Online Assistants
In some, but not all courses, the College of IST provides an Online Assistant (OA) to support faculty in the collaborative learning environment. OA’s support faculty in MPS graduate courses and are oriented to the course and the online learning environment. Additionally, college-based programs such as IST 602 introduce OA’s to subjects such as “what is learning?”, “what is online learning?” “how does one assess student work and provide meaningful feedback” and “what does collaborative learning entail” as well as exposing them to course management tools such labs and the Canvas gradebook.
OA’s may perform the following responsibilities:
- Organize course material such as uploading additional readings selected by the faculty.
- Provide “help desk” support functions to virtual labs used in courses to reduce administrative questions being sent to faculty (e.g., “my lab is not working” a complaint which necessitates either a simple non-analytic answer or needs to be forwarded to IST’s technical support).
- Mark objective assignments (i.e. lab reports comprised of screenshots, true/false, and multiple-choice assignments) against an answer key.
- Record student grades into the Canvas gradebook.
- Participate in discussion forums to foster collaborative learning without handling evaluation.
- Provide clarification to students on faculty expectations (i.e., “how many pages are expected in this assignment?” or “when is this assignment due?”).
OA’s are NOT permitted to:
- Grade assignments that require subjectivity and analysis.
- Teach content to students or provide unscripted commentary on course content.
- Interact with students in any manner until they have been oriented to the course and online learning environment.
Instructional Designers
Your instructional designers are your go-to people when you have questions or concerns about your course. They can explain how you should do things in the course and help you troubleshoot problems that arise. If you’re not sure who your instructional designer is, see our course support page to find out.