Reminders and Stuff for Fall 2016
Sciences Department Meeting
8-17-2016
Dates To Know:
(NOTE: You may also access the “Academic Calendar” link on Oakton’s main webpage for many key dates for the current and following term)
· Drops for non-payment – Drops for non-payment will be every Tuesday (this started in Summer 2016). Be sure to check rosters frequently in the first week, and after each drop date thereafter. Don’t allow students to remain in the class if they are not officially registered.
· Holidays or other “No Classes” Days (and Fire Drills Days)
o Monday January 16th, Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, college closed
o Monday February 20, President’s Day, college closed
o March 13-19th Spring Break
o Fire Drills Days: The Oakton Police Department, in conjunction with the Des Plaines and Skokie Fire Departments, will be conducting tornado drills during the first or second week of April on Tuesday and Wednesday on both campuses. Please plan accordingly. More details will follow via email.
· Religious holidays – See: http://www.oakton.edu/visitor/ReligiousCalendar.htm (click appropriate year) for a listing of holidays associated with a variety of religions (larger font, bolded, are the most important holidays). See “Things To Do Now” section below (syllabi) for Oakton’s policy on handling student religious observance.
· Evaluation days – May 11 & 12th (last day of student attendance, May 12th); Grading Day – May 15th; Grades due December 16th at noon via myOakton.
· Withdraw dates – February 13th, no record of course will appear on student’s external transcript; February 13th last day to change to an audit; March 27th, a ‘W’ will appear on student’s transcript.
· Incompletes from Fall 2016 – February 26th, after this date any incomplete without a grade submitted will become a grade of F.
· Registration for Summer 2017: March 22nd
· Registration for Fall 2017: April 5th
Things To Do Now:
· Familiarize yourself with the new Division 1 Accommodations documents/procedures
o Faculty are required to discuss different options with their students, you cannot assume that an accommodation will work
NOTE: This includes our new formalized procedures for addressing situations involving students who are pregnant.
Find documents at:
R: Public/Division1Academic/Division 1 Policies and Procedures/Student Accommodations
§ Full document (includes ADRC, religious, pregnancy, etc.)
§ Waivers (e.g., if students decide to take lab while pregnant against department recommendation)
§ Prenatal accommodations form
Brochures or handouts for students, and / or hardcopies of waiver forms, etc. may be available soon in the Division 1 office. Ask if you have questions.
· Update syllabi (at least electronically in D2L if you’ve already printed syllabi):
o Add the following Title IX statement to Section XI (mandatory for Spring 2017):
In section XI, add the following Title IX statement:
Oakton Community College is committed to maintaining a campus environment emphasizing the dignity and worth of all members of the community, and complies with all federal and state Title IX requirements.
Resources and support for
· pregnancy-related and parenting accommodations; and
· victims of sexual misconduct
can be found at www.oakton.edu/title9
Resources and support for LGBTQ+ students can be found at www.oakton.edu/lgbtq.
o In Section V, make the following two changes (mandatory for Spring 2017):
1) Add “and Student Conduct” to the Section V heading so that it reads:
V. Academic Integrity and Student Conduct.
2) Add the following to the very end of the Academic Integrity section, as a separate paragraph:
Please review the Code of Academic Conduct and the Code of Student Conduct, both located online at: www.oakton.edu/studentlife/student-handbook.pdf
o In Section VIII, do NOT make the following changes (since they are only for generic syllabi, not individuals’ syllabi):
1) In section VIII do NOT add the following statement:
Course may be taught as face-to-face, hybrid or online course.
2) At the end of the syllabus do NOT add a box that states the date and author of the syllabus, etc.
o Include the statement regarding pregnancy in Section XI (“Other Information”) in your syllabus*.
If you are pregnant or become pregnant during the semester, you have the option to meet with me to discuss reasonable accommodations that may be necessary. It may not be possible to grant accommodations after the fact, so it is better to prepare in advance for any possible scenarios.
NOTE: This is the wording preferred by Ruth since it is consistent with the wording in our new Division 1 Accommodations documentation (see above) and protects you, the instructor, while also informing the student. If you feel strongly about including a different pregnancy statement from Karishma Kamath, include that for now. We will be clarifying this issue with Ruth before next semester.
o Be sure you are using the most recently revised generic syllabi. The generic syllabi on the R: drive have been updated as of Fall 2016. They can be found at R: Public / Syllabi). Current Generic syllabi should also be posted on the departmental websites by the end of the Spring 17 semester.
o Recommended: Consider adding a statement to your syllabus informing students about “StudentsFirst”. See “Other Stuff” section below for details and statement.
o Be sure syllabi conform to generic syllabi items I through V (copied verbatim, although you can add a section at the beginning with instructor information).
o Sections VI-XI should all be present and have the same headings as on the generic syllabus (e.g., VI is “Outline of Lecture Topics”, VII is “Methods of Instruction”, etc.). However, the content of these sections should include language and information specific to your course (not copied verbatim from the generic syllabus, except as noted below).
o Include in Section XI (“Other Information”) the updated wording (as of Fall, 2013) referring to the Access and Disability Resource Center (formerly known as ASSIST):
If you have a documented learning, psychological, or physical disability you may be entitled to reasonable academic accommodations or services. To request accommodations or services, contact the Access and Disability Resource Center at the Des Plaines or Skokie campus. All students are expected to fulfill essential course requirements. The College will not waive any essential skill or requirement of a course or degree program.
o Include the updated (as of Summer, 2013) religious holiday statement in Section XI (“Other Information”) in your syllabus.
Any student who is unable, because of his or her religious beliefs, to attend classes or participate in any required exam, study, or work on a particular day shall be excused from that exam, study, or work requirement and shall be provided with an opportunity to make up any requirement that he or she may have missed on that day, provided that he or she notifies the faculty member or instructor well in advance* of any anticipated absence or conflict between a scheduled class and the religious observance, and provided that the make-up exam, study, or work does not place an unreasonable burden upon the institution.
*Instructors can (and probably should) define what “well in advance” means for their course. E.g., “by the end of the first week of classes” or “at least two weeks in advance”, etc..
o Make grading clear on syllabi. Do not state anything different in class from what you have on your syllabus. Avoid subjective grading when possible. Use clear rubrics when possible.
· Send your syllabus and office hours form electronically (Word or pdf file) to Division 1 office staff (at ) and to your respective department chairperson: Gary Mines (chemistry, ), Jennifer Cumpston (physics and earth science, ) or Nicole Perry (biology, ) no later than four calendar days after the first class meeting.
If you teach at Skokie, please send your office hour form to the Skokie Faculty Support Office also, at .
These are Deans guidelines. Failure to comply is considered a violation of professional responsibilities and may result in remedial or disciplinary actions.
· Lab Schedule/Lab Supply Lists:
o Biology, Physics and Earth Science: have list of labs and lab supplies to lab assistants at least ONE week before classes start.
o Chemistry: If you incorporate experiments into your syllabus, please make sure to match the dates and experiments with the lab schedule provided by the Lead Instructor for your course.
o During the term:
§ If you have a sub for lab, please make sure to inform the laboratory assistants (BIO).
§ Chemistry: If you wish to switch the date of an experiment, it is departmental policy to make this request with the Lead Instructor at least one week in advance. The request will then be discussed with the appropriate paraprofessional after which the Lead Instructor will contact you to confirm whether the request is able to be accommodated.
§ If you must cancel a lab, please call or email the appropriate paraprofessional, and, if you teach chemistry contact the Lead Instructor as well. Please try to limit experiment cancellations. If you miss a lab due to a college closing, consider doing a shortened version (or demo) of the lab, if feasible, the following week. For chemistry, contact the Lead Instructor ASAP about your request as noted above.
§ If you must use lab time to catch up with lecture, it is much better to shorten a lab than to omit it completely. If a lab runs short, plan extra activities to utilize the class time (see comment below regarding class time).
· Update address changes, emails, phone numbers, etc. with division office, with your chair and within Banner (log in to myOakton, click on the Employee tab or the Teach & Advise tab, click on Self Service Banner, click on the Personal Information tab.)
· Update or register on the Alert Oakton emergency notification system to receive notices for school closings and other Oakton emergencies. Log in to myOakton and click on the “Sign up or login to Alert!Oakton:” link.
· Make sure your D2L shells are ready and active by next week (see emails from IT). This is a College mandate. The minimum requirements at this point for D2L: post syllabus and office hours. Please note, though, that when students complain about a class or instructor, it is becoming more common to hear additional complaints about limited use of D2L.
Other Stuff:
· Please use the copy center rather than the Division 1 copier whenever possible, and particularly for large jobs. We have dramatically increased the number of copies made since the move to the new building (and it did not significantly decrease in fall, 2015). It is significantly cheaper (per copy) to make copies via the copy center, and we will also have fewer problems/down time in the Division office if we use it less.
· “Request for Load” procedure changed: As of Fall 2015, a new electronic submission form will be implemented (mandatory) for the submission of part-time request forms to Chairs/Coordinators. Look for an email from your Chair/Coordinator for more details. This form can be accessed in My Oakton (Log into My Oakton: Employee Tab: Faculty-Staff Links: Adjunct Schedule Preference Form link in list of links on right hand side of page)
· Keep track of your LHEs! The new procedure at Oakton (as of Fall 2014) for paying adjunct faculty for work other than course load is to have all such compensation converted into LHEs. The equivalencies (in terms of LHEs) are generally indicated in Section 8.2 of the AFA contract. The new contract has specific caps on LHEs per Fall and Spring terms, per Summer term, and per the academic year (Fall, Spring, and following Summer). It is extremely important that you not exceed any of these caps! It is your responsibility to keep track of all of the additional LHEs that you may earn for the various things that you may do in order to make sure you do not exceed a cap. Common examples (though not an exhaustive list) are LHEs earned for:
o Substituting
o Meeting Pay (NOTE: Affiliated Adjuncts are expected to attend Department/Division Meetings as part of their LHE load)
o Tutoring
o Exam Proctoring
o Honors Contracts
o Teaching Credentials Program
o Committee service
o Others
So please always consider and calculate your current LHE total for the term and year before accepting any additional work for compensation (in particular, subbing and honors contracts, which occur mid-term!). All that said, please keep in mind that a three hour lab subbing will equate to less than 0.1 LHE. If you have concerns about subbing, please contact your chairperson or Jessica in the division I office to discuss.
· NEW IN Fall 2016: We will no longer be doing preapprovals for subbing.
· Updated Subbing Request Procedure (updated as of Fall 2015 and “renewed” in Fall 2016):
1. Contact your Chair if you would like him/her to help find you a sub. Indicate the time/date/class etc. You no longer need to fill out any “substitute request” type of form.
2. If you would like to accept a sub position, please make sure to determine your total LHEs for the term and the year as applicable and compare it to the appropriate cap (see above) to make sure you have not reached a limit.
3. If accepting the sub position will put you over the cap and you still wish to sub, inform your Chair that you will sub without additional compensation. (No multiple position form will be completed.)
4. If you are certain that accepting the sub position will not put you over a cap, indicate as such to the Chair.
5. The Chair will confirm with the requester that a sub has been found.
6. NEW: After the subbing has taken place, the SUB must complete a substitute payment request form. The completed form must be submitted to either Division 1 office staff or to the Chairperson/Coordinator. The Chairperson/Coordinator will no longer complete the paperwork, but will still sign it to verify the subbing information is accurate.
7. NOTE: If you wish to find a sub yourself, please discuss the issue of LHE caps with the potential sub (see above) before contacting your Chair. The Chair will verify with the potential sub whether s/he expects to get paid.
· StudentsFirst will be implemented across the college again this semester. This is a software program that attempts to help Oakton help students who show signs early on in a course that they might benefit from additional support systems that Oakton can provide (in addition to individual instructor interaction). You may receive an email in the 3rd and 7th weeks of the term asking you to indicate if certain students in need of academic support (a click will get you to a page where you can enter information). Students will receive a copy of the information you send. Since this is relatively new at Oakton, please consider including the following statement in your syllabus or reading / discussing it on your first day of class so that students will understand that this system is in place to help and support them.