Syllabus Policies

Emergencies: You should include statements on your policy if classes are cancelled due to a campus emergency and direct your students to these locations:

• RIT Emergency Information
• RIT Emergency Preparedness

Attendance: Please be as flexible as possible in maintaining instructional continuity for students who may need to be absent from class or request to participate remotely for a period of time due to events such as university sanctioned events, illness, or quarantine/isolation (Q/I). Students should notify you that they will need to be absent and when they anticipate being able to rejoin the class. Per Policy D04.0 – Attendance, students are still responsible for fulfilling normal course requirements during their absence. Students are not required to provide details about or documentation related to health-related absences; however, you may request confirmation of a student’s Q/I status. 

Example:

In the event of a University-wide emergency, course requirements, classes, deadlines and grading schemes are subject to changes that may include alternative delivery methods, alternative methods of interaction with the instructor, class materials, and/or classmates, a revised attendance policy, and a revised semester calendar and/or grading scheme.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, or FERPA, prohibits instructors from making students' identities, course work, and educational records public without their consent. If you intend to post, or ask students to post, their classwork on a website, social media site, blog,  or any other area on the internet that is accessible to the public, you should state that requirement in your syllabus. Include whether or not the material will remain on the internet after the course is completed. You should also have a strategy to accommodate students who do not want to share their classwork publicly.

Example:

During this course, you will post assignments on [name and URL], a publicly-accessible website. Your work [will/will not] remain on this site after the end of the course. If you do not wish to make your work public in this way, please contact me during the first week of class to make other arrangements.

Members of the RIT community may take advantage of the TEACH Act provisions to use copyrighted works in online and distance learning courses. The TEACH Act provisions would allow a non-profit educational institution, such as RIT, to use copyrighted works, without the express permission of the creator and without the payment of royalties and/or licensing fees, when certain conditions are met. These are detailed in Section C of the RIT Policies Manual.

To comply with these conditions, faculty using copyrighted material in an online course must make note of this in their syllabus.

Example:

Certain materials used in this course are protected by copyright and may not be copied or distributed by students. You can find more information at C03.2 COPYRIGHT POLICY.

In February 2013, many major internet providers implemented the Copyright Alert System to alert users when they are accessing illegal content (usually music, video, or motion pictures). Repeat offenders may receive warnings or a downgrade in service. To minimize the chances for this to occur in classes where students link to and share internet content, you may want to provide a warning for students.

Example:

When sharing copyrighted content on the internet with your classmates, please make sure that you link to a legal source. Repeated access to illegal sources may cause you or your classmates to receive warnings through the Copyright Alert System, as well as possible downgrades in internet service.

The technology landscape is rapidly changing. Rather than try to cover all possible cases in a single syllabus statement, you could say something like: The appropriate/allowable use of generative AI is included in the instructions for individual assignments. If you have any questions, please contact me before beginning the assignment.

It may also be helpful to include a reference in your syllabus statement to the RIT Wallace Library guide for citing generative AI in student work.

Examples:

For example text shared by RIT faculty and additional information about writing generative AI syllabus statements, visit GenAI Syllabus Statement Guidance.

RIT requires students to complete the Student Identity Verification process for each online course they participate in. Instructors can remind students of these expectations in the syllabus.

Example:

While an online course does not require physical attendance, active engagement and participation is necessary to successfully meet the course learning outcomes. RIT also requires students to complete the Student Identity Verification process for each online course they participate in to ensure RIT compliance with the United States Federal Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA).

As such, students are expected to:

• have an RIT-approved ID Photo on file which can be used to verify their identity.
• attend at least one virtual session as determined by the instructor where video identification can be made before week 3 of the course.
• complete all online course activities using RIT provided computer accounts, including RIT’s learning management system (myCourses) and RIT email.
• use online proctoring solutions for online exams when deemed necessary by their instructor.

It is best practice to include a statement in your syllabus informing students of why proctoring helps to meet your course goals, the type of proctoring you will use, which exams are proctored, and what to expect during proctored exams. This statement about proctoring is in addition to the required Academic Integrity Statement.

Example For Honorlock AI Proctoring:

Honorlock is a tool which will proctor your online exams [replace this placeholder with your list of online exams] this semester. Honorlock is an online proctoring service that allows you to take your online exam virtually. You DO NOT need to create an account or schedule an appointment in advance. Honorlock is available 24/7. All that is required to use this service is a computer, a working webcam/microphone, your ID, and a stable internet connection. For more information about using Honorlock at RIT, review Completing an AI-proctored Online Exam with Honorlock (Student Guide). Exam requirements will be communicated prior to each exam.

Example for Zoom Live Proctoring:

In this course, I will proctor your online midterm and final exams using Zoom. Proctoring lets me verify that the student who is registered for the course is the student participating in the course. Since I will be proctoring live on Zoom, you will need to schedule your exam during one of the available time slots. I will provide an overview of the exam format and the exam requirements at least a week before each exam. I will also facilitate some practice sessions in week 2 so you can get comfortable with the proctoring experience. For a tutorial about the proctoring experience, review Completing a Proctored Online Exam on Zoom (Students). If you have any questions or concerns about the online exams or the proctoring experience, please contact me.

Please make sure that students are aware of the extensive support system that is available to them through Student Affairs.

Example:

Success in this course depends heavily on your personal health and wellbeing. Recognize that stress is an expected part of the college experience, and it often can be compounded by unexpected setbacks or life changes outside the classroom. Your other instructors and I strongly encourage you to reframe challenges as an unavoidable pathway to success. Reflect on your role in taking care of yourself throughout the term, before the demands of exams and projects reach their peak. Please feel free to reach out to me about any difficulty you may be having that may impact your performance in this course as soon as it occurs and before it becomes unmanageable. In addition to your academic advisor, I strongly encourage you to contact the many other support services on campus that stand ready to assist you. These include the Academic Success Center, College Restoration Program, Disability Services, English Language Center, Higher Education Opportunity Program, Spectrum Support program, and TRiO Support Services. Students can find out about specific services and programs on the Student Affairs Website.

In undergraduate courses, it is a good practice to tell students how they are doing in the course as soon as possible so that they may make corrections as needed. For an instructor's guide to Starfish, see Instructor Guide.

Example:

This course participates in the RIT Starfish academic alert system, which is designed to promote student success through communication between students, instructors, and advisors. When I am concerned about a student’s academic performance, I may raise an academic alert to notify the student as well as their advisor(s). If you receive an academic alert email, it is your responsibility to contact me as soon as possible to discuss the issue, its potential impact on your success in this course, and identify resources to help move you forward. For more information about the Starfish system, visit the Starfish Website.

Because students may require assistance in using myCourses and other RIT-supported technologies, you should provide this link should they need technology support: Center for Teaching and Learning Support.