Planning and Teaching Your Course
The Learning Technologies & Instructional Design (LTID) team supports all faculty teaching and developing courses. Below we have provided a few administrative details to help you get up and running, as well as key information relating to teaching your course.
Whether you are a new or returning faculty member or instructor, the information contained on these pages is meant to support you. You are an important partner in our success and we appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge and experience with our students. Please let us know if you can't find the information you are looking for. We hope that you find these resources useful. These pages contain the nuts and bolts of developing and teaching courses for Acadia. Should you have questions at any time, please do not hesitate to contact one of our staff.
Contracts
Faculty who are teaching or developing a course under contract through Open Acadia will have their contracts sent to them electronically. Signed contract acceptances should be returned to Christina McRae (Manager, Credit Programs) at Open Acadia. Acceptance by email is expected within 15 days of the contract offer being sent.
Access to important university resources is dependent upon your contract acceptance. Remuneration for teaching and development/redevelopment of courses is as per the current AUFA Collective Agreement.
Faculty teaching undergraduate courses during the Spring/Summer (Intersession) will have their contracts sent to them by Open Acadia.
For all other appointments, please contact your academic department.
HR Forms
To ensure your payroll can be processed, the following payroll forms must be completed and returned to payroll@acadiau.ca.
Network Account
Once your contract has been signed and returned, your network account will be set up and you will be notified. Follow the instructions in the email you receive notifying you of your account information. The HUB article Colleague Self Service - Overview (requires login) gives you information on how to access information about your courses and students.
If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact us at ltid@acadiau.ca.
Moodle
Moodle is Acadia's Learning Management System (LMS). Typically, you will receive access to your Moodle course shell at the beginning of your appointment. It is important that your network account has been set up. You will use the same username and password to access Moodle. If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact ltid@acadiau.ca. You can also find some helpful instructions at moodlehelp.acadiau.ca.
Academic Requirements
Academic responsibilities are outlined in Article 17 of the AUFA Collective Agreement .
Classrooms
Classroom assignments for Fall/Winter courses are assigned by the Registrar's Office. Please contact registrar@acadiau.ca if you require any assistance.
Classrooms for MEd courses will be confirmed via email as soon as they have been booked. Any inquiries related to classroom assignments should be submitted to Brenda Harris.
Expenses
Additional expenses related to teaching Fall/Winter on-campus courses should be discussed with your department.
Additional expenses related to teaching undergraduate Spring/Summer (intersession) courses should be directed to Christina McRae
Additional expenses related to teaching your MEd or Online Continuous Intake courses must be pre-approved. Please contact Christina McRae for further information.
If this is your first time teaching at Acadia University, you will be contacted by the Human Resources Department prior to your appointment date to arrange an on-campus orientation. This orientation will include the following visits:
- Human Resources for an overview of payroll and benefits.
- Safety and Security for key and ID pickup.
- Technology Services for network access.
- Learning Technologies & Instructional Design (LTID) for an orientation which includes:
- setting up Microsoft Office and your email
- a brief overview of some key administrative processes
- an introduction to our Learning Management System (Moodle)
Of course, you may contact us at any point to discuss your requirements and needs at oasupport@acadiau.ca.
Textbook Ordering (Bookstore)
Acadia University's bookstore services are provided by Follett Canada. Please follow these instructions for online adoption of textbooks. If you would like to consider a textbook rental or digital option for your course visit bkstr.com/acadiastore/myaccount/rentals for rentals and Acadia's Bookstore website for digital textbooks. Please contact Cathy Morine-Collins (0921txt@fheg.follett.com or 902.585.1483) for assistance with any of these options. Please order your textbooks as early as possible to ensure they are in stock prior to your course start date.
Classroom Time
Each 3 credit hour course consists of 36 instructional hours. These hours may be spread out during the available times as the instructor sees fit. If there is an option for more than 36 hours, the instructor may, for example, choose to meet with the class for fewer hours each day or insert a study day into the schedule. Students should be made aware of the schedule at the beginning of the course as part of the course outline.
Class Lists
- Log in to review your class lists at https://collss.acadiau.ca.
- You can also view your students in your Moodle courses under Participants.
- Class list Excel files can be generated from your Moodle courses by following these instructions.
- Class lists for Masters of Education courses will be emailed directly to instructors approximately 10 days prior to the class start date. MED inquiries should be directed to Christina McRae or Joy Cunningham.
Office Hours
For those teaching on-campus, office hour requirements are as described in the collective agreement:
Professors’ responsibilities extend beyond the classroom. Professors shall be available for consultation with students and to contribute to the administrative work of the Department and of the University for at least two hours per week for each three- (3) hour credit course to a maximum of six- (6) hours per week at stated times. At least one-half of these hours shall be offered in their office between 8:30 am and 6:30 pm Monday through Friday. The remainder of these hours may be offered live “online.”]
For those teaching online courses:
Assignments
Assignments are typically submitted and returned using Moodle's assignment dropbox. You should respond to student inquiries (by mail, email, or phone) and return assignments within 7 working days.
Communicating with Your Students
Although you may never meet your online students face-to-face, communication is still critical. Not only are students physically isolated from you, they are often isolated from other students. You will be notified by email when a new student registers. We recommend that you send an introductory email welcoming the student, introducing yourself, and providing any information that is relevant to, but not contained in, your course materials.
Evaluations
A course evaluation must be conducted for your course. The appropriate evaluation form will be provided to you by your department, or Open Acadia in the case of online open-entry courses. For on-campus paper evaluations, a student should be designated to distribute the form to the class, and to collect and deliver the completed evaluations to the department. You must leave the room while the evaluations are being completed. If you are using the online course evaluation process, instructions can be found here.
Examinations
Exam schedules and locations for Fall/Winter courses are released by the Registrar's Office. Exams for Intersession (Spring/Summer) are typically held on the last day of classes. Questions should be directed to registrar@acadiau.ca. Exams for online open-entry courses are coordinated by Open Acadia. Questions should be directed to openacadiaexams@acadiau.ca.
Grading and Submitting Marks
Scheduled Courses
Final Grades are due no later than 10 days after the last class. Grades should be entered at Colleague Self-serve as rounded numeric values (no decimals) and will be released to students as letter grades. The ‘marks input’ link is on the left side of the page.
Online Continuous Intake Courses
Log in to the Hub using your Acadia username and password. Select Request Service on the right, fill in the Student Number, Student's FIRST and LAST Name, Course Discipline and Number, and Final Numeric Grade fields, and then click on the Request button. You will receive an email confirmation.
Acadia's Grading Scale
Faculty members have full autonomy to create rubrics and scoring metrics or to conduct assessment/analysis as they see fit to arrive at a grade, including internal use of percentages, but the final grade to be submitted will only be in letter format.
Letter |
GPA |
Range |
Rating |
|
A+ |
4.33 |
94-100 |
|
|
A |
4.00 |
87-93 |
Excellent |
|
A- |
3.67 |
80-86 |
|
|
B+ |
3.33 |
77-79 |
|
|
B |
3.00 |
73-76 |
Good |
|
B- |
2.67 |
70-72 |
|
|
C+ |
2.33 |
67-69 |
|
|
C |
2.00 |
63-66 |
Average |
|
C- |
1.67 |
60-62 |
|
|
D+ |
1.33 |
57-59 |
|
|
D |
1.00 |
53-56 |
Pass |
|
D- |
0.67 |
50-52 |
|
|
F |
0.00 |
0-49 |
Failure |
|
W |
|
|
Withdrew |
Academic Calendar
Current and previous academic calendars are found on the Registrar's website.
Copyright
Information about copyright at Acadia can be found here. It is important that you adhere to these policies. Questions about copyright should be directed to Erin Patterson (erin.patterson@acadiau.ca or 902.585.1193). When designing or editing online open-entry courses, the Learning Technologies and Instructional Design (LTID) team will assist you.
Vaughan Memorial Library (VML)
VML hours can be found here. Information about the VML, its resources, and librarians can be found here.
Online students and faculty should refer to https://library.acadiau.ca/distance-education.html for relevant information.
Other Resources