General Course Policies
Please read these policies, which apply to all courses that I teach unless I tell you otherwise.
1. Revising Major Project Submissions
Almost nobody (including me!) nails a challenging writing problem on the first try. Revision helps you to learn. These are the “revision protocols,” as I call them.
Eligibility
You can revise any major project that receives any grade lower than 100% on the initial submission (you have to have submitted it). If you earn a 0 for non-submission of a major project, see me immediately.
My grading system is explained on a GitHub page. Please note that each major project requires both the submission and the Writer’s Insight Memo.
You don’t have to revise a project that is eligible for revision; it’s optional. If you choose not to revise a project, the first submission grade stands as your final grade for that project.
Eligible projects may be revised once after I grade them.
Deadline
We’ll figure out a revision deadline when I return the graded submissions. The deadline will be posted on the course calendar.
How to Prepare a Revision
Read, watch, or listen to my feedback on your submission. I strongly recommend that you read “What’s That Supposed to Mean? Using Feedback on Your Writing” by Jillian Grauman because it can help you to understand and use feedback on your writing.
If I use a Loom video link as my feedback to you, I expect you to watch the linked video right away and take notes. Loom tells me if you have watched the video. If I see that you have not watched the video, I won’t accept a revision.
Download and read this handout on levels of revision.
Revision is not proofreading. If you turn in a revision that is just tidying up mechanical hiccups, it won’t warrant much of an improvement in the overall evaluation since 90% of your grade is for content and 10% for form.
If you do not do something with the substantive advice I have given, especially about content, organization, or purpose, the original grade will likely stand.
I encourage you to meet with me to plan your revisions and to show me your revised work before you submit it.
Three Items to Turn in: Revised Submission, “Compare” Document, and Revision Memo
Submit three items on Canvas:
1) revised project,
2) “compare” document (if the assignment is primarily textual), and
3) revision memo (you don’t need to revise the Writer’s Insight Memo from the initial submission)
It's okay if you have never done a revision memo or “compare” document before. Nobody is born knowing how to do them. Just ask for help after reading the information and help here on my website.
NOTE: I won't accept revisions that do not provide all three of the required items.
Why? It comes down to the limits of time and human cognition. I have many writing students in a typical semester, all of whom get the chance to revise major project submissions. And that is just the teaching portion of my duties. Professors do a lot more than teach, even at a teaching university like St. Ed's. It's your job as an adult learner to make it easy for me to see what you changed, how you used my feedback, and why the revised submission warrants a replaced grade. This process also enhances your learning by making you reflect on and use feedback as an adult trying to improve at a craft.
Microsoft Word “Compare” Document Specifics
What an MS Word “Compare” document does
This is a comprehensive way to see exactly what is different between the original submission and the revision of a text-based assignment. If you are unsure whether a revision of a particular assignment requires a “compare” document, please ask.
A properly prepared “compare” document shows clearly what was added, moved, or deleted between the original submission and the revised submission. It will look like the example below:
How to Make an MS Word “Compare” document
Make sure that you have the desktop version of MS Word or can access it.
Option A (recommended): If you don’t already have the desktop version of MS Word installed on your computer, install it via MS Office 365 on your own computer. You can do this for free via the university.
Option B (distant-second choice): Computers in classrooms, computer labs, and the library have MS Word installed.
To revise a submission and make an accurate “compare” document, complete the steps described in these slides. Ask for help as needed.
Revision Memo
Remember: this is not a revised Writer’s Insight Memo from the initial submission.
This is a reasonably detailed one-page memo explaining four items:
what you revised,
how you revised it,
the rhetorical or argumentative purpose of each revision, with causation markers (“because,” “thus,” “so,” “as a result,” etc.) and details, and
how you addressed or used my comments on the original graded submission–with specifics.
Examples:
“You pointed out that I did not provide evidence for my claims that X, Y, and Z. I added the following evidence after meeting with you and asking a librarian for help: ……Adding this evidence improves my argument because [specifics]….”
“After reading your comment #12, I made a chart showing all the evidence I used in my analysis and where I used specific rhetorical concepts. I found that there was not as much of a match as I thought there was and my argument was only partially developed. So, I went back to the textbook and to my artifact and…..This process improved my analysis because it…..”
“You pointed out that I did not hyphenate phrasal adjectives correctly. I found six of them to fix and did so after reading the link you sent. This fix improved my sentences for clarity because….”
You may group similar items; use your common sense and brainpower.
I do not specify any particular format for a revision memo: bullet points are fine if they are substantive and use specific examples.
If you do not turn in the revision memo or turn in a superficial, rushed memo, I won’t accept the revision. The original grade will stand. I put a lot of time and effort into my comments and want you to consider them carefully. In return, I expect a detailed revision memo. Sometimes, students give me one- or two-sentence revision memos reading something like “I took all of your feedback and used it to improve my paper.” That does not meet expectations.
2. Revision of Other Submissions
Some of your other submissions, e.g., in-process activities such as research proposals, rough outlines, synthesis activities. etc., may require resubmissions if I ask for them. You don’t need to do the whole “memo and compare document” process for those submissions.
Some items are one-shot points-graded activities. Such items are not eligible for revision because of their timing and purpose.
3. Meeting with Me Outside of Class
a) Posted Student Visiting Hours
Set an appointment with me by following my Calendly link. You can choose a Zoom meeting or a face-to-face meeting in my office (Sorin 102).
At the appointed time, click the Zoom link in the Calendly confirmation email or come to my physical office (Sorin 102).
From where my desk is and with the way that the Sorin Hall building is laid out, I will not know whether you are waiting in the hallway to see me. If I’m with someone, please poke your head in the door and let me know that you are waiting.
b) Other Hours
If you can't make it to my posted visiting hours, please send me an email with a clear subject line asking for an appointment, describing in one sentence what you want the subject of the appointment to be, and proposing three days, dates, and times that you are available.
Right: Thursday, January 27 at 1:00 (includes the day of the week, date, and time)
Wrong: 1/27 at 1:00 (omits day of week)
Wrong: Thursday at 1:00 (omits date)
Wrong: Thursday (omits date and time)
Don't waste our time sending an email that asks if I have any time to meet with you, because all I can reply is something like "Maybe. Can you please follow the suggestions I give on setting up an appointment by proposing days, dates, and times when are you available?" Instead, do what I instruct above.
Please specify if you want a face-to-face or Zoom meeting. I may not be able to accommodate face-to-face meeting requests outside of my posted visiting hours. If we set up a Zoom meeting, the link and passcode will be in the confirmation email.
I will make reasonable efforts to be flexible in finding time to meet with you. I may specify a maximum time for our meeting that is shorter than the default of 30 minutes and I may ask you to complete particular preparations so as to make our time together maximally productive. But definitely ask because I want to be available to students.
4. Real Emails (not the Canvas message feature)
Please do not use the Canvas message feature that only looks like email because it buries messages–I often don’t see them until considerable time has passed.
Use your regular St. Edward’s email and email me at drewml@stedwards.edu.
Emails to me should have a clear, specific subject line related to the topic of that particular email or message.
If your current email concerns a different subject than a previous conversation between us, please use a new subject line rather than just hitting “reply” to an old email thread.
I will strive to respond to your emails within 24 hours M-F, during reasonable working hours. I am usually well within that target.
Feel free to email me after 5 pm or on a weekend so it gets off your mind and into my queue, but please note that I often don’t read emails after 5 pm during the workweek or on weekends.
5. The Peer Review Process
Timely submission of a "good-faith full draft" is required for participation in peer review. A good-faith full draft is your best whack at doing all of what the assignment asks you to do, though everyone realizes that it is still a work in progress that you will continue to work on after peer review. A good-faith full draft is not:
a killer opening of two sentences followed by bullet points,
an outline,
one section fully drafted with nothing in the other sections,
a shell document only,
some earlier step in the assignment, or
necessarily a finished submission (that comes later).
Instead, it is just your best effort to fully develop all sections of the assignment that will be submitted. It's your "as-developed-as-it-can-be-at-this-moment" draft.
Peer review is timed carefully to be reasonably close to the submission deadline and assumes that you have been working on the draft continuously as an adult learner building sustainable writing practices. If you are in the habit of not starting to write until just before a paper is due, you will have to develop new habits. The way I teach is designed to help you develop or strengthen a sustainable writing practice.
To participate in peer review, you must attempt all of the project and bring or submit your best, most complete work at that time, on time. If your draft has major missing elements, such as missing sections, it isn't a good-faith full draft. You have to try the whole thing, not just some of it.
In F2F classes, you also have to show up to class on time so I can set the groups. In online classes, you have to log in to Canvas and see who your partner is.
Peer review fizzles if only some students contribute well-developed drafts, while others contribute nothing, offer skeletal drafts, or trickle in drafts late. The peer-review environment is one of community input among adult learners in class; it needs developed input from all class members.
Peer review cannot be made up if you miss it.
I also review the drafts in peer review and give overall advice to the class; the more developed the drafts are, the better my advice is able to be.
I grade you on your peer review of others’ work; that is, I grade you on the advice that you give to your partner.
You will have specific items to look for and comment on, but I mostly grade peer reviews for how complete, honest, and useful your feedback is.
Most students take peer review quite seriously; thus, a typical grade for peer review is 100%.
6. Late Work Policies
I try to give you plenty of time to do your best work and to benefit from an invention—>drafting—>peer review—>submission—>feedback—>reflection—>revision cycle that supports your growth as a writer.
Submissions often have 11:59 pm deadlines to give you maximum flexibility. I strongly discourage turning in work late, except in two cases:
Freebie-one free late major project per semester.
Submit the project no later than 48 hours after the posted deadline.
You may use this free extension as a matter of right-no questions asked, no explanation needed.
Emergencies where you contact me, ideally before the deadline passes.
Sometimes, “life happens.” Unforeseeable, disruptive events that are out of your control happen to all of us–including me. I have kids, elderly parents, a dog that sometimes eats things that he shouldn’t, etc.
It’s best to handle emergencies on a case-by-case basis rather than to lay down some all-purpose rule.
If you think that you have a genuine emergency, contact me right away and explain what the situation is, so we can figure out how to proceed.
If I accept a late submission, especially one that comes in after I have responded to all the other submissions and set a revision date, I reserve the right to respond to it with just a grade rather than comprehensive feedback. I set aside time to respond in depth to submissions according to a reasonable workflow that requires me to juggle multiple priorities. When that time passes, it gets filled by other commitments. If I have to just put a grade on late work, I will invite you to meet with me for a quick rundown and explanation, subject to my availability. This might be a brief meeting before or after class.
You can’t turn in a semester’s worth of late work during the waning weeks of the semester. Such an expectation short-circuits the invention—>drafting—>peer review—>submission—>feedback—>reflection—>revision cycle and is contrary to essential course purposes.
7. Grades
I use grades in part to signal to you how you are doing within the expectations of the course and the assignments. They are signals about performance at that time on that task, not referenda on your worth or your intellect.
My main goal in giving feedback is to be honest in communicating with adults interested in learning.
I do not assign grades based on whether I like you; your potential; your worth as a person; your intended graduation date; the distance your parents will travel to attend graduation; your other classes; your politics; your GPA; your work schedule; your need or desire for a grade of A, B, etc.; your plans after college; your aid or scholarships; or other extraneous factors. I just evaluate your submission as it stands at a particular moment in a particular course.
There won’t be a round of extra-credit chances at the end of the semester. Extra credit is already included in each course. I don’t give extra credit for attending on- or off-campus events. I also don't have any alternative, custom assignments to give you at the end of the semester to make up for missed work.
Grade Discussions During the Semester
If I make a mathematical or clerical error, speak up! I don’t want to make mistakes, but I might enter the wrong number or fumble a calculation every once in a while. I will fix any errors.
If after you reread my comments and your submission, you believe that my substantive evaluation (not just a math or data-entry item) is off-base, please set up an appointment to meet me. Because email is an asynchronous medium, it is not well-suited for a discussion of evaluation; let’s meet instead. Our meeting will focus on the notes you have taken based on my feedback, the assignment’s criteria and expectations, and evidence of performance identifiable in the submission.
Grade Discussions After the Semester
After the term is over, if you believe that your final grade is “in error or academically indefensible” (to use the official wording), you must follow the grade appeal process and deadlines in the university bulletin (myHilltop>Academic Bulletins).
8. Attendance and Promptness
Come to class consistently. Prompt, consistent attendance is essential to your success. As the Undergraduate Bulletin explains, “St. Edward’s University considers regular attendance in all classes one of the important obligations of the student.”
You may miss up to three class meetings without penalty. However, you still must keep up with the course. Stay in touch with me and I can try to help you keep up. If you are not prepared for class, and cannot participate meaningfully, I may deem that lack of preparation an absence. Please keep up with the readings and other work.
If you miss five or more class meetings before the drop deadline and “ghost” the class (missing class meetings, not responding to efforts to contact you, not turning in work, and have essentially disappeared), I reserve the right to drop you from the course with a grade of “WA.” If you remain on the roster after the drop deadline and become a “ghost,” you will probably earn a course grade of “F.”
Come to class on time and attend the whole meeting.
Everyone, including me, might be delayed from time to time for reasons that they can’t control. But you are an adult who signed up for a university course that starts at a particular time. Consistently arrriving late, especially more than a few minutes late, is unreasonable and distracting.
I have observed a high correlation between the set of students who consistently arrive late and the set of students who struggle, probably because they miss important announcements, information, or questions and answers. Everyone’s “default setting,” so to speak, should be to arrive on time.
If you have not marked yourself present on the sign-in sheet by the time I begin the class meeting by saying “Good morning” or “Good afternoon” or some such to the class as a whole, you are late. Late arrival or leaving early without excuse counts for half an absence. Of course, if you have some genuine reason to be late or leave early on occasion, please tell me and I’ll be reasonable.
That thing where students sometimes start packing up to leave five minutes early is out of bounds. I don’t hold you over late, but sometimes we work right up to the last minute (and sometimes we don’t).
Some activities take place only in class: “must be present to win.” Often, student questions or in-class activities generate explanations or clarifications on the spot that you should be present for.
If you are on a university NCAA athletic team, please see me to discuss any absences for games or matches. The athletics staff can assist you with providing the evidence that I’ll need.
If you miss a class meeting due to illness, you still need to prepare for the next class meeting (if you recover in time) and to turn in your work on time (if able).
Don’t come back yet if you are contagious, though.
If your illness extends more than a day or a few days, then please do let me know when you are returning so I know that you are not “ghosting” the class.
You may also make an appointment with me for help getting caught up, but please understand that I can’t reteach entire class meetings to you. You will have to have done your best to come to the meeting prepared and with specific questions. I suggest making friends with a reliable fellow student who can help you catch up.
9. Participation
Participation is required. I expect all students to participate in the course activities, including keeping up with the readings, participating in discussions and activities, and doing all writing and feedback processes. There’s no blow-off work. Please be ready to be called on and to respond to questions, discussions, process work, and activities.
Take notes, either on paper or on your laptop. If I say something to the effect of “Write this down,” you should do that.
Students tell me that workshop days help them learn while working on major projects. If our class involves workshop activities, please use that time wisely and also feel free to ask me questions. There is a high correlation between the set of students who use workshop time actively and the set of students who perform well. The converse is also true, particularly of students who treat workshop days as days off.
Keep up with the calendar and plan backward from deadlines to have time to do your best work.
10. Keeping Class Productive
Your learning is important, so feel free to ask questions, probe assumptions, interrogate the assignments, and generally take charge of your learning experience. Don’t be shy.
Unless you are expecting a crucial call, put your phone on silent (not just vibrate). If you are expecting a crucial call and might have to step out of class briefly, that’s fine. Sometimes I am in the same boat–I have kids who have to check in with me or who get sick, I have aging parents, etc.
When you are on your own, you probably use your devices to combine work and play and to toggle back and forth between various activities. I often do the same. In the classroom context, though, please use devices for relevant work.
In online classes, you will have to exercise strong discipline to avoid distractions and temptations.
Northeastern University has some good tips for staying productive and focused in an online course.
During workshop and conference days, you need to have work in progress to show me. Ask questions and take advantage of available time and resources. Do not distract others with conversations that are not germane to the particular work. You will receive time, support, and access to me during a time you already have blocked off on your schedule (class days), so show up and take part.
If, after a reminder of this policy, a student distracts others during a workshop or conference day, I will mark that student absent and ask them to leave the classroom. (I would like to continue my several-years-long streak of not having to do this).
11. The Writing Center and Other Academic Support
Use the Writing Center. It’s available for all students. It’s a great resource for improving your writing on any writing task at any stage of completion. The Writing Center website has more details.
Academic support services are available to all students. See https://www.stedwards.edu/student-success/academic-support-services for details.
12. Academic Honesty
You may or may not be permitted to use generative AI technologies to help you do a particular assignment. See the Policy for Ethical Use of Generative AI Technologies in my classes. Note: the policy may be revised as new technologies emerge.
Nobody’s born knowing how to integrate source material into their own work. I will help you, but you have to ask questions. Be careful to keep the boundaries between your words and ideas and others’ words and ideas clear when the assignment calls for that.
The work you turn in for this course must be your own. You must acknowledge your intellectual debts.
Please read the current university bulletin (myHilltop>Academic Bulletins) for the university’s policies and procedures on academic dishonesty.
Here is what the university suggests, but does not require, that I do about different kinds of academic dishonesty. I retain discretion.
Most student plagiarism is the result of ignorance rather than fraud, but I won’t get involved in mind-reading. It’s always best to avoid the problem in the first place. Ask for help. Use the Writing Center. Come to visiting hours.
Don’t turn in work that you prepared for another class without my approval first.
I don’t want to stop you from pursuing lines of research across your work, but you’ll have to revisit previous topics in a new, substantially different way to earn credit for continuing to work on them. You also have to respond to the assignment in this class, not an assignment in another class. The rule? See me first.
13. “504” Accommodations
Student Disability Services coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities (medical, learning, or psychological).
I encourage any student who believes that they may need accommodation for a disability, even temporarily, to follow the university’s procedures.
Contact Student Disability Services (512-448-8561, Moody Hall 155, or through the SDS website.)
I need the official “504 letter.” Share it with me in Box as soon as possible (ideally, in the first week of the semester) and also email me telling me to go look at the letter in Box. Box’s notification system is unreliable, so just sharing it in Box without also emailing me is likely to cause delays.
We will also need to discuss the letter in a brief conference, so I can understand how best to accommodate you. That conference will mostly consist of my asking you “So what works best for you?” and listening to what you say.
14. Health and Counseling Center
The Health and Counseling Center is committed to ensuring that students receive the services that they need in order to be successful on the Hilltop. Its holistic approach emphasizes the importance of wellness for both body and mind.
The Health and Counseling Center is in Lady Bird Johnson Hall, Rm. 100. Its main number is (512) 448-8538; call during business hours. Please visit the HCC website for the latest offerings.
15. Sex or Gender Harassment, Discrimination, and Misconduct
St. Edward’s University is committed to fostering a safe, inclusive, and productive learning environment. Title IX, state laws, and university policy prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex and gender identity. Thus, sexual misconduct —including harassment, relationship violence, sexual assault, and stalking —is also prohibited at St. Edward’s.
The university encourages anyone impacted by or experiencing sexual misconduct to talk to someone about what happened, so they can get the support they need and the university can respond appropriately. But you should know that only some university employees can offer you confidentiality. I cannot. Please know that you can seek confidential resources at the Health & Counseling Center in Johnson Hall, 512-448-8538 or with one of our 24/7 off-campus partners: Hilltopper Helpline at 833-434-1217 or SAFE Alliance at 512-267-7233.
As a faculty member, I am a “mandatory reporter” required to report incidents of sexual misconduct that I “witness” or “receive information regarding the occurrence of” and thus cannot offer confidentiality—even if you ask me to. I must provide our Title IX coordinator with relevant details including the names of those involved in the incident or I will be terminated from employment and possibly prosecuted.
To make a formal report, you can contact the Dean of Students Office in Main Building, G 16, 512-448-8408, or go to the university’s Title IX webpage. Anonymous reporting is an option through the website.
To make a police report, you can contact the University Police Department at 512-448-8444.
The university will investigate reports of sexual misconduct and may need to override a request for confidentiality and pursue an alleged perpetrator in order to provide a safe campus for everyone.
If you have questions about university policies and procedures regarding sexual misconduct, please contact the Title IX Coordinator, Dr. Lisa Kirkpatrick, Vice President for Student Affairs, Main Building, G 16, 512-448-8425.
16. Campus Carry? No.
The student handbook specifies:
The carrying or possession of any type of weapon or firearm is strictly prohibited (a) on all university premises, including university parking lots and (b) at campus related activities, and (c) while conducting university business. This policy excludes law enforcement personnel and others who are storing such firearms in a locked vehicle in full compliance with Section 411.2032 of the Texas Government Code.
Please contact the campus police if you have questions or concerns and for updated information.
Don’t ask me about this subject because I’m not an authority on this matter, other than to tell you that St. Edward’s has opted out of “campus carry.”
17. Complaints
The university maintains a comprehensive webpage regarding the complaint processes for various types of concerns. The required process for complaints about faculty (about halfway down the page) describes the university’s process.
That process requires you to meet with the faculty member first. But if you cannot work out your concern at that level, you can escalate the matter through the levels of administration.