Taking Your Course

The rules of the road, the tools of the trade, and the places to turn when the semester turns hard.

An open hardcover book with pencil marginalia in the margins, a hand holding a pencil hovering over the right-hand page mid-annotation, reading glasses, a stack of index cards, and a wooden ruler on a warm wooden desk in soft window light.
Fig. 03 — The work of the semester.

A course is a small society, and every society needs a few plain agreements. What follows is the whole of them — where the syllabus stands, how the technology behaves, and where to seek help when writing goes sideways.

Read this once at the start of the semester, and once more when something feels wrong. Between those two readings, you will find that most questions answer themselves. For the exhaustive versions of each policy, see the general course policy and the technology policy; for common questions and university help desks, see Resources.

§ 01

The Syllabus Prevails

Two documents govern your course: the syllabus itself, and this page. Where they say the same thing, follow either. Where they say different things, follow the syllabus.

Order of Authority

Unless an exception is explicitly stated, wherever a conflict of information exists between the course syllabus and that which is contained herein, the course syllabus prevails.

Additionally, wherever information exists in one entity (either the course syllabus or herein) but is not present in the other, such content is to be understood as part of the course syllabus.

§ 02

The Tech

Important

Technology issues never excuse course or assignment policies.

The Learning Management System — Blackboard, Canvas, or whichever your university runs — functions as your course's central hub. It cannot be overstated how important it is that you learn to use the LMS early in the semester, because technology problems are never a valid excuse for exceptions to course policy.

Your LMS has an extensive help system. Use it before you email me about a login screen, a broken upload, or a missing assignment link. In nearly every case, the answer is already waiting in the help center of the platform you are already using.

§ 03

Online Meetings

I use Microsoft Teams to conduct all online meetings — both class sessions and office hours — regardless of which web meeting application your particular university may use. If your school defaults to Zoom, WebEx, or Google Meet, that is fine for other courses; for ours, we meet in Teams.

Webcams and mics must be used. A dark square with a name floating in it is not attendance; it is a placeholder for a student who is not here. Please arrange your setup so that you can be seen and heard during our meetings.

Download Teams and familiarize yourself with it before our first meeting. Keep it up to date — out-of-date versions may inhibit your progress in the course. See the technology policy above, and the instructions on how to obtain and use Microsoft Teams.

Platform
Microsoft Teams — exclusivelynot Zoom, WebEx, or Google Meet
Camera & Mic
Required, botha black tile is not attendance
Applies to
Classes & office hoursevery synchronous meeting

§ 04

Academic Resource Centers

Every one of the colleges I teach at maintains a free tutoring and writing center staffed by real people who genuinely want to help. Use them — early, often, and without embarrassment. Strong writers ask for readers; that is what makes them strong writers.

I.

Community Colleges

three institutions
II.

Four-Year Colleges & Universities

four institutions

A closing thought

A course runs best on a small stack of clear agreements. Keep the syllabus close, keep the tech current, keep the camera on, and know where to ask for help. The rest is the reading and the writing — which is, after all, why we are here.

← Previous: Your First Week's Checklist  ·  Back to the homepage  ·  Next: After the Semester →

Full policies · Course Policy · Technology Policy · Resources