Lecture is not required, but because lectures are such an important part of your learning experience, we are offering an incentive to attend lecture regularly. 

Students who attend consistently—missing no more than 5 lectures for unexcused reasons—will be permitted to treat their final cumulative exam as optional and only their highest 3 exam scores will count toward their final grade. This means that they can either 1) choose not to take the cumulative multiple choice final, or 2) take the cumulative multiple choice final and drop a lower midterm exam grade. 

Learn more about what to do if you need to be absent from lecture.

We will take attendance in this class using the Acadly app. Download the Acadly app to your phone and join our class using the invitation you’ve been emailed (look for the email the first week of class). At the start of each class, make sure your Acadly app is on and running and that your Bluetooth is enabled. Attendance will be taken via Acadly at a randomly determined time in each class, beginning on the second day. 

Students who arrive more than 10 minutes late or leave more than 10 minutes before the end of class must accept the risk that their attendance may not be counted. Having problems with Acadly or want to know more? Check out Acadly's Student Guide.

If you are present in class but your attendance is not recorded due to technological error, you are responsible for making sure your attendance is corrected and recorded before leaving class that day. You can do that by approaching a member of the teaching team (Dr. Hard, Dr. Grisham, or a course coordinator) after class. Errors in attendance must be corrected before leaving class. If you cannot stay after class to correct your attendance, then that day's attendance will be counted as an unexcused absence (of which you can have 5 before the final exam becomes required). Students are expected to report errors in attendance honestly, in accordance with Duke’s Community Standard.

We will also use Acadly for occasional in-class polls and practice questions to help you prepare for exams. See section on Missed Work for more details on attendance, including the policy for excused absences. 

In the event that in-person lecture cannot be held (e.g., Drs. Hard and Grisham get sick, change in Duke policy), we will either offer a live Zoom lecture or an interactive online lecture using the PlayPosit tool that you can attend or view to earn attendance. 

For each lecture listed on our Canvas webpage, you will find a downloadable outline in advance of the lecture. Lecture slides are available after lecture because posting them before would give away many of the surprises we often have in store!

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