**A copy of your syllabus is due to uwbfypmp@uw.edu before the first day of class.
***Please note that the UW treats syllabi as contracts with students. While changes during
the quarter are possible due to unforeseen circumstances, please communicate to students
that you will adhere to the syllabus as closely as possible. This is particularly important for
the large number of students who plan well in advance how to complete their work due to
other job and life commitments.
FYPP First Year and Pre-Major Program
Course Title:
Year ________________ Quarter ______________
BCUSP _________ SLN# ______________
Credits ______________
Areas of Knowledge (VLPA, I&S, NW) _____________
Instructor:
Instructor Contact:
Email: This must be your UW email
Phone: 425-352-3427 (FYPP Office) or your cell
These can be found on the time schedule or your teaching
agreement
Office Hours: (see policy note below)
Office Hours location: Please See the FYPP
Time (MW, TTh etc) _____________
Course meets in room _____________
phone or whatever number you wish to provide to have
your students reach you. You can stipulate times when
you’ll be available.
Office Hours Policy below:
TRULY House shared office – Vistas, Common Grounds,
Food for Thought and any other area where you’ll hold
office hours
Communication Preferences: Please review the FYPP Office Hours and Communications
policy http://www.uwb.edu/premajor/faculty/facultyhandbook
Course Description: Course descriptions vary from a short paragraph to several pages.
Course Learning Goals: These objectives should be as specific as possible and should map
directly onto FYPP’s learning goals http://www.uwb.edu/cusp/learninggoals Objectives
are outcomes, that is, what you want students to know or be able to do by the end of the
course. Thus “study cigarette-rolling” is not an outcome, but “be able to roll a cigarette” is.
At the end of this course, students will be able to: [be specific]
A
B
C
D
E
Required Texts, media, and resrouces
(http://uwb.v1.libguides.com/friendly.php?s=reserves)
Technology Access: What technology access will your students need to be successful in your
course? Add a policy statement about how and when students need to notify you if access is
an issue for them. Will there be grade consequences if they cannot access the technology?
Have you made sure to make clear statements about disability accommodations in relation to
the technologies needed for the course?
Grading Criteria: Syllabi should stipulate the work students will be asked to do, the
percentage division of the grade for each kind of work, and some discussion of how grades are
assessed. For UWB grading policies and procedures, see
http://depts.washington.edu/grading/
Schedule of course meetings, including exams and due dates for assignments:
Students tend to treat this schedule as an agreement with the instructor and to plan around
it. The best policy is to keep substantive changes to a minimum, especially with regard to
assignments.
FYPP Learning Goals (http://www.uwb.edu/premajor/first-year-discovery/learninggoals)
: NOTE: there is an electronic and printable copy of this under the Faculty Resources menu on the
FYPP website





Critical and Creative Inquiry
Communication
Quantitative and Qualitative Literacy
Inclusive Practices
Ethics and Social Responsibility
Discovery Core Sequence and the E-Portfolio Requirement: The DC Sequence includes
a DC I in the Autumn, a DC II in the Winter, and a DC III in the Spring. Each course
emphasizes student creativity and analysis, interdisciplinary, integrated learning,
undergraduate research skills, and self-reflection. The sequence is capped by the spring DC
III course in which you complete the e-Portfolio you have been maintaining since Autumn.
In DCIII you will be asked to be both reflective and projective, looking back at what you
have learned and ahead to the directions you’d like to explore. Read more about the
Discovery Core and Advising at http://www.uwb.edu/cusp/first-year-discovery. PLEASE
KEEP MATERIAL FROM ALL OF YOUR COURSES archived in your Canvas ePortfolio site
in order to have access to them for your Spring DCIII Portfolio project.
http://www.uwb.edu/learningtech/eportfolios/dc-resources-(1)
Instructors, please educate the students about the curriculum and its intentions. In
particular, every course should include a couple of assignments that link directly to the Spring
Portfolio.
Classroom Conduct: Students arrive on our campus with a wide range of ideas about what
is acceptable to do in a classroom. Many faculty members find it useful to include a few words
on this subject, and to state positively what is expected and why, rather than just writing a list
of prohibitions. For example, students must arrive in class on time and quiet so that we can
all focus on our work.
Among the considerations in framing your policy, remember that you may have students with
hearing-related disabilities that make it difficult to pick out your words when other
conversations are going on around them. Some students have disabilities that hinder their
concentration, so that extraneous conversations, activity on visible laptop screens, and other
students moving around the classroom all make it very hard for them to keep track of the
class. Among the things you can do to make a disability-friendly classroom, therefore, is to
create (and enforce) a calm and focused classroom environment.
Any classroom conduct policy will have to be enforced, kindly but firmly, especially in the first
few class meetings – the syllabus language will not be enough! But it’s helpful to have the
syllabus to refer to. The students will appreciate it.
Attendance Policy: Since participation is vital for a successful experience, please arrive on
time for class. Late arrivals interrupt our in-progress activities and discussions. If you must
miss a class session, let the instructor know as soon as possible so that you can make up the
work that you miss.
Please be aware that UW policy dictates that you cannot grade on attendance. You can
grade on participation and specify that attendance is a prerequisite of participation, but
participation should not simply proxy attendance: you should have criteria for good and lessgood participation and share and discuss these with your students.
Late policy: You will get late work. You will save time and aggravation if you announce your
policy and stick to it. The policy is up to you: some faculty members accept no late work at all.
Some accept late work with a fixed grade penalty; some accept it with a documented excuse,
and so forth. You may find it useful to stipulate precisely when work is due, e.g. on paper at
the beginning of class, or half an hour before the beginning of class in an electronic dropbox.
You may find it useful to state a policy on e-mail submissions of work.
Technology in the Classroom: Since technology is profoundly linked to education, there
will be many times when I ask that you employ different tools in the gathering and
expression of knowledge. Since, however, education is also more than technology, please
turn off all laptops, cell phones, iPods, etc. before the start of class and I will let you know
when we’ll make use of them. (There are exceptions for students with specific note-taking
and other needs.)
You may want to include a policy with regard to laptops and electronic devices. You can ban
laptops and other electronic devices, including cell phones, if you wish. Another option is to
allow them only for certain parts of a class. We get consistent negative comments on student
evaluations about other students surfing the web or texting during class.
Incompletes: University rules state that “an incomplete is given only when the student has
been in attendance and has done satisfactory work until within two weeks at the end of the
quarter and has furnished proof satisfactory to the instructor that the work cannot be
completed because of illness or other circumstances beyond the student’s control.”
FYPP strongly discourages incompletes.
Academic integrity: See http://www.uwb.edu/academic/policies/faculty-guide
for crucial information regarding academic integrity. The library also has an extremely
useful website with resources at http://libguides.uwb.edu/ai. You are responsible for
knowing what constitutes a violation of the University of Washington Student Code, and
you will be held responsible for any such violations whether they were intentional or
not. Plagiarism is one of the most common violations of academic integrity, so please pay
attention to both the web information and when your instructor explains all of this in class.
Faculty members may elaborate on this information in whatever ways work for them, but the
core must appear on all syllabi. You might also include a link to this page
http://www.uwb.edu/learningtech/plagiarism or to some of the resources available there.
This is important backup when plagiarists (and other academic un-integritists) claim
ignorance of the rules; more positively it is one way to introduce a discussion about how to
credit others’ work, and why integrity is an institutional priority.
If you have significant written work in your course, you will get plagiarism, and it is worth
reviewing the procedures (http://www.uwb.edu/academic/policies/academicconduct/faculty-guide)
so you are prepared for cases as they arise. A not insignificant percentage of students
plagiarize routinely in full knowledge that it is wrong; another group has never put aside the
crutch of writing by closely paraphrasing other writing. In some courses it is worth building
in a check-yourself moment for students before major assignments are due. Some instructors
ask students to use the resources on how to recognize plagiarism, including taking one of the
self-tests linked to this guide: http://libguides.uwb.edu/content.php?pid=87430&sid=691952.
The library guide above has resources for faculty to help develop assignments that are more
plagiarism-resistant, http://libguides.uwb.edu/content.php?pid=87430&sid=1229169.
Respect for Diversity: Include this statement or one modeled on it:
Diverse backgrounds, embodiments and experiences are essential to the critical thinking
endeavor at the heart of university education. In FYPP and at UW Bothell, students are
expected to respect individual differences which may include, but are not limited to: age,
cultural background, disability, ethnicity, family status, gender presentation, immigration
status, national origin, race, religious and political beliefs, sex, sexual orientation,
socioeconomic status, and veteran status.
Students seeking support around these issues can find more information and resources at
http://www.uwb.edu/diversity.
Americans with Disabilities Act:
Access and Accommodations: Your experience in this class is important to us, and it is the
policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible
learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you experience barriers
based on disability, please seek a meeting with Disability Resources for Students (DRS) to
discuss and address them. If you have already established accommodations with DRS,
please communicate your approved accommodations to your instructor at your earliest
convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course.
DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with
disabilities. Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process
between you, your instructor(s) and DRS. If you have not yet established services through
DRS, but have a temporary or permanent disability that requires accommodations (this can
include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing,
physical or health impacts), you are welcome to contact DRS at 425.352.5307 or
rlundborg@uwb.edu.
H1N1 and Other Communicable Diseases Action Steps:
As part of the campus community’s shared responsibility for minimizing the possible
spread of H1N1 virus and other diseases this year, it is critical that all students are familiar
with the symptoms of H1N1 Flu described on the UW Bothell website at
http://www.uwb.edu/flu. Any student or instructor with flu-like symptoms is encouraged
to stay at home until at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever without the use of
fever-reducing medications. If you are sick and have an extended absence, please speak
with me regarding alternative ways to maintain your progress in your courses. If I am sick
and need to cancel class, I will post an announcement on Blackboard.
Inclement Weather:
Please check if the campus may be closed due to weather. Information about
suspension of operations will be made public and available through the media. Students
can learn of campus operations status from the website or by calling the Campus
Information Hotline 425.352.3333. You may also sign up with an alert system that will
contact you via email or text message if classes are canceled. For more information on the
alert process, please see http://www.uwb.edu/emergency
Class activities will be rescheduled as needed.
Classroom Emergency Preparedness: Please use this
http://www.uwb.edu/emergency/emergency-plan
to ensure you and your class can respond to an emergency.
Student Support Services:
IT Helpdesk: uwbit@uw.edu, 425-352-3456
Library: http://library.uwb.edu/ 425-352-5340
Writing Center: http://www.uwb.edu/wacc 425-352-5253
Quantitative Skills Center: http://www.uwb.edu/qsc 425-352-3170
Student Success Services: http://www.uwb.edu/studentsuccess 425-352-3776
Career Services: http://www.uwb.edu/careers 425-352-3706
Student Counseling Services: http://www.uwb.edu/studentservices/counseling
425-352-3183
Additional Notes for the Instructor:
Contact, shared office, and phone: Please let the FYPP office know if you will be using the
faculty shared office in the Truly House, since they need to know how many faculty are
using the room. We ask that you not give out the shared office phone number, but, instead,
use the FYPP office number, 425-352-3427. If you will be expecting calls during your office
hours, let us know and we can transfer calls to you.
Introduction to the University: remember that part of our task is to “introduce” students
to university level academic work: Please be explicit about your expectations, tools for
success, practice sessions, and similar issues.
Academic Support Services: Please invite all of these services to visit your classroom to
share with the students, and require students to use the Writing Center or Quantitative
Skills Center, and the Library as appropriate.
Technology and Tools: For course-building tools, see the Teaching and Learning Center
(http://www.uwb.edu/tlc ) and Learning Technologies (Andreas Brockhaus)
http://www.uwb.edu/learningtech
Preparing to Teach: http://www.washington.edu/teaching/teachingresources/preparing-to-teach
Including Disability as Diversity in Our Teaching:
http://www.uwb.edu/tlc/faculty/teaching-resources/disability
Invited Presenters: If you plan to use presenters in your course, please let Sara or Leslie
know. With all of the many activities happening on campus there may be a tie in to other
activities, or there may be a good reason to promote them to other classes etc. We will not,
unfortunately, have many funds to support visitors this year.
Field Trips: If you are planning a field trip remember to have your students sign release
forms. You may obtain these in advance from our FYPP office.
Videos and Photos: If your students have the option of producing a video or PowerPoint
for their lesson/project, please ask them to share a copy with FYPP. Also, consider inviting
the staff photographer, Marc Studer, uwbit@uw.edu, to your classroom. We are looking for
new shots to include in our communications media and our program website. A student
media release form must be filled out.