Course Policies

Attendance helps you know what's going on.  If you aren't present, then you won't hear the course explanations and the answers to questions.  So if you miss class, you lose participation points — click to learn how attendance affects your participation grade.

If you have too many absences or your missing too much work at Midterms, you may be withdrawn from the course.  Per the Student Handbook at Heartland Community College (2025 edition):

. . . an instructor may administratively withdraw a student whose pattern of absence causes the instructor to seriously question the intent of the student to further pursue the course or to complete the course with a passing grade.

A student also may be withdrawn from a class by administrative action as a result of emergency or disciplinary procedures under the provisions of Board policy on Students’ Rights and Responsibilities. Students have the right to appeal either a faculty or administrative withdrawal through the appeal process. (40)

Nothing will kill your grade like plagiarism — and copying from AI for an assignment also counts as plagiarism.  But it's more than simply a grade.  If you rely on AI or other people to do your writing for you, then you won't learn to think and communicate for yourself.  Visit the AI and Plagiarism Policies Page to see:

• Critical Thinking: Learn why doing your own work matters.

• Version Histories: I use version histories in Google Docs to ensure that each student is writing their own work.

• AI and Plagarism Penalties: Turning in AI or other plagiarized materials will result in a zero on an assignment, and can also lead to a reduction in the final course grade and report to Student Affairs.

• Grammarly vs. ChatGPT: You do not need Grammarly to pass my course — and using Grammarly can give a false positive for AI plagiarism.