All students have access to Virtual Tutoring with Tutor.com

• Connect with certified tutors who provide live, 24/7, on-demand tutoring in a variety of subjects - including but not limited to Business, Math, and Science. 
• Tutor.com offers a writing lab feature where you can submit written work to be reviewed within a 24 hours notice.

Where do I access Tutor.com?

• Access Tutor.com through the "View course and institutional tools" link found in any course you are currently enrolled in. 

Students taking online courses through LIT are expected to conform to the same academic integrity standards as face to face students. Academic Integrity information for LIT students is available in the Student Rights and Responsibilities section of the LIT Catalog and Student Handbook. To help provide academic integrity to LIT courses, instructors may employ one or more of the following tools:

• Respondus LockDown Browser®
  • Respondus LockDown Browser® is a custom browser that locks down the testing environment within Blackboard. When students use Respondus LockDown Browser they are unable to print, copy, go to another URL, or access other applications. When an assessment is started, students are locked into it until they submit it for grading. Available for Windows, Mac and iOS. To learn more about this integration, check out the Respondus Lockdown Browser page.
• Respondus Monitor
  • Respondus Monitor is a companion application for LockDown Browser® that uses webcam and video technology to prevent cheating during online exams. Respondus Monitor integrates seamlessly with learning management systems like Blackboard, and is ideal for online testing environments. To learn more about this integration, check out the Respondus Monitor page.
• Blackboard Safe Assign
  • SafeAssign compares submitted assignments against a set of academic papers to identify areas of overlap between the submitted assignment and existing works. SafeAssign is based on a unique text matching algorithm capable of detecting exact and inexact matching between a paper and source material. Submissions are compared against several databases:
    • Internet: Comprehensive index of documents available for public access on the internet.
    • ProQuest ABI/Inform database: More than 1,100 publication titles and about 2.6 million articles from 1990 to present time, updated weekly (exclusive access).
    • Institutional document archives: Contains all papers submitted to SafeAssign by users in their respective institutions.
    • Global Reference Database: Contains papers that were volunteered by students from Blackboard client institutions to help prevent cross-institution plagiarism.

LIT Institutional Effectiveness has partnered with SmartEvals to provide course evaluations for online courses.  Students in online courses will receive emails directly from SmartEval during evaluation periods as well as some form of communciations from their course instructor/s. The links wil be posted in the course content area.  Please check your LIT Email regularly for information related to course evaluations.

LIT instructors may prefer to combine multiple course sections into a single merged Blackboard Learn™ course. Merging course sections allows instructors to post materials only once for all enrolled students to see, rather than posting to each separate course section. Students with questions about merged courses should contact the course instructor. Instructor contact information can be found in the Blackboard course as well in the LIT Faculty and Staff Directory.

LIT recognizes that online students have unique challenges. The Student Success department is available Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm. Student Success provides help with admissions, registration, financial aid and more, and is designed to guide students to educational success. Contact an advisor at registration@lit.edu to schedule an advising appointment.

Students enrolled in online learning courses at LIT are expected to maintain ongoing course engagement in order to uphold positive academic standing with LIT. In an online environment, "attendance" is more than just logging into a course, or the Learning Management System (LMS). Online attendance is measured by your academic engagement with the course content, course tools, course instructor, and with other students in the course. The following is strongly recommended:​

• First Week of Class
  All LIT online courses open on the first day of the term. Students are expected to login to the LMS (Blackboard) via MyLIT and access online courses during the first week of class.
• Throughout the Term
  As the term progresses, all students are expected to maintain an ongoing online presence in their online courses by participating in course related activities. This may include, but is not limited to reading announcements, taking exams online, participating in group work, posting to discussion forums, submitting assignments and carrying out the requirements set forth by the instructor.
  Note: It is a good practice to login to online courses several times a week to stay informed of news, announcements, grades, assignments, and other important course information.
• Federal Student Aid and Online Attendance
  Federal regulations require that online students establish attendance/participation in coursework each term to be eligible for federal financial aid. LIT verifies student attendance in accordance with this regulation.
  In an online learning context, logging into an online class is not sufficient, by itself, to demonstrate attendance by the student. Students must establish a record of participation in academically related activities in order to comply with this requirement.
  • Academically related activities include, but are not limited to:
    • physically attending a class where there is an opportunity for direct interaction between the instructor and students;
    • submitting an academic assignment;
    • taking an exam, an interactive tutorial or computer-assisted instruction;
    • attending a study group that is assigned by the school;
    • participating in an online discussion about academic matters or
    • initiating contact with a faculty member to ask a question about the academic subject studied in the course.
  • Students who have not established attendance/participation in online courses may have their federal financial aid eligibility adjusted. Please contact the LIT Financial Aid Department with questions related to federal financial aid.

LIT students, whether online or on campus, have the right to lodge a complaint or grievance.  LIT Online Learning, with assistance from LIT Student Success, ensures that all concerns and complaints of students are addressed fairly and are resolved promptly. Students should email studentserv@lit.edu for assistance with grievances or complaints.

If LIT does not resolve the problem to the student’s satisfaction, and you'd like to raise the complaint about your distance education class to the next level, the following resources will guide you through the process:

• NC-SARA's Student Complaint Process Information
• Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) Student Complaint Portal

Subject to change. Please visit the following link for the most update information concerning fees: https://www.lit.edu/admissions/tuition-and-fees/fees

LIT protects the privacy of students enrolled in online courses and/or programs. LIT complies with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) concerning the control of access to confidential student information. LIT online students utilize the same means of verification of identity as do all LIT students, using a unique username and password to access the learning management system through MyLIT, a LIT Information Technology information system. Policies and user expectations related to LIT Information Technology Department information systems are located at https://lit.edu/information-technology/policies.

In addition to the secure login and password used to verify student identity when logging into MyLIT to access courses via Blackboard Learn™, the course management system used by LIT, instructors may also use one or more of the following methods and/or tools to verify student identity:

• Blackboard Collaborate
  • Instructors may use the Blackboard Collaborate tool for verifying students for assessment and advisement purposes. This is similar to Zoom but lives with in Blackboard courses. 
• Course Student Verification Task
  • LIT Instructors should include a student verification task in their introductory course materials requiring students to verify their identity by using a LIT Student ID Card, state-issued ID, or other official document. LIT Instructors should use an appropriate student verification method for each assessment given. Students should check their course syllabi for individual course requirements. Students who need a LIT Student ID Card should contact LIT Student Success at admissions@lit.edu.
• Proctoring at a Distance
  • LIT students taking online courses may face situations where other student verification softwares may be unavailable for online assessments. According to Policy 2.35 - Final Exams in the LIT Policies and Procedures Manual, LIT "does not operate under a student honor system; therefore, the proctoring of all examinations by a Faculty member is required." To help facilitate this endeavor, LIT allows students and instructors to complete a Proctoring Form to establish an agreement which will enable the student to complete the examination.  LIT Instructors may, at their discretion, establish a proctoring agreement with students on any course exam, not just a final exam. 
• Respondus Monitor
  • As stated above, Respondus Monitor is a companion application for LockDown Browser® that uses webcam and video technology to prevent cheating during online exams. Instructors can use Respondus Monitor features such as Student Photo, Show ID, and Facial Detection to verify student identity. To learn more about this integration, check out the Respondus Monitor page.