Policies

Attendance

Be in class and be on time. Being excessively late on a frequent basis or having more than three absences will lower your grade by at least a full letter grade. 

Emails

Throughout the semester, it will be quite common for us to communicate via email. I expect that you will use these communicative moments to apply your rhetorical skills as a technical and scientific writer-in-training. Use subject headings wisely by stating the purpose of the email. Address your audience in a professional manner; end your messages in a professional manner. Double check your emails messages for mechanical and grammatical errors. As important, do not attach files, especially if they are homework assignments, to your emails unless your audience requested the files. These communicative moments are varied, complex and are very common in the workplace, so use these moments as writing opportunities.

In this course we will use Gmail (i.e. Google email) to communicate. I will use bluetortugas@gmail.com as my teaching email. In order to gain access to course material, you will need to create a Gmail account and email me from your Gmail account to let me know that you've created your account. If you don't already have a Gmail account, you can create an account at www.gmail.com.

Note:  You must have a Gmail account in order to access course material.

Technology

This course will use Google Gmail, Google Docs, Blogspot, and Blackboard to communicate with you, share assignments and readings, and provide grades. You may also be expected to use Photoshop and Dreamweaver to edit images and design web content. Like all technologies, their functions and purposes are not necessarily intuitive, so take the time to be certain that you ask questions early on in the semester about how they work. 

Please turn off cell phones and/or beepers before class starts as they can be disruptive.

Late Work Policy

We all know that disruptive situations sometimes arise and I am willing to negotiate those situations with you. I will accept late work only if prior arrangements have been made. To get an extension, you must first email me. Failure to get an extension in advance will result in a lowering of your grade.

Plagiarism & Ethics

As computers and the web have made it increasingly easy to read, see, and borrow the work of others, what constitutes plagiarism has also become more difficult to define.  This is even more problematic when it comes to issues of design and visual elements.  However, any attempt to knowingly copy the work, ideas, or designs of someone else without giving appropriate credit to the source is plagiarism.  Plagiarism is not only a serious academic offense, but it also cheats you out of learning, the prime reason you are here in the first place.For information on university policy, please see the following website: http://www.uccs.edu/~history/toolbox/plaigarism.html.

Disabilities

If you have or believe you have a disability and need reasonable accommodation for equal access to activities or resources in this course, you can contact Disabilities Services.  You may also want to discuss this in confidence with the instructor and/or the Director of Disabilities Services.  All inquiries and notifications will remain confidential.  For more information about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), visit http://www.uccs.edu/~dservice/.