General Course Policies for Dr. Roach:

Time: Any class involving computer software and hardware is time intensive. You must start assignments early and work steadily to be successful. You should expect to spend at least two to three quality hours outside of class for each hour in class in order to be successful.

Grading errors: I’m only human. I can and will make mistakes. You have one week after graded material is returned to the class to rectify any grading errors or to argue for additional credit. After the week has passed, no changes in grades will be made.

Class Attendance and Participation: As a college student, you have the freedom to choose whether or not to attend class. However, I use cooperative, active learning techniques, which can only work if students attend regularly. Therefore, I will take attendance.

Office hours: I expect you to meet with me outside of class time to discuss problems or difficulties that you are having. My office policy is an "open door" policy: if the office door is open, you are welcome to come in and discuss problems. If my office door is closed, you should assume that I am not available. My schedule is posted Office hours are by appointment. (email me. Don’t leave messages on my office phone: I don’t receive them.)

Incomplete: Students get incompletes only under extraordinary circumstances: when they have substantially completed the course work with a passing grade, but cannot finish the course for a legitimate reason. Legitimate reasons include severe illnesses and debilitating accidents. Class or workloads that are too demanding are NOT legitimate reason. (An example.) (The Official Policy.)

Academic dishonesty: Cheating is defined as submitting work under your name that was not done entirely by you for individual assignments or by your team for team assignments. (This includes taking programs from the web or cutting text from web pages and pasting them into documents, even if the source is cited). Cheating will not be tolerated--those caught cheating will be reported to the appropriate authority for diciplinary action.

HELP! Please confer with me if you experience difficulty with any aspect of the course -- I am here to help you to learn. If you request help via email, make sure to write HELP in the subject line. Call me. Send me mail. Ask me questions.