Absences: Students are allowed 3 no questions asked absences. Upon the 4th and for every subsequent absence, the overall grade will reduce by 5%. In general, students must attend 70% of the course or they fail.
Homework: There is homework in nearly every class so if you are absent, you are still responsible for whatever material was covered in class. Do not email the instructor asking what the homework is or what we covered in class: contact a classmate instead and of course, check Moodle. Homework due on the day of the absence is to be turned in via Moodle the day it is due.
Late work: Late work will not be accepted. Read that again if you have to. This means that assignments are due the day they are due. If you turn in an assignment to Moodle 5 days late, it will receive a zero.
Academic Honesty: Passing off work that is not your own as if it were, is theft, and it's sad for the professor to have to chase you for it. Academic dishonesty includes cut and paste plagiarism, improper quoting and paraphrasing, reusing old papers, and the unethical use of AI to write your assignments for you. But there is good news! The research you will have done ought to be showcased. You will have ensconced yourself in the sources and will have incurred new insights and expanded knowledge. Show off your battle scars by citing sources correctly. Some assignments will make use of AI tools and others will not. Pay attention to instructions. A good rule is that if you have to ask, “Is this okay to do?”, it probably is not. If you are unsure, it can't hurt to ask.
Exams: Scheduled in-class exams may not be made up unless arrangements are made with the professor before the day of the absence. If a major scheduled grading event (major assignment due, in-class composition exam, presentation) is scheduled for any class period, and you don’t show up and don’t have a university-sanctioned excuse, then you will receive a zero for that activity.
Midterms and finals may not be made up without the intervention of the Dean's office. The Dean’s Office will grant such permission only when the absence was caused by a serious impediment, such as a documented illness, hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which you must attend the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity.
Absences due to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel difficulties, student misunderstandings or personal convenience, will not be excused. Students who will be absent from a major exam must notify the Dean’s Office prior to that exam. Absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday will normally be excused. Individual students who will have to miss class to observe a religious holiday should notify the instructor by the end of the Add/Drop period to make prior arrangements for making up any work that will be missed.
The final exam period runs until the end of the week after the last day of class. Plan to be here during all of finals week.
Participation: Please also note that the Participation 5% of your final grade will reflect your timeliness, your work ethic, your attentiveness, your grit and perseverance, your inquisitiveness and creativity, and your respect for your colleagues. If you are dwindling in these areas, you will be given an opportunity at the mid-term conference to improve your conduct after which point, should you not improve, you grade will be thusly affected.
Writing Center: I encourage you all to visit the Writing Center as good practice for excellent composition. As such, I may take into consideration your Writing Center attendance in calculating your final grade if: 1) at the end of the semester your grade is on the cusp i.e., a 79.9% and 2) your writing has demonstrably improved as a result of your having put into practice what you have learned at the Writing Center.