The following policies apply to all courses I teach at Framingham State. For any policies specific to an individual course, please see the course website.
Accommodations
Any student with a disability or other extenuating circumstances should see the instructor as soon as possible to make appropriate arrangements. All accommodations are determined by the Center for Academic Success and Achievement in consultation with the student. It is the student’s responsibility to notify the instructor of any accommodations provided through CASA, including written documentation.
Blackboard
The course will not use Blackboard. Each student, however, will need to have access to his or her Blackboard account in order to access resources through Framingham State.
Communication
All students are required to maintain a Framingham State e-mail account, and course announcements will be sent to that address. Please check your FSU account regularly for updates.
Electronic Devices
Each student is responsible for making decisions about how best to engage with course materials, take notes, and otherwise prepare and participate. Research suggests that students who use laptops, phones, and tablets in class learn less and earn lower grades than those who take notes by hand and use hard copies of course materials. On the other hand, many students are accustomed to working on electronic devices or have accommodations that permit their use. There will therefore be no restrictions on the use of electronic devices except in cases where doing so interferes with a productive learning environment for a class.
All lectures and course materials are copyright to the instructor and may not be reproduced or distributed without written permission. You may not record lectures without prior approval in writing.
University Assessment
Framingham State University (FSU) is committed to the assessment of student achievement regarding academic outcomes. This process addresses the issues of what you need to learn in your program of study and if you are learning what you need to learn. The assessment program at FSU has four specific and interrelated purposes: (1) to improve student academic achievements; (2) to improve teaching strategies; (3) to document successes and identify opportunities for program improvement; and (4) to provide evidence of institutional effectiveness. Students enrolled in general education courses may participate in the FSU assessment effort. This might involve your class instructor submitting copies of your assignments for review, responding to surveys, or participating in other measurements designed to assess the FSU student learning outcomes. No identifying information will be reported and only aggregated data will be used. If you do not wish to participate in any assessments, please notify your instructor.
Academic Honesty and Plagiarism
The academic community is built upon the free, open, and honest exchange of ideas and opinions. In order to achieve such an environment, students need to be confident that their peers are holding themselves to the same high standards. Cheating undermines the reputation of a university’s degrees and violates the trust of all members of our intellectual community. Accordingly, no form of cheating will be tolerated in this course. All students are expected to conform to the university’s code of conduct at all times. Any student found cheating will be referred to the Dean of Students according to university policy. Cheating on any assignment will result in an automatic failure of the assignment and other possible repercussions.
Plagiarism is defined as the act of using the ideas or work of another person or persons as if they were one’s own without giving proper credit to the source. You must acknowledge the original author or source of all quotations and ideas through quotation marks, footnotes, etc. Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to the following:
- the submission of a work, either in part or in whole completed by another;
- failure to give credit for ideas, statements, facts or conclusions which rightfully belong to another;
- failure to use quotation marks when quoting directly from another, whether it be a paragraph, a sentence, or even a part thereof;
- close and lengthy paraphrasing of another’s writing, without credit or originality;
- use of another’s project or programs or part thereof without giving credit.
Submission of a work completed for another class either in a previous or concurrent term is academic dishonesty. In short, plagiarism is not allowed under any circumstances. If you have any questions about whether something might be considered plagiarism, please ask.
FSU Notice of Non-Discrimination and Diversity
Framingham State University is committed to a policy of non-discrimination, equal opportunity, diversity and affirmative action. The University is dedicated to providing educational, working and living environments that value the diverse backgrounds of all people. Furthermore, the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act (“MCRA,” M.G.L. c. 12, §§ 11H, 11I, 11J) protects the rights of all residents and visitors to Massachusetts to be free from bias-motivated threats, intimidation, and coercion that interfere with their civil rights. The MCRA protects the right to attend school, live peacefully, and enjoy other basic rights.
Workload
Federal regulations require that students engage in two hours of work outside of the classroom for each credit hour. For courses at Framingham State, which are four credits, that means that students are expected to work for approximately eight hours per week outside of class.
Joseph M. Adelman 