Attendance Policy for Doctoral Courses
The University of Arizona Global Campus emphasizes the importance of regular and meaningful participation in all courses. Attendance is a critical component of successful learning for students to fully benefit from their educational experience, especially in an online environment. By actively engaging in course activities, students can improve their understanding of course materials, enhance their learning outcomes, and foster meaningful connections with instructors and peers. This expectation aligns with the U.S. Department of Education’s guidelines for distance education, which underline the importance of student engagement and active participation. To ensure students are meeting attendance requirements and maintaining satisfactory academic progress, students must demonstrate compliance with the attendance policies set forth below.
These policies are especially important to students utilizing federal financial aid to help fund their education as the University of Arizona Global Campus monitors attendance activity to ensure students are maintaining eligibility for aid.
Definition of Attendance
Attendance is defined as engaging in an academic activity during class. At the University of Arizona Global Campus, this means posting relevant academic content in fulfillment of an assignment in the online classroom. Relevant academic content is complete, comprehensible, and related to a graded discussion forum, written assignment or journal entry, and quiz or exam.
How to Gain Attendance
Students gain attendance by posting relevant academic content in fulfillment of an assignment in the online classroom.
Please note three areas that may impact whether student work qualifies for attendance:
- Not all course activities count for attendance. For example, some courses may require activities to be completed outside the University of Arizona Global Campus online classroom. Work completed or submitted outside the University of Arizona Global Campus online classroom may not count for attendance. Students can find a list of all course activities which count for attendance – in the course guide and/or in the weekly module overview table in the online classroom. If the course guide and/or weekly module overview tables do not indicate whether a course activity counts for attendance, please reach out to your instructor or advisor for clarification.
- Incomplete, incomprehensible, or irrelevant classroom submissions might not count for attendance. The institution may review the content of student classroom posts and may disqualify for attendance those posts that are objectively incomplete, incomprehensible, or unrelated to a graded discussion forum, written assignment or journal entry, or quiz.
- Late or approved missing work. Students must continuously meet attendance requirements during the scheduled dates of the course, regardless of arrangements for late work or incomplete grades they might have made with their instructors. Instructors cannot override the Attendance Policy, including the Attendance Frequency requirement defined below. If a student received an approved incomplete grade, they must continue to meet weekly attendance requirements through the last scheduled day of the course to avoid being withdrawn from that course. Please refer to the Incomplete Grades policy in the General Academic Information and Policies section in this
Attendance Frequency
Students must attend a course at least once during every instructional week of the course. At the University of Arizona Global Campus, the instructional week begins on a Tuesday and concludes on the following Monday. The University of Arizona Global Campus records a student as either absent or present each day based on participation in an academic activity, as defined above.
Students are expected to attend each week of the course. All recorded time stamps for assignment submissions, discussion board posts, and attendance records will reflect Mountain Time Zone. Attendance on the basis of submitting a quiz or exam is determined by submission status at the conclusion of the calendar day (11:59 pm Mountain Time).
New students enrolled in an entry point course are required to post attendance within the first seven days of their first course. Students who do not post attendance within the first seven days will be administratively withdrawn from the University.
Students who do not attend at least once in any seven consecutive day period will be issued an attendance warning. Students who do not attend at least once in any 14 consecutive day period will be administratively dropped from the course and withdrawn from the University with an effective date of the last date of recorded attendance unless they attend immediately on the next day following 14 consecutive days of non-attendance. Students who are enrolled in courses concurrently and are meeting attendance requirements for at least one course will not be administratively withdrawn from the University but will be dropped from any courses in which attendance requirements are not being met.
Attendance for a course may only be gained between the scheduled start and end dates of the course.
Returning Students: Students returning through the re-admission or re-entry processes are required to post attendance within the first seven days of their scheduled return date. Students who do not return on their scheduled return date or do not attend within the first seven days of the course they are scheduled for when returning through the re-admission or re-entry processes will be administratively withdrawn from the University.
Please refer to drop policies for grade implications when not meeting attendance requirements. Students who drop a course or are administratively dropped for not meeting attendance requirements and do not attend within 14 days of their last date of attendance will be administratively withdrawn from the University.
A student’s last date of attendance following successful completion of a course is the end date of that course.
The University may schedule periods of non-enrollment during which no courses are scheduled. When this occurs, such as during the annual winter break, the non-enrollment period may extend the 14 day limit to include the break. No approved Academic Leave can exceed 45 days including University scheduled periods of non-enrollment.
For information regarding the determination of withdrawal date, please see the Withdrawal from the University policy in the General Academic Information and Policies section in this Catalog.
Cohort Model and Progression Policy for Doctoral Programs
In a cohort model, students move through the program in a shared sequence with peers, creating opportunities for mutual support, professional relationship-building, collaboration, and learning across diverse perspectives and experiences. Students are expected to remain with their assigned cohort and progress according to the published course sequence.
Students who do not successfully complete a scheduled course may not be able to continue with their original cohort. Circumstances that may interrupt cohort progression include, but are not limited to, course failure, withdrawal, a break in enrollment, or failure to meet a required progression milestone. If cohort progression is interrupted, students will need to wait until the applicable course is offered again and will then be reassigned to a subsequent cohort at the appropriate point in the program sequence. Unsuccessful progression may result in withdrawal from the institution and may have financial impacts. Students are strongly encouraged to consult with their academic advisor before withdrawing, requesting an academic leave, or making any change that could affect cohort placement or progression. To support academic integrity, program quality, and orderly progression through the curriculum, the University reserves the right to determine cohort placement and progression requirements.
Doctoral Program Essentials of Advanced Scholarship
All Doctoral program students are required to successfully complete their first course in their program sequence with a grade of B+ or higher. Unsuccessful completion of that course will result in the rescheduling of the course and revision of future course schedule. Students must achieve the B+ or higher to progress into the next course in the program.
Doctoral Course Academic Requirement
The minimum passing grade for all doctoral courses in the major, research and specialization requirements is a B- or higher. In all applied doctoral project courses, students must achieve a Passing (P) grade to progress to the next course. Students who earn three non-passing grades during the program will be academically dismissed from the doctoral program. Doctoral students must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.30 or higher to remain in good academic standing.
Synchronous Attendance Requirements
Interactive Doctoral Workshops
Students are required to attend virtual Interactive Doctoral Workshops during specific courses. These interactive sessions offer students an opportunity to meet and collaborate with colleagues and faculty. The Workshops further support student success in completion of their program and Applied Doctoral Project.
The Workshops take place in synchronous fashion and are facilitated via a web-based video conference tool. Active engagement is required. Students who do not successfully complete each Workshop during the designated time frame may not be allowed to progress to their next scheduled course, which could result in a substantial delay in progression. The time and duration of each meeting is described below.
The synchronous Interactive Doctoral Workshops occur during these courses:
DOC 700 Essentials of Advanced Scholarship
- Friday of Week 3 – One three (3) hour workshop
- Friday of Week 5 – One three (3) hour workshop
RES 705 Foundations of Applied Research
- Friday of Week 3 – One three (3) hour workshop
Applied Doctoral Project Courses (RES 720, RES 730, RES 740, RES 750, RES 760, RES 770, RES 780)
- Up to three Workshops will be offered during every course associated with the Applied Doctoral Project. These workshops will include interactive sessions as well as Preliminary Oral and Final Oral Defenses that are part of the required milestones for successful completion of the Applied Doctoral Project. Students must attend at least one of these Workshop sessions during each course.
Specific details about each Workshop, including dates, times, and webinar links, will be communicated by the Instructor of each course in the classroom and students will see these courses in their schedule to plan for these sessions.
Academic Leave
Students who plan to take a break in attendance of greater than 14 days but no more than 45 days from their last date of attendance, who provide a written confirmation of their intent to return, will not be administratively withdrawn, provided they return as scheduled. Written confirmations must be provided via the Academic Leave Request form through myUAGC and should be submitted within 14 days of the last date of attendance. Academic Leave Requests allow students to postpone the start date of their next scheduled course and maintain an active status with the University. To gain access to the Academic Leave Request form, students must speak with an Academic Advisor. New students must successfully complete their first course in order to be eligible for an Academic Leave.
Students who do not return on their scheduled return date or do not attend within the first seven days of the course they are scheduled for when returning from an approved Academic Leave will be administratively withdrawn. Please note that administrative withdrawal may occur at any point in a student’s enrollment when 14 consecutive days of non-attendance occur, whether within an active course or between the last date of attendance in a prior course and the first date of attendance in a subsequent course. Students who attend on the first day following 14 consecutive days of non-attendance will not be dropped from their course or administratively withdrawn.
Exceptions to submitting an Academic Leave Request through myUAGC may be made in instances where extreme extenuating circumstances exist for students unable to access myUAGC. Students must contact an Academic Advisor for assistance with this exception.