Attendance

Attendance Policies

General Policies

My classes are divided into sixteen units, and each unit is worth 2.5 hours of attendance plus homework assignments:

• One Semester: 16 Units of Course Material

• One Unit: 2.5 Hours of Attendance + Homework and Research Assignments

• One Day: 75 Minutes of Attendace

• One Make-Up: Reading the Unit Materials + writing 250 words.  This replaces One Day of missed class, but does not replace homework or research assignments. 

One "day" of attendance represents about 75 minutes of work — if you miss a day of attendance due to extenuating circumstances (half a unit), then you can make up the participation points by writing 250 words about the material in that unit.  But there are limits!

• Make-Ups Are In Addition to Regular Assignments: Make-ups do not count toward your research papers.  They only replace attendance points.

• Max 4 Make-Ups: to ensure you're fully taking part in the course, you are generally limited to 4 make-up assignments.  This allows for 2 sick days, plus another 2 days for unforseen extenuating circumstances.  If you go beyond 4 absences total (including sick days), then you need to go through Student Access and Accomodations before I can count any additional make-up work.

• Extenuating Circumstances: Make-up work is also available for extenuating circumstances such as illness, family emergency, or travel for a college-sanctioned activity.

• Overwhelming Stress: If life gets overwhelming, I may allow you to do make-ups for your sick days plus the two extra days.  Just remember that attending class is usually easier than doing a write-up.

In Person Classes:

If you sign up for an in-person class, you're responsible for ensuring you can get time off from work and that you can get yourself to class.  For any day you miss, please email me so we can discuss make-up work.

• Sick Days: You're allowed to miss two days, but you only get the attendance points if you complete the make-up work.

• Employment and Transportation Don't Count: Work schedules and transportation issues generally don't count as extenuating circumstances.  I can make some exceptions for medical workers called in for an emergency or inclement weather that affects road conditions.

• Tardies Cost 30% of Participation Grade: If you're more than 10 minutes late for class, that will reduce your in-class participation grade by 30% for the day.  You can leave a little early for a medical or academic appointment, but it's a tardy if it's 20 minutes early or more.  For all non-medical and non-extenuating periods, it's a tardy if you miss 10 or more minutes of class.  This includes bathroom breaks.  Yes, feel free to go to the restroom if you need — if you're gone more than ten minutes, I'll assume you're on your phone and mark a tardy.

• Cell Phone Warnings and Absences: If you're on your cell phone, I'll give you a warning.  If I find you on your phone a second time, I'll warn you and mark you tardy.  If it's a third time, I'll likely ask you to leave class, and you'll be marked absent.

• Midterm Withdrawal: If you miss more than 5 hours of class time (2 weeks) in a row without notice, you may face Midterm Withdrawal.

Online Classes:

Your attendance is measured by participation in the discussion forums and quiz activities.

• Discussion Posts and Word Count: To be counted present for each unit, you must complete the required number of discussion posts and responses, and they must meet the required word count.  These are generally 500 words of writing per unit, plus any readings, videos, or quizzes required to learn the material.

• Work at Your Own Pace: Because online classes are asynchronous, we don't have the "sick days" of an in-person class.  If you let me know if your discussion post will be late, I'll likely still count it for full credit.  If you are very late in joining a discussion due to extenuating circumstances, you might have the option of doing a make-up write-up instead of the discussion, but I prefer you do the discussion.  If I've already graded that discussion, be sure to email me so I can update your grade.

• Discussion Due Dates: If you submit a discussion over one week late, that counts as a make-up.  If you hit 4 make-ups, then you won't be able to use more make-ups unless you go through Student Access and Accommodations.