My Policies |
These are general policies. For specific courses, please refer to your syllabus and Blackboard. ADA The official NSU policy on students with disabilities is available at http://www.nsuok.edu/policies/student/ada.html I strive to comply with the letter and spirit of the law. Please contact me, as well as of the Student Services Office, if you have any concerns. I will do my best to make reasonable accommodations. Attendance and participation Attendance is required for all NSU courses. I do not regularly record attendance in lecture classes, but all students are responsible for the information presented. I will not repeat information by telephone, email or in person. I sometimes record attendance for class discussions and always for field trips. I often use photographs and sign-in sheets; it is your responsibility to sign in and appear in group photos. I will fail students who fail to regularly attend and participate regardless of points earned. I require documentation for requests for absences to be excused resulting from: · medical emergencies (only—routine appointments are NOT considered medical emergencies) for students or their immediate family (spouse/partner, children, live-in parents) · Funerals or weddings · Court appearances or depositions to which you were subpoenaed (only—not appointments with attorneys) · Military service Cell phones, ipods, audio recorders and other electronic gadgets Any device which makes noise can be disruptive to class so turn them off before class starts and leave them off. If an unusual family situation requires you to be available, set your phone to vibrate and sit near the exit. Audio recorders may not be used in class as they inhibit some students from asking questions or making comments in class. You will have to rely on note-taking to record class lectures and discussions unless arrangements have been made with the Student Services office and me. Children and pets Children and pets can be disruptive to other students. Do not bring them to class. In a crisis, you may have an older child who can sit quietly without supervision attend class with you. Do not leave children unaccompanied on campus; I would rather they be with you. Field trips Field trips are required for many of my classes. Transportation is your responsibility. Some field trips (e.g., the Tulsa Zoo) require payment; this is also your responsibility. All field trips have hazards beyond those encountered on campus. It is your responsibility to anticipate dangers and avoid them, and to obtain medical treatment for any problems that do occur. Grades I do not emphasize grades in class. Your measure of success should be whether you are learning! If you want to know your grade in a class, you may do so by keeping track of the grade you receive in assignments handed back in class or posted on your class Blackboard site. Grading policies are made very clear on each course syllabus (refer to your course Blackboard site). I will not post grades or send them by email, telephone or in person as a measure to protect your privacy and to comply with federal law. I assign grades in accordance with NSU policy. I do not feel that grades are the reason to take a course; grades are a tool for me to communicate with others about your performance relative to that of other students. In my classes, C is average—a good grade in an upper-division science course. Inclement weather The official NSU inclement weather policy is available online. All lecture classes and any other course offering on campus will be guided by that policy. If it is not safe for me to come to campus, I will do my best to notify campus officials and ask them to post a notice on the classroom door. I will also do my best to post an announcement to the course Blackboard site. For off-campus field trips, I will follow recommendations of the National Weather Service. If there is a watch or warning for the county in which the field trip will take place, during the time the field trip is scheduled to take place, or 30 minutes before or after the time of the scheduled field trip, the field trip is cancelled. Please refer to the course Blackboard site for further instructions (e.g., on-campus lecture instead or rescheduled field trip). Internet use To learn how to use Blackboard, please see the guide at http://nsuonline.nsuok.edu/student_guide/. There are policies, procedures and guidelines—not to mention common courtesy—when using internet resources. Some official rules are at http://www.nsuok.edu/policies/web/general.html. Unofficial guidelines are available online. Some highlights: —respect other people’s privacy and intellectual property rights. Do not post their photos, images, sounds, words or ideas without their explicit permission in writing. Better yet, let them do the posting! —keep in mind the difference between secure sites (e.g., Blackboard) and insecure sites open to everyone (e.g., the WWW). Posts which are acceptable on a course Blackboard site may be interpreted out of context if copied and pasted, or even just summarized, on your blog in the WWW. —if in doubt, wait 24 hours before doing it. Then ask your professor and a classmate if it is appropriate. Letters of recommendation I am happy to write letters of recommendation! I want you to find success after graduation in work or in graduate or professional school. I also want NSU to be well thought of in the community by virtue of the integrity of correspondence going out under the NSU letterhead. I can serve both ends best if I can write an honest and detailed letter. To that end, here is my policy: Feel free to ask me in person, but formally request a letter in writing at least two weeks before I should send it. Give me as much detailed information as you can: name of person or committee, address and the nature of the position you are applying for. Also, please include a list of positive traits you have that I can corroborate with specific statements based on experiences I have had with you. By asking me in writing to write a letter on your behalf, you have waived the right to read the letter either before or after it is sent. You are specifically requesting that I divulge educational records (per FERPA) such as attendance and grade information, as well as knowledge of personal circumstances that contributed to your class performance. If you are not comfortable with that, please ask someone else to write on your behalf. Office hours I hold eight “office hours” each of the 15 weeks of Fall and Spring semester for students to meet with me about class concerns, advising, or other matters. Most semesters, there will be four hours I am in my lab and four “virtual office hours.” On days I have an on-campus class scheduled, I will usually be in one of my labs in Bldg. D near my office (D-134). I may not hear the telephone, but feel free to look around for me. I’ll leave a post-it note on my office door if I am further away (e.g., in Bldg. G). On days that I am teaching on-line classes, I will be on line for “virtual office hours” but may not be in my physical office. Email me and we can exchange emails, set up a chat session, arrange a telephone conference or set up a time for a face-to-face meeting. Photographs I routinely take photographs of class activities, especially field trips. I feel that it is appropriate to post these to class Blackboard sites to capture to moment of discovery and build excitement about the creation of knowledge from nature. I may also post photos to this or other websites (e.g., a blog), but will do so without names. If you object to your image on such a site, please contact me and I will remove it as quickly as is practical. Research I am always looking for motivated, independent and mature students to do research with me on topics of mutual interest. I generally only accept students who have passed one of my upper-division classes with an A or B. Please email me if you are interested. Student conduct The NSU policy on student conduct is available at http://www.nsuok.edu/policies/student/disciplinary.html. By registering at NSU, and enrolling in one of my classes, you agree to conduct yourself in a manner that builds a community of scholars. This strictly precludes cheating, plagiarism, harassment or other misconduct. Textbooks I rely on textbooks heavily in some of my classes and use them as accessories to learning in others. For all classes, I consider independent student reading to be a primary method of acquiring knowledge. I also feel that independent reading gives students an opportunity to reflect on course material outside the time pressures of a classroom setting. Thus, textbooks are not optional! However, you do have options in acquiring them. As I develop each class, I make a Blackboard site with course information that includes the textbook. You may check this as soon as you enroll. If I have not posted textbook information, feel free to email me to ask about a textbook. The campus bookstore is not the best source of information on the textbooks I am using. They often have outdated information, and sometimes order books I used in the past or which are used for the same course on other campuses. Therefore, please do not purchase textbooks in the campus bookstore until you have verified with the course Blackboard site or with me which books are to be used. It is usually possible to save money by buying used textbooks, either in the campus bookstore or online. Generally, either the current edition or the immediate previous edition is acceptable. If you use an earlier edition, you will need a study partner in class who has the current edition to help you with confusing reading assignments from the syllabus and to update information. |
