New Organizing University

New Organizing University Policies

Scholarships and Financial Aid

We understand the importance of training, education and professional development especially for those who are dedicated to social justice.  In an effort to allow leaders and organizers nationwide the opportunity to train, share and positively impact the community through engagement organizing, we keep our tuitions low while offering high quality, rigorous coursework and training opportunities.

To that end, we have limited scholarship and financial support opportunities for individuals, with priority given to those unemployed, underemployed, and students.  Training participants have the opportunity to apply for reduced tuition based on need as individuals and/or a sliding scale for community based organizations, non-profits and other organizations.

All scholarship and financial aid opportunities are considered on a case by case basis and subject to approval by NOIEF/NOU administration based training and/or course on the availability of funding.

To apply for consideration of scholarship or reduced fees, please indicate your interest and eligibility on your NOU application and we will contact you with a follow-up questionnaire and/or an interview to determine eligibility and amount of scholarship.

Withdrawals and Refunds

Students will not be permitted to register for class until their tuition has been paid. Withdrawals will be effective the date they are received.

Refund schedule is as follows:
Withdrawal during first week of class: 100% refund
Withdrawal during second week of class: 50% refund
Withdrawal during third week of class: 25% refund
Withdrawals after the third week of class will not receive a refund.
(For the purposes of NOU, the week begins on Sunday at 12:00am ET, and ends Saturday at 11:59pm ET.)

Course Certificates of Completion

To earn a course certificate of completion, students must participate to a satisfactory level in all of the course requirements outlined in each course syllabus.

If course assignments or meetings are missed, then the participant must complete and submit a make-up assignment to their Teaching Fellow within 3 weeks of the original due date or missed class, unless other arrangements are made for special circumstances. Eligible students will receive course certificates and/or letters of recommendation (for those who pass with honors) within 2 months of the completion of the course.

Make-up Policy

If you miss a class, you must watch the video and submit a 1/2 page reflection write-up on the content including key learning and plusses and deltas for class.

If you miss an assignment, then the assignment must be completed and submitted with an explanation to the late assignment.

In order to earn credit, all make-up work must be submitted within 3 weeks of the missed class or assignment, and no more than 5 make-up assignments may be used toward a certificate of completion. All make-up assignments will be marked down by a grade for being late.

NOU Technology Policy Overview

All New Organizing University courses are offered online. It is therefore, critical that you as a student are prepared for the online experience and have the necessary equipment to see you through our journey together. The online experience we have prepared for you is both interactive and rewarding as long as you do your part!

Software and Hardware Requirements

Windows

  • Windows XP (32 bit with 32 bit JVM)
  • Windows Vista (32 bit with 32 bit JVM )
  • Windows Vista (64 bit with 64 bit JVM)
  • Windows 7 (32 bit with 32 bit JVM)
  • Windows 7 (64 bit with 64 bit JVM)
    • Pentium III 1 GHz processor
    • Sun Java 1.5.0_17 or Sun Java 1.6.0_12 or greater is recommended

Mac

  • OS X 10.5 (32 bit with 32 bit JVM)
  • OS X 10.6 (64 bit with 32 bit JVM)
  • OS X 10.6 ( 64 bit with 64 bit JVM)
    • G4, G5 or Intel processor
    • Apple Java 1.5.0_16 (J2SE5 - 32 bit), Apple Java 1.6.0_07 (J2SE6 - 64 bit

Linux

  • openSUSE 11 (64 bit with 64 bit JVM)
  • Ubuntu 9.10 (64 bit with 64 bit JVM)
    • Pentium III 1 GHz processor
    • Sun Java 1.5.0_17 or Sun Java 1.6.0_12  or greater is recommended

Supported Browsers

·       Windows

    • Windows XP - Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3.5 and Firefox 4.0
    • Windows Vista - Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3.5 and Firefox 4.0
    • Windows 7 - Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 4.0

Mac

  • OS X 10.5 - Safari 3 and Safari 4
  • OS X 10.6 - Safari 3 and Safari 4

Linux

  • openSUSE 11 - Firefox 3.5 and Firefox 4.0
  • Ubuntu 8.10 - Firefox 3.5 and Firefox 4.0
  • Solaris
  • Solaris 10 (SPARC only) - Firefox 3.5 and Firefox 4.0

In addition, all clients require:

  • 256 MB of free RAM
  • 20 MB free disk space

The following Operating Systems are no longer supported by Elluminate and likely will not work with Elluminate Live! V9.7:
Windows 95 - This release has been confirmed not to run Elluminate Live! V9.7 or greater
Windows 98 - This release has been confirmed not to run Elluminate Live! V9.7 or greater
Windows ME - This release has been confirmed not to run Elluminate Live! V9.7 or greater
Windows NT - This release has been confirmed not to run Elluminate Live! V9.7 or greater
Windows 2000
Solaris 10 x86

The following Operating Systems may work with Elluminate Live! V10 however have not been tested and therefore not supported by Elluminate.  Some functions may not operate expectedly:
Mac OS X 10.4
RedHat Enterprise Linux 5
Novell SUSE 10

Equipment Requirements:

Headset
You will need a functioning headset that is compatible with the Elluminate software in order to participate in all NOU classes. The headset should include a microphone so you can interact with the teacher and your classmates when called upon to do so. If your computer has an internal microphone, your headset will not need a mic, but you will always need headphones.

To verify that your headset is compatible with Eluminate, we have set up a Configuration room for you to ensure that all your equipment is working and synced with Elluminate. Please click here to begin.

Webcam
Part of the challenge of an online course is the lack of personal interaction. We seek to minimize that by choosing several students to interact visually with the course instructor via the webcam chat room. Up to six students will be asked to participate a week, so it is crucial that you have a webcam that is compatible with the Elluminate software.

To test your webcam please visit our configuration room by clicking here

Internet Connection

A minimum 28.8 kbps Internet connection is required to run Elluminate live on your computer. We also suggest that you are hard wired to the internet as many wif connections are intermittent and the loss of signal may cause you to be dropped from the session.

Canvas (nou.neworganizing.com)

In addition to hosting our class sessions online, we also make the homework sessions, discussion boards and required readings available through our course website.

You will receive a course invitation at the beginning of the semester to join the live session. YOU MUST ACCEPT THE COURSE INVITATION TO ACCESS THE COURSE MATERIALS YOU WILL NEED DURING THE SEMESTER.

Technology Orientation

At the beginning of every semester, we offer several technology orientation sessions to familiarize you with the software and course website.  A RECORDING OF THESES SESSIONS WILL ALSO BE AVAILABLE IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND OUR LIVE SESSIONS. If enrolled. it is your responsibility to attend or watch the technology orientation, and visit tech office hours if necessary, to ensure you are ready to transmit audio and video for the first day of class.