Q: What is WISE?
A: Web-based Information Science Education (WISE) is a unique and groundbreaking opportunity in online Library and Information Science (LIS) Education. Leading schools in the information field have extended their reach outside the traditional classroom to broaden the educational opportunities available to their students. The WISE Consortium uses advanced technology as a means to enrich LIS education and foster relationships among students, faculty, and universities, through course sharing an cooperative pedagogical training. The vision of this initiative is to provide a collaborative, cost-effective distance education model that will increase quality, access, and diversity of online education opportunities in Library and Information Science.

Q: What is the benefit of being a WISE member?
A: Your students have the opportunity to access digital learning courses through WISE member schools who have met the quality bar in online education. As such, your students may access courses from a wider base of faculty and research that may not be normally available within their home school. WISE students have the ability to select from a wide array of courses, regardless of their location, and take courses with faculty who are highly regarded in their area of expertise.

Q: What is the basic format of participation?

• Campuses offer select local courses to be included in the pool of WISE Education program courses.
• Campuses select the relevant online classes from the pool that they wish to offer to students in their programs.
• WISE administrators modify individual classes to make them available to specific universities via the Xenegrade “fee group” designation.
• Students complete the WISE request to enroll in classes at the other campuses.
• Students at participating universities use the Xenegrade web portal to create a login using their university email address. During account creation, students specify their home institution. A Xenegrade “approval code” will be shared by the local program administrators with the students, allowing them to add the course(s) to their system “cart”.
• Students can only enroll in one WISE course per term.
• WISE manages the wait-list for these classes for the students in the program.
• The campus hosting the class manages the student enrollment in the class.
• The home campus of the student enrolls the student in a placeholder Special Topic class. (If needed, Canada and Australia may not need this duplication of enrollment.)
• The student’s home campus (for US institutions) is responsible for ensuring the student status is maintained. For example, reporting the student as full-time vs part-time, health insurance, student fees, access to student services, NSC reporting, financial aid, etc.
• The home campus is responsible for applicable enrollment deadlines, such as add/drop/withdrawal, and the student tuition/fee impacts.
• The host campus for the class manages the student class enrollment, access to the LMS/class materials, and where applicable enrollment system for class add/drops and withdrawals. The host campus WISE administration submits grades to the student home campus administrator and converts grades when applicable.
• UNC SILS will have full access to all student and course information stored in Xenegrade. This includes grades, rosters and class schedules. UNC SILS will grant permission to individual courses to the hosting institution’s program coordinator. The local WISE program coordinators will collect the student grades from the instructor and enter them into Xenegrade.
• The local program coordinators can view the entire Xenegrade student record for any student enrolled in one of their university’s WISE courses. If a student enrolled in their university’s class has taken a WISE course at another participating university, the student’s grade for that course will also be visible.
• The student’s home campus converts the credit hours when applicable
• The student’s home campus maintains a complete student transcript. (For students in UNC hosted classes a UNC transcript reflects the UNC student enrollment, credit and grades which may or may not match the home campus.)

Q: Do my students have to pay extra for WISE courses?
A: WISE does not charge an extra fee for students. WISE students pay tuition at their home school at their regular credit hour rate.

Q: What semesters does the WISE consortium offer courses?
A: WISE courses are offered in the Fall, Spring, and Summer.

Q: How do I become a member of WISE?
A: New membership requests are reviewed on a rolling basis. To apply, send an email to support@wiseeducation.org and include the syllabi of courses you are interested in offering for the upcoming semester. Courses will be reviewed for learning outcomes, course content, and presentation. We do ask for access to one course for our review.

Q: Is there a registration fee?
A: There is one membership level for the program which is $4,500 annually and is billed in January each year.

Q: What system will be used to manage WISE courses?
A: The system selected by UNC Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science (SILS) is based on the Xenegrade student registration platform.

Q: How do I create a login in order to access the WISE system?
A: Please email suppport@wiseeducation.org and we can help you create your login. Once your login has been created you can set your initial password. To set your initial password, visit https://wiseeducation.xendirect.com/ and click the link “Forgot my password”. Enter your login username and full email address, and you will be emailed instructions.

Q: How do I create courses that can be offered to other students?
A: Please follow the video on creating a course: https://go.xenegrade.com/wisecourses. Additionally, we have created a PDF job-aid for adding classes that provides a step-by-step process:

Q: How many courses can I offer through WISE?
A: The number of courses offered is determined by each home institution.

Q: How do I know who has enrolled in the courses that our University offered through WISE?
A: You have access to view the enrollment list. Please follow this instructional video which provides information on how to access your enrollment list: https://go.xenegrade.com/wiseenrollments

Q: How do I choose courses from universities so that they are available to my students?
A: You can find and tag sections of other courses to make them accessible to your students. Please follow this instructional video: https://go.xenegrade.com/wisefindandtagsections. Additionally, we have created a PDF job-aid for choosing courses that provides a step-by-step process:

Q: How do I create an account so that my students can select WISE courses:
A: The students need to create their own account in the system. Students should go to https://registration.xenegrade.com/wiseeducation

• If you use the Course Search prior to creating and Account and being logged in, you will see the complete list of courses offered through Wise Education. This list does not represent the Courses available to you. You will see your list after logging in.
• Use the Create Account link in the upper right corner to start the registration process. Or if you have an account already, just use the Sign In.
• When creating your account, be sure to select your correct College or University from the Membership Type drop down.
• After creating an Account or Logging in, use the Course Search on the left menu to view available courses.
• Select a Course.
• Use the Add to Cart at the bottom.
• Complete the checkout process.

You will receive a confirmation email with your course selections
You should not create an account for the students because each individual student needs to have their own account.

We strongly encourage Administrators to communicate with each other regarding student grades as some number/letter grades are translated differently depending on the institution.

Q: How do I input grades?
A: To input grades log in to https://wiseeducation.xendirect.com/login go to “Client” -> Enter the of the Student(s) in your class -> “Assignments” -> “Edit” -> “Grades/Outcome” -> Edit to enter grade

Q: How do I view my student’s grades?
A: To view your students grades log in to https://wiseeducation.xendirect.com/login go to “Client” -> Enter the name of your student enrolled at other universities -> go to “Assignments” -> view grade

Video: Creating Courses and Sections - https://go.xenegrade.com/wisecourses

Video: Enrollments - https://go.xenegrade.com/wiseenrollments

Video: Finding and Tagging Sections - https://go.xenegrade.com/wisefindandtagsections

Overview of Xenegrade Screen Components - https://xenegrade.kayako.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/5/125/screen-components

PDF: Job-aid for adding a class that provides a step-by-step process

PDF: Job-aid for choosing a course that provides a step-by-step process

PDF: Wise Data Dictionary which provides descriptions of fields we use in Xendirect and how we use them

General program information: https://wiseeducation.org/

Questions? Please email us at support@wiseeducation.org