COURSE
POLICIES
"Without overdrawing the contrast, students leaned
toward a vision of the student-professor relationship as easygoing, familiar, and accommodating, whereas professors contemplated a relationship marked by fair dealing, clarity of expectations, and a strong commitment to
learning by both parties."
Walsh, David J. and Mary Jo Maffei, "Never in
a Class by Themselves: An Examination of Behaviors Affecting
the Student-Professor Relationship," The Teaching Network
20 (1) (Oct. 1998): 2.
I interpret my role in
this class as one where my responsibility is to provide you with an opportunity
to meet the objectives as outlined in the syllabus. I am willing to help,
and sincerely hope that, students achieve these objectives. I have developed
the following policies for my classes with the advice of students at UT-Austin
and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Some of these statements
set the boundaries for the class content and schedule. Others outline expected
behavior. Many of the policies arose as a result of unexpected situations
that may never occur again; I now know how I would handle these situations.
The policies should help you to know what you can expect of me, yourself,
and your classmates. I hope they help me deal fairly and consistently with
students. Please contact me if situations arise where you feel that these
policies are being abridged.
1. PREREQUISITE.
Students enrolled in this class must have already completed
INF 382D, "Introduction to Information Resources and Services."
2. BREAKS.
We will have a fifteen minute break approximately half
way through the class.
3. PARTICIPATION.
Students are expected to participate in general class discussion
throughout the semester. Grades for participation are based
on the quality and consistency of student contributions.
4. ATTENDANCE.
Class attendance is expected. There are no excused absences.
You should:
(A)
submit all work on or before deadline;
**(B) if you must miss
class, secure the cooperation of a classmate to take notes for you;
(C) sign the roster sheet
distributed in class each day;
(D) consider dropping
the class if you miss four or more classes.
Failure
to attend class meetings will result in reduced class participation
credit (1 point or % deduction) .
This penalty applies
to the first class. Consistent late arrivals to class or departures after
the break will also result in reduced credit for class participation. Also,
it is not advisable to show up for class to submit an assignment on time and/or
sign the roster and then to leave class. These deductions may reduce a borderline
grade from an A- to a B+.
5. SUBMITTING
WORK: Please submit paper copies of your completed course work.
Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the assigned due dates.
To prevent potential loss of your work, please do not hand completed
work
to me in my office or deliver your work under my office door. I do not
accept electronically transmitted work.
6. PLEASE
SUBMIT PAPER COPIES. Use word processing computer software to
prepare your written assignments. I will not accept handwritten
work; such work will be subject to the late penalty. Please
use a relatively new cartridge to print your work so that the
type is legible.
7. COVER
SHEETS ON ASSIGNMENTS. Attach a cover sheet to your assignments.
This is a separate page that provides your name, the title of
the assignment, and the date and time you submitted your work.
Deductions (-1 point) will be made when cover sheets are missing.
8. STUDENT
MAILBOX. Please make sure that you have a student mailbox. These
should be assigned by the School of Information office staff
after the 12th class day. Check with the office staff
for assistance.
9. SIZE
OF PAPERS. I will return your final work to your School of Information
student mailbox. Please submit your final work in a physical
format that will fit within your mailbox. Three ring binders,
for example, will not fit in your box.
10. DUE
DATES. Assignments are all due on or by the stated due dates.
In fairness
to those who complete work on time, a penalty of 20% will be
assessed for each 24 hour an assignment is overdue; deductions
will be prorated per hour an assignment is overdue. This penalty
is taken off the top. For example, a pathfinder that is 24 hours
late will have a late penalty of 30 x 20% or 6 points. The overdue
clock will begin at the beginning of the class period that the
assignment is due.
Please
submit assignments in complete form; incomplete assignments
will not be accepted and the late penalty will apply. If you
are submitting work late, tell me in writing with an estimate
of when you expect to submit the work. It is the student's responsibility
to ensure that I have a paper copy of your paper.
Please
pay attention to dates you are scheduled to give oral presentations; if you
are unprepared on that day, the late penalty also applies.
11. INCOMPLETES.
A grade of incomplete will NOT be given except in extremely
exceptional circumstances of a non-academic nature. Generally,
an incomplete is given only if a student cannot finish the last
assignment due to illness or a family emergency.
12. DROPS.
A student should consider dropping the class if the quality
of his/her work indicates that he/she will receive a C grade
or lower. Please keep track of the points you earn in your assignments.
I will send warning notes to students who should drop. Drop
forms are available in SZB 564 and must be submitted by the
last class day or else I will have to assign a letter grade
for the class. If in dropping this class you are dropping all
your UT-Austin classes, you will have to officially withdraw
from the University. See the Graduate Coordinator, Carol Carreon(471-2416),
and/or the Graduate Advisor for advice.
13. CREDIT/NO
CREDIT. Please tell me if you are taking this course on a credit/no
credit basis. You must take courses for letter grades if you
intend to count the course credit towards graduation.
14. CONDITIONAL
OR PROBATIONAL STATUS. You may tell me if you are on conditional
or probational status and 'need' to make an A grade in the class.
I can attempt to provide additional encouragement to assist
you.
15. STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES. If you have special
preexisting circumstances that will affect how you perform in
this class, you may want to investigate the services offered
by the Dean of Students office for students with disabilities.
This office will help me make reasonable accommodations for
you. The Office for Students with Disabilities will provide
me with assistance
16. BONUS/EXTRA
CREDIT: You may earn one bonus point for each pathfinder you
prepare for a client. Bonus points are earned after you submit
MSWord versions of your pathfinder to the client and to me.
You can send these documents as attachments to an e-mail message.
It is possible, therefore, for you to have a final score of
102% (102 points). See the class schedule for the deadline
for
submitting your pathfidners.
You may also receive one bonus point for submitting your index presentation handout to the class project Web site(s). It is your responsibility to complete the formatting of this handout. This is due within two weeks of your index presentation.
If you have to miss class
to attend a professional conference, you may make up this missed class by
attending a meeting or program related to reference service and reporting
on this event in class. Along with this oral report you will need to submit
a two-page (500 word) summary of the event. Please submit all extra credit
by the last day of class.
17. DRAFTS.
I will review one draft of each pathfinder. Drafts must be in
typed/word processed form but they do not have to be complete.
I will endeavor to return drafts as soon as possible.
18. PAGE
LENGTH. Note carefully the required page length stipulated in
the pathfinder assignments for Parts I and II. One page is the
equivalent of 250 words. YOU WILL LOSE CREDIT IF YOU EITHER
DO NOT REACH THE MINIMUM PAGE LENGTH OR EXCEED THE MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE
PAGE LENGTH.
19. CITING
SOURCES. Be sure to cite sources in the pathfinder and annotations.
Use quotation marks or block quotations for direct quotes (five
or more words used verbatim from a source or significant words
or phrases). Credit sources when you paraphrase. ONE HALF POINT
WILL BE DEDUCTED FOR EACH SENTENCE THAT IS DRAWN TOO CLOSELY
FROM SOURCES WHEN SUCH SOURCES SHOULD BE CREDITED. THIS DEDUCTION
IS MADE OFF THE TOP OF THE MAXIMUM CREDIT FOR AN ASSIGNMENT.
For citation style, use Turabian (5th or latest edition) or
The Chicago Manual of Style or some other pre-approved
standard style manual.
20. RESERVE
AND REFERENCE MATERIALS. Students are asked to control access
to materials in PCL, especially with regards to reference materials.
Return reference materials to their proper place on the shelves
in consideration of others trying to use these sources.
21. UT
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION GRADING POLICY. I adhere to the "Grading
policy of the School of Information." Students should review
this policy statement at some point during the semester.
22. UT
POLICY. I adhere to the UT
policy on academic dishonesty. The UT-Austin Dean of Students
Office recommends that all UT-Austin faculty include the following
statement in their course syllabi:
"Students who violate
University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary
penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course
and dismissal from The University. Since dishonesty harms the
individual, fellow students, and the integrity of the University,
policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced."
To view
the UT-Austin policy on academic dishonesty in full, visit http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/ .
23. SNACKING:
Please limit your snacking to class breaks unless there is a
medical reason for in-class snacking.
24. INSTRUCTOR
BEHAVIOR. As your instructor, I will endeavor to:
(A) return
assignments promptly;
(B)
maintain office hours and inform you if I cannot be available during regular
office hours;
(C)
meet with you at other times (within reason) if you are unavailable to meet
during regularly scheduled office hours;
(D)
grade fairly;
(E)
tell you in advance what I expect of you;
(F)
encourage individual class participation while preventing anyone student from
monopolizing the discussion, from treating other students without respect
or from otherwise making class discussion disagreeable;
(G)
make explicit a rationale for assigning grades;
(H)
help maintain an atmosphere of learning in the classroom;
(I) serve
as 'fairness monitor' or otherwise mediate in difficulties students
might be having related to the class;
(J)
come to class prepared and organized;
(K)
maintain confidentiality concerning student grades and information you give
me in confidence;
(L)
apply class policies fairly and consistently.
