First Day Memo

• For fully online courses, faculty are advised to clearly explain via their course syllabi what constitutes “attendance” for their courses. Doing so will help manage student expectations and ensure appropriate application of course policies as it relates to “no-shows” and “absences” – especially in a remote learning environment.
• Every student needs to be enrolled and their fees paid upon registration.
• If a student is not enrolled in a course, but is provided with a permission number, please inform them to follow all appropriate enrollment steps and timelines, including payment, to avoid being dropped.

• Provide students with permission numbers to use in eServices or a signed Add/Drop from the Admissions Website.
• Direct students to use permission numbers in their eService accounts (see link for instructions). For assistance, students may visit the Admissions & Financial Aid Lab in the Welcome & Support Center. Signed Add/Drop forms after the permission number allowance window must be submitted via PDF to admissions@arc.losrios.edu.
• Add waitlisted students, in order, with a permission number before giving any other student a permission number. Note: Please see "IP" Designations below for this special exception).

Students dropped in error should be provided with a permission number or a signed Add/Drop form (found on the Admissions Website) to allow re-enrollment. If the erroneous drop takes place beyond the add with a permission number deadline, then please reach out to the Admissions Office at admissions@arc.losrios.edu. There is re-admission form that can be sent back to the course professor. Students may also contact the Admissions & Financial Aid Lab located in the Welcome & Support Center for enrollment assistance or contact the Admissions Office via email at admissions@arc.losrios.edu.

• Rosters are only accessible to the faculty assigned to teach the class.
• Faculty must use the Online Grade Reporting System to report all grades.

• Faculty are advised to access all class rosters using the Online Grade Reporting System, and to have class rosters, waitlists, and permission numbers on-hand prior to the first day of class.
• Please review rosters frequently to confirm accuracy of student adds/drops – especially during the first week of class! Remember that students who are not on the class roster will also not have access to the course Canvas until they are officially enrolled or manually added by the instructor as waitlisted students. Once the student uses their permission number and becomes officially enrolled in the class, they will automatically show up in Canvas as “student” (for help adding a user to Canvas, please review the Canvas Instructor Guide).
• Recently, measures have been taken to separate false student enrollments from inauthentic student applications. Maintaining accurate rosters will help mitigate incidents of fraudulent enrollment and fraudulent financial aid.
• You may drop a student who has not attended the first class meeting of an on-ground class or has not confirmed participation during the first week of an online class. This will permit waitlisted students to add. Please note: for online courses, it is recommended that you convey to students how you will determine attendance and participation, per your stated syllabus policy. For help developing asynchronous online course syllabus policies, the Instructional Technology Center offers online teaching resources and instructional technology virtual help. Please visit their site for more information.

For classes with at least one in-person meeting, please follow district policies for checking cleared and uncleared status in the Online Grading System. Students in uncleared status should resolve this indicator prior to attending the in-person class meeting(s). Please encourage students to resolve this situation so they can continue in the course or seek an alternative fully-online course.

It is advisable that faculty promptly inform students about any course prerequisites in order to allow them time to enroll in alternate courses as appropriate. It’s highly recommended that students be given until the second class meeting to provide prerequisite verification to the instructor of record. Students can access their unofficial transcripts in their eServices student portal to demonstrate former courses taken within the Los Rios College District. Otherwise, students need to obtain transcripts from formal external colleges.

• Some or all of the class hours for courses may be offered using the "To Be Arranged" (TBA) course scheduling option. Please refer to the class schedule listing for sections of courses for specific TBA weekly or daily class hour requirements that may apply.
• If your class is listed as TBA, please ensure that you or your designee maintains course attendance records.
• If you have questions, please contact your area dean.

• There are very few classes eligible for posting IP grades – those which extend beyond the end of a normal semester (or academic term). Please refer to the college catalog for a description of the conditions involving designation of “IP” grades and subsequent course completions.
• In cases when IP notations were merited, ensure students in “IP” status are provided with permission numbers prior to waitlisted students as completion of coursework is necessary to finalize such notations, and the process is time sensitive.
• Students should present evidence of the “IP” grade (via unofficial transcript) and work with course professor to resolve the IP grade that has occurred within the past semester.

• Students previously awarded an “I” (incomplete) designation from a previous semester are not eligible to re-enroll in the class! Please refer to the ARC catalog and/or your area dean regarding how students proceed with finalizing these time-sensitive notations.