Verification of Student Identity and Fees

All Virginia Highlands Community College students who enroll in a distance education course are provided with a secure login and passcode. Students are required to create a password when they apply to the College. The password must be a minimum of eight characters with one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, and one number or symbol. This login is required to access the MyVHCC/MyVCCS Portal that links students to the Canvas Learning Management System, student information system, e-mail, and other applications used to communicate in distance and traditional courses. Students must agree to the user agreement terms as stated in the VCCS Acceptable Use Policy. The standard precludes a student from sharing or using another’s log-in information.

All VHCC students are required to use multi-factor authentication (MFA) as an additional method of identity verification. MFA is a method that requires students and employees to two or more pieces of evidence or factors to gain access to the MyVHCC/MyVCCS portal. Users may opt for push notifications, email, or text message verification.
 

Virginia Highlands Community College charges no additional fees for the verification of student identity and notifies students of this via the E-Learning Website and the College Catalog, and Student Handbook.

All distance education courses must include at least one proctored activity. The VHCC Testing Center is available for instructors’ use. The Testing Center requires all students to show photo identification prior to any assessment.

In accordance with the VCCS Acceptable Use Policy, all users of the College’s learning management system are responsible for maintaining the security of usernames, passwords, and other access credentials as required. An account is given to an individual for the exclusive use by that individual. Attempting to discover another user's password or attempts to gain unauthorized access to another person's files or mail is prohibited. It is against College standards for a user to give someone his or her password or allow others to use his or her account. Users are responsible for any and all users of their accounts. Users are responsible for all activity on their accounts.

Faculty teaching courses through distance education methods hold primary responsibility for ensuring that students comply with the identity verification standard. Technology and personal accountability are not absolute in determining a student’s identity, so faculty members are encouraged to design courses that use assignments and evaluations that support academic integrity. Changes in student behavior, such as sudden shifts in academic performance or changes in writing style or language used in discussion groups or emails, may indicate academic integrity problems. Instructors routinely should use a variety of assessment instruments.