will receive a pre-course computer skills checklist to confirm they can:
--Open and close programs on a computer.
--Minimize and maximize a screen and switch between windows.
--Use a web browser such as Chrome to visit websites.
--Open links shared in an email or Zoom chat box.
--Use Google docs and survey forms.
--Type sentences into chat boxes, discussion forums, and email.
--Check email regularly and open attachments.
--Log into Zoom and join online meetings.
--Mute and unmute themselves and turn the camera off and on for an online video call.
--Watch online videos and listen to audio on their computer.
--Fix issues such as no sound by checking settings or restarting their computer.
Learner Support: The instructors can provide limited technical support to help learners access websites for course activities, for example. Please reach out to your instructor if you need course support or assistance to help you succeed. Instructors will not be available to fix hardware or trouble-shoot software that is unrelated to the course. Please reach out to your workplace technical support, provided they are authorized and available.
Learner services will vary according to the course and partnership with your workplace or affiliated nonprofit organization. Please connect with your instructor or supervisor if you have questions.
• Accessibility and Accommodations: This course prioritizes Universal Design for Learning concepts that call for inclusive design and content decisions in course creation. For example, alternative formats beyond writing are encouraged for those who prefer to express themselves by drawing or producing audio or video recordings. Participants are welcome to talk with the instructor about accessibility and any accommodations that will make their learning easier.
• Privacy Policies: The course instructors will not share your identity, emails, or other private information with anyone. This information is used only for course-related purposes. Any other use, such as for research conducted by instructors, will be fully disclosed to particiipants.
The course also uses applications that have their own privacy policies that you should be aware of:
--Zoom.com
--Google (documents and forms)
• Other Policies: The course policies may change at any time due to instructional conditions or considerations. Please check with the instructor if you have any questions.