eClass FAQs

All faculty, staff and students must have an MSMC user account established through the Office of Information Technology in order to access eClass.

Once an MSMC user account is established, eClass may be accessed by logging in to the My MSMC Portal (portal.msmc.edu) and clicking on the eClass link in the top banner. eClass also has a direct link: eClass2.msmc.edu.

Each term, eClass uses the Registrar’s records to automatically enroll faculty and students into their respective courses in eClass. eClass updates twice daily using the Registrar’s enrollment records. This captures enrollment changes quickly, so that the system is as accurate as possible with the College’s record.

• Courses that have not yet arrived at the course start date will be found within the “Future” section of the “My Courses” area on the eClass homepage.
• On the course start date, the course site will then be found within the “In Progress” section of the “My Courses” area on the eClass homepage.
• After the course end date, courses will be moved to the “Past” section of the “My Courses” area on the eClass homepage. Faculty will maintain access to past courses for a minimum period of four years.

eClass course sites are available to faculty members approximately 3 months prior to the semester/course start date. Faculty will be notified via email of course availability.

By default, eClass course sites and their electronic gradebooks are hidden from students. It is the instructor’s responsibility to make the course and the gradebook available to students prior to the course start date. Please note that these availability settings are two separate settings within your eClass course.

It is recommended to provide access to the course and generally allow viewing of general information such as the Syllabus 5-7 days before the course begins. Faculty members should notify students of the course availability through eClass announcement or email.

Though our system is regularly backed up in full, we still recommend taht instructors create frequent backups of their eClass courses and gradebooks. This can be done with the “Backup” feature in each eClass course. Backup files can be stored on one’s computer or external hard drive.

If the course does not include activities (e.g., assignment drop boxes, quizzes, discussions) and only contains files, files can be exported using the “Download Instructor Files” function within each eClass course.

If item(s) are accidentally deleted from a course, it will reside in the course’s recycle bin for 7 days. After 7 days, items may be irretrievable.

Faculty may manually enroll additional MSMC faculty/staff in to an eClass course site with the “Enroll Users” feature. Commonly, this is done to add Teaching Assistants, Clinical Instructors, Embedded Librarians, Accommodations Coordinators, etc.).

NOTE: Students should not be manually enrolled in to academic course sites by any faculty/staff. Students must be officially registered for a course with the Registrar for instructors to assign an official grade for a course. This will grant them enrollment in the proper eClass course(s).

Our office is unique, in that our services are almost exclusively tailored to supporting the Faculty. Our goal is to empower you to feel comfortable with the instructional tools available to you, so that in turn, you can confidently act as a primary support for your students.

Often times, a student assumes they have a technical issue, when most often it is a misunderstanding of the the settings you have selected or a misinterpretation of your expectations (e.g. grade is hidden, assignment not available yet, etc.). Instructors are best suited to address these issues. If you send your student to our office, most often we will have to direct them back to you. It is also good for you to know when your students may be struggling with the tools you are using. Therefore, please encourage students to discuss eClass difficulties with you first before sending them to our office for support. If you find that they truly do have a technical issue with eClass, we are happy to help.

After the course end date, courses will be moved to the “Past” section of the “My Courses” area on the eClass homepage. Faculty will maintain access to past courses for a minimum period of four years.

Approximately 4-6 weeks after a semester ends, eClass courses will be archived, making them inaccessible to students.

Faculty members may allow students to continue to have access to a course site beyond the six weeks, particularly when it might be necessary for students to finish an “incomplete.” In this case, the instructor should request support from our office to ensure that appropriate access is provided to the student(s).

Please see more information on the eClass Trainings page.

Faculty to should direct all forms of eClass and online instructional support to the Office of Digital Learning & Instructional Design Services. eClass training and consultation appointments are continuously available.

Please note: The Office of Digital Learning and the IT Support Center are two distinct offices that attend to different support needs for the institution. 

• Digital Learning is responsible for eClass exclusively. IT cannot provide eClass training or support to instructors or students.
• Similarly, Digital Learning cannot provide training or support for the MSMC Portal, Zoom, Google Apps, on-campus printers, WiFi, in-classroom technology (smart classrooms), basic and advanced computer training/skills, and other forms of tech training.

Directing your support inquiries appropriately will allow both offices to respond in a more timely and effective manner:

• eClass Training/Support: DigitalLearning@msmc.edu
• Other Technology Training/Support: IT.Support@msmc.edu

Each term, eClass uses the Registrar’s records to automatically enroll faculty and students into their respective courses in eClass. eClass updates twice daily using the Registrar’s enrollment records. This captures enrollment changes quickly, so that the system is as accurate as possible with the College’s record.

Upon registration, you may not see your course(s) immediately appear on eClass.

• Your faculty member is responsible for making your eClass course visible to you. Please contact them directly to find out what their plans may be for eClass, and when they may make their course site available.
• If your course has begun and you do not see it appear on eClass, please contact your faculty member directly to see when they may make the course visible for students.

All eClass courses in a given semester will be made unavailable to students approximately 4-6 weeks after the semester/course concludes. Students will no longer have access to these courses after this time, unless in the event of an “incomplete.” Your instructor must make the proper arrangements within their eClass course to extend your access in these cases.

Often times, what you may assume is a technical issue turns out to be a misunderstanding of the the settings your instructor has enabled, or a misinterpretation of your instructor’s expectations (e.g. grade is hidden, assignment not available yet, etc.). Instructors are best suited to address these issues first. The Office of Digital Learning and Instructional Design Services is not authorized to make changes to an eClass course’s settings so that you can obtain access to a course, a grade, or a resource/activity within that course. Furthermore, your instructor should know when you are experiencing any kind of difficulty in their class. Most often, the faculty member will be able to correct it quickly. If you and your instructor find that you are truly having a technical issue within eClass, we are happy to help.