Greenville Technical College has established instructional procedures and guidelines based on the SACSCOC policy statement, "Distance and Correspondence Education Courses," and standards set forth by the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (NC-SARA).

Greenville Technical College has defined face-to-face, blended, and online courses and programs, which are standard terms related to virtual instruction and delivery formats. Common definitions of these terms across the college will help with communication during course development, planning, scheduling, and registration. Using these terms consistently with students will help them understand what type they are registering for and what the instructor's expectations are likely to be.

Face-to-face: Face-to-face courses are traditional courses with regularly scheduled on-campus or approved off-site class meetings with no more than 24% online instruction time. All instructors teaching face-to-face courses use the Blackboard (Bb) learning management system to communicate course information such as course syllabus, plan of instruction, course policies, instructor information, assignment due dates, and student grades. However, instructors may use other learning tools, including online discussions, quizzes, or assignments.

Blended: Blended courses include a minimum of 25% face-to-face instruction on campus or at an approved off-site location, with the remaining course instruction time occurring online.  The schedule and structure (including online assignments, discussion forums, labs, etc.) can vary significantly from one blended course to another. All on-campus requirements and meeting times must be listed in the scheduling system before registration and must also be listed in the course syllabus/plan of study. Students may incur additional expenses such as equipment (i.e., microphone or webcam) and/or test proctoring.

Online: In an online course, instructors conduct all instruction, assignments, projects, research, and assessments using digital tools and the Blackboard learning management system with no in-person requirements. All fully online courses are required to have at least one assessment (test, presentation, etc.) during the term in order to verify that the student earning credit is the student completing the work required in that course. Refer to the Online Testing Policy for more details.

• Synchronous Online Courses: Online courses have established virtual class meeting times listed in the scheduling system before student registration to assist students with class attendance. Faculty are required to record and make available to students any scheduled synchronous meetings. Students may incur additional expenses such as equipment (i.e., microphone or webcam) and/or test proctoring.

• Asynchronous Online Courses: Online courses do not have established class meeting/session times. Whether or not an online course is synchronous or asynchronous, online courses must have at least one gradable assignment per week to establish student attendance.

• Online Programs: Programs approved to be delivered as fully online must meet all college, SACSCOC, and NC-SARA requirements. Students registered for approved online programs must be able to complete all program requirements in an entirely virtual format. Any course required for an approved online program must be offered online (synchronous or asynchronous) consistently and predictably, allowing students to complete program requirements.

Online Testing Policy

Greenville Technical College is committed to student learning and the academic integrity of all courses. Online courses must have at least one proctored learning activity that constitutes at least 10 percent of the course grade, including tests, midterms, final exams, presentations, or other assignments. A proctored learning experience occurs when a GTC-authorized agent verifies the student's identity and monitors the learning activity. The course instructor determines the proctored learning activity.

Students are expected to take remotely proctored assessments in an appropriate environment, will be required to show an official photo ID, and will be subject to video recording. Students may request an alternative proctoring arrangement but must do so by submitting the testing center approval form seven days before the assessment; exceptions to this policy may be allowed at the discretion of the faculty due to extenuating circumstances. See Proctored Testing and Virtual Proctoring Options for Online Courses for more details.

Alternative forms of proctoring may include:

1. Testing at GTC's Testing Center. (Free of charge to students enrolled at GTC).
2. Use of Zoom or another web conferencing tool. (Free of charge to students enrolled at GTC).
3. Testing at an approved testing center. Students may incur a fee depending on the approved center.

Note: The highlighted section will appear only in the faculty manual. It will NOT appear in the student version to prevent so many students from making this request and adding additional work for faculty.

Once the faculty member approves a student’s request to take a proctored exam at the GTC Testing Center, the “Testing Center Approval” form will notify the Testing Center staff of this approval before the student’s attempt.

Instructors must provide reasonable accommodations for virtual assessment, including a minimum scheduling window of three days. Exceptions to the Online Testing Policy will be made on an individual basis as a result of a decision involving the department head, instructor, student, and/or the Divisional School Dean.

Faculty Training