ATTENDANCE POLICY

Federal Requirements regarding online attendance:

Since the Department of Education requires evidence of ‘regular and substantive’ interaction between the students and faculty for online courses, simply logging into classes does not by itself constitute attendance.To be counted as ‘attending’a student in an online course must demonstrate that he/she has participated in class in a meaningful way or that he/she engaged in an academically related activity, such as contributing to an online discussion or initiating contact with a faculty memberto ask a course-related question.

Therefore to be counted as‘attending’ each Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, you must either:

· Post to a forum question or blog (see below) on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday

· Complete and submit an assignment on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday

· Take a Test on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday

· Email the instructor with a course-related question on aMonday, Tuesday, or Wednesday

All students are required to attend this course on a regular basis. Note that simply logging in to this course does not count as‘attending.’

To ensure that accurate attendance is taken, I will use the forum page as the primary way to track your attendance each week. Two different forum questions will be posted each Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and will be available from 12:01 am – 8:00 pm each Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. In addition to being used to track your attendance, your response to each question is worth 2 points, for a total of 12 points per week or 180 points for the semester. Again, in addition to enabling communication and sharing of ideas, these questions will be used as a mechanism to keep track of attendance. If you do not respond to the forum question for a particular day within the window, and you do not meet any of the other standards of attendance listed above, you will not receive credit for that day’s attendance.Each student, then, should participate in the forum questions on a daily basis to ensure he/she is marked as ‘attending.” There will be no exceptions to this policy. To respond to a forum question, go to the E-Racer site for this course, click on“Forums,” in the left menu column, click on the underlined questions for that day, click on ‘add a new post,' and type in your response, and then click on‘Submit.’

Note:Any student who has never attended by Monday, Sept. 9,(as ‘attendance’ has been defined above; remember, simply logging in does not count as ‘attending’) will be automatically withdrawn from the course and will not be allowed reentry.

Note:Any student who attends before the administrative withdrawal date but is then absent nine consecutive days will be withdrawn from the course with a grade of AF.

Netiquette for online discussion and group work

You will be considered as having good ‘netiquette’ in this online course if you simply follow the golden rule – treat others as I would like to be treated, and that is to treat your classmates and instructor as individuals whose ideas should be valued and respected.What, specifically, does this mean?It means that when you communicate with either your instructor or with your fellow students you should:

Always use respectful language.That means no foul language, no hostile tones, no negative slang/labels, no texting abbreviations (believe it or not some of us might not understand those abbreviations).

Always respect others’ viewpoints and take them seriously.That means when you respond to your classmates’ postings you should take their postings seriously and post thoughtful/helpful comments regarding them.

Always present yourself as a scholar.Again do not hurry to post a reply and use texting abbreviations.That shows that your post is being done in a hurry.Always check your posts for spelling and grammar errors before you submit it.This demonstrates that you care about what you are posting.

Always look for what is good and valuable in your classmates’ posts.Don’t use negative criticism.That might indicate that you think you are right and your classmate is wrong.

Instructor Response Time and Method of Communica tion

Students may contact me by either email or by phone.My email address is lodatot@hssu.edu and my phone number is 314-351-9978.You may email 24 hours a day, but please phone only between 9:00 am – 7:00 pm as this is my home phone number.I will respond to your email or phone questions within 48 hours and I will post grades within 72 hours after the due date/time.When you submit an assignment through email, I will always send a‘received’ message indicating that your email came through and that I have received it.Again, this will be sent within 48 hours of your sending the email.If you do not receive this ‘received’ message, either email me again or call to make sure I have your work.Should you send your work to the wrong email address (e.g., if you misspell my name), you will be required to go to your ‘sent’ items and forward that email to me at the correct address so I can see the date/time sent.Do not email assignments to me through your IPhones since students in the past were not able to verify that they had sent their assignments to me on time.

Minimum technical skills required of students and technology needed in the co urse

To be successful in this course, you must have a minimum of technical skills.You should know how to log on to E-racer, how to email from your personal or HSSU email (you must also know how to activate this if you have not done so already), you must be able to create a Word document and then copy from it and paste it into the message section of an email; you need to know how to open external links, you should know how to use PowerPoint, and you should be able to post to the forums.

ASSIGNMENTS

All assignments must be submitted by the date and time indicated on the syllabus unless the time is changed by the instructor.Since this is an Internet class, no late assignments will be accepted.

EXTRA CREDIT

The instructor may offer extra-credit opportunities.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

Academic Dishonesty (First Offense):

If a student is clearly guilty of academic dishonesty (including cheating on an exam or plagiarism), such student will receive a grade of ‘0' on that assignment and will not receive a grade higher than a ‘C’ in the course.

Academic Dishonesty (Second Offence):

If same student is clearly guilty of a second instance of academic dishonesty (including cheating on an exam or plagiarism), such student will receive a grade of ‘F’ in the course.

STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

The instructor will, to the best of her ability, accommodate any documented disability that a student may have.However, it is a student’s responsibility to notify the Academic Support Area and the instructor of any special need.

INCOMPLETES

Only student-initiated incompletes will be considered.Incompletes will be given only if student misses the requirements due during the final week of the semester; student is required to submit documentation of illness or other extenuating circumstance.