Faculty Handbook

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Absence

Instructor: Faculty are expected to be available a minimum of five days a week in order to facilitate a 24- to 48-hour response time to student discussion posts and emails. Faculty who expect to miss more than 2 days in a row should notify their students of their unavailability.

Student: CCCOnline does not provide vacation days during the scheduled term time. This includes spring break (none). Students, however, do tend to take vacation days when these are scheduled for their home colleges. Students also may be absent if their jobs require them to travel at some point during a session. Faculty are encouraged to work with students who plan absences as long as the absences will not seriously affect the students’ learning outcomes.

Students are also expected to log on to the class 3 to 5 days each week.

Academic Freedom

CCCOnline is bound by State Board Policy 3-20, http://www.cccs.edu/Docs/SBCCOE/Policies/BP/Web/BP3-20Rev060702.htm

Academic Honesty/Plagiarism

Students are expected to follow the Academic Honesty/Plagiarism policies of their home institutions (available in the college catalogues).

The majority of problems with academic honesty involve plagiarism. Plagiarism is defined as the act of using words and/or ideas from another person or source without acknowledgment of debt to that person or source and is a serious academic crime. Students are expected to do their own work.

CCCOnline generally uses a 3-step method of dealing with plagiarism cases. The first time plagiarism occurs the faculty is encouraged to work with the student to help them understand the issue. The assignment can be rewritten with sources cited properly or the assignment can be given a grade of zero. The second time a case of plagiarism arises the student should receive a grade of zero for the assignment. If there is a third problem the student should receive an F for the class and a letter should be placed in his or her file at the home college.

The other area where academic honest can become as issue is testing. For a full description of CCCOnline’s examination policies please see Exams and Quizzes.

Accessibility

of Faculty: Faculty are expected to provide a minimum of two ways for students to contact them, generally email and a phone number. Email should be checked on a daily basis. If you are uncomfortable providing your home or office phone number to students please arrange with your program chair to receive a CCCOnline voicemail box.

ADA Issues: CCCOnline makes every attempt to keep course websites accessible to students with disabilities. This involves special HTML coding in designing course pages. If you need to make significant changes to your course shell, please work with a course designer in order to maintain accessibility.

The following special services statement is found in each syllabus:
If you have a learning or physical disability that will require special accommodation, please notify your instructor immediately upon enrollment.

Address and Telephone Changes

To change your address with both CCCOnline and PERA please submit a revised PERA form to the CCCOnline Faculty Coordinator at 9026 E Severn Pl, Denver, CO 80230. This is the form the system offices uses to change the faculty information database, so it must be sent first to CCCCOnline. CCCCOnline will send the form on to PERA.

Get the form here:
PERA Member Information Form in PDF:
http://www.copera.org/pdf/8-324.pdf

Assessment

When must a student take assessment?

All students who are taking their first college English or mathematics course, or students without a high school diploma or GED, are required to take the assessment.

Why must a student take assessment?

The State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education requires that colleges assess their students to determine the appropriate level of mathematics, reading, English, and other basic skill courses to begin with and to help in the advising process.

Furthermore, students' success in many courses can be severely affected by their skill level in English, mathematics, and reading; therefore, all students are encouraged to take the assessment test.

Students are exempt from assessment if

1. the student has an associate degree or higher.
   
2. the student has taken a college-level English or mathematics course (with a "C" or better) at another college.
   
3. the student does not wish to earn a degree or certificate and is not planning to take a math or English class.
   
4. the student has achieved these minimum scores (see an academic advisor):
   ACT: English 20 Mathematics 20
   SAT: Verbal 530 Mathematics 505