Online classes at RIT Croatia
RIT has almost 40 years of experience in distance learning; the infrastructure and tools RIT Croatia uses to teach classes are laid out for both in-class and online teaching. In virtual classrooms, faculty combines synchronous activities (lectures through Zoom and Blue Jeans tools) and asynchronous activities through an online learning platform.
RIT Croatia faculty started preparing for the transition to alternative teaching methods in early March, and since March 23, we have successfully delivered all classes, that is 165 sections from 73 different courses, in an online environment. All of RIT's global campuses have been sharing experience and know-how of online class delivery and experiences which helped facilitate the transition into an online environment.
Teaching and advising via Zoom
Zoom and Blue Jeans allow us to perform classes live, in a virtual environment, help connect students and faculty for consultation, but also connect students with their academic and career advisers.
Using the myCourses platform in both in-class and online delivery of courses
All our students are used to a learning management system myCourses. myCourses places all materials and communication between students and faculty in an online environment. With the possibility of distributing teaching materials to students, through myCourses, it is possible to write quizzes and exams, participate in graded discussions, submit assignments and various types of papers, monitor student success in a particular subject, etc. All the aforementioned possibilities are also used in online teaching, more intensively than in teaching in-class.
Master of Science program - a hybrid model of online and in-class teaching
Graduate students of the U.S. Master of Science in Service Leadership and Innovation program which is delivered on our Zagreb campus, attend a hybrid model of the classes delivery that is mostly done in an online environment; each course includes one week of in-class course delivery and six weeks of asynchronous online teaching.
Flexible approach for enhancing students’ experience
We do everything we can to enhance students' learning experience, while maintaining the high quality of education we provide. In that regard, have provided our students with possibilities that will provide them with additional flexibility and ease this semester:
- Alternative grading system. Since we are a campus of an American university, we use the letters A-F in grading (which is subsequently converted to classic Croatian grades 1-5). In this situation, we offered students an alternative grading system consisting of 3 grades: Satisfactory (includes; grades A to C), Pass (passes; includes grades C- and D) and No Pass (grade; grade F). Grades from the alternative grading system do not affect their current GPA (grade point average). Students are able to maintain a GPA that is important because of existing and future scholarships, and keeping their academic standing. Students have accepted this opportunity because they know that even if the current circumstances do not allow them to fully commit to a particular subject, they can still retain good academic standing and scholarship.
- Extended withdrawal period. Our students may be able to withdraw the subject by the end of the 11th week of the semester, but this semester we have moved the deadline to the last day of classes. The course that the student withdraws must be re-enrolled, attended and passed, but this measure helps them maintain their GPA.
- Extended deadline for reimbursement of part of the tuition fees due to withdrawal of the course. As the deadline for the course withdrawal has been extended, the time until which it is possible to obtain part of the tuition fee due to the withdrawal has been extended as well. This semester, reimbursement of tuition fees is possible until the last day of classes.
- Online Zoom and BlueJeans tutoring by senior students. As before, students have tutoring at their disposal, which has now been transferred to the online environment.
- Online consultation with faculty. Faculty holds consultations on a regular basis, but instead in their offices, they conduct them online. Faculty and students use a variety of communication tools, such as e-mail, cell phones, Zoom, Blue Jeans, Skype, Slack, Viber, WhatsApp and others. Many faculty are available to students for questions throughout the day, not only during consultations, which students greatly use.
- Online advising. Just like faculty, our academic advisers and career advisers are available online and hold meetings and advising online as agreed with individual student
- Online class delivery IT support. Our IT professionals and students working at the RIT Croatia IT department are available to all students in case of technical challenges in attending classes online.
- Online Writing Lab. The Writing Lab is a support for our students in the form of assistance in improving English writing skills, provided by English language faculty on both campuses. The Writing Lab has moved online as well, and faculty continue to work with students in developing their writing skills.
