Appendix 2

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

COMPLIANCE WITH SECTION 495

OF THE HIGHER EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY ACT (HEOA)

DISTANCE EDUCATION AND CORRESPONDENCE EDUCATION POLICY 

To ensure that the University is in compliance with HEOA with respect to distanced education and correspondence courses, the following measures are in place.

1. A student must first go through the admissions application process and be admitted to the University. That application approval status is entered into the PeopleSoft system (a educational software program used by University System of Maryland institutions). A unique 7- digit student ID number is generated for each enrolled student.
2. Access to any computer system or online function of the University Intranet requires a logon account on the UMES domain server. Students request an account online at www.umes.edu/newaccount. This online form requires them to supply their last name, birth date, and the 7-digit student ID number generated by the PeopleSoft system. The student must agree to all University acceptable use of computer policies. If acceptable, a logon username and initial password is generated. Student can change their password, but not their logon username.
3. When the logon account is created, PeopleSoft student roles are generated and the 7-digit student ID number is mapped to the username.
4. A student must enroll in courses via PeopleSoft which is available at the ‘My UMES’ portal located on the UMES website at www.umes.edu.
5. Students will be made eligible to enroll in courses once they have been advised by their faculty advisor.
6. As part of a scheduled program run, any updates to PeopleSoft’s enrollment data are extracted to files that are imported into Blackboard, the Universities authoring tool for distance education classes. This process would update any adds, drops, or changes from PeopleSoft into Blackboard, ensuring only currently enrolled students have access to the course in Blackboard.
7. A student does not have access to Blackboard until his/her first import takes place. If he/she drops the class in Peoplesoft, the account still exists in Blackboard, but the student would be denied access to the course.
8. Inside Blackboard individual passwords for tests can be set.
9. With Blackboard, the University has access to use 2500 Acxiom verifications per year and can purchase more access as demand requires.
10. Wimba Live Classroom gives us the capability to visually identify students.