RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM OF THE EDUCATIONAL PORTAL OF THE AMERICAS
Rev. 10/07.02
It is the responsibility of the PARTICIPANT to:
- Stay current on the readings, activities, and work of each module by entering the Virtual Classroom at least two times per week for the duration of the course.
- Complete all work, forum discussions and activities set forth by the academic program and the tutor in the time and manner established. All work must be posted in the Virtual Classroom. Lack of compliance will result in the participant not passing the course.
- Complete the personal evaluation form located in My Portfolio section of the Virtual Classroom, which is where the results of the partial and final evaluations will be posted.
- Notify the tutor in writing, with a copy to the Academic Coordinator, if she/he is unable to continue the course due to unforeseen circumstances. The tutor will provide a written response with instructions on how to proceed.
- Participate in the course as an individual. Under no circumstances will
another person be permitted to participate on behalf of someone else or share
access rights with another person.
With regard to the submission of partial and final projects, the PARTICIPANT agrees that:
- All projects presented as part of a required course activity should be original in nature and the intellectual property of the student presenting them. Sources should be cited with appropriate bibliographies and references as needed. Participants who violate this policy and present other texts as their own (plagiarize) will be sanctioned according to the gravity of the situation. Consequences may include failure and removal from the course, as well as inability to participate in future courses offered through the Educational Portal of the Americas.
- Each participant is required to prepare and submit his/her own final project.
Students who wish to develop a final project in collaboration with other course
participants should discuss, justify and receive previous authorization from
the Academic Coordinator of the Virtual Classroom.
It is the responsibility of the TUTOR to:
- Closely follow the participation of each student throughout the course by guiding, creating and evaluating learning activities; using constructive interaction in the Virtual Classroom and providing technical and pedagogical assistance as required by the participants.
- Provide the group with a conceptual analysis of their responses, as well as provide individual clarifications and feedback through the personal portfolio of each participant.
- Notify the participant if he/she is in danger of not passing the course (two consecutive weeks with no participation in the activities or when activities are not completed satisfactorily).
- Advise the participant once the decision has been made to remove him/her from the course for one of the above-mentioned reasons.
- Notify in writing, at the end of the course, to all and each one of the
participants if he or she has or not passed the course. In the event the participant
has not passed the course, the tutor will also provide the reasons for said
decision.
It is the responsibility of the Educational Portal of the Americas to:
- Monitor the development of the academic activities of the classrooms to ensure quality and service.
- Enrich the development of the courses by providing the resources needed
to attain the pre-established objectives.
Drop-out policy
- Under no circumstance will registration fees be returned to participants who have not passed and/or have dropped out of any course.
- Participants who do not complete activities and/or have not communicated with their tutor over a 2-week period will be removed from the course and denied access to the Virtual Classroom as a dropt out case.
- If a participant, for any reason or circumstance that is out of his/her
influence – such as health issues – is unable to continue the
course and inform his/her tutor of this condiction within two weeks, the Portal
Direction will evaluate the case at hand and determine if the reasons presented
merit the student's automatic inscription in a future edition of the course.
In the case of approval, the Portal Direction reserves the right to charge
the participant for a potential difference in cost between the version of
the course the student originally enrolled in and the version he is assigned
to as a result of his/her extraordinary circumstances. The Portal Direction
also reserves the right to place the student ina different course should the
earlier course no longer be offered.
Rights and Intellectual Property
The information contained in the participant and tutor profiles, including e-mail addresses and personal information, is to be used exclusively for educational purposes within the Virtual Classroom. This information may not be shared with third parties or used for any purpose other than for the academic activities of each course.
The ideas and opinions expressed in this course are the responsibility of the individual authors and are not those of the Organization of American States (“OAS”), GS/OAS, and the OAS Member States or its member countries. This course may contain links to web sites not under OAS control. The OAS provides those links as a convenience for users of the course and is not responsible for their contents. The presence of a link does not imply endorsement or approval of its contents by the OAS, GS/OAS, its personnel, or the OAS Member States.
The OAS retains the copyright and intellectual property rights
of the contents of this course, its instructional design, and the interactive
platform of the Virtual Classroom. Reproduction, distribution or modification
of this course in any way is prohibited. “Content” is defined as
information, graphics, sound, videos, photographs, and any other type of material
that the course may contain. The content may be used only for the educational
purposes of the course. Content may be downloaded and saved on personal computers
for learning, research, reflection or reference purposes as long as the OAS
is cited as the source of the material. Downloading content for commercial purposes
or for redistribution to people or institutions is strictly prohibited. Printing
of multiple copies of the content requires written authorization from the OAS.