1. General Class Policies Juliet Davis, M.A.T., MFA Associate Professor of Communication

2. Contact Info

3.  NOTE: In rare cases, U.T. email does not get through. If I do not respond in a timely way to your message, and if you have allowed for reasonable response time, then it is my responsibility (not yours) to respond for resolution of your issue, and you will not be penalized for your issue.

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5.  Check your email daily.  Be clear in email and texts.

7. Attendance, Absences, Makeup Work The better your attendance is, the better you will do in this class, statistically speaking. I am not able to re-teach the material to you in the event that you are absent, but you can get notes from a classmate. ________________________________________________________________ For unexcused absences, late projects and papers will be docked 10 points per class meeting overdue. Quizzes, tests, and class activities cannot be made up. ________________________________________________________________ Excused absences follow university policy cited in your syllabus, but call if you’re going to be absent because sometimes I make exceptions. ________________________________________________________________ Assignments are due at the beginning of class so that we can discuss them during class. If you are late to class, your project will also be considered late. ________________________________________________________________ You are responsible for deadlines even if printers or other technologies are malfunctioning, so please do not wait for the day a project is due to print it out. ________________________________________________________________

8. Take Notes in Class

9. Submitting Your Work

10. You are REQUIRED to carry a mini stapler. Papers not stapled will be penalized.

11. Electronic and Hard Copies When both are required, if you only supply one, your grade will be penalized.

12. Please submit electronic files I can READ (or the grade will be penalized).  That means MS Word document or.pdf.  If you want FREE software that will create, read, and edit MS Office files, go to www.openoffice.com.www.openoffice.com  Do not give me.pages documents—PC’s can’t read them. They’re Mac files. Thank you!

13. Here’s the info you need on your assignments.  All assignments should feature the student’s name, project title, assignment type (most important), class, section day/time, and submission date.  If you submit a DVD as part of a project, this info must be written, in marker, on the disk (please do not use dry-erase markers for this purpose, as they can damage media).

14. Handing in Makeup work or Revision?  The word MAKEUP WORK or REVISION must appear in bold if applicable,  the new version should be stapled on top of the old (graded) version,  and a note should be included with a reminder of the circumstances

15.  Only submit COPIES of precious original materials. Don’t make me responsible for the only existing photo of your great grandmother’s wedding. :0

16. Citations  MLA, APA, CMS  Purdue Owl Lab

17. Plagiarism: “This is gonna hurt.”

18.  All work, including any regular work, makeup work, and revision work, must be submitted before the Thursday before finals week. Regular office hours are not held during finals week.

19. Backing Up Your Work 43% of computer users lose their files because they don’t back up their work or they do so only periodically.

20. “I didn’t know I was supposed to keep my class papers and projects--I threw them away!”  I hear this constantly. Keep all your class work (and all your versions of it) COM 232 Midterm – v1.doc COM 232 Midterm – v2.doc COM 232 Midterm – v3.doc  You never know when one or more versions can be used in a portfolio, in the workplace, for grad school applications, etc. Plus, some majors have a portfolio requirement for graduation. You’re going to need your work.

21. Disks and drives are not magical immortal beings—sooner or later, they all die horrible deaths. You are responsible for keeping your work in TWO PLACES other than school grounds.

22. Back up your work in TWO PLACES other than school grounds  Ideally, your hard drive and a cloud server for automatic backup.

23. How to Use Dropbox  Go to www.dropbox.com, download the little blue box to your desktop, and keep all your files in it. Anything in the box is backed up to the cloud and can be accessed from any device. You can also add to and edit files from any other device.www.dropbox.com

24. How to Use Dropbox  Download Dropbox to all your other computers, phones, and devices to share all your files across all devices and access them any time.  Wouldn’t you like to access all the photos you own, on any device, at any time?  Plus, you can go to the web and access your files from any computer.  The minute you create a file in a Dropbox, on any device, it is backed up and shared with all others. Any time you edit the file, the changes are there immediately.  You get 2 GB for free and can pay for more if you need it.

25. Other cloud servers are available as well  U.T. provides students free cloud space.  iCloud provides space, but Apple doesn’t always play nice with other devices,.  Advice: Only use apps that work across ALL platforms.

26. NEVER rely on the student server at school to story your files.  Why? Everyone has access to them and anyone can accidentally delete them.

27. NEVER rely on a flash drive alone. Always back it up to a second place (e.g., your hard drive).  Why? They’re easy to lose.

28. What if you are using lab computers or wielding big files (e.g., video files) or complex web files that are linked together?  Save to an external drive.  Then, take the files home and back them up to your hard drive or another second drive.

29. GRADES

31. Feedback

32.  Rough Drafts  Revision Opportunity for New Grade. Feel free to request—they’re usually granted. But they’re usually not granted under the following conditions: - for assignments that primarily show mechanical/grammatical weaknesses, - to students who have had excessive absences, - to students who have failed to complete previous homework or drafts associated with the assignment, - or to students who have already had opportunity to revise from a draft that received feedback.

33. “Spielberg, again???” Please don’t use a topic more than once during a class. Vary your topics so that you have a varied portfolio of work. Also, students are not permitted to use ideas that have already been featured in class examples. This should go without saying, but...

34. Grade Book Discrepancies  It’s your responsibility to report grade book discrepancies in a timely way.

35. Hate group work?  Everyone does, if it’s unfairly graded. Here’s how we make sure it’s fair: If the course involves graded group work, each member must pull his or her weight or may be dismissed by the group. There’s no penalty for being dismissed—you just have to complete the work on your own or switch to a new group that will have you. Contact me right away if there’s an issue.

36. Lab Rules If you use the computer lab, you are expected to adhere to the lab rules posted on Blackboard.

37. Check Out the Help Resources At the end of your syllabus, check out academic resources, writing resources, therapy sessions, crime victim support, support for students with disability, and more. U.T. has all the help you could need. Particularly note Saunders Writing Center for writing help.

38. QUESTIONS? Let me know.