Deadlines: “The deadline is real, absolute, stern, and commanding.” Writing assignments are due at the beginning of class on the assigned day in electronic copy in SIMCHECK (we will discuss SIMCHECK during Week 1 and throughout the semester).
Unless stated otherwise, assignments will be due on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 11:55pm Central Standard Time, just before midnight. If you want another way of understanding this--via a 24 hour time frame (some might call this "military time")--it would be 2355 hours (experience has taught me that sometimes people have trouble distinguishing between a.m. and p.m). Folks, you will be held accountable to these times so please understand how time works.
Participation: Students are required to login to the class at least twice a week, check their student email every day (Monday-Friday), submit assignments on time, and keep in touch with the instructor. Failure to stay connected with the course can result in a failing grade for the semester. Please consult the instructor about any situation that threatens your performance in this class as soon as that situation or circumstance is brought to light.
Individual Responsibilities: Online courses require a level of self-motivation and dedication that some students find difficult at first. You are in charge of your own learning, so it is your responsibility to keep track of assignments and due dates, and it is your responsibility to seek out help and clarification. Stay in touch with your instructor, and stay connected to your course.
Communication: An online environment is different than an on-campus environment; therefore, students should allow 24-48 hours for responses to their emails during the week. On the weekends, this time may be longer. If you have a question about an assignment due on Friday, you should be contacting your teacher earlier in the week, not one hour before the deadline. Procrastination is not your friend in an online course.
Failure to stay connected with the course can result in a failing grade for the semester. Please consult the instructor about any situation that threatens your performance in this class as soon as that situation or circumstance is brought to light.
Bottom line: When you don’t check into Canvas, don’t submit work, or don’t communicate with me on a timely basis, you’re gambling with your final grade.
Any student who doesn’t attend the first two weeks of class at all will be dropped from the course. Students who are receiving financial aid may have their aid impacted by courses being institutionally dropped.
Failure to withdraw from this course by the official withdrawal date listed in your General Information Sheet will result in a grade of "F" for the course if the student has not earned a higher grade.
Students must use the e-mail account provided by Moraine Valley as their official means of email communication for all business related to this course. Any email that does not come directly from your MVCC email (username@student.morainevalley.edu) may be filtered by spam or junk mail filters, may get deleted, or may get a delayed response. This means if you choose to forward your MVCC email account to some other email account (such as username@comcast.net, or username@yahoo.com, or username @sbcglobal.com), then do not send a response back to the instructor from that third party account. All responses to email should come directly from your MVCC account and not from the forwarded account. In other words, all email correspondence for this course must come from your username@student.morainevalley.edu email account.
The subject line of all email to the instructor must begin with the course number AND section number followed by the topic. The course number and section for this course is: COM 088 - section number. Here are some examples:
Subject: COM 088-300, When will my Writing Project # 3 grade be posted?
Subject: COM 088-300, Question on tomorrow’s homework
Subject: COM 088 - 300, Portfolio Due Date
Emails without a subject may not be read and could be deleted.
The body of the email must include complete sentences AND be “signed” with your full first and last name. When asking for help, please do your best to be specific about the question(s) and always “sign” your email at the bottom by typing your full first and last name.
Email Guidelines & Procedures: Each student is responsible for reading the Email Guidelines & Procedures, which is located at http://www.morainevalley.edu/studentemail/guidelines.htm.
Do not email homework to me as a body email; I will not accept it. During Week 1, I will show you what I’m talking about when I say “body email.”
My email address is available if you need help or have questions outside of class. I check my email several times a day, and I will respond within 24-48 hours. Also, please give me ample time to respond (for example, emailing me 30 minutes before class starts about the homework is inconsiderate and careless). After 3pm on Friday, you’ll have to wait until Monday for a response. When you contact me, be sure that you have included basic information such as your name and your class section. Do not write as if you are texting: slang and abbreviations are unprofessional and hinder your reader’s understanding. Your emails to me should be in plain, readable English. Please see the department’s official email policy for further information.
A. Cheating/plagiarism policy: the Developmental Education Dept. is committed to helping students understand the responsibilities of individual learners; therefore, our department requires students to adhere to the highest standards of academic honesty. (See Cheating and Plagiarism Policy below)
B. Each student is responsible for adhering to the Code of Student Conduct as stated in the college catalog.
C. Cautionary Statement: Students with an impaired ability to concentrate may risk jeopardizing safety in the classroom. If your ability to concentrate is impaired, you should discuss this matter with your instructor prior to operating equipment or performing a laboratory procedure. Students are responsible for reporting to their instructor any condition that would impair the ability to concentrate. Failure to notify your instructor of this issue may be a violation of the Code of Student Conduct.
D. Failure to withdraw from this course by the official withdrawal date listed under the IMPORTANT DATES section of the syllabus will result in a grade of "F" for the course if the student has not earned a higher grade.
The Developmental Education Department is committed to helping students understand the responsibilities of individual learners; therefore, our department requires students to adhere to the highest standards of academic honesty. Developing the skills taught in this class is important to your overall success as a student.
Definitions of Cheating and Plagiarism:
Cheating in the class includes, but is not limited to the following:
Use of cheat sheets, notes, copies of tests, textbooks, answer keys, cell phones or other electronic devices during assessments.
Talking (or communicating in any other way) with others while taking an assessment.
Having others write your papers or take tests for you.
Submitting work that you have not authored (in full or in part) or allowing your written work to be used by others, or resubmitting a paper written for another class.
Copying/pasting from a website, book, or other source (published or unpublished) without acknowledgement.
Using Artificial Intelligence (ChatGPT, etc.) or the use of Grammarly.
Altering graded work.
If you are in doubt about whether an activity is cheating, ask your instructor.
Penalties for Cheating and Plagiarism:
If a student cheats or plagiarizes on a quiz, exam, or homework assignment, the student is to receive a grade of zero for the work, not be allowed to redo the work, and have an Academic Dishonesty form filled out with the college. Any zero grade assigned due to cheating/plagiarizing is to be included in the student’s course grade record. A student cheating or plagiarizing a second time in the same course is to receive a grade of “F” for the course, as well as a second Academic Dishonesty form.
For COM 088, you may not use papers previously written for other COM courses here at Moraine Valley Community College. That’s self-plagiarism. If that’s discovered, this will be treated as a plagiarism incident with penalty.
Bottom line: If you cheat or plagiarize a paper, you will fail.
Moraine Valley has a commitment to sustainability. Sustainability can be defined as working to meet the social, economic, and ecological needs of today without compromising those of future generations. Students and staff can support this through recycling by using the blue recycle bins for all non-landfill items. Visit morainevalley.edu/sustainability to learn more.
Materials in this course—unless otherwise indicated—are protected by United States copyright law [Title 17, U.S. Code]. Materials are presented in an educational context for personal use and study and should not be shared, distributed, or sold in print—or digitally—outside the course without permission.
As a student your ability to post or link to copyrighted material is also governed by United States copyright law. The law allows for students to post or link to copyrighted materials within the course environment when the materials are pertinent to course work. Instructor—or other staff of the institution—reserve the right to delete or disable your post or link if in their judgment it would involve violation of copyright law.
From time to time I may wish to use a paper of yours as a writing sample for future classes. I will let you know about my intent to do this. I will keep your name anonymous and will give you the chance to inform me that you’d rather not have your paper used for future classes. If I do not hear from you, I’ll assume that you are fine with me using it. Again, your name will be left out of it, but it could be a piece of work that could be used as a quality learning tool for future classes.