Student Manual
Getting Started
You can access your course through your myAU portal. Most students bookmark their login pages so they can enter them more directly. However, if you are accessing from a different station, it is probably easiest to go through myAU.
Begin by reviewing the following information. Read it carefully, particularly if this is your first Athabasca University course in some time. Even if you are an Athabasca University veteran, remember that policies and procedures do change from time to time and that you are responsible for keeping yourself up to date.
Next review the Moodle Training site. It will show you how to get started and what to do if you encounter problems. Follow the directions for logging in and creating your profile, then start on your course work by opening Unit 1 and following the instructions. Remember, whatever you put in your profile can be seen by your tutor, site administrators, and other students. Your name and email address will be blocked from the view of other students, but if you put them in the text of a forum or in a message to other students, they will be known to those students.
Athabasca University Calendar
The Athabasca University Calendar cover
Because Athabasca University’s policies, practices, and procedures change over time, you are advised to refer to the online Athabasca University Calendar. In the event of any discrepancy between any other sources of information (including the printed version of the calendar) and the official online calendar, the online version will be binding.
Three policies in particular govern the conduct of students of Athabasca University:
- the Student Academic Misconduct Policy,
- the Non-Academic Misconduct Policy, and
- the Student Appeals Policy.
You are responsible for reading these policies carefully; they affect your studies and your role as an Athabasca University student. Links to these policies are also provided though your myAU portal; go to the myAU portal, click on Student Services and look in the "Policies & Standards" section at the bottom right-hand side of the page. We encourage you to read all of the policies on this list.
Freedom of Information
and Protection of Privacy
The personal information and records collected and maintained by the University as a result of a student’s registration in this course, such as completed assignments and examinations, electronic communications, and correspondence, are subject to University policies and the privacy and access provisions of Alberta’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
MyAU Portal
MyAU is a personalized portal to the University where you can quickly access information that is relevant to you.
MyAU is a personalized portal to the University where you can quickly access information that is relevant to you. Through myAU, you can access the online components of your courses; view personal student information, such as library accounts, assignment marks, and course grades; and access forms to book examinations, apply for extensions, request transcripts, register for courses, and so on. Athabasca University will also communicate directly with you through myAU. Check the Message Centre on your myAU home page for both general information and for mail addressed specifically to you.
Go to the myAU login page and enter your student ID number and password where requested. If you have browser difficulties or need help, refer to myAU Help.
Academic Integrity
Students registered in Athabasca University courses are considered to be responsible scholars and are therefore expected to conform to the highest standards of academic integrity in all written assignments, including examinations.
Presenting another’s work (even a few words) as one’s own is intellectual dishonesty and may result in rejection of the submitted work, expulsion from the course or the program, or legal action, depending on the circumstances. You must fully document the sources of any quotations, information, or ideas that you use. All direct and indirect quotes, paraphrased passages, ideas, images, and tabular and statistical information that you use from other sources, including electronic sources, must be documented using an acceptable source citation style. This includes identifying, within the text of your work, anything that is not your original work. Full bibliographic information on each source cited, including the author’s name, the title of the work, the place of publication, the publisher, and the year of publication, must be given in footnote or endnote style, or in a reference list or list of works cited at the end of your essay or assignment. Citations of online materials must include the source URL.
Further, all assignments submitted for this course must be original work written for this course. The submission of assignments or parts of assignments completed for other courses is considered academic misconduct and will be subject to discipline. You may quote from your own earlier work, but any such passages must be identified and fully documented as would material from any other source.
More information on this important matter can be found in the online Athabasca University Calendar under “Student Academic Misconduct Policy.”
Course Contract
Most Athabasca University courses are delivered online as individualized-study courses meaning that you have the flexibility to determine your own timelines for completing the course—up to a maximum of six months to complete zero-, one-, three-, or four-credit courses and 12 months to complete six-credit courses. If you are unable to complete your course within the suggested study schedule, you may apply for and purchase up to three, two-month extensions. Please read the following section on Applying for Extensions, as there are important timelines. Note: Extensions are not available for all courses.
If you prefer the structure of learning in a classroom or online with other students, Athabasca University also offers grouped-study courses across Canada. Course extensions apply to individualized-study courses only. You may not extend a grouped-study course, which has a scheduled start and end date similar to semesters at a traditional university.
Applying for Extensions
If you are unable to complete your course within the course contract period, you may apply for and purchase up to three, two-month extensions. Note that an extension request form must be received by the Office of the Registrar a minimum of one month before your course contract end date. Requests for second and third extensions must be received by the Office of the Registrar a minimum of one month before the expiry of the previous extension. Extension request forms are available through myAU. Consult the online Athabasca University Calendar for more information on obtaining extensions.
Note: Students who are receiving educational funding may be required to complete their studies within a shortened time limit. If you are receiving funding from any source, please check the details of your obligations and adjust your personal study schedule accordingly.
Online Materials
The Course Website
Athabasca University undergraduate courses in the arts and sciences are delivered through Moodle, a learning management system that supports the course, gives you access to the materials and resources needed to complete it, and allows you to submit assignments and communicate with your tutor and, in some courses, with other students. The features used, and the way they are used, vary from course to course depending on the course author’s preferences and on pedagogical and subject matter considerations; however, once you become familiar with Moodle, you will find it easy and intuitive to migrate from course to course. If you are new to Athabasca University online courses, or if you come across a feature you are unfamiliar with, the Moodle Training site will provide most of the answers you need.
Digital Reading Room
The Digital Reading Room (DRR) is an electronic version of a library reserve system, or a virtual reading room. It is included in most, but not all, courses and may contain most of the required readings for the course. Additional required readings may be located within the online course materials. The DRR may also link to websites that are required in the course or are otherwise useful to learners.
Forms
Examination Request Forms, forms to request extensions, and other forms that you will need are available online through your myAU portal.
Offline Materials
Many online courses include an offline package of print materials, such as textbooks, reading files, or study guides, and some include DVDs, CDs, or other information storage devices. These packages are normally sent by postal mail to arrive before your contract start date. Please check the Offline Materials list on your course website to determine whether an offline package is included in the course and, if so, what it contains. If a package is listed and you have not received it by your course start date, or if it arrives incomplete, contact Course Materials at Athabasca University as soon as possible. If you live in Canada or the United States, you can use email to contact Course Materials cmat@athabascau.ca, or call 1-800-788-9041, choose option 3 from the menu, and enter extension 6366 when prompted. Students who live outside of Canada or the United States can contact Course Materials by email.
Note: These course materials have been designed for students who are taking the individualized-study version of this course. Students who are in a grouped-study environment should follow the course outline, study schedule, and learning activities provided by their instructor.
Course Tutor
Course tutors help personalize your distance education experience with Athabasca University. Photo: Marilyn Dumont, English 381 tutor, 2008
An important person in an Athabasca University course is the course tutor. The name, telephone number, and email address for your tutor for this course are provided in the tutor letter.
If you have chosen to have your Athabasca University letters printed and mailed to you, you will receive your tutor letter through Canada Post. If you have chosen the AU e-letter delivery method for your letters, you will need to access this letter online from your myAU student portal. E-letters do not arrive via email. It is your responsibility to check your e-letters on a regular basis. Read through the e-letter information provided on your myAU portal to be certain that you understand how to access your tutor letter.
Regardless of the method you have chosen to receive the tutor letter, if you do not receive your tutor letter before your contract start date, be sure to contact Learning Services—Tutorial by phoning 1-800-788-9041 (ext. 6196) or 1-780-675-6196 as soon as possible. You may also contact Learning Services—Tutorial by sending an email message to tutserv@athabascau.ca.
Your tutor has excellent academic qualifications and is skilled at and committed to helping you learn at a distance. In addition to being available to answer your questions about course content or how to approach assignments, your tutor can direct you to the correct person or department to help you with other problems that may be hindering your progress in your course or program. In addition, your tutor will be responsible for marking your assignments.
You are advised to contact your tutor soon after your start date, then get into the habit of emailing or phoning at regular intervals, such as when you finish a unit. Contact your tutor whenever you run into any special problem. Students who keep in regular contact with their tutors are more likely to be successful in their courses than those who do not, so do keep in touch. Most online students prefer to communicate with their tutors by email, but some tutors prefer telephone contact with their students. Your tutor will inform you of any preferences.
Submit assignments to your tutor through the “Assignment Drop Box” in Moodle. Your tutor has seven to eight business days to respond from the date your assignment was uploaded to the course website or sent by email, so don’t expect to hear back right away. In some courses, because of the nature of the assignments, you may have to mail them to your tutor. In such cases, allow extra time before expecting your mark. Your tutor will provide additional feedback if you wish; be sure to mention any questions you have about the assignment or the mark.
Electronic Letters
Most print letters issued by Athabasca University are distributed using the e-letter format. You can still request print letters, but you will be charged a one-time $10 service fee.
Course Coordinator
The course coordinator (or professor) is usually the senior academic staff member in charge of the course. The coordinator works directly with tutors on both academic and administrative matters. If you have difficulties that cannot be resolved with your tutor’s help, you may wish to contact the coordinator directly. The coordinator is also the person to contact regarding credit records. In addition, the coordinator can provide general information about program planning and curriculum development.
Services to Students
Athabasca University offers a wide range of services to its students. The Athabasca University Information Centre, at 1-800-788-9041, will help you to find the answer to most course-related questions. The Centre is staffed Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Students can leave voice-mail messages outside these hours, or send email inquiries through the immediate response AskAU website. You may also find your questions answered in the Student Handbook (http://www2.athabascau.ca/handbook/index.php), which is another helpful source for students and a guide to online resources at Athabasca University.
Advisors are available to help students plan their programs and select appropriate courses. You can reach an advisor in several ways: by phoning 1-800-788-9041 and asking to speak with an advisor; by visiting Athabasca University’s Central Office in Athabasca or Athabasca University, Edmonton or Athabasca University, Calgary; or by completing the online Information Request.
At Athabasca University in Athabasca, Edmonton, or Calgary, students can write examinations, order materials from the Library, and take care of various administrative matters, such as course registration and arrangements for extensions. In addition, information on student awards and financial aid can be obtained from all three locations. If you need assistance in any of these areas, feel free to call a student advisor. Consult the current edition of the Athabasca University Calendar for more information on services to students or direct your query to the AskAU website.
Athabasca University has numerous study-related resources for its students, many created by AU staff, some collected by AU staff from other sources. Counselling Services brings these resources together, so that AU students in all disciplines can benefit from them. See the Counselling Services pages on the AU website.
If you are a student of Indigenous ancestry (Aboriginal, First Nations, Indian, Inuit, Native, Métis) or a non-Indigenous student who is interested in identifying culturally appropriate services designed for Aboriginal students or counselling that is sensitive to the challenges Aboriginal students face, please contact the Centre for World Indigenous Knowledge and Research, by telephone at 1-800-788-9041, extension 2064, or by electronic mail at indigenous@athabascau.ca.
Write Site
The Athabasca University Write Site is designed to assist students with formal, essay writing assignments. You can submit an assignment to the Write Site to receive feedback about the writing component—organization, mechanics, grammar, and style—of an essay assignment before you submit it to your tutor for marking.
Procedures for Applying for
and Writing Examinations
Before you write any examination, you should have submitted all pertinent course assignments and received feedback from your tutor. Although you do not require permission to apply for an examination, you are advised to consult your tutor about your readiness to write it and about examination-writing strategies. Your tutor can also provide information about the examination format and about study strategies. To request either a mid-term examination or a final examination, follow the steps in Request Deadlines (below).
When to Write
Because tutor support is discontinued on the course contract end date, all of your course work, including assignments, quizzes, and examinations (except supplemental examinations) must be completed by your course contract end date.
If your examination request is submitted and received by Athabasca University before or on your course contract end date but not within the Request Deadlines dates (described below), your request will be considered a Late Examination Request, and you will be charged the Late Exam Fee. Your exam will then have to be completed no later than 30 calendar days after your course contract end date. This is not an extension; tutor support will not continue and all other coursework must be submitted before your course contract end date.
Request Deadlines
If you are requesting to write an examination at an Athabasca University location (i.e., AU Athabasca, AU Edmonton, or AU Calgary), you must request your examination 10 calendar days before your requested write date.
If you live within Canada or the United States and are requesting an examination to be written at an established AU Approved Invigilation Centre, you must request your examination 20 calendar days before your requested write date.
If you live outside Canada and the United States and are requesting an examination to be written at an established AU Approved Invigilation Centre, your request must be received 30 calendar days before your requested write date.
If you are requesting to write your examination using an invigilator who is not established as an AU Approved Invigilator, your request must be received 60 calendar days before your requested write date.
- Review the “Examinations and Grades” section of the Athabasca University Calendar.
- Arrange for a time to write your examination with one of Athabasca University’s Examination Centres or with an invigilator.
- Complete and submit the online Examination Request Form.
Note: To minimize the time required to process your application, be sure that you provide all of the information requested on the form.
- Confirm that your invigilator has received the examination package before you arrive to write your examination. Take picture identification, either government-issued ID or AU photo ID, and your student number with you when you go to the examination site.
Your final grade will be sent to you about four to six weeks after all course requirements have been completed.
Supplemental Examinations
If you are not satisfied with your initial examination mark (supplemental examinations do not apply to assignments, quizzes, or challenge courses) you may request and write one supplemental examination for each midterm or final exam required in your course. The higher of the two marks will be used in calculating your final course grade. A supplemental exam my be requested only once. If you fail to write it, you may not request the exam again.
In order to request a supplemental examination, you must complete and submit the Examination Request Form to the Office of the Registrar so that the form will arrive no later than 90 calendar days after the date of writing the initial examination. The supplemental exam must be written no earlier than 20 days and no later than 30 days after submitting the Examination Request Form. Please review the regulations in Supplemental Examinations in the online Calendar.
Appeals
Appeals to examination or assignment marks should be initially discussed with your tutor or instructor. For the correct procedure, review the Student Appeals Policy in the Athabasca University Calendar.
Library Services
Athabasca University Library has a wealth of information available on its website, and a substantial collection of online, print, and media resources. Library resources are available to Athabasca University students, faculty, and staff for reference and research purposes in support of Athabasca University courses and programs. The Library’s online collections are available to be searched remotely.
Requests for library materials or services can be made, by email, phone, fax, or mail, 24 hours a day (contact information is provided below). Responses to most requests are handled within 24 hours, or by the next business day. Borrowed materials are normally mailed to the student’s home address, along with a return-mail card.
Borrowed materials are normally mailed to the student’s home address, along with a return-mail card.
Core Services to Students
Students who are registered in AU courses may
- borrow library materials and search the Library’s online catalogue (AUCAT)
- access resources through the Library’s website, including full-text journal databases,
e-books, and streaming audio and video materials - receive library instruction and research assistance from Library staff
- request interlibrary loan services for journal articles and book chapters
Supplementary Materials
University courses often require that students investigate material beyond the content of the course materials package. Some Athabasca University study guides list “Supplementary Materials,” including books, journal articles, or media materials, which students may find useful when completing assignments and course projects. The supplementary materials referenced in your course materials package are usually available from the Athabasca University Library or your local library. Contact the Athabasca University Library to request these materials.
Library Information Portal
Through the Library’s Information Portal, members of the AU community—including students, faculty, and staff—have access to a considerable number of online resources. These resources include a significant number of online journal databases, many full-text journals, a growing number of electronic books (e-books), online media resources, and selected websites.
The Digital Reference Centre provides access to online dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, etc., which can be used to find background information for assignments and general information. The Help Centre provides access to tutorials related to the research process, referencing sources, using the Internet, and writing.
The Digital Reading Room (DRR) provides access to course-specific required resources.
The Library website also provides access to selected library catalogues from Canadian public and academic libraries.
Interlibrary Requests
Athabasca University Library will attempt to obtain photocopies of journal articles and book chapters if you provide the Library staff with a complete bibliographic citation (author, title of article, name of journal, volume and issue number, year of publication, and page numbers) for the requested item. You are not required to return these items to us. Allow sufficient time for the material to be ordered and received. More information on this service is available on the Interlibrary Loans page.
Contacts
Athabasca University Library
1 University Drive
Athabasca, AB Canada T9S 3A3
Library website: http://library.athabascau.ca
Email: library@athabascau.ca
Phone:1-800-788-9041 (ext. 6254) Canada/US
(780) 675-6254 Other
(403) 263-6465 (ext. 6254) in Calgary
(780) 421-8700 (ext. 6254) in Edmonton
Fax: (780) 675-6477
Transcripts
You can request an official transcript by completing and submitting an online Transcript Request Form, available through your myAU portal. Paper request forms may also be used; complete and deliver these to the Office of the Registrar by mail or in person. Only the student whose transcript is being issued may make the request. No partial transcripts will be issued; the student’s entire record will be shown.
Most institutions and agencies require that official transcripts be sent directly from Athabasca University. There is no charge to request a transcript from Athabasca University. Consult the current edition of the Athabasca University Calendar for further information.
Credit Transferability
If you wish to transfer credit to another institution, contact the Office of the Registrar at Athabasca University. Remember, though, that transfer of credit is determined by the receiving institution. If you plan to transfer credits for this course to another institution, we suggest you get an agreement, in writing, from that institution. This agreement is typically called a Letter of Permission.