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Mandatory Participation Verification Policy
Mandatory Participation Verification Policy
The below message is from the MSU Denver Office of the Registrar. Please note that while this message was first shared to faculty on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, our requirement -as an institution- to verify participation will not change. Thus, while the Office of Faculty Affairs will do our best to ensure similar messaging is updated each semester, know that this reporting is mandatory and will remain so only when/if changes are made to the U.S. Department of Education’s guidance and expectations.
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As a friendly reminder about the Mandatory Participation Verification Policy for Spring 2024. All faculty will be required to indicate if a student failed to begin participation in every course by the census date. The deadline for the Spring full-term courses only is February 1st, at noon. We report non-participation for ALL sessions, including Winterim, short term, Self-Paced Online, etc. The deadline for all other part-of-term courses is noon on that course’s census date. All faculty are required to report any students who have not participated by the census date of the course by noon. Here is a link to all parts of term dates, including the drop/census date: https://www.msudenver.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/POT-Dates-202430.pdf. If all students have participated, no submission is required.
The process to report a student as non-participating will be done through the Faculty Hub in Banner Self-Service. Attached you will find the detailed step-by-step instructions to complete this process. This process is mandatory for all courses.. When faculty report that the student has not participated, the student will be administratively dropped from the course by the Registrar’s office. The student will no longer appear on the roster and will not receive a grade in the course. Participation must be collected and reported accurately. When students are inaccurately reported or not reported, their tuition and fees, financial aid funding, etc., are significantly impacted. We received a significant amount of reports of non-participating students for Fall 2023 after deadlines which has created many issues for students. If you report a student as non-participating and they are dropped, only approve a reinstatement in the course if the student did NOT participate. The Mandatory Participation Verification Reinstatement form is ONLY for errors made by faculty. For more detailed information on this policy, please visit www.msudenver.edu/registrar/student/participation-policy.
Here is a quick checklist for all faculty:
- Include the course definition of “participation” in each of your syllabi.
- Track student participation
- Report students who did not “participate” in your course by census at noon.
Participation means a student engages in an “academically related activity” as defined in the course syllabus. Knowing that colleges, schools, and departments have unique approaches to tracking and evaluating attendance, any inclusion of language about non-participation in course syllabi should consider the guidelines of one’s home department and/or college/school. When faculty report that the student has not participated, the student will be administratively dropped from the course by the Registrar’s office. The student will no longer appear on the roster and will not receive a grade in the course. Here are some examples that were used for Fall 2023 for courses:
- Students must participate in this course at the start of the semester to ensure they are not dropped from the course. Participation is broadly defined. In this course, you indicate you are participating by signing into Canvas for the course and posting in the discussion or completing assignment No. 1. If you do not do either of these items, you will be dropped from the course.
- To meet Financial Aid rules, a student must actively participate in instructional activity for the course within the first two weeks of the semester. For the purpose of demonstrating participation, a student can attend a class either online of physically, take an exam, submit an academic assignment or interact with an instructor about academic matters.
- COMPLETE before the first class: The assignment in Module 1 is to be completed before the first class meeting. This will give the instructor and your classmates background on your interests in the course. (The instructions never say this is for mandatory participation, but it does that job.)
If you have any questions regarding defining or tracking participation for your course(s), please get in touch with your Department Chair. For other questions regarding the process, please get in touch with the Office of the Registrar at [email protected].
What is Academic Advising?
MSU Denver students have access to professional academic advisors, faculty advisors, and exploratory advisors. Professional advisors are often those who work within a college/school or department. Faculty advisors are those faculty members who advise students and do so as part of the expectations that come with being a faculty member in their home department.
In addition to these two groups of advisors, students often need the support of Exploratory Advising, a unit made up of staff members within Student Affairs who support students who are exploring a potential major and degree path and/or have not yet declared a major at MSU Denver.
What is Exploratory Advising?
Exploratory Advising is a unit housed within the Classroom-to-Career (C2Hub) at MSU Denver. Exploratory advisors are staff members who help students figure out which major or degree path is best for them. These advisors focus on assisting students who are still exploring and remain “undeclared” as consider what path they want to take as Roadrunners.
As a part of the larger advising ecosystem at MSU Denver, exploratory advisors work closely with professional academic advisors and faculty advisors to get students on the right path towards achieving their academic goals and support them in their progress towards completion of their educational objectives.
How do these different advisors support students?
While advising happens in different areas across the University, professional academic advisors, faculty advisors, and exploratory advisors collaborate to achieve a holistic advising experience for our students by:
- helping students decide on a major or concentration; when appropriate, we also help students decide on a minor that supports their learning and baccalaureate goals such as selecting a career or preparing for graduate studies
- guiding students through the process of transferring credits earned at a previous institution including how those credits fit with their degree plan and goals
- assisting students who are looking for referrals or connections to other offices but don’t know where to start
- collaborating with students on the selection of courses and helping them register for those courses
- working with students as they explore their career options or consider the value of continuing their studies as graduate students
Advising Systems
Advising Systems is a department housed within Undergraduate Studies and is part of Academic Affairs here at MSU Denver. Advising Systems manages, in collaboration with our colleges, schools, academic departments, and academic programs, multiple aspects of MSU Denver’s advising structure including helping to ensure consistency and communication across all of the academic advising teams.
For MSU Denver faculty who advise students, Advising Systems develops and implements advising strategy, training, and development as well as manages the Early Alert program, the academic standing policy, and the Navigate360 (formerly SSC Navigate) system.
The resources below have been created by the Advising Systems team to support faculty advisors meeting with students to provide support as they register for classes, investigate careers, and progress towards the achievement of their academic goals. However, if you find yourself in need of additional support when it comes to student advising, reach out to the Advising Systems team at [email protected].