Canvas Online Learning Management System (LMS). All Point courses have a Canvas shell. Canvas is an online Learning Management System (LMS).
Point’s Canvas course sites facilitate online presentations, the sharing of educational resources, communications with instructors and other students, course assignments, and assessments of student learning.
Students enter courses by logging into the Single Sign-On portal (http://my.point.edu), entering their Point username and password, clicking on the Canvas icon, and then clicking on the desired course.
Online Instructional Design. Point University has developed an online course design model based on “best practices.” Contemporary, tech-enhanced education has shifted away from a teacher-centered model focused on content delivery to a student-centered model focused on student learning. Point department chairs and professional instructional designers work closely with faculty subject matter experts (SMEs) to ensure every course meets Point standards and accomplishes program goals.
Online Course Andragogy. To deliver full “online courses,” Point has adopted a “flipped classroom” or “high tech, high touch” model. In this model, faculty members move away from the traditional role of the “the sage on the stage,” who spends class time delivering information through lectures (“chalk and talk”). Instead, most course-related information appears on the course website, where students can access it at will in the form of readings or audio-visual presentations (“high tech”). This frees online faculty to spend their time acting as educational “guides” and “facilitators” and “mentors” by engaging with students, discussing concepts, answering questions, offering timely feedback on assignments, and otherwise facilitating student learning (“high touch”). The goal is for instructors to offer (1) substantive interaction and feedback (2) to each and every student (3) each and every week. Thus, the Point model emphasizes “faculty presence,” which studies show is a key to educational effectiveness, student satisfaction, and student retention.
Point’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) provides mandatory training for all faculty in the “high tech, high touch” method of student engagement, course management, university mission and values, faith integration, and student privacy and other policies.
Course Weeks. All online courses are offered in either Point Online (fully-online) or Hybrid format (weekly live session supplemented by online learning activities). Most courses are 8 weeks in length, consisting of “Getting Started” Week plus Weeks 1-7 of additional learning activities. 5-week courses include 5 weeks of learning activities, with the "Getting Started" activities combined with week 1. Please note:
“Getting Started” Week—For 8-week courses, the first week of a session always begins with new student orientations on Monday and Tuesday followed by a half week of learning activities extending from Wednesday through Sunday. During this half week students must log onto their online course websites, introduce themselves to their instructor and fellow learners, review course syllabi, participate in course orientations, complete any initial assignments, and work ahead if they wish. Most instructors do not make major assignments due during this half-week to give students time to get oriented and plan their educational strategy. 5-week courses include 5 weeks of learning activities, with the "Getting Started" activities combined with week 1.
Online course sites open to students no later than Monday of “Getting Started” week when the half week of studies begins, or a few days ahead of 5-week courses.
Weeks 1-7 of the Session—The remaining seven course “weeks” always begin on Monday and end on Sunday. They include a variety of focused learning activities.
The first day of a course or session does not necessarily coincide with the first live videoconference of a Hybrid course. To illustrate: The first live class session may not take place until Thursday evening, but the course still starts on Wednesday. Accordingly, students should log into the course website and begin working early in the week because some course assignments may be due prior to Thursday.
Unless stated otherwise in the course syllabus, all weekly assignments are due by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Eastern Standard Time (EST).
Point highly recommends that online students begin logging into the course website and working on assignments early in the week, doing a little each day. Waiting until the end of the week to complete assignments can be overwhelming.
Online course sites close 45 days after the course ends, allowing time for students to review course materials and final grades as desired. If students want to keep any of their research papers or other learning products, they should retrieve them from the course site during this 45-day period because they will no longer be accessible afterwards.