World University in Ojai
Mentor Guidelines

 

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COURSE GRADING FORMS (click here)

BACKGROUND & HIRING PROCESS

  • Appropriate degree(s) and experience.
  • Computer literate and equipped, including up-to-date virus protection.
  • Submit Application.
  • Evaluation of application.
  • If your application is approved, you will be asked to submit transcripts.
  • Mentors are hired on a course-by-course contract. When all submissions have been made and approved by the hiring committee, you will be sent a contract to fill out and send back.

 

MENTORING

  • You will be assigned an e-mail address which will begin with your last name and first initial(s) and the generic e-mail address of the university (for example: jgriffin@worldu.edu) and a password. Our e-mail system can be accessed by clicking on Staff/Faculty E-mail at the bottom of the left-hand menu on our website (www.worldu.edu). When you are asked for your User Name, you must enter your full e-mail address (yourname@worldu.edu).
  • Once hired for a pre-existing online course, read the course online outline-syllabus, the required texts, and material on the required websites. If the course is not already developed and online, you will work with our online staff to develop it. At this time, World University is not able to pay you for your development time, which must be considered a part of your preparation to teach the course(s).
  • You will be informed by e-mail of enrollments on a course by course basis, as soon as a student enrolls in one of your courses.
  • When informed that a student has enrolled, please send a welcoming e-mail response and any course information not covered in the course online syllabus. All e-mail correspondence should be essentially course related.
  • For security reasons our system only accepts the submission of assignments, papers and exams in RTF document format.  Almost all word processor can save files as RTF documents.  However, due to security problems with Microsoft Word, we strongly request that all mentors download one of the following free, excellent, RTF word processors.

      • Mentors using Windows (95, 98, 2000, ME, XP)
      or Max OS X 10.2 (or later), or Linux systems
      please download, install and use AbiWord, an excellent, free, RTF word processor ( with spell check!) available at AbiSource . (When saving files in AbiWord, be sure to select the RTF format because AbiWord does not automatically select RTF from among the several options.)

      Mentors using Mac OS 10.1 and earlier please click on one of the following links to download and install the free RTF word processor iText 3.1.3 by Michiaki Yamashita for  Mac OS 7.1 to 9.2.2   or   OS 10.1

  • The Adobe Acrobat Reader (free) will allow you to read many of the scholarly documents on our site, and throughout the web.  It is available free of charge from Adobe.  (It may already be installed on your computer.  Computer makers often include it in the initial set of programs provided with a new computer) If not installed, complete steps A and B, as follows:

      • A.  Click here to download Acrobat Reader (5MB)
      Select the appropriate Windows, Mac or Unix version on the
      Adobe download page. (This may take from 5 to 20 minutes, depending on the speed of your internet connection.  Do not click any other links while waiting for the software to download, as that will slow down the download process.) Write down the directory or folder in which you save the downloaded program file.

      B.   Install: The Acrobat software package will require a
      simple installation process:  Log off the internet and close
      all applications.  Find the downloaded program file and
      double-click on it.  At the end of the installation process
      you may need to reboot your computer. 

  • Please check your WorldU e-mail every day.  Read each submitted student assignment and reply to each one.
    • Your reply may be a simple acknowledgment of work well done or address discrepancies or problems in the submission as needed. Any further academic commentary is up to you.
    • Since we now use RTF (Rich Text Format) document submission for virus protection purposes, almost all assignment submissions will come to you as an attached RTF file rather than as a simple e-mail message. Before trying to open these attached RTF files, please save a copy of each assignment file in the folder you have made for that student on your local hard drive.  Then use your RTF word processor to open the file. Some desktop email programs, such as Eudora and Thunderbird, may allow you to open an RTF attachment just by clicking on it, but most web-based e-mail programs, such as AOL, Yahoo and Hotmail, will not.  You can avoid many difficulties by saving such attached RTF files to your local hard drive first.
    • Write your reply on your word processor and copy and paste it into your e-mail reply. If you want to send your student a marked up copy of their assignment, please be sure to save the markup file also as an RTF file. (When saving a file in any RTF word processor, be sure to select the "save as RTF" format, because there are often multiple save options.)  
    • When inserting comments into the original student e-mail submission, I suggest prefacing your comments with right-facing arrows and asterisks (3 each), your initials, and a colon (for example: >>>***JG:). This will definitely set off your inserted text. A standardization in this respect also helps students with a feeling of consistency from course to course.
    • Please create a file for each student and save a copy of each
      e-mail assignment and other coursework submitted to you in case you need to refer to it. A dedicated file (titled World U or the like) works well, with sub-folders for Quarters (e.g., Winter 2005, Spring 2005, Summer 2005, Fall 2005 as appropriate) and for courses, using either the number or title of each course.
  • When all assignments have been completed and turned in, you will e-mail the student the final examination unless it is already included in the online outline/syllabus.
  • When the final examination has been completed and submitted, you will assign a grade and e-mail the final examination with comments and the final grade to the student with a copy to the Registrar. If a term paper was required for the course, e-mail a copy with comments to both student and Registrar. Please submit an official grade state-ment using the Online Grade Form provided. Make a copy from your Online Grade Form master, fill it out and send it to the Registrar (email address at bottom of the form). Keep a copy of the Online Grade Form for your records in your course file.
  • Each Quarter Term consists of ten weeks of assignments, an eleventh week for testing and a twelfth grace week, with Winter Quarter beginning the first Monday of January, Spring Quarter the first Monday of April, Summer Quarter the first Monday of July, and Fall Quarter the first Monday of October.
  • You will be sent a check for your mentor's percentage of the course tuition fee within ten working days of receipt of the final course grade (and corrected examination and term paper, if required) by the University Registrar. If the student has not completed all required coursework by the end of the eleven week quarter term (plus one additional grace week), assign an “I” grade of Incomplete. If the student asks for an extension of time and you agree, all coursework must be completed within the extension period or the “I” converts to a failing “F” grade.

Please call the World University Business Office at (805) 646-1444 if you need assistance or email me at jgriffin@worldu.edu.

Wishing you all the best online,

John Griffin, Ph.D.

Copyright 2001, World University in Ojai