Editing User:Aaronshaw/Course policies (section)

== Class logistics ==

=== Attendance ===

Attendance in synchronous (in-person or remote) class meetings is expected of all participants. 

Class sessions for my courses will generally occur in person. Individual students will not be granted permission to attend remotely except as the result of an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodation as determined by AccessibleNU (see the subsection on Accessibility for links and more).

If you need to miss class for any reason, please try to contact me and/or a member of the teaching team for the class ahead of time and/or as promptly as possible (email is best). Multiple unexplained absences may impact your grade. In the event of an absence, you are responsible for obtaining class notes, handouts, assignments, etc. You are also still responsible for turning in any assignments on time unless you make prior arrangements with the instructor(s).

In general, if you need to miss a class meeting the teaching team may ask you to submit a written reflection and/or response (about 500 words) to any assigned course materials. This is in addition to any assignments due in class the day of your absence. Please confirm this with the teaching team at the time of communicating about your absence.

=== Confidentiality of peers’ work and in-class discussions ===

Throughout a course, you may receive, read, collaborate, and/or comment on classmates’ work. These assignments are for class use only. You may not share them with anybody outside of class without explicit written permission from the author(s)/creator(s) pertaining to the specific piece(s) of work in question.

It is essential to the success of class that all participants feel comfortable discussing questions, thoughts, ideas, fears, reservations, apprehensions and confusion about works-in-progress, concepts, independent research, and more. Therefore, you should not share verbatim comments with those not in class nor should you share using other methods -- e.g., social media -- any comments linked to people’s identities unless you get clear and explicit permission from them to do so first. If you want to share general impressions or specifics of in-class discussions with those not in class, please do so without disclosing personal identities or details.

=== Deadlines ===

Emergencies happen. Unanticipated obstacles arise. If you cannot make a deadline, please contact me to figure out a schedule that will work. The more proactive and responsible you are, the more receptive I am likely be.

A word about extensions and incomplete grades: I strongly discourage them. In principle, I have no problem with extensions or incomplete grades. In practice, they tend to be a pain for everybody involved. If you absolutely must submit any assignment late, please assume that I may require up to 1 month (4 weeks) to grade it. Please take this into account if you will need me to to submit a grade in order to receive your fellowship/diploma/visa/etc. by a particular date.

Finally, if you wish to take an incomplete, I also ask that you propose, in writing, a timeline on which you plan to complete the work (along with a deadline for all work to be submitted). I will hold you to this deadline and will apply this same deadline policy to it.

=== Email protocol ===

I receive a lot of email and I sometimes fail to keep up. If, for some reason, I do not respond to a message related to this course within 48 hours, please do not take it personally and feel free to re-send the message with a polite reminder. This will help me and I will not resent you for it.

=== Grade appeals ===

If, after receiving a graded assignment back, you are confused by the grade or feel that it is not an accurate representation of your work, you have two options:
# Meet with whoever graded your work and ask for a clarification. You can then sit down and talk about your work, grading standards, possibilities for improvement, and so on.
# Submit to your grader, in writing, a grade appeal that provides an account of why you feel that the grade you received was inaccurate (not disappointing—inaccurate). If appropriate, they will be happy to regrade your work. Regrading is risk-free in the sense that it will never result in a "lower" grade than the one you were originally assigned.

It’s fine if you’d like to meet with your grader and then, after that meeting, request a regrade. All grade appeals (regrading requests) must be made in writing. Regrading may take up to one month after the submission of an appeal.

=== In-class device usage ===

Laptops, tablets, etc. are great for note-taking but carry enormous potential to distract their users and anyone sitting nearby. So, if you plan to use an electronic device, please monitor your behavior and ask yourself whether your device is helping you learn or distracting you. Internet surfing, phone-checking, headphones, and noise-creating devices are prohibited.

Please refrain from uses of devices that do not directly contribute to your engagement with the course material. If this becomes a problem, I may ask you to leave class, temporarily surrender devices, and/or meet to develop a plan to mitigate in-class device usage that could adversely impact your learning or others'.

=== Recordings ===

Unauthorized student recording of classroom or other academic activities (including advising sessions or office hours) is prohibited. Unauthorized recording is unethical and may also be a violation of University policy and state law. Students requesting the use of assistive technology as an accommodation should contact [https://www.northwestern.edu/accessiblenu/ AccessibleNU]. Unauthorized use of classroom recordings – including distributing or posting them – is also prohibited. 

Under the University’s (overly restrictive and rapacious!) [https://www.invo.northwestern.edu/invention-disclosure/policies-forms/copyright-policy/ Copyright Policy], faculty own the copyright to instructional materials – including those resources created specifically for the purposes of instruction, such as syllabi, lectures and lecture notes, and presentations. In many cases, I have licensed my teaching materials for reuse under specific terms (usually the terms of a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 unported] license, which is the default for everything published/stored on this wiki). Students and others may remix, reuse, and redistribute such materials in a manner consistent with the terms of the license. Any uses of instructional materials that exceed or violate the terms of the license are not permitted without my express consent and authorization and may be subject to a variety of consequences. Students who engage in unauthorized recording, unauthorized use of a recording, or unauthorized distribution of instructional materials may be referred to the appropriate University office for follow-up.