Management of Course Materials
Posting Policies and Guidelines
Please turn in your notes and/or handouts to the Technical Support Center office (OHE 142) before or after your class. Fill out the proper Document Submission form provided by the Technical Support Center with your instructions regarding scanning and posting. If you have digital notes please post them directly to your course page on D2L Brightspace.
You may also email the file to dentsc@usc.edu at least 24 hours before expected post time, if it must be converted to SMART Board or PDF prior to posting. If you are emailing a file, please provide specific instructions along with the course number and the file name.
Lecture notes will be posted in your respective weekly course module on your course page.
SMART Board Electronic Notes
To facilitate the posting process, after your class please save your SMART Board notes in your course folder (ex. EE 555) located in My Documents folder on the desktop of the classroom computer. The Technical Support Center will convert your SMART Board file into a universally readable Adobe Acrobat PDF document. The PDF document will be posted in the appropriate weekly module of your D2l Brightspace course page on the same business day.
Course Material Conversion
Instructors often need support converting older notes into modern, digital formats. The Instructional Support Center is prepared to assist online teachers with this process. Simply visit our offices in OHE 142 with your materials for a consultation on how we can help you.
Homework and Grading Procedures for DEN Students
Electronic Grading Options Available to Faculty, Teaching Assistance, and Graders
Faculty are able to use the D2L Brightspace system to grade student homework submissions electronically and return them immediately to students. The grade will tie in with D2L Brightspace's gradebook. Please contact the DEN Instructional Support Center office at denisc@usc.edu to receive more information and training on using Brightspace Annotations.
Incoming Homework
Incoming homework is directly submitted to a dropbox in the D2L Brightspace system. In order to minimize paper waste, the office does not automatically print homework. If you would like the Technical Support Center office to print homework, please email dentsc@usc.edu and specify what course you would like DEN student homework printed for. Instructors and TAs can also find electronic copies of DEN student's submitted homework online by logging in to their course on D2L Brightspace and clicking on the DEN@Viterbi Students module.
Returning Graded Homework
- Printed homework: Once graded, instructors, TAs or graders can turn in graded homework to the dropbox at the entrance to the Technical Support Center (located in OHE 142) with the required document submittal form (provided), regarding instructions for posting. Graded homework is usually returned to students within 24 hours of a business week, depending on workload.
- Electronically-submitted homework: The DEN Instructional Support Center office (OHE 118) can provide resources and training for instructors and TAs on how to grade electronically-submitted homework. Devices, such as Tablet PCs and iPads, are available for faculty who are interested in grading electronically-submitted homework.
Homework and Grading Best Practices
- In D2L Brightspace, create a dropbox folder for each homework assignment. This will maintain an organized collection and grading of each student's submission.
- Take advantage of using the electronic annotations feature of Brightspace assignments. If you require additional assistance please don't hesitate to contact us.
Examination Policies
If you have any questions about exams, please call the DEN Exam Coordinator at (213) 821-3136 or e-mail at
denexam@usc.edu.
DEN exams facilitates exams administration for off-campus students. Off-campus students taking courses through DEN will have all their paper and pencil examinations proctored. For computer-based exams through Desire2Learn, please
contact the DEN Instructional Support Center for more information.
Functions include:
- Scheduling of exams with proctors as soon as the on-campus exam dates have been confirmed.
- Notification to students and instructors of the examination date, time, and location via e-mail.
- If needed, securing a larger classroom for exam(s).
- Mid-term examination dates and times will be announced by the course instructor for on-campus students in the course syllabus.
- Examinations administered at authorized off-campus sites must be held at the same time that the examination is taken by the students on campus.
- Off-campus students will be held to the same standards as on-campus students.
- Students are responsible for taking the examination at the time scheduled by DEN. No exceptions are permitted. Unforeseen, documented circumstances which cause a student to miss a scheduled exam will be reviewed on a case by case basis.
- To accommodate students in other time zones, the examination may be given at a different time from the on-campus exam. In these cases, the examination will take place as close to the actual on campus examination time as possible.
- As soon as you have set the dates for your course mid-term(s), you must contact DEN's Exam Coordinator so that we can schedule your room and notify DEN students and proctors. You must also confirm your final examination date with us or we will not begin scheduling rooms for your exams.
- Final examination schedules are listed in the Schedule of Classes which is available on the University Website. Click on the appropriate term then select the Final Examinations Schedule link.
Important Information
Due to the nature of the workload at the Technical Support Center, it is highly recommended Instructors deliver either a hard copy or soft copy of their examination, along with detailed instructions, by 2:00pm, ONE BUSINESS DAY prior to the actual examination.
Off-campus proctors e-mail the exam to DEN after the exam is completed. The originals are then sent to DEN via UPS Service. The originals will be put in the course boxes in the DEN Technical Support Center (OHE 142) in sealed envelopes.
Please return graded exams to the DEN Technical Support Center (OHE 142). Our staff will scan and upload them to each student's account through our course management system.
DEN@Viterbi has an agreement with
Crowdmark, Inc, a solution which enables the digitizing of paper and pencil exams and creates a unique and intuitive grading interface that significantly reduces grading time. If you are interested in grading your exams using Crowdmark please let us know and we can discuss it in more detail.
Studio Classroom Overview
The operation of each DEN classroom studio is very much like a standard classroom with the addition of considerable technology. For this reason, you will be assigned a control room operator to handle much of this technology, allowing you to devote more time to instruction. Our goal is to be flexible in accommodating different teaching styles and needs.
Studio classrooms are managed by our Instructional Operations group. For any inquiries please contact them at
classrooms@gapp.usc.edu or (213) 740-0130
Your student control room operator is supervised by one of our Instructional Operations staff supervisors. Your operator will post his/her name on the control room window and introduce him or herself to you before the first class session. Your operator will need to know your preferences (e.g. if you prefer to take live phone calls at any point in the class or just at certain times). Your control room operator performs the following duties:
- Controls cameras and instructional presentation sources
- Adjusts levels as needed
- Alerts you of incoming phone calls
- Alerts you of end times (5 minute warning) for class and recordings
If you have any questions or concerns about your operator, please inform an Instructional Operations supervisor or manager.
DEN students can call directly into the studio classrooms with their questions during class. You will hear the student through the in-studio audio system. Multiple students can participate synchronously with the class via phone conference, online chat, and desktop sharing applications. In addition, WebEx conferencing software is available to allow your students to do presentations and interact live. Live conferencing via WebEx is not readily available for every class session and must be requested by the instructor ahead of time.
Because we must maintain a tight class schedule, we will give each professor a five-minute verbal warning prior to the end of class. It is important that your class ends at the scheduled time in order to accommodate for the next class.
Each studio classroom is equipped with a left and right projector, a center screen with SMARTboard technology, and an instructor computer. The SMARTboard functionality only works with the instructor computer.
On occasion, you may need to set up a pre-taping if you have a conflict that prevents you from teaching during your scheduled class time. There may also cases where you need to record an extra lecture session for review. Please contact us to schedule a pre-tape based on availability. Please note that we do not accommodate more than two pre-tapes per semester per course and anything exceeding this limit will require department chair or Dean’s approval. A maximum of two weeks’ worth of pre-taped lectures is allowed per course. Instructional Operations staff will schedule pre-tapings and extra sessions according to time constraints, room availability, and staffing. Please be aware that a minimum attendance requirement exists for all faculty in regards to the class time in the USC Schedule of Courses. DEN will not support the misuse of the pre-taping option and reports pre-tape summaries to the Viterbi Dean's office at the end of the semester.
About Us
DEN Instructional Design & Support Services
Director: Jairo Delgado
Instructional Designer: Kevin Chan
Location: Olin Hall (OHE), Room 142
Hours: Monday-Friday 7:00AM-7:00PM
Contact information:
denisc@usc.edu
(213) 821-1321
DEN Exams Support
Shirley Schutt, Exams Coordinator
denexam@usc.edu
(213) 821-3136
