Ferris eLearning
420 Oak Street PRK 120
Big Rapids, MI 49307
(231) 591-2802
[email protected]
In response to an EMAT recommendation, which was approved by the Senate and Academic Departments, a new policy and procedure was created to better prepare students prior to their first online course. This is the senate approved policy.
The net result of this recommendation is that prior to taking a fully online course, students should first complete the Online Readiness Orientation/Tutorial. The Orientation is found in MyFSU, under the Student Tab, and then through the Online quick link.
For faculty and departments who want to ensure students have completed the orientation prior to their online course, a class section prerequisite needs to be added to that specific online section in the Banner scheduling pages. This will need to be done each semester when entering the schedule. Instructions for staff on how to enter this prerequisite can be found here: Instruction Sheet for ssapreq.
Because the prerequisite is entered at the discretion of the offering department, it is possible for a student to be in a course section without having previously taken the Orientation. If they subsequently then take a course which does have that prerequisite they may submit an Online Readiness Orientation waiver form in lieu of completing the orientation. By submitting the waiver they are indicating they know how to use Blackboard, and need no additional information to navigate through their online course.
You can determine if a student has completed the orientation (or waiver) by looking up their test scores in MyFSU (under faculty resources). An "ORO" test score of 1 indicates the waiver was submitted. An "ORO" test score of 2 indicates they successfully completed the orientation, having at least 7 out of 10 questions on the final quiz answered correctly.
Anyone can take the Online Readiness Orientation. Once completed, students can also review the material in that orientation by logging back in with the same information originally provided.
Additional documents are provided here: