We believe that learning online occurs around the world everyday. Navigating an online platform while working and communicating with an online instructor are life skills that benefit every student. In addition to expanding their knowledge about the course subject matter, students also grow in the areas of independent learning, self-advocacy, and time management. They learn to navigate and manage online systems and communication, and most importantly to develop digital citizenship skills in a supportive environment.
This course is delivered entirely online, including weekly live classes. Assignments, announcements, communications, discussions, grades, and resources are accessible in the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS).
Every effort is made to schedule the 30-minute weekly class when most students can attend and the teacher is available, but this is typically not coordinated with a traditional campus schedule. Live classes may be scheduled after school in the afternoon or evening to meet a variety of student and faculty schedules. However, all live classes are recorded in case students cannot attend live, and teachers provide engagement for those attending live and watching the recording. We strongly encourage that students make every effort to attend live and connect with their teacher early about live class availability.
Live classes provide students an opportunity to gain deeper understanding of course content and to connect with their teacher and one another. When students are unable to attend a live class, they should communicate with their teacher in advance, before the weekly class occurs. Students may watch the recording and complete associated tasks in order to receive participation credit. Failure to receive teacher approval may result in a student receiving 0 participation credit for that week.
OC Online wants our courses to be meaningful and students to learn. To that end, it is necessary to outline expectations for student engagement that support student learning and create a meaningful student academic experience.
Each standard semester long course is designed to be completed in approximately 90 hours (average of 5-6 hours per week), by the end of posted term dates. Accelerated terms, including summer, require proportionally more hours of work per week.
Student engagement is measured in a variety of ways:
Participation makes up 10% of the course grade in most classes, with some exceptions due to the course material and the best interest of the student.
Students are expected to engage with classmates. What does this look like? It means the student is logging into the online course multiple times (4+) per week, revisiting discussion posts and contributing to an ongoing scholarly discussion, using peer names when addressing points in posts and in live classes, restating others’ ideas in summation to assure correctly understanding others’ points during the live class or in posts, consciously establishing the relationship between the student’s contribution and the peer’s (e.g., “I disagree with your claim that Dimmesdale is a fraudulent character; I would argue instead that he is merely human . . .”—in other words, students are expected to challenge, build upon, relate to other students ideas in discussion posts and live classes), engaging in dialogue with peers during the live class when instructional format permits.
Students are expected to engage with course content. What does this look like? It means the student is sending questions to the instructor about answers missed on quizzes or tests, following up on poor test performance, seeking options to revise or to resubmit work for greater mastery, taking advantage of any non-graded “Check Yourself” components of the course, attending live classes, participating during live classes by being prepared (having completed pace work or required work prior to the class), having course material on hand during the live class, viewing the recording if a live class is missed and demonstrating an understanding of the content within the recording, and logging into the course multiple times (4+) per week.
Students are expected to engage with the instructor. What does this look like? It means the student is responding to teacher feedback to let the teacher know that the student read the comments, emailing or video meeting with the teacher with questions to show that the student is actively moving through the course, raising questions about answers missed in order to receive specific and individualized instruction, scheduling extra help as needed, and responding to teacher emails or phone calls to confirm with the teacher when correspondence is received.
Students should check with their teacher first for all course questions. Additional help and support are offered to online students through their Student Advisor. If a student is unsure who their advisor is, email online@oakschristian.org or call 818-575-9299.
All OC Online students are important to us, and we reach out with regular grade and status reports to students and parents. If weekly live classes with teachers and follow up from advisors is not enough support, please contact us for additional support options.
At OC Online, we are committed to stay connected with our students and be available for your questions and academic needs. You can reach your teacher in a variety of ways including Canvas messaging or telephone. Teachers will return phone calls, messages and email within 24 hours. On weekends or holidays, the teacher will respond to you the next business day. When you do contact your teacher, be sure to include your name and the class that you are in, so that your teacher can better respond to your question or concern.
Netiquette
Academic Integrity is honesty in a learning environment, such as avoiding plagiarism, cheating, or other violation while learning how and when to fairly use outside resources. Our teachers and administration are always available to answer questions about whether work is academically honest. We realize that students are still learning what this is; we have worked hard to define expectations, so an infraction does not occur accidentally. We also realize many stressful situations can prompt a student to violate this policy. Our goal in addressing academic integrity is that the student will learn from their mistake, and that an infraction will not occur again.
Our expectation is that you produce original work with appropriate citation. Work created using AI is not permitted unless assigned or approved by a teacher. Teachers or staff who suspect a student of academic dishonesty will notify the student and parent via assignment grade/comments. The Oaks Christian Online Dean and/or advisor will be copied on the email. The student should respond in writing within 48 hours to determine if there was an acceptable explanation or if a violation has occurred. A meeting with a member of the administrative team may be required.
Consequences for academic dishonesty can range from a “0” on an assignment to removal from a course or program. There are several components to determining the consequences of an academic infraction. All consequences are at the sole discretion of the OC Online Administrative Team.
While Oaks Christian Online allows students to work at their own pace on a weekly basis, there are still expectations regarding due dates and continual student progress. OC Online has a late/missing assignment policy that allows students to work a flexible schedule within the course structure while still maintaining academic integrity, comprehension of the material, and effective time management.
Extension Requests – An extension may be granted for a 14-day period if the extension is requested within 2 weeks of the end of a course end date. If approved, extensions may be granted for up to two weeks beyond the current course end date. If the end date passes, and the student has not requested an extension, any missing work would be counted as 0s, and the student would receive the grade earned to that point. An extension form can be obtained by emailing online@oakschristian.org and will incur a $100 fee.
Drop Requests
Courses may be dropped with no penalty up until the course final exam is taken. No drops will be approved after the final exam has been taken. Once the term is ended, any incomplete work is issued a 0 and the final grade is issued.
Refund Requests for Part-Time Enrollment
Refunds are issued as follows:
If a withdrawal request is received by the school at least one week prior to the course start date, the tuition, less a non-refundable administrative fee of $50 per course will be refunded.
No refunds will be made for withdrawals later than one week before the start of the course. Enrollment fees are not prorated due to absence or late entry.
Transfers between courses within two weeks of the start of the course will be processed with no additional fees unless there is an addition due to any incremental charges due based on course selection differential. No transfer credit is given for selection of a course which costs less than the original price if done less than one week prior to the start of the course.
When a student has been inactive in a course for more than 3 weeks without explanation, OC Online staff ensures we have attempted to engage students through the following methods:
If student and parent are unresponsive to communications from school staff, OC Online assumes the course has been abandoned and will drop the student’s enrollment. Abandoned courses are not eligible for refunds.
Any violations of school policy and rules may result in loss of access to the course and possible dismissal from the school as determined by the sole discretion of the administrative team. OC Online may monitor any users’ school-provided access to the course to ensure appropriate use. Such monitoring may include, but is not limited to, monitoring of websites visited, “chat room” conversations, and e-mail contents. Disciplinary action may be determined in keeping with existing procedures and practices regarding inappropriate language or behavior. When and where applicable, law enforcement agencies may be involved.
General Technology Information
Students should check with their teacher first, and if they are unable to resolve their problem, they can email onlinesupport@oakschristian.org.
Acceptable uses and ethical behavior–use of the school website and internet communications is a privilege and not a right.
In using technology, students, staff and faculty are expected to adhere to the same standards of ethical behavior which govern our school community.
Exercise good judgment in visiting web sites. Do not visit sites that appear to contain objectionable material. Ask a teacher or a parent if you are unsure if the site is appropriate.
Be polite; use appropriate language for all communications. Avoid jokes or statements that might offend.
To protect your privacy and safety, never give out your address, telephone number, or full name.
Unacceptable uses include, but are not limited to, sending or seeking to receive messages that contain or suggest racism, sexism, inappropriate language, pornography, illegal solicitation, or information that could violate another person’s privacy. All forms of cyberbullying, sexting, sending malicious code, sending pornography, junk emails, impersonation, stealing passwords, flaming, harassment, denigration, outing, trickery, exclusion or cyberstalking are strictly prohibited, are not tolerated and will result in consequences up to and including dismissal from a course without credit and dismissal from school, as determined by the sole discretion of the principal.
Canvas provides a user experience that is easy, simple, and intuitive. Special attention has been paid to making Canvas screen-readable. The Rich Content Editor encourages users to create accessible content pages (i.e. text formatting is accomplished using styles). Canvas is designed to allow limited customization of colors and schemes to be accessible for all users. The National Federation of the Blind granted Canvas the Gold Level Web Certification in 2010.
Find more information here:
https://www.instructure.com/products/canvas/accessibility
Course materials available through Canvas may be protected by copyright law. This material is only for the use of students enrolled in the specific course(s) and must be used in accordance with the United States Copyright Act, Title 17 of the U.S. Code. Protected materials on the site may not be retained on the user’s computer or other electronic storage device for longer than the duration of the specific class for which they are assigned, nor further disseminated by the user to any other persons.
Notice of Claimed Infringement
If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide our Designated Copyright Agent (identified below) with the following information:
(a) an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest;
(b) description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;
(c) a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the SITE (preferably including specific URL’s associated with the material);
(d) your address, telephone number, and email address;
(e) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and,
(f) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner’s behalf.
You may send your Notice of Claimed Infringement to: Curriculum Development Director
Oaks Christian Online 31749 La Tienda Rd. Westlake Village, CA 91362 Office: 818-824-9463
https://www.oakschristianonline.org/
Oaks Christian Online makes no warranties of any kind, neither expressed nor implied, for the internet access it is providing. The school will not be responsible for any damages users suffer, including, but not limited to, loss of data resulting from delays or interruptions in service. The school will not be responsible for the accuracy, nature, or quality of information stored on our servers; nor for the accuracy, nature, or quality of information gathered through school-provided internet access. The school will not be responsible for personal property used to access computers or networks, or for unauthorized financial obligations resulting from access to the Internet.
Enrollment in a course constitutes acceptance of all policies and the parent responsibilities. A more detailed description of parent / student policies for full-time online students is provided in the Parent / Student handbook, a copy of which is available to full-time enrolling students. The student and parent hereby acknowledge that they have reviewed the policies as outlined above, understand them and agree to be governed by them.
Oaks Christian Online is here to help you grow. Your teachers are here to help you in school and support you in life. Oaks Christian Online has a Chaplain you can reach out to for prayer or to have a conversation about faith. Please feel free to contact her at SFarinacci@oakschristian.org.
Prayer: Lord, we come to you today grateful for the chance to learn online. We thank you for the flexibility to approach education in this unique way. Please give us wisdom as we learn, and diligence as we seek to be on pace for the course ahead. May we see that You go with us and are all around us in every lesson and in every assignment. Give us eyes to see. Amen.
Scripture Blessing: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26
Together We Thrive!
