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Getting Started @ NAU

Have you ever noticed that when you've been working for a while, there are bunch of things you wish someone had told you when you were just getting started? That's what this document is supposed to do for instructors new to NAU and instructors new to teaching online.

Your Identity: Once you have been offered and have accepted a position to work for NAU, you are given the "future employee" affiliation. That begins the process of assigning you a unique NAU ID, which is usually your initials followed by a number. For example, John Q. Public's ID might be jqp19 if he was the 19th person hired at NAU with those initials. You get to set your own password, and will be required to change it frequently. Nobody who works for NAU should ask you for your password. You will use this username and password to log into almost all NAU systems, because we use "single sign-on." Faculty and staff e-mail addresses will usually be firstname.lastname@nau.edu, unless that's already taken. Student email addresses are in the form "nauid@nau.edu"

Connecting to NAU Services: If you're working remotely, you'll need to use the NAU VPN (virtual private network), and use two-step authentication, to access some services. There are many teaching and learning resources you can access from off-campus once you've made a secure connection.

NAU Google Accounts for Staff and Faculty: If, as a faculty or staff person, you request an NAU Google account in addition to your regular Microsoft Exchange based e-mail account, the "nauid@nau.edu" email address will go to your g-mail account. If you don't have an NAU Google account, sending to that address goes to your regular NAU email as well.

Human Resources: Our HR office is the place to contact or visit for all questions about your contract, medical benefits, retirement, etc. For "security sensitive" positions (almost anyone who deals with private data) you will need to be fingerprinted shortly after being hired. You'll probably also want to schedule a new hire orientation to learn about benefits and other HR services.

Parking: You'll probably want to look into getting a parking permit and guide to parking regulations. You can use pre-tax payroll deduction. As an employee, you are eligible for a free non-transferrable ecoPass to ride the city bus. Parking services also includes Motorist Assistance, so you can get help if you get locked out or need a jump-start. If you're still learning the lay of the land, there is an online campus map.

Policy Library: NAU is gathering university policies in a single location, and recommends that you point to these policies to ensure you have the latest version, rather than copy/paste them into your own documents. For example, the latest Syllabus Template is available at the Policy Library website.

Required Training: You will need to complete several required trainings within your first 30 days, including the Preventing Workplace Harrassment training. If you are an instructor or if you deal with student records, you will also need to familiarize yourself with FERPA guidelines and complete the FERPA training. Employees are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest in the annual CERT survey. If you want to drive a university vehicle or even use your own vehicle for university business, you must complete the defensive driving training. There is an information security essentials training, a teaching online training, a purchasing card training, an academic integrity training, and others that you may need to complete shortly after getting hired.

Campus Security and Safety: We use the NAU Alert system to send SMS text messages to all subscribers in the case of a campus emergency. Participation is voluntary. Campus Police are located in building 98A and can be reached by dialing 911 or 523-3000 in case of emergency. For non-emergencies, call 523-3611.

Academic Integrity: You will find NAU's policies on Student Academic Integrity, including standard disciplinary procedures, in the Student Handbook. You might be interested in a course on Academic Integrity created by the e-Learning Center. If you use Blackboard and assign written work, you should consider taking training from ELC on the Safe Assign tool, which helps students with proper citation and detects possible plagiarism.

LOUIE: The Lumberjacks Online University Information Environment (LOUIE for short) is the place where you can find paycheck information, track how much sick leave and vacation time you have accumulated, etc. LOUIE runs on a software product called PeopleSoft, and you may sometimes hear it referred to in that way. LOUIE is the also system where students enroll in their classes, and where instructors post their official grades.

Technical Support : ITS is NAU's central IT division. ITS has two tech support help desks: the Solution Center for faculty and the Student Technology Center for students, and a Software Downloads page where you can obtain NAU site-licensed software. Other kinds of IT support are available, such as Classroom Support for classroom technologies, Desktop Support for your office computer, and LMS Support for Blackboard technical help, including Blackboard course copies.

Website Local Call Toll Free Call e-mail
Student Technology Center (STC) (928) 523-9294 1 (888) 520-7215 StudentComputing@nau.edu
Solution Center (928) 523-1511 1 (888) 520-7215 Ask-ITS@nau.edu
Classroom Support (928) 523-8818   Classroom.Support@nau.edu
LMS Faculty Support (formerly elc help) (928) 523-5554 1 (866) 802-5256 LMS-Faculty-Help@nau.edu
e-Learning Center (ELC) (928) 523-5554 1 (866) 802-5256 LMS-Faculty-Help@nau.edu
Outages: find out about anticipated future, current, and past service interruptions.

 

Community Campuses: If you're working someplace other than on NAU's Flagstaff Mountain Campus, you're probably in touch with our Extended Campuses office, which is also sometimes referred to as Statewide Programs. NAU has 36 campuses distributed around the state of Arizona.

NAU Online: NAU offers both structured, guided online classes through NAU Online, and self-paced classes through Personalized Learning.

Instructional Design and Support: Formerly known as the e-Learning Center, ID&S provides support for faculty in the effective use of many technology tools for teaching and learning, including Blackboard Learn, NAU's online Learning Management System. ELC offers faculty support through our help desk, a large collection of tutorials, knowledge base articles, both online (self-paced) and in-person training, and one-on-one consultation with technical and instructional specialists. At a minimum, you can self-enroll in the Essential Computer Skills, Teaching Online @ NAU (online instructors are automatically enrolled), and Bb Learn for Instructors training (either in person or online, as available) before you begin to teach online for the first time. If possible, you should also negotiate that, the first time you teach online, you do so with pre-built course content. When you are building your first online course from scratch, there are lots of technical and pedagogical things to think about. email ELC for help.

The Registrar's Office: When does the upcoming semester start and end? When is the last day a student can add or drop a class without penalty or special permission? When are the observed NAU holidays? Where can I find more information about submitting grades? To help you make plans, the Registrar keeps a calendar of important academic dates and deadlines.

Cline Library: In addition to having the biggest open computer labs on campus, Cline Library has a great staff who offer a range of services for faculty including e-reserves, media services, and course support.

Disability Resources: DR promotes the full inclusion of persons with disabilities in the Northern Arizona University community. DR can give you good advice and assistance in making your online course more accessible. If a student in your class discloses to you that they have a disability and are requesting an accomodation, contact DR immediately for guidance.

F2S: The Faculty2Student (F2S) Outreach tool supports student learning and helps you provide communication regarding students’ performance and/or behaviors in class.

Faculty Development: The Faculty Professional Development Program offers opportunities for professional development in teaching to enrich success in student learning, plays a key role in strengthening a learning-centered campus culture leading to student success, advances new teaching and learning initiatives that impact student success, fosters collegial dialogue within and among faculty and campus partners about effective teaching, and serves as a convenor to showcase faculty expertise in teaching. The Office of Assessment can also be helpful with questions about program level assessment.