Policies & Expectations

PHYS 105 Below the policies and expectations of the course are outlined.

Policy on Attendance
Attendance at lectures is MANDATORY including the telescope sessions in the evening

Attendance will be taken several random times during the semester and only students who are present at each check will get the credit for attendance.

A note on Classroom Etiquette: You are expected to show the professor and your fellow students respect. You are expected to arrive prior to the start of the lecture, and not to leave until the end of the lecture. You are expected to pay attention to the lecture, and take notes. Behavior such as reading non-course related material, wearing headphones, disrupting fellow students etc are unacceptable. If you need to clarify a point with your neighbor, please do so in a "hushed manner". You are encouraged to ask questions, but to do so you are expected to raise your hand & wait to be called upon. Please turn cell-phones OFF prior to entering the lecture hall.

Policy on Exams & Quizzes
There will be no make-up given for exams or quizzes, Exam dates will be set a few weeks into the semester when I have all sports team schedules from students (to make sure all athletes can attend the mid-terms).
Make sure you read & understand the "rules" and consequences of academic misconduct (see below).

Policy on Grading etc
Dr Turner will determine all final grades. Your final grade is based on your actual total score (I do not simply use the distribution of grades: you'll all get an A if you deserve one; or an F if unfortunately you all deserve one of those instead). However, since the same questions are not used every year, the exact values for grade boundaries used will not be made public. However you will be informed of your grade for the Mid-term exams via Blackboard. You have one week from receiving a grade to appeal.

Policy on Homework
For homework we will generally be working through the online tutorials associated with the course textbook. You must sign up for the class online and do the homework under your own name/account. You individual grades will be tracked by the online site and these will be folded in to your final scores at the end. Hoemwork assignments must be done within the allowed timeframe for neach score to count. You cannot do them all at the end of the semester and get credit, do them as we go through the material. You may form small working groups to discuss and collaborate on homework, but in the end you must work through the tutorials under your account to get credit.

Academic (Mis)Conduct
Cheating will not be tolerated. We all know what that means, so I am not going to list all the possible "dos & donts". However here are a few pointers:

Quizzes & Exams are to be completed alone (not with the help of your neighbors), aided only by a (non-programmable) calculator (no notes, books, PDAs etc).

The consequences of misconduct will be severe, and may be reported to the Academic Conduct Committee. See also the UMBC Academic Integrity site, and in particular the Student Academic Conduct Policy.
If you are uncertain as to whether something is allowed: ASK FIRST!!