Policies:

Attendance: 
Attendance at all lectures and labs is expected and is incorporated into your participation grade. Please arrive on time so that we have sufficient uninterrupted time to devote to course material. Likewise, please do not leave class early without the instructor’s permission in advance.

Exams:
Exams, of which there will be three, will be administered through Moodle, though they may require students to print out and hand in hard copy answers for questions involving graphing, data anaylsis, or experimental design. Exams will be open book but will be timed and there will not be sufficient time to look up and work through all material. Students should prepare as if the exams are closebook in order to be fully prepared.

Turning in Assignments:
While most assignments will turned in on Moodle, when you are asked to bring a hard copy to class to turn in, you will be expected to amend your responses during class and turn in that version as you leave class. Assignements turned in my email or other means will be considered late. 

Class etiquette:
Always ask questions if you are confused. If you don't understand a word, hang out for a minute and see if you can figure it out. But if you are confused, others likely are too. 
Be mindful of how much you speak. Leave room for others to speak as often as you do.

Email:
I will regularly send emails regarding course logistics. Please check your Reed email daily. Email is also the official means to make an appointment for office hours. When contacting the TAs, or other Reed staff for assistance with material for this course, CC professor Renn as well.
 

Late work:
Unless an accommodation has been made in advance via an official letter from the DSS office, a 10% per day penalty will be deducted for late work that is not delary for emergency or illness. 

Emergency or Illness:
In the event of an emergency or illness (officially supported by Student Services or Student Health), we will work together to arrive at a reasonable way for you complete missed assignments or take a missed exam. Please contact me as soon as possible when such circumstances arise. Again, any accommodation must first be approved by the appropriate student support services on campus.

Calendar conflicts:
If you are involved in off-campus academic activities (e.g. music, dance, other field trip etc.), please provide me with a list of dates that are in conflict and contact information for that instructor and I will attempt to accommodate your needs. Please let me know as soon as possible about such conflicts. Note that there will be an activity during finals week on our finals day, so do not plan to leave campus early (same goes for Tuesday of Thanksgiving).

Back-up your work:
Save often and a lot! Scientists are responsible for archiving their work (datasets, papers, specimens), often for extended periods of time (typically 10 years). Emailing copies of your work (papers, datasheets, etc) to yourself is a good way to ensure it is backed-up. Late assignments resulting from computer failure will be treated the same as all other late assignments (see above).

Group work:
Science is a team sport and responsible participation is essential to the success of a project. This can be achieved by pursuing equitable, fair, punctual and nontyrannical contributions by all members. You will conduct lab assignments in groups but you will keep your own individual lab notebook . The final presentation that is co-authored must be an exercise in equity between group members. The instructor will not parse the grade for final presentations on an individual basis. Please be considerate of your group mates and members of other groups by being a responsible group member and handling equipment, data and animals with care. (If issues arrise, contact the professor for arbitation before the final presentation.)

Accommodations:

If you believe that you need accommodations for a disability, please contact the Disability Support Services (DSS) by email (disability-services@reed.edu) or arrange an appointment with them to discuss your needs. As appropriate, DSS will issue students with documented disabilities a formal Accommodations Letter. Since accommodations require early planning and are noy  retroactive, please contact DSS as soon as possible. For details about the accommodations process, visit the DSS Website. You are also welcome to contact me [the faculty member] privately to discuss your academic needs. However, all disability-related accommodations must be arranged through DSS.

In addition to guiding students through the accommodations process, Disability Support Services offers support to students in the following areas:

  • referrals to campus and community resources
  • guidance and support in communicating with faculty and other departments around accommodation needs
  • coaching support for study skills and time management/organization strategies

Student Support:

Reed provides each student with up to one hour of free individual tutoring per subject per week for this course if you request it.
Reed staff members are also available to discuss study skills, quantitative skills, learning styles, time management, test anxiety, procrastination, and academic stress that you may encounter in this (or other courses). You can learn more about these resources at their website.
The Reed library also offers several workshops that may be useful in addition to workshops that may be scheduled specifically for this course.