Teaching and Course Management

Summary of Expectations
Academic Integrity
Grading Policy

Summary of Expectations

• Hold class every designated day for the entire period (F2F and LIVE/synchronous)
• Adhere to the master syllabus requirements
• Adhere to the grading policy
• Use the appropriate, course-adopted, current edition of the textbook
• Use Canvas to post syllabus, grades, and contact information
• Notify your chairperson and the Liberal Arts Coordinator if you will be absent
• Respond to all student emails in a timely manner (with 24 hours)
• Submit all assessment reports (POA and GELO)
• Submit SH/NOS, midterm grades, and final grades on time in LoLA
• Adhere to the final exam schedule
• Submit all end-of-semester materials to the Division of Liberal Arts Canvas site

Emergency Instructional Course Continuity Plan

At the start of each semester, you are required to complete and upload the Emergency Instructional Course Continuity Plan in the event there is a disruption in instruction, whether due to your own injury or illness or a larger-scale disruption such as a public health issue/pandemic. This form can be found through the Division each faculty member serves in.

Assessment

All faculty are required to submit Show/No Show (SH/NOS) attendance reports in LoLA by the noon deadlines for each part-of-term set by the Registrar. For 16-weeks courses, the deadline is typically 5 days after the last day for students to add courses (13 or 14 days after the first day of classes). For 12-weeks, 8-weeks, and 1st 7/4- and 2nd 7/4-weeks courses, the deadline is during the first week of class. All online courses must have at least one graded assignment due during the first week of class/before the noon attendance reporting deadline. This assignment will be the indicator of student participation (SH). Face-to-face courses use any class period physically attended as an indicator of student participation (SH). Follow these steps to submit your SH/NOS reports:

• Log onto LoLA from mybrcc.edu
• Click “Faculty and Advisors”
• Click “Grade Entry”
• Click “Midterm Grades”
• Click on the prefix/# of the class(es) to access the drop-down menus next to each student
• For ONLINE courses, select SH (show = submitted at least one graded assignment) or NOS (no show = did not submit at least one graded assignment before the noon reporting deadline)
• For FACE-TO-FACE courses, select SH (show = physically attended at least one class) or NOS (no show = did not physically attend at least one class before the noon reporting deadline)
• Please make sure you enter SH or NOS for each student registered (see bottom right page navigation/arrow for 25 + students on the second page) and note that If you fail to report at least one student as SH or NOS, the entirety of your report will not submit
• Click “Save”
• Clicking “Save” before the deadline does not mean you cannot go back in and amend the record if students submit work or physically attend class before the attendance reporting deadline at noon

Methods of Class Coverage for Teaching Faculty

Depending on circumstances such as the amount of previous notice, the familiarity of the subject matter to the substitute, and the nature of the subject matter under assignment, there are various levels of “coverage” in order of preference (specific divisions may have additional requirements):

• The class is met and taught, or the examination given, so that the syllabus is carried forward despite the absence. This should be especially possible in multi-section courses where different instructors and sections can be assumed to be teaching the same content.
• The class is met and continued throughout the period by discussion, review, in-class written assignment, or similar instructional technique.
• The class is met, attendance taken, and the class dismissed to do further research or written work previously assigned.
• The class is met, attendance taken, and dismissed.
• The class is canceled.
• Classes scheduled to begin at 7:00 am, 6:00 pm, or on the weekend may contact the Dean or Department Chair of their division to notify of emergency absences.

Responsibility for Providing a Substitute Instructor

Whenever a full-time or part-time instructor expects to be absent from class, or be late for a class, it is the instructor’s responsibility to notify the appropriate department chair. The instructor and/or department chair will find a substitute from among the faculty; or, circumstances demanding, a paid substitute instructor.

As a rule, it should not be expected that instructors maintain a colleague’s classes for more than a day or two; a week should be the limit before a paid substitute is employed. The appropriate department chair or academic dean is responsible for ensuring that such class coverage is provided.

Course Cancellation

Classes may be cancelled by the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Workforce and Student Development or division dean prior to the start of class. The Registrar’s Office and the academic deans are responsible for managing class cancellations. Classes with less than 15 students are considered to have low enrollment. Deans may request that a low enrollment class remain open for exceptional reasons. Permission to maintain low enrollment classes requires approval by the PVCWSD.

After decisions regarding class closures have been determined the Registrar immediately closes the designated classes. Students may be notified by phone or email of the class closure.

Course Overrides

Class size is predetermined. Factors considered when deciding maximum class limits include curricular requirements, room size, space, available instructional resources (overhead projector, computer-related resources, etc.), ADA accommodations, and fire/safety concerns.

Changes in class size are made by department chairs and/or division deans. When a class has reached its maximum capacity and other sections are not available, the division dean may open additional sections. In addition, the division dean or department chair may allow an override that will permit additional students to enroll. Overrides may be granted for extenuating circumstances only. Faculty, advisors, or staff members should exercise caution in encouraging students to seek overrides.

Academic Integrity

BRCC expects high standards of academic integrity from both its students and faculty. Academic integrity is a critical component for equitable learning and the effective evaluation of academic performance; thus, faculty and students share equal responsibility in creating and maintaining an atmosphere of honesty and integrity.

Students are expected to adhere to the academic rules and regulations set by the College and understand that personally completing assigned work is essential to learning. Permitting others to prepare one’s work, using published or unpublished summaries as a substitute for studying required materials, or giving unauthorized assistance in the preparation of work to be submitted for class are all directly contrary to the honest process of learning.

Faculty, too, are responsible for encouraging an atmosphere of academic honesty by being certain that students are aware of its value. Furthermore, faculty should make clear to students the regulations defining academic honesty and the penalties for violating those regulations.

Both students and faculty should realize that dishonest practices make it difficult for honest students to be evaluated and graded fairly. Their own interests and their integrity as individuals suffer if they permit dishonesty in others. Permitting dishonesty is not open to personal choice: anyone who is unwilling to act upon offenses is an accessory with the offender in damaging the integrity of the entire College.

Categories and Definitions of Academic Integrity Offenses

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, the violations listed below and encompasses any attempt to commit such acts. The following definitions are not limited by the accompanying examples given: each term applies to all acts that fit within the bounds of its definitions.

Cheating

Cheating is a fraudulent act of deception by a student to misrepresent his/her mastery of information on an academic exercise.

Premeditated cheating arises from advanced planning, contemplation, or deliberation, such as:

1. Pre-arranged collaboration during a test with another person to give or receive information without authority.
2. Using specially prepared materials during a test without authority to do so, such as pocket notes, formula lists, etc.
3. Submission of written or other assignment copied from another person’s work from electronic or other sources such as another student’s paper or papers found online.

Cheating can also be unpremeditated acts of opportunity, such as:

1. copying from another student’s test paper.
2. using prohibited materials (e.g., course textbook, notebook, cellphone/PDA, etc.) during a test.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the unacknowledged inclusion of someone else’s words, ideas, or data (hereafter referred to as external material) within one’s own work submitted for credit. When a student submits work for credit that includes external material, the source of the external material must be acknowledged through specific, complete, and accurate citations/footnotes, as appropriate and, in the case of verbatim statements, quotation marks.

It is a common misconception that only external material that is presented verbatim must be acknowledged. External material must be acknowledged whether presented verbatim or paraphrased: simply rearranging words does not change the fact that the information/ideas originally came from someone else!

Similarly, the source of the material, the medium in which it is presented, and its copyright status are all irrelevant. Failure to identify any external material, published or unpublished, copyrighted, or noncopyrighted, constitutes plagiarism.

Collusion

Generally, collusion involves some form of collaboration with another offender and encompasses several different actions:

1. Unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing academic assignments offered for credit, such as working together as a team on a project assigned to each student individually.
2. Facilitating, supporting, conspiring with, or collaborating with another person to commit a violation of any of the College’s academic integrity rules and/or standards. Even though the collaborating student may have only assisted and did not take part in the principal act, he or she is still liable for the offense of collusion. An example would be assisting another student in circumventing tamper-prevention measures on an electronic exam so that the exam’s questions can be altered. Even though the student providing the illegal circumvention may not take advantage of it personally, he/she has committed collusion by enabling another student to violate academic integrity by doing so.
3. Ignoring academic integrity violations by others. Students who are aware that others in a course are cheating or otherwise acting dishonestly have the responsibility to bring the matter to the attention of the instructor, a faculty member, or other appropriate College official. If a student fails to do so, he or she becomes an accessory after the fact and commits collusion by failing to act.
4. Providing false information (or omitting known relevant information) in any inquiry, formal or informal, regarding academic integrity violations.

Fabrication and Falsification

Fabrication is the intentional use of invented information; falsification is the manipulation or changing of research or its findings: for both, the intention is to deceive. Various examples include:

1. Citing information not taken from the source indicated.
2. Listing sources (in a bibliography, etc.) that were not used in the academic exercise.
3. Inventing data or source information for research or other academic exercises.
4. Inventing previous experience and/or accomplishments on an application for a degree program, internship, etc.

Misrepresentation

Generally, misrepresentation involves the misuse of identities and/or the inappropriate attribution of credit for work, experiences, and achievements. The acts misrepresentation encompasses include:

1. Falsely assuming the identity of another, or allowing another to assume one’s own identity, through any means, for the purposes of deception in an academic exercise (completing an assignment, taking a test, etc.).
2. Falsely or inappropriately assuming ownership, authorship, and/or credit for work, experiences, and/or accomplishments that actually belong to another.
3. Submitting any work in fulfillment of academic requirements as one’s own, when in actuality said work was prepared totally or in part by another.
4. Submitting substantially the same work previously used for credit in another course without explicit permission to do so.

Academic Interference

Academic integrity is more than simply being honorable in performing one’s own work - it also means respecting the work of others. Academic interference encompasses any activity undertaken with the express purpose of

1. hindering or obstructing another student’s academic work, or 
2. obtaining an unfair academic advantage over another student’s academic work.

Unauthorized Access to Academic Materials, Records, or Systems

Students are required to respect College property, records, and academic materials, as well as those of its faculty and staff. The following acts constitute unauthorized access:

1. Obtaining an unauthorized copy of all or part of an examination, through whatever means (theft, bribery, deception, hacking, etc.).
2. Unauthorized dissemination of all or part of an examination, through whatever means (selling, freely distributing, etc.).
3. Gaining entry and/or access to a building, office, or electronic system for the purpose of obtaining an unauthorized copy of an examination or changing academic records.
4. Making unauthorized changes and/or alterations to a grade book, exam, transcript, or other official academic records of the College which relate to academic performance and/or grades.

Procedure for Reporting Academic Dishonesty

The instructor, upon receiving information or determining that a student may be guilty of a form of academic dishonesty, normally will confront the student with the alleged violation. If the student is unable to explain discrepancies satisfactorily, the instructor will have two options available:

1. The instructor can choose to fail the student for the assignment/test in question, and/or 
2. The instructor can forward the allegations for adjudication under the procedures defined in the Student Code of Conduct to the Office of the Dean of Students for a formal or informal hearing.

Regardless of which option is selected, the instructor must address the situation directly with the student and is required to submit to the Chairperson/Dean of the Department, in writing, a detailed account of the violation, including the name of the course, type of assignment or test, date of the alleged violation, names of witness, and copies of all information which supports the allegation. Such information may be asked of the Office of the Dean of Students should the instructor/department submit the case for adjudication. 

Disciplinary Procedure

Faculty have the authority to assign a failing grade on any academic work in which they have determined the work is the result of academic dishonesty. In addition, the matter may be referred to as a violation of the Student Code of Conduct and be adjudicated under the procedures defined in the Code to the Office of the Dean of Students.

Possible Disciplinary Sanctions

A listing of possible disciplinary sanctions can be reviewed under the Student Code of Conduct, presented in the Student Policies section of this catalog, and must be administered by the dean of students or designee. 

TurnItIn

BRCC has access to plagiarism detection software that is integrated into Canvas. Please expect training sessions to be announced. If you have questions about this tool, please contact Ms. Lenora White whitel@mybrcc.edu.

Proctoring and Proctorio

Proctored assignments can be administered on-site by the BRCC Testing Center (Mid-City campus) OR online via web cam with Proctorio. Proctorio is BRCC’s virtual test proctoring system. The proctoring of assignments is not mandatory and is at the instructor’s discretion. If you plan on using the BRCC Testing Center or Proctorio for proctoring assignments, please note that on your course syllabus so that students are aware of your policy.

Grading Policy

For example, assume that a student has taken the following illustrated schedule, and has made the grades shown:

Explanation of the Example:

Although the student signed up for six courses (16 semester credit hours), he/she withdrew from SPCH 120 prior to the withdrawal deadline, so that course will not be included in the calculation. Thirteen credit hours will be computed in the student’s GPA even though he/she passed only ten credits because completed but failed courses are included in the calculations. Now look at the preceding quality-point list and multiply the number of hours completed in each course by the number of quality points assigned for each grade. The student earned a total of 30 quality points for his/her final grades in 13 credit hours. Divide the 30 quality points by the 13 credits used for his/her GPA to arrive at his/her GPA of 2.31.

While in this example, the student has received three passing grades, the one failing grade has brought the student’s overall GPA to 2.31. A GPA of less than 2.0 is considered to be less than satisfactory academic progress and will result in the student being placed on academic probation for the following term.

A grade point average is computed on all work that a student completes with the following exceptions: courses with grades of “P,” “W,” and “AU.” The temporary grade of “I” or Incomplete carries no grade value, but will convert to an “F” if work in the course is not completed within the specified time. The grade awarded when an “I” is removed will be used in calculating the grade point average.

Grading Scale

The standard grading scale for BRCC is as follow:

90-100 - A
80-89 - B
70-79 - C
60-69 - D
59 below - F

Nursing Scale

The grading scale for all nursing and selected other allied health courses for BRCC is as follow:

93-100 - A
85-92 - B
77-84 - C
69-76 - D
<69 - F

Incomplete Grades

Incomplete grades may be awarded to students who experience a documented serious problem in the final two weeks of the semester. The student must not have been awarded a final grade in the course. A fillable incomplete form is available in the Forms section on the Division of Liberal Arts Canvas site. Never submit an incomplete grade form for approval without first addressing the need for the incomplete grade with your chairperson.

Mid-Term Grades

Faculty are responsible for letting students know mid-term grades. Mid-term grades are posted to LOLA.

Final Examinations

BRCC requires that final examinations be held. In cases where a final examination is unsuitable for the nature of the course an exception may be made upon approval of the appropriate division dean. For example, most internships may not require a final examination. Final examinations must be given during the published dates for final examinations. No faculty member may waive final examinations unless approved as an exception by the division dean.

Students having three or more final examinations in a 24-hour period may request approval to take no more than two examinations on the day concerned. Requests should be made to the division dean of the degree program in which the student is registered. The dean is authorized to determine which examination may be taken at another time than that regularly scheduled and the decision is final.

Students having a conflict between group examinations in two subjects at the same time will take the first examination shown on the schedule at the regular time. The instructor of the second examination will make arrangements with the student for the second examination at a special time. All schedule changes must be approved by the department head and the dean of the division.

Review sessions may not be held during the final examination period because of possible conflicts with scheduled exams.

The five days preceding final examinations, are designated study days for students. During this time, no extracurricular or school sponsored social functions may be held on or off campus.

FINAL GRADES MUST BE POSTED TO LOLA ON OR BEFORE PUBLISHED DEADLINE DATES.

Grade Reports

Faculty members must report final grades according to the academic calendar and published deadlines. Procedures for submitting final grades will come from your division. If you have questions about the process, please contact your department Chair. Final grade reports are issued by the Office of Enrollment Services.

Faculty may not enter grades of “W” for withdrawals. Students must withdraw from courses through the Office of Enrollment Services. For students who have not been attending class, but for whom no “W” appears on the final grade sheet, faculty should post an “F”. For students with excessive absences, faculty should refer to the Class Attendance Policy. Faculty cannot initiate an incomplete or “I” grade in the midterm or final grade posting process. See the Incomplete Grade Policy in the BRCC Catalog for details.

In addition to posting grades electronically by the deadline date, faculty should give their division coordinator:

• Electronic copies of grade book records and attendance records for each class.
• Procedures used for calculating final grades in each class. This procedure should be listed in
  the syllabus for each course.