Although we are not in a physical classroom, we need to still treat the virtual environment with respect as a learning environment.

• It is required that your laptop/tablet’s webcam and audio be operational.  A phone is not an adequate device for class purposes.  

• Just as visual and hearing communication is important to learning in an in-person classroom, it is important in a virtual classroom.  Please have your webcam turned on (“Start Video”) unless confronted with unavoidable personal or technical limitations.  Please mute audio when you are only listening.  Your full name should be displayed.

• You are not permitted to give the class’s Zoom meeting link or password to anyone not enrolled in the class.  You are expected to login with your USC address/zoom account through USC’s SSO (single sign on).

• You should understand that USC records class meetings.  This will allow students in Asia to attend asynchronously if they need, or will provided for unanticipated emergencies.  The provost states that "students should plan to attend every synchronous session for the classes in which they are enrolled, irrespective of when it occurs in their time zone...within reasonable learning hours in the student’s time zone, defined as 7:00am to 10:00pm."

  •  The provost reminds "students of their responsibilities towards the appropriate use and handling of these recordings under existing SCampus policies regarding class notes (https://policy.usc.edu/scampus-part-c/)...[students] are not permitted to create their own class recordings without the instructor’s permission. Violations of these policies will be met with the appropriate disciplinary sanction. 

Try to keep external distractions to a minimum. It is important to be cognizant of the following in our learning environment:

• Do your best to find a quiet, well-lit space prior to logging onto the live session. The setting should be an environment conducive to learning.

• Proper classroom attire is expected. (If you wouldn’t wear it in an in‑person classroom, please don’t wear it in our virtual classroom.) Ditto for behavior.

• Please sit up at your table or desk, just as you would in a physical classroom.  Your face should be in the camera frame.

• Please minimize distractions, both for your own learning and for others in the virtual classroom.  Some visual and audio distractions that are best avoided during class time are:  children, pets, TV, music, media, phones, and people moving in the background.  If such a situation arises, simply briefly mute your video and audio.

• Public spaces are not conducive to learning in the virtual classroom.  You should be in a place where you can hear and see the instructor and other classmates without distractions, and they can likewise hear and see you without distractions.

Students should attend class in a timely manner and remain until the class session is over.  Although virtual, the Zoom meeting is a classroom and should be respected as such, in compliance with the USC Student Conduct Code. 

Online exam honor code of conduct—You will be asked to sign this before taking an online test in our virtual classroom:

"I pledge that I will not give or receive any unauthorized help on this exam, and that all work will be my own with no consultation of any other resources during the exam other than the exam itself, thus affirming my own personal commitment to honor and integrity.”  By typing your name here, you sign the above Honor Code of Conduct recognizing your Professor's expectations for this remote exam.

*Netiquette (excepting Honor Code) here was adapted by Dani Byrd from Professor Christa Bancroft and from the Virtual Academic Center in the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work.