Faculty Resources

Resources for Faculty

Before Semester

Semester Start-up

During Semester

Semester Wrap-up

After Semester

Degree and Curriculum Development

Further information is available on VIU's University Planning and Analysis Web site.

View the status of curriculum changes and proposals.

Templates are on the Web site for the Curriculum Committee.

Directed Studies (DS)

All DS (and Prior Learning Assessment) requests should be sent directly to Annette at Annette.Woolf@viu.ca. 

New DS form with added fields attached below.  If you use old form, it’s okay, your request will still go through as usual.  This form is A&H-specific as it includes a couple of fields not on the institution’s DS Form, but (with Registration’s permission) – have been included merely to make Annette's job a little easier.

Registration Form for A&H Directed Studies

Process

Each instructor’s request must include both a completed DS Registration form (attached) and a Curriculum Plan (course outline).

  • Please use the attached form.  *New form with added fields
    You may need to update to the latest version of Adobe Acrobat in order to fill in the form, and might need IT to assist with an Adobe update; however, if required, this will also make management of all PDF files easier in the future.
    • Add student details
    • Leave the Dean’s Office box blank
    • Add Course Name and Number; Do not fill in Section field – this is provided by Records.
    • Pay particular attention to course start and end dates.
    • Signatures/dates – either a) the student, instructor, and Chair have signed the form, or b) type the name of each person onto the signature line AND forward or attach email approvals from each person who is unable to sign.
  • Attach a Curriculum Plan (course outline) with your request for the Dean to review

Annette will then follow through with getting course set up, student registered, stipend request to HR, etc.

Sometimes a student will need the process expedited in order to meet student loan or International Education requirements; please pass along that information and Annette will prioritize applications for those students.

Instructors are paid, based on confirmed registrations, on the paydays subsequent to the fifth and tenth weeks of the semester. 

Prior Learning Assessment (PLA)

If the student is to be registered in PLA(s) totaling less than nine (9) credits, then use the Single Course Registration Form; if the student is to be registered in PLA(s) totaling nine (9) credits or more, then use the Comprehensive Assessment Form. In either form, Do not fill in the section code field as this is provided by Records.

PLA, Single Course Registration Form

PLA, Comprehensive Assessment Form

Email your completed form to Annette at Annette.Woolf@viu.ca.  Annette will then get Dean's approval, have the course set up by Records, and have the student registered by Registration.

The student’s PLA assessment fee is due immediately. If not already enrolled as a VIU student, now or in the past, the candidate will also pay the current application fee for a new student.

Once the assessment has been completed, the Instructor must complete a Summary of Results Form and submit it to Records at Records@viu.ca. Depending on the type of assessment performed (single-course, Comprehensive, Clinical), the result will either be entered as a grade for a single course, or as an Advance Credit entry in the student’s record.

PLA, Summary of Results

Note: Instructors may enter PLA grades online in order to have them appear in the student record more quickly, but they must still follow up by sending the Summary of Results form to Records for processing.

Records will then forward a copy of the Summary of Results form to Student Affairs for approval and authorization for payment to the instructor.

Class Cancellations/Sick Leave Reporting

Important:  Please email your Faculty Assistant if class cancellation notices are to be posted to classroom doors and also notify Annette at Annette.Woolf@viu.ca if you are sick so she can enter you onto sick leave.

In the email to your Assistant, please provide the following details: course code and section number, day/time class meets, and classroom number. Sometimes several instructors phone / email on the same morning and it can be very time consuming if your Assistant must look up each instructor’s timetable to post the class cancellation notices.

It’s easy to e-mail students in your class so, as a courtesy to them, please follow the instructions on the link below to advise them you’re cancelling class; CC your Faculty Assistant so she knows that’s been taken care of.

Email your students

Don’t forget that once you return to work, you need to contact Annette to "unsick" you. If not done, the Human Resources Department will call you after five days to ask for a sick note from your doctor; therefore, it's important to get taken off the sick leave report as soon as you’re well.

Financial Items

See Student Fees

See Other Financial forms. Please make your requests as early as possible—why wait? Accounting Department has a huge workload but will accommodate, whenever possible, our requests for quick pays and purchases “after the fact." Further information: Government rate for hotels, Travel guidelines, information, and per diem rates.

To set up a payment for an individual, you must start the payment process at the same time you enter into an agreement with the individual for the services he/she will provide. The service agreement will be used to create a purchase requisition.

Purchase orders must be issued before the goods or services are provided.

Purchasing

There are two methods of purchasing goods and services — Purchase Card (PCard) or Purchase order.

Purchase orders (POs) are to be issued before the goods or services are provided.

If you have signing authority on any cost centres, you can view your Purchase Orders and view your requisitions in progress.

Complete the on-line requisition form, attach the selected quotation or service agreement, and forward to the appropriate signing authority. The requisition must come first, then the PO (which is the contract for payment in exchange for goods or services), and finally the invoice. There is never a case where any VIU employee is authorized to tell a vendor to go ahead with provision of goods and/or services. Please refer to the following VIU policy. The only option is to use your authorized VIU Purchasing Card.

Employees may make contacts with prospective vendors to secure technical information, but except with the approved use of an institutional purchasing card, shall not commit the University to an order, either directly or by inference. An employee who commits to a purchase outside University purchasing procedures may be held personally liable for the invoice, and the supplier will be advised the order was not official.

VIU Purchasing Department tips.

VIU Campus Store Purchases

You are on a list that we provide to the VIU Campus Store to enable you to make very modest purchases, on short notice, of texts or small-ticket items you need for teaching. Most often, this is to enable purchase of a textbook desk copy that is late arriving from the publisher. In this case, when (if) the desk copy does arrive from the publisher, you are expected to "return" the newer copy to the bookstore for a credit. Immediately give your receipt to your Department Chair for reconciliation at the end of the current month.

Professional Development (PD) Funds

VIU reimburses on receipts only, not on invoices.  

An invoice is a demand for payment.  A receipt is proof of payment with the same details as the invoice but also showing date paid and (most often) method of payment.

Arrange your receipts in chronological order, using file names that force chronological sorting.  For example, 20210410 Joe Blow $123.45, 20210501 Joe Blow $89.89. Receipts should then be scanned to form a single PDF document where receipts are in chronological order.

Next, complete the PD form then send both the completed form and receipts to AHFinance@viu.ca

Feel free to ask if you have a question about the appropriateness of any item before you purchase it.

Track your balance remaining via the HR Portal.

Unexpended contractual professional development funds for a fiscal year can be claimed without receipts. The payment will be processed through payroll and is considered taxable income. (Refer to the VIUFA Collective Agreement.)  Fill out the appropriate section on the PD form.

Software and Furniture

Computer items are to be requested through IT; if a purchase is required, the IT rep will advise you to initiate a purchase (see "Purchasing" above). Ergonomic items are to be requested through Health and Safety. You should not purchase computer or furniture items yourself unless you are doing so by way of your PD allowance.

Telephones

When you have problems with your office telephone, please call the IT Helpdesk at 250.740.6300 or email ITHelp@viu.ca.

To change any of your options; for example, your greeting, log in to your voicemail box then press 8* to access the options menu.

Facility Access

You will be provided with whatever keys are necessary for the performance of your job, and you must pick them up at Building 120. You will need to show photo ID before keys will be released to you. For electronic access, please provide the number on the back of your VIU identification card.

Shredding

Anything that shows a student's name or number is confidential and must be shredded; for example, class lists, exam booklets, and student papers. See Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FIPPA) for additional information. Shred only the page(s) with the student's name and/or number; recycle the rest.

Collective Agreements

Web Mail

To log in to your e-mail, you will need your user name supplied when you were hired, and your password. Here is the link for accessing your e-mail at home or while travelling.

Fund-raising

Business Cards

Your Faculty Assistant will provide the form and instructions.