Policies
Attendance and participation
This policy explains what attendance means in an online programme, and what happens if a student stops taking part.
Draft in progress
We are finalising this policy.
Read it and tell us what to sharpen. Where a figure is still being set, we name the decision rather than publish a number we would have to change.
What attendance means here
eLadder has no classroom to sit in, so attendance is measured as participation rather than presence. Logging in is not attendance on its own.
Participation means doing the things a course asks of you: submitting work, contributing to discussions, completing activities, and attending live sessions where a course sets them.
Being finalised in this section
- Which specific activities count as a participation event
- The expected minimum participation per week or per term
If you stop taking part
Where a student has not participated for a sustained period, we will contact them. The purpose is to find out what is happening, because the most common reason a student disappears is something in their life rather than a decision to leave.
If there is no response, the student may be recorded as withdrawn from the course. That has consequences for fees under the refund policy and for academic standing, which is why we make contact first rather than after.
Being finalised in this section
- The period of non-participation that triggers contact
- The period after which a student is recorded as withdrawn
Absence you know about in advance
Tell us. Illness, family circumstances, work travel and religious observance are all normal parts of the lives our students are studying around, and a programme designed for working people should be able to absorb them. What it cannot absorb is silence.