​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​PROCEDURAL GUIDELINES

The Regina Catholic Schools Learning Online Contract
The following serves to outline the procedural guidelines used by the Regina Catholic Schools Learning Online program. Please read this document carefully before continuing in the registration process.

GENERAL INFOR​MATION

The system administrators of online courses are employees of Regina Catholic Separate School Division #81. RCSSD #81 reserves the right to monitor all activity in the online courses. On acceptance for registration within an online course, students will be given an account name and password. Although called a student "account", there are currently no charges to students of the Regina Roman Catholic School Division for courses. The purpose of this document is to establish and promote the Christian, ethical, legal, and secure use of online learning.

Due to the access students will have to the Internet, the students of online courses must adhere to strict guidelines. They are provided here so that students and the parents of students who are under 18 years of age are aware of the responsibilities they are about to assume. The School Division may modify these rules at any time by publishing the modified guidelines on the Division website. The agreement(s) at the end of this document is (are) legally binding and indicates the party (parties) who approve the agreement has (have) read the terms and conditions carefully and understood their significance.

COURSE PREREQUISITES

It is the responsibility of the student to verify the completion of the correct prerequisite for each online course requested.

INFORMATION CONTENT & USES OF THE ONLINE COURSE SYSTEM

  • Students agree not to publish on or over the Online Course System any information which violates or infringes upon the rights of any other person or any information which would be abusive, profane or sexually offensive to a reasonable person, or which, without the approval of the system administrators, contains any advertising or any solicitation of other members to use goods or services.
  • Students agree not to use the facilities and capabilities of the System to conduct any business, or solicit the performance of any activity which is prohibited by law.
  • The Division may find it necessary to access and disclose information from computer and network users' accounts to the extent required by law or to uphold legal, contractual obligations or other Division policies, and to diagnose and correct problems in network performance. Because of this, no user of the Division's computing resources or electronic communications systems should consider their messages or files private. In addition, because of the volatile nature of digital information, and the possibility of system failures and possible software or hardware problems, no user should consider that their messages or files are secure or preserved.
  • It is the belief of RRCSD #81 that access to valuable information and interaction on a global scale on the Internet far outweighs the possibility of encountering material that is inconsistent with the Division's mission and goals. Students (and the parent(s) of students under 18 years of age) specifically understand that the system administrators and the online course administrators do not have control of the content of information residing on these other systems. Students and the parents of students who are under 18 years of age are advised that some systems may contain defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, racially offensive, or illegal material. The system administrators do not condone the use of such materials and do not permit usage of such materials in the school environment. Parents of minors having accounts on the System should be aware of the existence of such materials and monitor home usage of the System. Students knowingly bringing such materials into the school environment will be dealt with according to the discipline policies of the individual school building, and such activities may result in termination of their registration within the online courses.

ONLINE CONDUCT

All students enrolled in online courses with Regina Catholic Schools are expected to adhere to the Technology Network Administrative Standards and the general parameters of Digital Citizenship:

  • Any action by a student that is determined by a system administrator to constitute an inappropriate use of technology or to restrict or inhibit other students from using and enjoying online learning is strictly prohibited and may result in termination of an offending student's ability to continue in the courses.
  • Students specifically agree not to submit, publish, or display any defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, racially offensive, or illegal material; nor shall students encourage the use of controlled substances. Students who observe or experience violations of Division's policies on computing and electronic communications should report those violations to the administrator of the online courses. Violations will be treated in the same manner as violations of other Division's policies. If violations appear to constitute a criminal offense, as defined by local, provincial, or federal statutes, the appropriate authorities may be notified.
  • Use of any copyrighted material, whether text, digital image, audio, or video, via the Division network (email or web publishing), is subject to all restrictions imposed by the copyright law. Individual users will be held accountable for violating copyright restrictions. Individuals who knowingly make, acquire, or use unauthorized software or equipment shall be subject to immediate disciplinary action.
  • Students are responsible for maintaining current virus protection on their systems, and for implementing virus checks of any downloaded files. Users who do not follow these procedures and/or who knowingly spread computer viruses may be subject to disciplinary action. Deliberate attempts to degrade or disrupt system or network performance will be viewed as criminal activity under applicable provincial and federal law.
  • Vandalism will result in cancellation of privileges. Vandalism is defined as any malicious attempt to harm or destroy data within the online courses.
  • Any user identified as a security risk or having a history of violations with any services provided by the Division network may be denied access to the online courses.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

  • Like all high school courses offered by Regina Catholic Schools, all Learning Online courses have a policy regarding plagiarism, academic misconduct and anything that compromises academic integrity. Academic integrity is a commitment to the fundamental values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.* Individuals who commit plagiarism or academic misconduct will be subject to the consequences outlined below. If you have any questions, be sure to consult your instructor.​ Here are various ways that undermine academic integrity:
    • Plagiarism - This may involve failure to cite another author's work, include insufficient in-text citations,  paraphrasing without sufficient acknowledgement, and direct word-for-word copying. Simply put, students present work done by someone else as if it is their own.
    • Collusion - Working in groups (online, in person, or electronically) or sharing information/work with other students (past or present) when not instructed to do so by your teacher.*
    • Recycling or Resubmitting Work - Involves submitting work that was already submitted to the class or another class. Re-submitting an assignment, even if it is your own, breaches academic integrity.
    • Exam Cheating - Bringing in outside resources, copying, using unapproved textbooks/websites or communicating (online, in person, or electronically) with someone during an exam is considered cheating. It is always best to clarify with your teacher about what you are allowed to bring in or how you can communicate.*
    • Contract Cheating - Getting someone else/a third party to complete your work or part of it, write your exam or pass someone else off as yourself. This also includes uploading answer keys or support documents to group chats or external websites/programs.*
    • AI and Chat GPT type websites- The use of artificial intelligence websites is not frowned upon when using them to gather ideas, help formulate thoughts or to help you get started. Like contract cheating, using AI or sites like ChatGPT compromises academic integrity when students copy and paste information and try to pass it off as their own.  This is not plagiarism because it is not coming from someone else, but at the same time it is not a student's original work. When the information is not used to further student learning and simply to copy and paste something, this is a breach in academic integrity. This applies to partial work being copied or an entire piece of work from AI. It is up to the teacher to decide on how they will proceed. Teachers are using a holistic grading approach when looking at similarities or at student's intentions who use AI. In the end, it is up to teacher's discretion in terms of consequences.

Consequences for these acts will be determined by the specific circumstances; however, a student can expect to receive a verbal or written warning, a partial or full deduction of marks which may include a zero grade for that piece of work, and the expectation that the assignment be redone. If this becomes a recurring issue, an immediate grade of zero can be granted. 

REALTIME/ INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATIONS AREAS

The administrators, at their sole discretion, reserve the right to immediately terminate the account of a student who misuses the real‐time conference features (talk/chat/internet relay chat).

SECURITY

Students may not let others use their account and password. Passwords to the system should not be easily guessed by others. Attempts to login to the system using another member's account or as a system administrator will result in termination of the account. Students should immediately notify a system administrator if their password is lost or stolen, or if they have reason to believe that someone has obtained unauthorized access to their account. The online course administrators reserve the right, at their sole discretion, to suspend or terminate student's access to and use of online courses upon any breach of the Terms and Conditions by a student. Prior to a suspension or termination, or as soon after as is practicable, the administrator will inform the student of the suspected breach and give the student and parents an opportunity to present an explanation.

EDUCATIONAL RECORDS

Educational records and applicable information will be shared with and accessed from previous and/or current schools.

STUDENT INFORMATION

Students should be aware that certain course activities including, but not limited to, forums, wikis, and databases are designed for collaboration and interaction.  When posting to these activities other students in the class will see their first and last names as well as the information they share.

ELIGIBILITY & TUITION

It is an expectation that all students registered with Learning Online to conduct themselves in their online course in a manner that is consistent with Regina Catholic School Division values.

Outlined below are the Learning Online's eligibility and tuition guidelines.

  • ​Regina Catholic Schools Students
    • RCSD students wishing to enroll in a Learning Online course can complete an online registration form. Before an enrollment is officially approved, base-school administrators must approve the registration. RCSD students are eligible to take Learning Online courses tuition free during the regular school year.
  • Out of Division Students
    • High School students who are not attending a Regina Catholic School, with the permission of their school division, can enroll for Learning Online courses.  There is a tuition cost of $500 per course for students out of division students.  To register, students can complete an online registration form found on our website.
  • Adult Learners
    • Adult Learners are eligible to take Learning Online classes to earn or upgrade high school credits.  Students who are 21 years of age or younger on September 30 of the current school year and are not enrolled in classes with another school division, are eligible to register as a Regina Catholic Schools student and take courses tuition free.  For students who are older than 21 on September 30 of the current school year, a tuition of $500 per course is charged.
  • Summer Program
    • Regina Catholic Schools students, out of division high school students, and adult learners are all eligible to take full courses for credit in the Learning Online Summer Program.  All students are subject to a $500 per class tuition fee for regular summer courses and $250 per summer recovery course.

Failure to pay tuition will not allow course enrollment and will result in marks not being submitted to the Ministry of Education.


*Definitions and Info adapted from TEQSA and La Trobe University
** Info adapted from Turnitin