Admission of Campus Students to On-Line Courses

POLICY

Dakota State University provides an array of on-line courses to facilitate degree completion for distance students.  While these courses are primarily offered for distance students, other students will be allowed to enroll in the courses when space is available.  Because DSU strives to provide successful learning experiences for its students, certain limitations are placed on these enrollments.  At-risk students are prohibited from enrolling in on-line courses until they are considered in good academic standing with the university.

PROCEDURES

Full-time undergraduate on-campus students in good academic standing with the university must have the approval of the course instructor in order to register for the course. (See exception noted below.)  Approval is verified by having the course instructor sign the student’s registration form.  This requirement will allow the instructor to control the course enrollment and allow adequate space for distance students.   

Research has shown that at-risk students have difficulty successfully completing courses offered at a distance due to the less structured format of the courses.  For that reason, at-risk students are prohibited from enrolling in on-line courses until they are considered in good academic standing with the university.   At-risk students include those who were admitted to the university as an exception to the regular admissions policies, students on academic probation, or students identified by university staff as at-risk for non-academic reasons.

 NOTE:  If a course is offered only via distance, (no on-campus, face-to-face section of the course is being offered that semester) students in good academic standing do not need the instructor’s signature prior to registration.