COURSE POLICIES

Syllabus

The syllabus for each course is available on the internet. The syllabus contains information relevant to that course including: objectives, textbook, grading basis, material covered, and approximate order and schedule. The syllabus is not considered to be a contract. Both the order, schedule, and content may change somewhat based upon class progress and other unforseen events (such as school closings due to weather, instructor illness, computer/network problems, etc.).

American Disability Act

If you need accomodation because of a disability, or if you have emergency medical information to share with your instructor, or if you need special arrangements in the case the room or building needs to be evacuated, please make an appointment with the instructor and present these needs in writing. For disabilities, the student must go to (and register with) the CBU Office of Student Services and fill out the appropriate forms, and then bring the fully executed forms to class.

Grading Scale

The grading scale is shown below. The number of tests indicated on a syllabus may change depending upon the progress of a class.

Methods of Instruction

It is generally recognized that different students learn best under one or more learning methods including verbal, visual, exercises and labs, self-paced, team-based, etc. Accordingly, in these courses many different techniques are used to enhance laerning. At least one textbook is provided which generally covers much of the course content; some assignments come from questions or problems in the textbook. Class lectures include multimedia presentations (see below), which again cover the majority of the course content. Labs (both in class and outside class) also provide "hands-on" and self-paced learing.

Cheating and Plagiarism

Students must always do thier own work, except where joint or team efforts are expressely indicated in writing. Cheating of any kind, including plagiarism, will result in a grade of "F" for the particular assignment, or a grade of "F" for the entire course upon instructor discretion and consistent with the policies expressed in the CBU Student Handbook.

Lesson Material

Course lesson material and class labs are available in on the Internet and linked to either the syllabus and/or the course page in Moodle. These can be accessed on and off campus. The lesson material is protected with a separate username/password which the instructor will supply to registered students. Lesson material is copyrighted and just for the personal use of the student during the course. Any re-distribution, publication, or reverse engineering thereof is illegal, and will also be considered plagiarism.

Assignments

All assignments should be turned in via email to the instructor. For most assignments an attached file (such as a Word document and Excel spreadsheet) is appropriate, although some assignments may simply be answered in the body of the email message. Sending e-mail or attachments with a virus or other malware will result in a zero grade on the assignment. Assignments (and their due dates) are generaly specified at the end of the lesson material (before appendices). In some classes, late assignments are penalized; and the date/time of the email is used as the bases for such penalties. The instructor will acknowledge assignments via an "OK" if the assignment is complete and correct, or with a specific note for assignments that must be re-submitted. Assignment acknowledgement will be sent back to students with the "reply" button. It is suggested that students use their CBU email account to avoid problems with firewalls, content filters, and attachments. Unless otherwise communicated, the last time to turn in assignments is NOON on the last Sunday of a term. Individual (not team) assignments are expected to be the work of the student submitting the assignment; such assignments that have been copied will receive no credit. There may be occasions when I suspect that an assignment has been copied from another person or source or has been completed without following the stated rules for such assignments. In such circumstances, I reserve the right to give an oral or written examination on the assignment. If this examination uncovers substantial lack of understanding of the assignment, the grade for the assignment will be based on that examination. In addition, the matter will be referred to the appropriate CBU body for their consideration.

Quizes/Tests

Quizes and Tests may be open or closed book depending upon the course and situation; they emphasize understanding, analysis, design, and implementation methodology rather than memorization of facts.

Computer Account

A computer account on the CBU student server is necessary. Make sure you have obtained your account name and password and that you can log in successfully. Check your campus e-mail regularly, you are responsible for announcements or memos sent by the instructor via campus e-mail.

File Backup

Students are expected to have USB drives for their lab work and back up copies of assignments. Alternatively students can FTP files from thier lab PC's (or laptops) to their CBU server account storage for backup. Remember that USB drives or other types of drives may be damaged by many occurences, and students are responsible for maintaining proper and redundant backup of their information.

Critical Questions

Some homework or in class assignments may involve "critical questions" which the student or instructor may compose. These questions are to stimulate critical thinking and class discussions. Critical questions should normally specifically reference an area in the lecture notes or textbook. The critical questions also must be well focused in the material, clear and concise, draw upon the knowledge and experience of the instructor or classmates, and not answerable with a simple yes or no answer.

Research Papers

Research papers should be submitted in APA format unless another format is specified with appropriate table of contents, executive summary, and references sections.

Attendance

Students must sign in for each class (except for on-line/hybrid classes); this can be accomplished via the Internet syllabus page for the respective class (a transaction will be logged for the student, class, date, time, and computer net ID). Class attendance is expected, although grades are not dependent thereon unless excessive (the CBU catalog holds that a student absent for 8 hours may be droped from the course and assigned an F, and this policy is enforced). Students are responsible for material, assignments, and announcements made in class. The instructor will not go over class material with a student who has been absent for the corresponding class(s).

Make up Tests

Make up tests need to be scheduled with the instructor. Make up tests will be given for proven sickness, family emergencies, business travel, or CBU sports teams; for business or sports the instructor must be notified in writing (such as via email) before the test date. "POP Quizes" cannot be made up. Make up tests are limited to one per term.

On-line Classes

The student should email the instructor for the username/password to view the course on-line content. The scheduled time of test/quiz is sent to students from the instructor, some quizzes may have timeslots when they need to be taken and others may not be so restrictd; and on-line quizzes are timed and can only be taken one time. There are no make-up tests or quizzes for on-line classes. Students should make sure their computer and network connection is working in a correct and responsive manner before starting any test/quiz. Students should notify CBU ITS immediately (help@cbu.edu) if they suspect any problems with CBU networks or servers. If one cannot connect with (or gets slow response from) CBU, but can connect and get good response from other popular web sites (Yahoo, Google, etc.), then there is a likely a problem on the CBU side. Quiz questions are randlomly choosen, in a random order, with answers also randomized. On-line activity including submitting assignments and taking quizzes will be used as "attendance". Students are also responsible for any news/bulletins posted on the Moodle course page.