Instructor Resources

Within the department, there are two main classifications of courses, core classes and activity courses. Outside instructors can be hired to teach either type of course.

Core Courses

While there are many careers that a student who is a declared major for the department can pursue, there are three fields of study within in the department: kinesiology, health science, and recreation. Each field of study has a different course prefix. Core classes are the classes that are required for all declared majors to complete in order to earn their degree. The core faculty of the department cover the majority of core courses but occasionally the demand for courses requires that outside instructors be hired. For this reason, the guidelines for hiring an outside instructor for a core course can be stricter than for an activity course.

Typically, an instructor should have completed at least the degree for which the course is required. For example, if an instructor is teaching a course in one of our undergraduate programs they are expected to have completed their own bachelor degree in a related field. Frequently instructors are working towards a Master's degree or they have already earned their degree in a related field for the course they are teaching.

Normally the department follows the rule that instructors for the lower division courses (0-3000 level courses) can be taught by an instructor with a bachelor's degree. For courses at the 4000-course level and above need to be either pursuing or have completed their master degree. If a course is within the master program the instructor should have already earned their master degree or higher.

Activity Courses

Separate from our core programs, the department offers an activity program that is available to all students throughout the University. Currently listed in the catalog there are 146 PE (activity) courses listed. While not all of these courses are offered each semester, there are over 200 separate sections of activity courses offered each semester through the department. Outside instructors teach the majority of these courses. Normally there are over 70 outside instructors that are hired by the department to offer these sections. This allows the department and program to serve thousands of students across campus.

With the volume of classes offered through the activity program it is impossible for the department to fill the need for instructors that are needed through the core faculty. For this reason, many outside instructors are hired to help teach these courses. However, just as important as covering courses is making sure that we are providing students with a quality learning experience.

There is a lot of variety in the activities listed in the course catalog. If volume were not a problem the variety of classes would be, as most people do not have the experience needed to teach each type of class. Instructors for the activity courses have experience and should be well versed in the activity they are teaching. They will need to be able to teach individuals with different levels of experience and knowledge of an activity.

The decision to hire instructors is made by the department head with advice from the program directors. Decisions are based on the demand for courses, needs of the department, available resources, and qualifications of the instructor.

Before anything can happen to hire an instructor, the department head needs to approve that an instructor should be hired to teach a course. After this is approved, the program director works with the other faculty within the program to identify potential instructors for the needed course. The program director will contact a potential instructor to see if they are interested and available to teach a course. As this process progresses the program director updates the department head and receives his approval.

After the decision to hire an instructor has been made, the instructor will need to schedule a time to come into the main office to meet with KHS Business Services to complete all the needed hiring paperwork. The program director and department head will also inform the department scheduler so that the change can be submitted to scheduling office.

Your A number is important to most everything that you will do with the University, without an A number instructors cannot be added to the schedule or access many instructor resources. Students and employees of USU are each assigned an ID number called an A number. After being assigned your A number you will need to finish setting up your account through myid.usu.edu.

As you are setting up your account, you will be prompted to set up security questions. These are used to help you reset or retrieve your password if needed. It is also important that you update your email information on your account, as email is the official form of communication and you are responsible for all campus information received through the email listed in your account. The email that you list should be an email that you have access to and that you check frequently. The University and department will use this email to contact you. It is also likely that students will use this email to contact you as well.

USU has implemented a two-step login process for all USU employees. You will be expected to set up your Duo login, which you will be directed to enroll in as you start.

Student records at USU are governed by the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). FERPA gives students the right to review or request to amend information in their academic records, consent to disclosure of personally identifiable information, and file a complaint with the U.S. department of education if they feel the University has not complied with their FERPA rights.

FERPA protects student enrollment information and other “non-directory” information. Parents, friends, family, and other students are included in those whom student information cannot be shared with. FERPA has a number of implications for teaching (i.e prohibiting instructors from sharing student grade information without the student’s consent with anyone but the student receiving the grade).

The University has established an online training that is required for all employees who have access to student records to complete every three years.

The scheduling process for a semester begins well before the semester starts. The University course schedule goes through two drafts before the courses are published to Banner for students to view and register. The process of scheduling courses usually begins around 7 months before the semester and is completed in about 4 months. The Scheduling Office in Academic and Instructional Services coordinate this with the department schedulers. Together they work to maintain a quality-learning environment within the University scheduling policies and rules.

The initial draft for each semester is based off the schedule of the corresponding previous semester. So, if you were scheduling for the coming Fall semester, the schedule would pull from the previous Fall semester. With each draft, the department works with instructors to schedule courses. Typically, the days and times that classes are offered is determined by the department. You may receive an email notifying you of your schedule for an upcoming semester. If instructors have conflicts or concerns with their course as scheduled, they need to work with the department to figure out if changes are possible in a timely manner. Changes are made in consideration of available space, other similar courses, and the availability of time slots.

After the second draft of the schedule is submitted and the courses are built in Banner, but before they are published for students to view, instructors are emailed a notification to submit their course materials for any course they are teaching. Courses are not published to Banner for students to view or register for until after the course materials are completed. Course materials include textbooks and any supplemental materials that are not covered by the course fee, such as, yoga mats, calculators, pedometers, or shin guards. Even if there are no course materials, instructors need to go in and note that there are no course materials for a course.

The department does have administrative access and can help with course materials as needed. After courses become visible to students, the department will go through and complete this course materials data entry step for courses with incomplete submissions so that students will be able to register. These submissions will be based off course materials that have been used in the past. The program director over the course you are teaching is your best resource in identifying the materials needed for your course so that materials meet the instruction standards determined by the core faculty and remain consistent across sections. If you make a mistake in the course materials and the Campus Book Store has completed the semester book order, it is unlikely that the course material can be corrected without significant time and money from the department. Please make sure you coordinate with your program director.

If you would like to learn, more feel free to visit the Faculty Course Materials Information page built by the Campus Store.

To access Canvas and Banner as an instructor you must first be added to the schedule so that it shows you as the instructor for a course.

Canvas

Canvas is a platform used to host and manage course content. A Canvas course is created for each section after it is built in Banner. To access Canvas, you simply need to access the Canvas website and log in with your A number and password.

Once courses are built in Banner and students are able to register, instructors should watch for courses to be built and appear in their Canvas account. When a Canvas course appears in your Canvas account, you can start to build your course content in preparation for the coming semester. Within Canvas, the department expects that each course should at least have a syllabus listed. Activity courses will have an activity release form automatically uploaded into the canvas page that students are required to complete. Outside of that, instructors are able to design and use Canvas to meet the needs of their course. This can include tracking attendance, online discussion, course content, and more.

During the semester, Canvas can be used for instruction as needed for each course. Other than the expectation that each course should have a syllabus listed in Canvas and the release forms for courses, the department does not specify how instructors should use Canvas to teach.

For help with canvas visit this website https://cidi.usu.edu/tools/canvas or feel free to reach out to the KHS Main office. 

Banner

Banner is the centralized online record system that is used by USU, containing student, employee, financial, and academic records overarching all areas of University activities and business. Instructors are able to use Banner as a resource to access information for their courses.

To access Banner instructors can go through the Banner menus or through the personalized portal, then through the faculty services tab.

Checking Your Course in Banner

Once the courses are posted in Banner for students, there is a small window of time where students are able to view courses before registration opens. This is the easiest time to make the changes to your courses if something has been listed wrong. Some changes cannot be made once students register and many changes have multiple factors that have to be taken into consideration.

With direction from the Provost office, once registration opens the following changes cannot be made to the:

• Delivery Method (Online, Face to Face, Broadcast, Blended, Web broadcast, etc.)
• Part of Term (dates)
• Day and time changes should be kept to a minimum

After students have registered for classes this is considered a contract between the student and the University. When changes are made like the ones listed above, it can be considered a breach of contract. These changes also create issues with student funding/financial aid. International students are also limited on what classes they can take and if changes are made to the classes, it can affect their ability to continue their education at Utah State University.

It is the responsibility of each instructor to go in and make sure that they are familiar with the information listed in Banner. If there are concerns you need to contact the department as soon as possible and they can address your concerns and fix any problems that need to be changed. Some changes need to be approved by the department head before they can be made.

Each course offered through USU is expected to have a syllabus. A syllabus acts like a contract for students and instructors. Students are introduced to the course expectations and requirements through a syllabus. The department expects that each instructor will create a syllabus for each course and section they teach, each semester. Instructors should email a copy of their syllabus to the department each semester, even if the syllabus is in the online database or has been emailed to the department before. Your syllabus should be named in the following way.

SubjCourse.section_CourseTitle_FNameLName

                Ex: PE1085.001_WeightTraining_MelissaJohnson

A syllabus must include:

• The course description
• Course Fees and a brief explanation of what it is used for
• The course objectives
• The Disability Statement

Other syllabus recommendations and resources have been provided by the Provost's office which can be included in the syllabus as well. Canvas offers a USU Syllabus Tutorial when you edit the course syllabus page within Canvas.

An instructor can access their class roster through Canvas or Banner. Normally when students register in Banner, the change is seen almost immediately. However, Banner and Canvas update within 24 hours. Either Banner or Canvas are acceptable tools to access the course roster.

The IDEA Center Student Ratings of Instruction is the method that USU uses to evaluate courses and instructors. The IDEA system offers the opportunity for students to provide this anonymous feedback. Instructor are expected to complete a Faculty Information Form (FIF). An email is sent out early in the semester to faculty notifying them that they need to select the IDEA objectives for their course. All courses that an instructor teaches are accessible through a single dashboard. This will include current and historical information.

Completing your FIF is important, as it will ensure that the IDEA system evaluates teaching by assessing student progress based on the objectives that an instructor has selected for their course. It is the instructor's responsibility to complete these surveys. IDEA objectives should correspond to the course objectives listed in your syllabus, for guidelines on how to select your IDEA objectives go to the Analysis, Assessment, and Accreditation (AAA) website.

In collaboration with a representative from the AAA office, each department has an IDEA contact person who can help to answer questions about IDEA. When you receive emails about IDEA you should check to make sure that the course information is listed correctly and that your courses are listed as you expect within your dashboard.

Canceling a Course

Courses are required to meet a minimum requirement of registered students for the course to be taught and for resources to be used wisely within the department. Normally the department requires that at least 10 students be registered for a course. If you are teaching a course that does not meet this minimum or another pre-determined number by the first week of classes you should follow up with the department to see whether this class should be taught for the semester. If it is decided that the enrollment is too low the students will be notified that the class will be canceled and then the department will have the course canceled.

Occasionally instructors will teach multiple sections of the same course so they will recommend that students just attend one of the other sections. This is an option but frequently this results in problems throughout the semester and at the end of the semester. The best option is to have the students drop the section with the low enrollment and register for the other section.

Canceling a Class Period

If an instructor needs to cancel a class period the instructor is responsible to notify the students and department in advance. Canceling class periods should not happen frequently. If there is an emergency, you will still be expected to contact the department and students, if possible.

The department and students expect that the instructors will arrive to classes and start the classes on time. If an instructor is going to be late it is recommended that they notify both the students and the department.

If a student is injured in class a department injury report should be completed and returned to the main office. Copies of this form may be picked up from the main office or through the KHS faculty forms page.

Campus Recreation has also hired students to help set up gyms and equipment, who are trained to respond to an emergency. If Campus Recreation employees are involved in responding to the emergency, you do not need to complete the department injury report as long as the form completed by Campus Recreation is emailed to the KHS department.

There are multiple reasons that you may have a student contact you to be signed into a course including: that a course is full or has met the capacity, a course doesn't have a waitlist, your course requires a signature, they missed the registration deadline, pre-requisite over-rides, time-conflicts, etc. Students will need to have you sign a registration option form. Alternatively, if the student emails you for permission and they include the course prefix, number, section, and course reference number (CRN) you may respond to their email with your decision. If a course has multiple instructors listed in Banner either instructor can sign the student in, but only one of the instructors is required to sign.

Students cannot be signed into a class that has a waitlist until after the first week of classes, when the waitlist is dropped from courses. If a student is adding a course after the deadline, the student may be required to pay a late fee and will be expected to catch up on the work that was missed before the course was added.

If you are, signing students in over the capacity that has been set for your course you may want to contact someone in the department, whether it is the department head or program director. They can help you know if there are restrictions that you would need to be aware of or that could prevent you from adding more students.

The department does not offer or pay for parking for departmental employees or students. Parking is available across the street from the HPER building in the Big Blue Terrace or at the metered parking across the street. To park in these areas you will need to pay. There are some areas that instructors may park for free. There are some areas near campus that you may be able to park free. Fare free services are available to the USU community through the Aggie Shuttle and Cache Valley Transit (CVTD) bus systems.

Guest speakers can be an important part of educational experiences for students. The expectation is that guest speakers will help to enhance the students’ educational experience in relevant areas for the course. Parking validations for the Big Blue Terrace can be provided from the department for guest speakers. It is the instructor’s responsibility to coordinate with the front office to organize this and figure out what needs to happen to obtain a validation.

It is the responsibility of each instructor to submit the grades for all students registered for their courses by the submission deadline, each semester. Grades can be entered directly through Banner or instructors can use Canvas, Canvas will transfer the grades to Banner. View this grade entry tutorial for help knowing how to do this. You can also contact the KHS main office for help with your grades.

Grades should be submitted within one week of the last day that the class met. Or if your class offers a final during finals week instructors are expected to submit their grades before the University deadline. If grades are submitted late or not submitted at all it can result in a permanent mark on a student's transcript, with negative consequences for the student.

Grades are entered on scaling system, A—F, or on a pass/fail system. The University has a standard A—F grade break down that instructors can use or instructors can create their own grade break down to better meet the needs of their course. It must be an A—F break down, you cannot create your own labels. All courses with a PE prefix are graded on a pass/fail.

Occasionally a student may receive an incomplete grade. If you will be assigning an incomplete the Incomplete Documentation Form will need to be completed. A copy of this signed form will go to the student, instructor, and department. For more information about the guidelines and polices for giving a student an incomplete refer to the catalog.

There may be times when a grade has been submitted incorrectly and it needs to be changed. Once a grade has been reported to the Registrar's Office and it has been processed the only way to submit a change of grade is by completing the online change of grade form.

If an instructor is no longer teaching at USU and they do not have an active A number they will need to contact the KHS main office for help in submitting the change of grade. When contacting the KHS main office the instructor will need to include the following information:

• The instructor's A number
• The course number, section, CRN
• The student's name and A number
• Reason that the grade is being changed

After the last University grade submission deadline, IDEA results will be available for instructors online through their IDEA dashboard. If there is a delay in processing the results, the department will email the instructors to let them know.

Because these surveys are anonymous courses need to meet a minimum number of students registered for results to be returned. In addition, if there are only a few responses that are returned by students the instructor will not receive the results of that survey.

The Department of Kinesiology and Health Science works to support our faculty, instructors, and students. If instructors need documents printed or copied for the courses they are teaching for the department, they can go about this two different ways.

1. The instructor can email the document and the number of copies needed to khs@usu.edu. This will be sent to the KHS main office where they will be able to complete the request. In order to ensure the copies will be ready at the desired time, please send your email 24 hours in advance of when you need the copies. If you send with less notice copies may or may not be ready.
2. The other option is that instructors can bring a copy of the document to the main office and get help making copies from the front desk. The standard office hours for the front office are Monday through Friday from 8 am - 5 pm. (Please be aware that there are occasional exceptions to these standard office hours). Plan plenty of time to make the copies that you need. Typically, an hour is sufficient to allow you to get the help you need making copies, it is better to have copies made at least one day or more in advance.

Please plan ahead to make sure there is time to complete your request.

Another resource available to instructors is the personnel within the department. The instructors are welcome to collaborate and consult with the department head, program directors, and other faculty members about their courses to get their advice and others point of view. Together instructors can work to build and design learning experiences that help to promote a better learning experience and environment for students.

The department offers access to available equipment, where available and appropriate. This can include equipment for activity courses and labs. Through collaboration with the University and campus recreation, the department works to maintain the facilities so that that they are well kept and equipped for courses. As classrooms are in working order this helps to contribute and support the work of our instructors.

If there are any questions feel free to reach out to the department.

 435—797—1495 or khs@usu.edu

This list below is not all-inclusive, but is intended to give you easy access to commonly used resources on campus. There may be situations or concerns that you will face that are not addressed below. Feel free to reach out to the department for help as needed.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) – All university employees who have access to student records, which includes instructors, are required to complete this training every three years. This training is completed online.

Disability Resource Center (DRC)— The DRC works with individuals, faculty, and staff to ensure that students with disabilities can fully participate in University programs, services and activities.

Center for Innovative Design and Instruction (CIDI)— CIDI helps university instructors create and maintain high quality learning environments. Providing access to practical tools, relevant data, prompt and effect support, consultation and hands-on training. CIDI has also created a helpful Procedural FAQs page for teachers that may be helpful.

Library— The Merrill-Cazier Library is the intellectual center of USU creating collaborative, engaging environments for learning and scholarship for both a physical and virtual destination. Erin Davies is the subject expert that has been assigned to our department.

KHS Faculty Forms – The department has multiple forms for different situations and circumstances. Please refer to these forms here.

IT Classroom Technology— USU offers training resources through Classroom Technology.

Testing Center— The USU testing center works to assist students to find certified proctors and testing location and securely distribute course materials.

Office of Equity – The USU Office of Equity works to provide leadership, guidance and oversight to help insure an equal opportunity environment for employees, students, and guests.

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)— CAPS works to helps serve students as they work toward mental health, physical wellness, and relationship wellness. They are also available to help students who are experiencing distress.

Student Grievance Process— Students who feel unfairly treated may file a grievance through the proper channels.

Student of Concern – Utah State University uses on line reporting for many student conduct and student code violations. From this website, you can access these forms and other helpful information.

USU Catalog— The USU catalog serves as the primary location to find policies, procedures, program, and course information.