INTEGRITY POLICIES

Participation

A class is a multiway form of communication. I am very open to a lot of proposals, and NO DISCRIMINATION will be tolerated or promoted. Consider the class as a brainstorming session. And please contact me during office hours, or send me an email so we can solve any problem before the class. The email form in www.santiago.bz allows you to send ANY comments ANONYMOUSLY. So USE IT.

No animals, persons or yourselves will be harmed during the production of your assignments. Nothing can justify harming physically or psychologically a living creature - including yourselves. You are responsible for the respect of other students, and I count on your integrity for this.

No email, chatting, messaging, facebook, myspace, web-browsing OF ANY KIND will be allowed during our sessions. You are paying way too much money to do these personal matters in class, therefore NO LAPTOPS are allowed in the class. Take notes in paper! All the cell phones should be TURNED OFF during the duration of the class. NO EATING or DRINKING in the classroom will be tolerated, unless it is required by a medical prescription.

Any type of intoxication - drugs, alcohol or even a hangover - will be reported to the authorities.

Copyright

All the text/images/audio/video clips you will use in any of your projects will have to be credited correctly. EVERY single text/image/video/audio you use should be yours and/or copyright free.

Attendance

Attendance is mandatory. NO EXCUSES, if you have more than 4 absences you will have the chance to withdraw the class - if allowed by the academic calendar - or you will get an F.

I really consider that punctuality and attendance are the most important parts of a class. If you miss a class, you will never be able to experience that class again. I use the word "experience" because not all the information given during the class can be put in paper, or even videotaped. Classes are a question of communication, and communication implies many different ways of exchanging information, the feeling, the laughters, the collective experience... An absence for any reason is an absence. It is your responsibility to initiate and maintain communication with me in case of an unusual circumstance.

If you were not able to do your homework, please do not miss a class! Never miss a class and be responsible for your actions.

Do not miss a class even if you consider the topic of that particular class to be shocking to you for any personal reason. If you do not experience the subject matter presented in the context of the class your perception of this subject matter will be completely distorted and disconnected from the flow of the class. The syllabus is structured to follow a specific order, if you miss one contextualized explanation, you may miss an essential component of the class. If you still consider the subject matter is shocking to you, START A CLASS DISCUSSION during the presentation, and let everybody know the reasons why you consider the subject matter to be objectionable, so that we can all benefit from this discussion as a group. This is a University, and the discussions of each topic are expected to be treated in a mature and adult level. The links/materials/movies I provide in the syllabus cannot be used outside the context of the class and they cannot replace the content of a specific class.

If you are absent and you have not posted your homework on Blackboard, your blog, your site, via Email or sent me the homework with a classmate, you will get an F on that project.

Depending on the circumstances - a medical excuse, an emergency for example - I will grade a late project over the minimum grade I awarded to the projects that were presented on time, only if you are present in the classroom when the project is due. The longer you take to present your project, the worse the grade.

Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance

Disability Accommodation: ADA Compliance: If there is any student who has special needs because of a disability, please go directly to the Academic Center for Excellence in North Walker Hall. You may phone 813-258-7251, or e-mail jdelvalle@ut.edu to report your needs and provide documentation of your disability for certification. Jennifer Del Valle is the associate director of the Academic Center for Excellence, Student Disability Services. Please feel free to discuss this issue with me in private if you need more information.

Emergency Preparedness

In case of any adverse condition or situation which could interrupt the schedule of classes, each student is asked to access www.ut.edu for information about the status of the campus and class meetings. In addition, please refer to ut.blackboard.com for announcements and other important information. You are responsible for accessing this information.

Academic Integrity - link to the PDF document - PLEASE READ

The University of Tampa is committed to the development of each student to become a productive and responsible citizen who embraces the values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. The scholarly community at The University of Tampa strives to instill values that uphold academic integrity and promotes an ethical standard that does not condone academic misconduct. Violation of academic integrity and academic misconduct tarnish the reputation of the University and discredit the accomplishments of past and present students. Sanctions for violation of academic integrity and academic misconduct include a failing grade in an assignment or in the course, or suspension or expulsion from the University. I take integrity very seriously, including academic integrity. I will monitor all submissions and exams for violations of the academic integrity policy. Students are held responsible for knowing and observing the University’s Academic Integrity Policy posted at: http://www.ut.edu/provost. If you have any questions about the policy, please feel free to talk with me.

Under no circumstances are you to provide an electronic copy of your work to another student. This includes allowing them access to your computer where they may access the file on their own without your consent! It is your responsibility to protect the integrity of your work. All parties involved will be reported to the Dean of Students.

Do NOT provide students in the other section, in case there are multiple sections of a class, with information regarding class discussion or “answers” to class preparation assignments. This hinders their ability to learn the material and is considered a violation of the academic integrity policy. This violation would be considered a “Class preparation assignment” violation and would receive the sanction detailed below.

You must properly document all sources used both in bibliographic format and through proper citation within the text itself. Failure to provide proper citations within the text of any assignment that you submit is plagiarism and will be reported. This DOES NOT JUST APPLY to research papers. It also means that you need to identify where data was obtained when it is presented.

The University has a subscription to turnitin.com plagiarism prevention software. This software compares documents to web resources as well as papers that have been submitted to Turnitin from any institution. I will evaluate each document for plagiarism before I grade it using the information from turnitin.com, along with my own examination of each document.

The sanctions within a course are determined by the instructor.
I have established the following sanctions for this course:

• Project / Exam / Presentation / Other – expelled from the class with an F as a final grade

You may not retake a course under forgiveness if you have an academic integrity violation in the course.