[Coehd] FW: Important Dates and Information for Fall Semester 2014

COEHD Faculty, For your information. Thank you. Best Regards, Karen Karen P. Hoskins Assistant Dean College of Education and Human Development Office of the Dean T: 210.458.4480 From: Linda Mahoney Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2014 3:04 PM Subject: Important Dates and Information for Fall Semester 2014 Please make sure ALL faculty receive the following information, please note **NEW** items: Important Dates and Information for Fall Semester 2014 Office Hours Faculty members are expected to maintain at least three hours of office time each week during a semester when scheduled to teach a class. Faculty members should be available for face-to-face conferences with students even for those students enrolled in online or hybrid classes. Verification of Class Rosters In order to help the university reduce the number of requests by students to add classes late into the semester, faculty members should verify that the name of each student attending and participating in a class appears on the class roster. An effective way to verify a class roster is not to accept assignments or examinations from students whose names do not appear on the official class roster, which can be accessed by faculty through Banner ASAP. Students who are attending a class but whose names do not appear on the roster should be notified so that they can rectify the problem. Note that the names of students who are auditing courses do not appear on class rosters. Too often faculty members attempt to assign a course grade to a student who has attended and participated in a class the entire semester, but whose name is not on the final grade roster. The verification of class rosters by faculty members should eliminate this problem. Since students are dropped from classes at the end of the 20th class day for nonpayment, faculty members should review their official class rosters in ASAP at least once after this date. For Fall Semester 2014, the 20th class day is September 24, 2014. Course Syllabus General guidelines for course syllabus preparation may be found on the Provost’s Course Syllabus Instructions web site at http://provost.utsa.edu/home/syllabi_instructions.asp. Faculty should also place in their course syllabus the common information link (http://utsa.edu/syllabus) to UTSA policies and services regarding disabilities, dishonesty, counseling and tutoring, plus the Roadrunner Creed. To help the university comply with the provisions of HB 2504 passed by the 81st Texas State Legislature, the course syllabus for each undergraduate course needs to be posted to the UTSA Bluebook website. You or your department may be responsible for uploading a version of your course syllabus to Bluebook depending on departmental policy. Also consider adding to your course syllabus some information about the Tomás Rivera Center academic support services. (See the attached message from the Tomás Rivera Center.) **NEW** Student Course Evaluation Completion Rate Please see the attached memo from the Provost regarding strategies to increase the student course evaluation completion rate. **NEW** Handling and Storage of Student Course Grade Records Please see the attached e-mail message from the Provost regarding new policies for the storage and handling of student grade records. In particular, beginning Spring Semester 2014, all faculty are required to keep course grade records in Blackboard Learn. **NEW** Student Disability Services Please see the attached memo from the Provost on Student Disability Services in regard to providing accommodations for students with disabilities. Short Notice Class Cancellations by Faculty Members Occasionally, because of unforeseen circumstances, a faculty member may find it necessary to cancel a meeting of one of his or her classes on a short notice. During the university’s normal business hours (M thru F 8:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.), the faculty member can notify his or her academic department about a short notice class cancellation, and the department will send someone to the classroom to place a notice on the door or otherwise inform the students of the class cancellation. Outside of the university’s normal business hours, the faculty member can notify the UTSA Police Department by telephone at 458-4242 about any short notice class cancellations. The UTSA Police Department will dispatch an officer to the classroom to notify the students. This outside of the normal business hours notification procedure will prevent our evening and weekend students from having to wait unnecessarily when a faculty member finds that he or she will not be able to meet a class as planned. Student Study Days At the end of each Fall and Spring Semester, two days prior to the beginning of the final examination period are designated as Student Study Days. Classes do not meet during Student Study Days. Furthermore, Student Study Days are not to be used as dates on which papers are to be turned in, examinations are to be given, quizzes to be scheduled, review sessions to be held, or for any other class related activities, other than office hours. For Fall Semester 2014, the Student Study Days are Thursday, December 11th and Friday, December 12th. Drop Dates Recall that a student who drops an individual course after Census Date and on or before the Drop Date (Automatic “W” Date) will automatically receive a grade of “W” in the course. Also the Drop Date is the last date that a student is permitted to drop an individual course. For Fall Semester 2014, according to a new university policy, the Drop Date for undergraduate and graduate students is Thursday, October 30th. **NEW** Students Who Stop Attending or Never Attended a Class Federal regulations regarding financial aid require that a student’s financial aid award be partially based on the percent of the semester that the student actually attended classes. In order to assist the Office of Student Financial Aid in remaining compliant with Federal regulations, please pay special attention to those students who stop attending your class or who never attend the class. When reporting Midterm and Final Grades in ASAP for student who stopped attending the class and did not drop the class, please give the approximate date the student last completed any coursework or last attended the class in the “Last Attend Date” column and select Grade Comment #02 – Stopped Attending. For students who never attended the class and did not drop the class, no last attended date is needed; however, please select Grade Comment #01 – Never Attended. For students who earned an F through poor academic performance, select Grade Comment #03. NOTE: Faculty members are required to select one of the above three grade comments when assigning a grade of “F” in ASAP. Faculty members’ assistance with this important matter is critical and very much appreciated. UTSA Definition of a Semester Credit Hour The above mentioned Federal regulations regarding student financial aid also required the university to adopt an official definition of a semester credit hour. See the following link for this definition: http://utsa.edu/success/The%20UTSA%20Definition%20of%20a%20Semester%20Cre... ADD FORMS To reduce the number of requests to add classes late into the semester, the absolute deadline for students to add a class for Fall 2014 will be 5:00 p.m. on Monday, October 13th. The college deans and Dean of University College will not sign any add forms after October 13th, unless there was a university error. Please make your students aware of this important date. ***NEW***Midterm Grades Faculty members are required to report midterm grades for all undergraduates. This policy applies only for undergraduates enrolled in organized classes. It does not apply to undergraduates enrolled in classes such as internships, independent study courses, or honors theses. Certain organized classes such as studio classes may also be provided exemptions from this policy on a case-by-case basis. Faculty members may check with their academic department to see which classes are exempt from providing midterm grades for undergraduates In order to support faculty in the requirement to enter midterm grades (and final grades) into ASAP, the university has implemented a “Grade Transfer from Blackboard Learn to ASAP” process. Faculty may visit the following website for instructions for using this grade transfer process http://learn.utsa.edu. To access the Workshops and Training: click ‘Faculty’ tab and choose ‘Workshops and Training’. To access Grade Transfer information: click ‘Faculty’ tab and choose ‘Grade Transfer: Blackboard Learn to ASAP’. Midterm grades will be due Friday, October 17th at 2:00 p.m. Final Examinations ****Please see the attached memo sent to the faculty by the Provost on April 16, 2010 for information regarding end of semester assignments.**** The time and place of final examinations for organized courses are given in the University's Final Examination Schedule. The schedule is to be followed as announced, with final examinations given on the dates and at the times when they are scheduled and in the places where they are scheduled. For Fall Semester 2014, the Final Examination Period is Saturday, December 13th to Friday, December 19th. ***** ALL classes are expected to meet during the assigned final examination time, whether a final exam is to be given or not. This is necessary to ensure that we provide sufficient contact hours in each class to satisfy accreditation standards and expectations.***** Final Grade Reports The final grade report for each course is due 48 hours after the final examination is given, and no later than Monday, December 22nd at 2:00 p.m.