Day 3: Dealing with Late Registrations

Late registration in online courses can be extra challenging for both online students and their teacher. So how can we reduce the challenges? Today’s tips will be most useful for adjunct faculty; however full time faculty may find these tips helpful also.

Know the Deadlines

First, know when your university deadlines are and what the ramifications are for each deadline. At Andrews University, we have these registration dates:

  • Late Registration. A late registration fee goes into effect on the second day of the term (Fall/Spring). Students can still register but must pay the fee.
  • Drop/Add: The 10th calendar day of the term (Fall/Spring) is the last day to drop or add a course. This is the last day registration can occur. Students may withdraw up to this day without an entry on their permanent academic record.
  • Credit to Audit: The 9th calendar day prior to the last day of classes is the last day to change from credit to audit or withdraw from a course with a “W” on the permanent record.

So how do you look up the dates for these? Navigate to the Andrews University Course Schedule, and click Show Detail (as shown). Make a note of these dates to assist you in communicating with students.

Keep an Eye on Late Registrations

Watch for late registrations, so that you can send them welcome information as soon as possible. You could check once or twice a day. Here’s how for Andrews University:

  • Login to the Vault
  • Choose iVue
  • Choose View Class Rosters and look up your course.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

As soon as a late registration comes in, send them your welcome email and week 1 email (if they are two different emails). I like to keep all my emails related to a course in one folder so I can easily and quickly reuse them.
Other information you may wish you communicate to late registrants includes:

  • A reminder of looming deadlines
  • If any course deadlines are past, how are you handling that? Do they get a 0? Do they have another deadline?
  • If you are giving grace for the student to catch up with the rest of the class, when does the grace run out?

It’s a good idea to keep an eye on their logins as well to ensure they are functioning in the class within a day or two of registration.

Your Turn

Reflect. How do you handle late registrations in your face-to-face classes? What other tips do you have?

This post is Day 3 of the 20 Day Challenge to Teaching Interactive Online Courses.

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