Virtual Education and Innovative Learning (VEIL)
Virtual education is a modality in which the teaching and learning process takes place through the internet. Education is mediated by information and innovative communication technologies, known as ICTs. ICTs at PUPR include a diverse set of technological tools and resources used to transmit, store, create, share, and exchange information. These technological tools and resources include computers, the Internet (websites, blogs, and emails), live broadcasting technologies, and recorded broadcasting technologies (podcasting, audio and video players, and storage devices).
Overview
Virtual education is a substantial part of our Institution. The Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico and its Virtual Education and Innovative Learning Center (VEIL) embark on a continuous improvement process to provide faculty with learner-centered educational methodologies and state-of-the-art ICTs for instructional content design and classroom use in face-to-face, hybrid, or online modalities. These innovative technologies motivate students and make learning more accessible, attractive, and engaging. Our end objective is to increase student academic achievement.
VEIL is responsible for managing, designing, and developing projects for all academic institutional programs that use distance education as their teaching methodology at the Puerto Rico and Orlando campuses. In addition, the Center for Virtual Education and Innovative Learning provides support and training to faculty members who design, develop, and deliver technology-enhanced online, hybrid, web-based, and face-to-face courses and academic programs. Accordingly, VEIL seeks to empower and inspire faculty members to implement modern teaching and learning strategies, methodologies, and cutting-edge technologies to deliver engaging content to students on campus, regionally, and internationally. Furthermore, the Institution provides ongoing orientation, training, and technical support services for students taking online/hybrid courses, and technology-enriched on campus courses through its Virtual Education and Innovative Learning Center.
VEIL supports online academic programs through its human and technological resources. The Center comprises a team specializing in Blackboard Use and Management, Instructional Systems Design, Graphic Design, Multimedia Integration, and Instructional Technology. The Center is a course development production site where instructional design principles are used and aligned with Quality Matters™ Standards. Therefore, courses meet the standards of excellence in distance education programs. The Institution’s Learning Management System (LMS) is Blackboard Learn. Blackboard Learn is an integral part of the teaching process, enabling continuous access to instructional content. Thus, Blackboard facilitates learning experiences for our students and faculty, empowering them to engage in a more active, hands-on teaching-learning process. This LMS allows faculty to create environments aligned with Learner-Centered Education strategies for online, hybrid, and on-campus courses. Also, the VEIL Center provides training to faculty members on using other technological tools to design and develop modern, innovative learning experiences with engaging content and hands-on practices that students must adhere to in their respective fields. Blackboard Learn also allows the Institution to create educational communities whose primary objective is to share knowledge by leveraging the technological tools the Center has acquired. Some of the LMS’s tools are interaction mechanisms such as discussion forums, blogs, and wikis. Finally, the LMS enables the creation of exams, question banks, and tasks that support students’ skill and knowledge development.
VEIL provides support services to students, including instructional videos on using Blackboard to complete an online/hybrid course. Additional technical support is provided to students on academic integrity tools and other technical aspects of successfully participating in online/hybrid courses available through Blackboard. The Institution continually improves software and hardware to support greater access and uptime, including portal and server reliability.
Academic Integrity in Distance Education
The Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico seeks to foster a spirit of honesty and integrity. Any work submitted by a student must represent an original work produced by that student. Consequently, to maintain academic integrity in distance learning courses, the University has developed a Policy and Procedure to Support the Academic Integrity of Online Courses. The Policy and Procedures seek to verify and ascertain the identity of a student enrolled in an online/hybrid course and to monitor the performance of students who take remote exams, as required by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008.
Distance Learning Students
Every student who wants to register for online courses is required to have basic knowledge of programs such as word processors, presentation software, and e-mail management. Also, the student must have the skills to search for information on webpages using a navigator or browser.
It is also the student’s responsibility to verify the minimum system requirements to access course information residing in Blackboard, read the Policy to Support the Academic Integrity of Online Courses, and install the tools needed to verify and ascertain the identity of the student enrolled in the online/hybrid course (RespondusTM Lockdown Browser, among others).
State Authorization for Online Programs and Courses
The State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) is an agreement among member states, districts, and territories that establishes comparable national standards for interstate offering of postsecondary distance education courses and programs. It is intended to make it easier for students to take online courses offered by postsecondary institutions based in another state. PUPR has been approved by the Board of Postsecondary Institutions of Puerto Rico JIPs (in Spanish) to participate in the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements.
Complaint Process
The goal of PUPR is to provide students with an expeditious, fair, equitable, and consistent procedure for resolving their academic grievances. The purpose of an academic grievance is to give students a fair review and an opportunity to be heard. Students are expected to follow the procedures established by the college or academic department in which they are pursuing a course of study; however, academic grievances regarding a course grade must be filed with the college or academic department offering the course.
Students residing in other states, while enrolled in a course offered by PUPR, are encouraged to use the internal complaint process or the Virtual Education Student Service Platform (https://studentservice.pupr.edu/) to review policies and procedures, which are typically initiated within the academic department, before filing a complaint with their state agency or agencies. See the institution’s Home State SARA Portal Entity listed at https://www.nc-sara.org/state-portal-entity-contacts.
