Utah Tech Online

ACCREDITATION & Online Learning Standards

Utah Tech University follows accreditation requirements and best practices for online education. These standards help us protect student identity and support meaningful interaction between students and instructors.

Verifying Student Identity

Utah Tech University takes steps to make sure the student enrolled in an online course is the same person who completes the course.

University Policy

University Policy 601 requires instructors to verify the identity of students in online courses. Instructors must use at least two methods to verify student identity. See Section 4.5.5 of University Policy 601. For more details, see University Policy Addendum 601C: Online Student Verification. See University Policy Addendum 601C Online Student Verification

State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA)

Utah Tech University is an approved SARA institution in Utah. SARA stands for the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement. SARA provides shared standards for colleges and universities that offer online education across state lines. These standards include requirements for verifying student identity. Learn more about State Authorization. View the SARA Policy Manual.

Multi-Factor Authentication

Utah Tech University uses Microsoft Authenticator to help protect university accounts.

Students and employees use multi-factor authentication when signing in to university systems, including Canvas. This adds an extra layer of security and helps confirm a user’s identity.

Learn more about multi-factor authentication here https://help.utahtech.edu/kb/article/151-mfa-change-faq/.

Honorlock Remote Proctoring

Utah Tech University supports Honorlock for remote exam proctoring. In 2025, Utah Tech joined the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) contract for Honorlock. University-wide implementation began in Summer 2026.

Honorlock includes tools that can verify a student’s identity at the start of an online exam. Learn more about Identity Verification in Honorlock.

Regular & Substantive Interaction

Regular and substantive interaction (RSI) means that instructors actively and consistently engage with students throughout an online course. Utah Tech provides training and resources to help online instructors meet RSI requirements.

Training for new online instructors

Faculty members who teach online must first complete the Orientation to Online Teaching course.

The course covers best practices for interacting with students and providing feedback. It also teaches instructors how to provide regular and substantive interaction in online courses.

Ongoing training for faculty on Regular and Substantive Interaction (UT Online & CTL)

Utah Tech Online and the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) provide ongoing training and resources for faculty. The Best Practices for Online Teaching workshop includes guidance on interaction in online courses, including regular and substantive interaction.

View the “Best Practices for Online Teaching” workshop (Jan 2022) here, and access the slides at this link: https://online.utahtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2022/02/Workshop-on-Best-Practices-for-Online-Teaching-1-21-2022.pdf. Note Slide 8 re: RSI specifically.