Program in Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
INFORMATION FOR INSTRUCTORS – FALL/WINTER 2009-2010
This document outlines policies that apply to all Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication courses.
Please read this document carefully, even if you are familiar with it from previous academic years. A number of
significant policies – some mandated by Senate, some originating from within our Program – are here outlined. In
particular, please note the requirements for course outlines in general, and to medical/other accommodations for
students.
Course Outlines
A. Course Outlines: Public Version
University policy requires instructors to submit electronic copies of their course outlines to be made available on
public-access websites. However, instructors may choose to limit the amount of information contained in this
‘public’ version of their course outlines.
Before the start of term, then, submit an electronic copy of your course outline for ‘public’ distribution directly to
Brock Eayrs (beayrs@uwo.ca) as a file (Word, .doc or .docx) attached to an email.
This version of your course outline must contain the following:
1. A description of the course subject-matter. Course descriptions for 2100 series courses (this year, 2101, 2121,
2111, and Speech 2001) are given in your ‘course template.’ For 2200 series courses, you may limit this
description, in this document, to the existing calendar description of your course, especially if you think that a fuller
description of the course outline prepared for your students reveals content/concepts you bring to your section of
your course to which you have intellectual property rights.
2. Required (commercially published) textbooks/materials.
3. Class session location(s) and time(s).
4. The number and kind of assignments, with weighting.
5. A statement of your policy on attendance, including (if applicable) penalties for non-attendance.
6. Instructor name.
This version of your course outline need not contain office hours, personal contact information, a detailed schedule
of classes/lectures, or any descriptive material which reveals anything in which you reasonably feel you have a
copyright or intellectual property interest – indeed, in the interests of saving time and ‘virtual space’ you are
encouraged to keep these ‘public’ outlines as brief as possible!
B. Course Outlines: Full Version
A full course outline must be distributed to students at the beginning of term by placing it (as a PDF) on your
section’s WebCT site. You may, if you wish, also distribute printed copies to students, but this is no longer
required. Prior to distribution, please submit your full course outline directly to Brock Eayrs (beayrs@uwo.ca) as a
file (Word, .doc or .docx) attached to an email.
Instructors in multi-section 2100 series courses (this year, 2101, 2121, 2111, and Speech 2001) must use the ‘course
template’ provided. Your full course outline must include the following elements, in addition to course name,
number, class location(s)/time(s), required texts/materials, and attendance policies. (For more detail, and the full
text of official University requirements for course outlines, see
http://www.uwo.ca/universec/handbook/exam/crsout.pdf.)
1. A description of the course subject matter. 2100 series courses/Speech 2001: descriptions are provided for you
in fixed form. For 2200 series courses, you should ideally expand, to some extent at least, the existing calendar
description. Where possible, please also try to work in the following ‘objective’: “ ... the ability to communicate
Information for Instructors of Writing
Fall/Winter 2009-2010
information, arguments, and analyses accurately and reliably, orally and in writing to a range of audiences.”
(source: Ontario Council of Academic Vice Presidents’ statement on ‘Undergraduate Degree Level Expectations’
24 October 2005), and where possible try to develop additional course-specific ‘objectives’ language using the
OCAV guidelines and “list of goal-appropriate verbs” provided to you separately as attachments to Dr. Fraser’s
‘Welcome to 2009 – 2010 Academic Year.’
2. Instructor identification and contact information (i.e. office location, phone [if applicable], and email address).
If you wish to place limits on your willingness to deal with student emails and/or phone calls, do so clearly on your
course outline. In particular, note that you are under no obligation to provide a home telephone number.
3. Office hours. You must make yourself available to your students a minimum of three hours per week outside of
class hours. At least two of these hours must be fixed office hours; you may, if you wish, reserve the third hour for
individual student appointments at varying times. Please inform Shelley about your office hours; we will post a
chart (instructor/hours) on the bulletin board.
4. Statements on Scholastic Offences (Including Plagiarism) and Prerequisites.
There are two statements that UWO Senate has mandated for inclusion, verbatim, in student handouts:
i)
Scholastic Offences: "Scholastic Offences are taken seriously and students are directed to read the
appropriate policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at the
following Web site: http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/appeals/scholoff.pdf.”
[We suggest following this with the following statement: “Students must write their essays and
assignments in their own words. Whenever students take an idea, or a passage of text from another
author, they must acknowledge their debt both by using quotation marks where appropriate and by
proper referencing such as footnotes or citations. Plagiarism is a major academic offence.”]
“All required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to the commercial
plagiarism detection software under license to the University for the detection of plagiarism. All
papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for
the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service
is subject to the licensing agreement currently between The University of Western Ontario and
Turnitin.com (http://www.turnitin.com).”
Please note that the above required statements do not rule out additional cautions by the instructor. Above all,
every instance of egregious plagiarism "with intent to deceive" must be reported to the Writing Program
Office, in order to determine the penalty with the authority of the Director of the Writing Program, and to
check for previous offences. A second offence will result in more serious penalties at the Dean's level. Some
instructors use the "Turnitin" program, available through Weldon Library and WebCT, for on-line checks;
others simply use the Google search engine.
Note: Beginning this year, all students in all 2100 level writing courses will be required to submit all assignments written
outside of class hours to turnitin.com through their section’s WebCT HomePage. This requirement is built into the
2100 level course templates. Further information on this process will be available at the start of term.
ii)
Prerequisites: "Students are responsible for ensuring that their selection of courses is appropriate and
accurately recorded and that all course prerequisites have been successfully completed, and that they
are aware of any antirequisite course(s) that they have taken. If the student does not have the requisites
for a course, the University reserves the right to remove the student from the course and to delete it
from the student's record. This decision may not be appealed. A student will receive no adjustment to
his or her fees in the event that he or she is dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary
prerequisites." (In course outlines for 2200 series courses, please add the following statement: “The
prerequisite for registration in this course is a) a final grade of 65 or more in one of Writing 2101,
2121, 2111, or 2131, or b) Special Permission of the Program.”)
5. Statements on Medical Accommodation Policy, Missed Work, and Related Matters
Effective 1 September 2008, Senate adopted a new ‘Policy on Accommodation for Medical Illness – Undergraduate
Students.’ This policy replaced the existing ‘Policy on Medical Excuse Slips,’ and can be found at
http://uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/appeals/medical.pdf.
In effect, the policy has two components. First, it imposes a blanket requirement that for assignments totalling 10%
or more of the final course grade students must seek accommodation from their home Dean’s office, with
appropriate documentation. Instructors have no discretion in these cases. Second, each individual instructor must
decide – and state in his/her course outline – how accommodation (if any) for assignments that total less than 10%
of the final course grade will be dealt with. Many faculties, including Arts and Humanities, are encouraging units to
develop a uniform policy ‘statement’ covering these matters, to be used by all instructors. We have elected to
follow this procedure.
Consequently, all instructors must include the following statement in their course outlines:
“Medical Accommodation Policy:
For UWO Policy on Accommodation For Medical Illness, see:
http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/appeals/medical.pdf
(downloadable Student Medical Certificate (SMC): https://studentservices.uwo.ca under the Medical
Documentation heading)
Students seeking academic accommodation on medical or other grounds for any missed tests, exams, participation
components and/or assignments worth 10% or more of their final grade must apply to the Academic Counselling
office of their home Faculty and provide documentation. Academic accommodation on medical grounds cannot be
granted by the instructor or the Program in Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication, and the Program
requires students in these circumstances to follow the same procedure when seeking academic accommodation on
non-medical (i.e. non-medical compassionate or other) grounds.
Students seeking academic accommodation on medical grounds for any missed tests, exams, participation
components and/or assignments worth less than 10% of their final grade must also apply to the Academic
Counselling office of their home Faculty and provide documentation. Where in these circumstances the
accommodation is being sought on non-medical grounds, students should consult in the first instance with their
instructor, who may elect to make a decision on the request directly, or refer the student to the Academic
Counselling office of their home Faculty.
Students should also note that individual instructors are not permitted to receive medical documentation directly
from a student, whether in support of an application for accommodation on medical grounds, or for other reasons
(e.g. to explain an absence from class which may result in a grade penalty under an ‘Attendance’ policy in the
course). All medical documentation must be submitted to the Academic Counselling office of a student’s home
Faculty.”
6. Detailed schedule of class topics, readings, assignments and due dates, etc.
Your course outline must include a reasonably detailed schedule (e.g. referenced by class/date, by week, or similiar)
of class topics and readings, and must explain all term work. Include the number of essays, tests, and other
assignments, the nature and weight of each (though not necessarily the specific topics), and an exact timetable of the
dates on which they will be due.
In line with our policies, please do not allocate any portion of your final grade to undefined ‘participation’, mere
attendance, ‘bonus marks’ or other such components. You may build in graded participatory components tied into
specific academic activities, but the rationale and evaluation criteria for such grades should be clearly stated in your
syllabus. The maximum weight for defined participation grades is 10%.
Information for Instructors of Writing
Fall/Winter 2009-2010
Any term work not explained/contained in the course outline must be explained in printed form within the first three
weeks of term.
Note 1: These requirements do not preclude the administration of surprise assignments and quizzes as long as the total number,
approximate frequency, and the value of such assignments is specified in the course outline.
Note 2: All Writing courses are half-courses so a minimum of 2,500 words of finished work (excluding drafts, in-class exercises,
tests, etc.) is required.
Attendance and Late Assignments
In writing courses attendance is mandatory and non-attendance may result in a significant grade penalty or failure.
Please ensure that your course outline (for non-templated courses) clearly states your policy(s) on attendance.
Remember (see ‘Medical Accommodation Policy’) you cannot ask for or receive medical documentation from a
student; if you require this in order to excuse a student for absence from class, for example, it must be submitted
through the Academic Counselling office of the student’s home Faculty. Also be sure to state your policy on late
assignments (e.g., “Late assignments: three marks per day will be deducted as a penalty from the assigned grade as a
penalty, unless alternative arrangements are made prior to the due date”).
Examinations
Writing courses typically have no final examination. All Distance Studies courses, however, must have a 2 hour
examination, and instructors in 2200 level courses may choose to set a final examination.
Student Registration
Please note: Instructors may not sign student Add/Drop forms, and do not have the discretion to
consent to course/section overloads. All changes must be arranged and approved through
Add/Drop in the Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication Program Office. Please refer
any students wishing to Add or Drop your course/section, and immediately report names of
students on class lists who do not attend each of the first two class sessions, to Shelley Clark in
the Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication Program office.
Reporting Plagiarism
When you think you have a case of plagiarism please contact Shelley to obtain the Report with Documentation of
The Academic Offence of Plagiarism form; fill the form in and return it to the office.
Scheduling of Tests:
No in-class tests or quizzes may be administered in the final three weeks (i.e. 15 working days) of the term in halfcourses. In full courses (e.g. Speech 2001), this period for Fall term is one week (i.e. 5 working days).
Grading, Final Grades
Please use percentage grades (i.e. 50%, not 5/10) for all graded work, throughout the term, and try as much as
possible to assign grades bearing in mind the Program’s grading guidelines, ensuring as wide a distribution of grades
as possible.
(Helpful hint re. final grades: try, if at all possible and where justified, to avoid arriving at a final grade of 59,
69, or 79.)
Marks for courses without final examinations are due one week after the last day of classes.
The University is ending the use of Marks Management. Our current understanding is that beginning December,
2009 final grades will be submitted through WebCT. Further information and instructions will be provided during
the Fall term.
IMPORTANT: privacy rules now in effect have considerable impact on the ways in which we communicate with
students. One consequence of these rules is this: you must not communicate marks (assignment, term, or final) to
students by email (other than on WebCT – see ‘Owl Resources’ below), even if the student asks you to do so. As
well, you cannot follow the old practice of ‘posting’ (final) grades in a public place, referenced by student # or in
any other way.
Course and Instructor Evaluations
Evaluations will occur in the final weeks of each term. Instructors will be given the package with instructions for a
student to administer.
Special Requests:
Instructors should attend carefully to the following policy items, which are not reproduced here but are in the
document Information for all Students in a Writing Course:
‘(Requests for) Special Examination, Incomplete Standing or Aegrotat Standing’ and ‘Requests for Academic Relief
and Complaints.’ In particular, concerning the first of these topics, please note students must initiate all requests for
Special Exams, Incompletes, or aegrotat standing through the Dean’s office of their home faculty; if a student
approaches you about these matters, you should immediately direct them to that office. Instructors do not have the
discretion to consent to such requests directly (although your consent will be sought to any formalized
arrangements). Also, keep in mind that you do not have discretion to extend ‘due dates’ for any term work which
would result in your delaying submission of final grades for a class in accordance with the requirements of the
Program and the Office of the Registrar. You should direct any/all students seeking prolonged ‘extensions’ past the
last day of classes to their home faculty’s academic counsellors.
Faculty Attendance at Classes
If an occasional illness or personal emergency interferes with your contractual responsibility to attend, ensure that
students are not disadvantaged by arranging to make up the missed class(es) or asking a colleague to substitute. All
absences should be reported to Shelley Clark, Room 270 (82920) so she can deal with student enquiries.
OFFICE PROCEDURES (GENERAL INFORMATION)
Instructors are responsible for their own photocopying and other activities incidental to their day-to-day teaching
activities. In connection with photocopying, please bear in mind that photocopying budgets are being cut across the
University; where possible, you are encouraged to use Pdf postings on your WebCT site for your course outline,
student handouts, assignments, etc.
Also, please note that our Administrative Assistant, Shelley Clark, is not a ‘secretary.’ Please do not ask Shelley to
do your photocopying, print letters on letterhead, prepare documents, take telephone messages, and so forth. These
kinds of things are your responsibility.
As well, please bear in mind that we are a small unit (in terms of full-time staff). Please try to ensure when you
have scheduled office hours that you are present, and that you make an effort to meet your students as they arrive.
Finally, if you are in the Program offices outside regular office hours, please do not leave the main entrance open
and/or unlocked. It is your responsibility to maintain the basic security of the offices if you are using them outside
regular office hours.
OWL (formerly WebCT Vista) Resources:
1.
2.
OWL for Writing is a site maintained by Shelley for exclusive use by all instructors and students of
Writing for having ready access to formal documents and informal collections of materials such a course
outlines of all instructors in all courses.
All sections of each course have an OWL site which can also be used as the class web site for posting
materials or notices, student interchange, or submitting assignments. The advantage of an assigned OWL
site for an instructor’s class is that it is secure—available only by UWO id and password to students in a
given instructor’s class. For example, this is the only ‘virtual’ conduit available for student grades at UWO
(see ‘Grading, Final Grades, and Marks Management’ above).
Information for Instructors of Writing
Fall/Winter 2009-2010
Contact information:
Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication offices: Stevenson-Lawson Building, Room 270
Website: http://www.uwo.ca/writing/
Shelley Clark,
Administrative Assistant
Program in Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication Office
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Stevenson-Lawson Building Room 270
London ON N6A 5B8
smclark@uwo.ca
519-850-2920, ext. 82920
Dr. Kathleen Fraser
Acting Director of Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Stevenson-Lawson Building Room 270
London ON N6A 5B8
kfraser@uwo.ca
519-661-2111, ext. 85641
Brock Eayrs
Undergraduate Program Director
Program in Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication
Stevenson-Lawson Building Room 270
London, ON N6A 5B8
beayrs@uwo.ca
519-661-2111, ext. 85807