ICRS Policies

ICRS Definitions & Policies¹

1. Definitions

   1. The ICRS certificate program is designed for professionals from a wide range of disciplines who want to further their regulatory knowledge, advance their skills and extend their networks.
      1. Participants must earn at least six credits by taking a combination of variable credit courses in the ICRS certificate program.
      2. Participants must take part in an ICRS Advanced Leadership Institute, an in-person educational and networking opportunity where graduation occurs and certificates are awarded.
   2. ICRS Foundations of Regulation courses offer short, self-guided online learning opportunities for professionals who are either interested in moving into regulatory roles or who have recently transitioned into regulatory roles. These courses also offer continuing education credits (CEs).
   3. ICRS Connections is the learning management system powered by Canvas. It hosts the Entry Pathways and ICRS certificate program courses.
   4. A participant is a professional who enrolls in a course offered through ICRS.
   5. An instructor is a content expert, often holding a master’s, doctorate, or juris doctorate degree, who teaches within the ICRS program.
   6. The ICRS Education Advisory Panel is charged with establishing, overseeing and evaluating ICRS programs and policies. It also manages accommodations requests and serves as the decision-making body that reviews grade appeals and violations of academic integrity.
2. Technical Requirements & Reasonable Accommodations

   1. In order to enroll in an ICRS Foundation of Regulation or ICRS certificate program courses, participants must have access to a computer, the Internet and other tools that meet or exceed the minimum technological requirements established by ICRS Connections (i.e., Canvas, the learning management system).
      1. The basic browser computer specifications can be found here: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Basics-Guide/What-are-the-browser-and-computer-requirements-for-Instructure/ta-p/66 
      2. ICRS Connections supports the following browsers: Chrome, Firefox and Safari.
   2. ICRS Connections provides reasonable accommodations to participants with learning, medical, mental health, physical and sensory disabilities.
      1. Participants may request accommodations by contacting ICRS Support.
      2. Requests are reviewed by the ICRS Education Advisory Panel, which, if warranted, determines appropriate accommodations.
3. ICRS Program Information & Policies

   Enrollment

   1. Participants may enroll in a course up until 11:59 AM U.S. Central Time (Chicago) on the last business day of a course’s first week.
      1. Enrollment will only remain open until this time if the course is not at capacity.
      2. In the case that a desired course is closed for enrollment, participants may elect to sign up for the wait list. If participants drop the course before the end of the first week, wait listed participants will be contacted by an automated email from Canvas in the order that they were added to the wait list with instructions for adding the course to their schedule.
      3. Participants will be required to complete all coursework regardless of enrollment date.
   2. In order to foster interactive learning environments where participants can engage in discussions and collaborate on projects with peers, instructors establish minimum enrollments for each ICRS certificate program course. In the rare case that a course does not achieve its minimum enrollment by 72 hours before the scheduled launch date, it will be canceled, and affected participants will be notified as soon as this action is taken.
      1. Affected participants may enroll in any other courses that are open for enrollment.
      2. In the event the cancellation affects a participant who is nearing graduation and if the other courses being offered are either closed to enrollment or if the participant has already successfully completed the other courses being offered, ICRS will work with the participant to find an acceptable solution.

   Course Syllabi & Communications

   3. Syllabi communicate information and expectations about each ICRS certificate program course. A syllabus will not be changed once a course is launched unless the instructor and the participants come to a mutual agreement.

   Grading and Course/Program Credit

   4. Because the ICRS certificate program encourages professionals to grow their skills and expand their professional network, ICRS does not grant retrospective ICRS course credit for past activities such as attending conferences or participating in the Institute of Regulatory Excellence (IRE) program, the Legislative and Public Policy Conference or BONIT.
   5. All courses are assessed on a complete/incomplete basis.
      1. Participants must complete all graded coursework and must earn a minimum of a 70% overall in order to receive a complete score for the course.
      2. Participants must complete all graded coursework, including work for which they have received extensions, by the end dates of each course. If the work is not complete by these dates, participants will receive incomplete scores.
      3. If a participant receives an incomplete, a participant may pursue any of the following options:
         1. Participants may negotiate with their instructors to see if it is possible to complete the missing work after the end of the course. Instructors are not obligated to offer extensions that extend beyond the end dates of courses, however.
         2. Participants may negotiate with their instructors to see if it would be possible to complete only the missing work as an enrolled participant the next time the course is offered. Please note that the course may not be offered again within the participant’s timeframe to complete the ICRS certificate program, and there may be other reasons this solution may not be available.
         3. If a course is offered again within a participant’s timeframe to complete the ICRS certificate program, a participant may retake the entire course if the participant and the instructor believe that this option would be most beneficial.
         4. Alternatively, a participant may opt to simply enroll in a different course to fulfill the ICRS certificate requirements.
         5. If an equitable solution cannot be reached between the participant and the instructor, grade appeals will be reviewed by the ICRS Education Advisory Panel. To submit a grade appeal request, please contact ICRS Support.

   Certificate Program Completion & Graduation

   6. To complete the ICRS certificate program and earn an ICRS certificate, participants must earn six program credits, complete the capstone project and attend the in-person ICRS Advanced Leadership Institute. 

   Technical Operations

   7. If technology issues arise during a synchronous online class period, if these technology issues are due to the ICRS’ technology providers, and if these issues persist for 15 minutes or more, the class period will be canceled and/or rescheduled.
4. Participant Expectations

   Academic Integrity

   1. ICRS strives for excellence in education and expects that participants will adhere to the highest standards of academic integrity. Within the experiential learning framework, participants benefit from submitting their own original work and giving proper credit to their sources. Violations of academic integrity include:
      1. Cheating, which means copying someone else’s work, in whole or in part, or allowing another person to complete coursework on a participant’s behalf.
      2. Plagiarism, which is a type of cheating that involves presenting someone else’s written work or ideas as one’s own. Copying text word-for-word from a website or a book without giving proper credit is one example, but also using a scholar’s idea, even if paraphrased, without giving credit is also plagiarism.
      3. Self-plagiarism, which is submitting one’s own previous work that was created for another course, a conference, a publication, etc. without citing it and/or without obtaining an instructor’s explicit permission in advance.
   2. To avoid plagiarism, participants must cite their sources. In ICRS courses that require scholarly writing, manuscripts (e.g., literature reviews, original qualitative or quantitative research etc.) must adhere to the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA Style).
   3. Participants should review syllabi for their course-specific academic integrity policies and penalties for violations.
   4. All violations of academic integrity are reported to the ICRS program director and recorded in participants’ files.
   5. If a participant disputes an instructor’s finding or an imposed penalty, the participant may launch an appeal with the ICRS Education Advisory Panel, which will review the case. Appeals, which should include a summary of the situation and any available evidence to support the participant’s position, should be emailed to icrs@ncsbn.org. At the end of the review, the Panel will determine one of the following outcomes.
      1. If the Panel finds that the participant did not violate the course’s academic integrity policy, the penalty will be reversed, and the record will be nullified in the participant’s record.
      2. If the Panel finds that the participant violated the course’s academic integrity policy, the penalty will stand, and the violation will remain in the participant’s file. The Panel may also recommend or require that the participant completes additional academic integrity training.
      3. If the Panel finds that the participant violated the course’s academic integrity policy, but if it finds that the instructor veered from the penalty outlined in the syllabus, the Panel will work with the instructor to revise the penalty to be in alignment with what is stated on the syllabus. In this case, the violation will remain in the participant’s file.
   6. If a participant accumulates two (2) violations of academic integrity during the ICRS certificate program, the participant’s file will be sent to the ICRS Education Advisory Panel for review.

   Netiquette

   7. The ICRS certificate program is a global initiative that values relational learning, the type of learning that comes from sharing experiences and ideas with others. The ICRS certificate program also values diversity in terms of traits such as race and national origin as well as experience and education. Therefore, it is important that participants exhibit professionalism and adhere to the ICRS Netiquette Policy² when interacting with peers from around the world.
      1. In order to maintain fairness, all ICRS participants, regardless of their roles outside of ICRS, are to be treated equally by everyone including ICRS administrators, instructors and participants.
      2. Please do not dominate any discussion. Give other participants the opportunity to join in the discussion. In fact, encourage them to join in.
      3. If you need to leave a live session conducted through an online platform, notify the instructor so the instructor knows that you are no longer present.
      4. Please do not use offensive language. When in doubt, leave it out. Present ideas appropriately.
      5. Be cautious when using Internet language. For example, do not capitalize all letters since this suggests shouting.
      6. Popular emoticons and emoji can be helpful when trying to convey your tone, but do not overuse them.
      7. Since ICRS courses are offered in the English language, please use English for all course communications, avoiding slang and explaining jargon in order to express ideas professionally and clearly.
      8. Never make fun of someone’s ability to read or write.
      9. Share tips with other students.
      10. Keep an open mind and be willing to express your opinions. Minority opinions must be respected.
      11. Think and edit before you push the “Send” button.
      12. Do not hesitate to ask for feedback.
      13. Using humor is acceptable, but be careful that it is not misinterpreted. For example, will others understand that you are being humorous or sarcastic?

   Course Participation & Late Work

   8. If a participant will be unable to complete coursework due to a holiday that is not observed by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) and, therefore, not already addressed in an ICRS certificate program syllabus, the participant must contact the course instructor in advance to determine an alternate schedule. For a complete list of NCSBN holidays, which vary from year to year, please review the Events calendar on NCSBN.org.
   9. Participants are expected to meet course assignment deadlines, but extensions may be considered by course instructors on case-by-case bases. Please consult the late work policies outlined in course syllabi. If late work may be accepted, please adhere to the following.
      1. Participants who anticipate they will miss deadlines should contact their instructors in advance to request extensions.
      2. When advance notice is not possible due to legitimate emergencies, participants should contact their instructors as soon it is feasible to request extensions.
   10. If a participant must miss a class session or if they will be unavailable for a prolonged period while enrolled in a course, they must notify their instructor as soon as possible to determine whether the course can be successfully completed or whether the participant should withdraw.

   Participant Technical Issues

   11. If a participant encounters technical issues such as a regional power outage, an Internet disruption or personal computer problems that might interfere with their ability to participate or meet deadlines, the participant should contact their instructors as soon it is feasible.
   12. If a participant has ICRS Connections technical issues, they should contact Canvas through the ICRS Connections Help portal for technical help. If a participant is unable to log into ICRS Connections, they should contact ICRS Support. If the technical issue interferes with their ability to participate or meet deadlines, they should contact their instructors as soon as it is feasible as well.
5. Instructor Expectations

   1. Instructors will respond to participant messages within a reasonable time frame. Response times and availabilities will vary by course and by instructor. Please see course syllabi for details.
   2. If an instructor must miss a synchronous online class meeting or will otherwise be unavailable for a short period of time during an ICRS course, the instructor will work with ICRS staff to determine the best plan of action to ensure course coverage.
   3. If an instructor must take a prolonged leave of absence during an ICRS course, the instructor will notify ICRS staff. The participants will be notified, and next steps will be determined.
   4. Because pedagogy is valued, instructors will review their course evaluations at the end of each term and will adjust future courses as needed.

For questions about the ICRS Policies, please contact ICRS Support. ICRS responds to inquiries during its regular Monday through Friday business hours, excluding holidays.

¹ The International Center for Regulatory Scholarship (ICRS) Education Advisory Panel regularly reviews and, when necessary, revises the ICRS Policies.

² The ICRS Netiquette Policy has adapted from: Mintu-Wimsatt, A., Kernek, C., & Lozada, H. R. (2010). Netiquette: Make it part of your syllabus. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 6(1). Please see: http://jolt.merlot.org/vol6no1/mintu-wimsatt_0310.htm.