Students occasionally miss labs, classes, and even exams for a variety of reasons. Where these are unavoidable and beyond the students control, arrangements can usually be made to ensure that this does not affect academic progress. This requires appropriate action on the part of the student; some suggestions are given below. While these will not cover all situations, and some flexibility is required, they do provide some guidelines.
University activities (both academic and extracurricular), as well as some non-university activities, can be valuable learning experiences. It is not my desire to discourage such activities. As these are known in advance, as soon as the student is aware of the possible conflict the relevant instructor (in some cases a teaching assistant, in others myself) should be contacted (preferably including email) and the situation explained.
Where the scheduling is beyond the student's control, and the activity is deemed valuable and important enough to justify missing course activities, arrangements can be made. Such arrangements will usually involve doing the work in advance. Again, the key to success is advance planning: the sooner plans are made to address the conflict, the less difficulty in resolving them.
As illness is not planned in advance, it is difficult to prepare for ahead of time. Three issues arise:
While students typically show concern about the third, the first two are really more important. The poor performance in later work that results from not being prepared will generally have a greater impact on the final grade than the missed assignment. As a result, where possible arrangements will be made to perform the missed work and have it evaluated. This may not correspond to the score provided; the means for ensuring that missed work does not impact the final grade could also involve averaging scores on similar work, removing the impact of that score on the final grade, alternative assignments, or other means as deemed appropriate to the situation.
To avoid abuse, illness must be documented. This does not necessarily
require a note from a physician, but almost always requires more than
I was sick yesterday
.
For example, PUSH issued a
press release on H1N1
that recommends several steps for dealing with highly contagious diseases
(which do not include coming to class in spite of the illness.) Many
of these steps are appropriate even for non-contagious diseases, and
some (such as requesting sick meals if you are in a residence hall)
will help provide documentation. It is best if such a documentation trail
starts before the missed deadline.
At a minimum, contact the instructor in advance of the missed lab/assignment/exam. This will provide a time record, and open dialogue for what further documentation may be required. A student too ill to make a phone call or send an email before the deadline for the missed work should probably be receiving medical treatment.
Some emergencies may arise on short notice. When possible, contact me in advance of any missed work to make arrangements (email or phone suggested). Such arrangements will of course be tailored to the specific situation.
In some cases, an emergency may be so sudden, serious, or of a nature as to preclude contacting me. In such cases, contact the Office of the Dean of Students to discuss the circumstances and for advice on how to proceed.
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