3 General Information

Instructor Initiated Drops

For traditional courses:

Some classes use instructor-initiated drops for students who exceed the absence and/or missed assignment limit. Therefore, up to the last day for students to withdraw from am individual course, you may be dropped for exceeding the absence and or missed assignment limits set by your instructor. In your course syllabus, your instructor will identify how they will take and record attendance in the course (for example, signing attendance sheet, registering attendance, submitting a hard-copy homework, taking-in-class quizzes, completing in-class exercises, etc.)

Students will receive at least one courtesy warning when approaching the absence/missed assignment limit. Notification will be sent via ASAP to the student’s preferred email address. A subsequent absence or missed assignment will result in being dropped from the course. Notification of being dropped will also be sent via ASAP to the student’s preferred email address. This drop does not affect enrollment in other courses.

After consultation with the instructor, you may appeal the drop using the Course Reinstatement Petition available at studentforms.it.utsa.edu/, and on the Registrar’s website onestop.utsa.edu/registration/. You must appeal the drop within 3 business days from the date the notification was sent. An appeal will be upheld and the student reinstated into the course only when the student provides compelling evidence that the instructor’s attendance or missed assignment record is in error. Once an appeal is filed, the student will be allowed to attend the course and maintain Canvas access until the appeal is adjudicated. The student must be informed of the decision within three business days of submitting the appeal. Students will be sent email notice to their preferred email address informing them of the decision.

For online and hybrid courses:

Class attendance in both face-to-face and online classes is defined as active participation in the class with participation being defined by the various engagement activities required. The minimum expectation is that a registered student will demonstrate some activity in their online class at least once weekly. Engagement activities in a class may encompass the following elements:

• Completion of assessments
• Participation in discussion forums
• Submission and completion of assignments
• Communication with the instructor

A student must demonstrate that they have actively participated in the engagement activities in a timely manner as defined in the syllabus. Merely logging into the learning management system does not constitute active participation. There must be measurable activity in place to constitute attendance.

For hybrid classes, class attendance is the physical presence and participation in all face-to-face meetings of the class and active participation in the online portion of the class.

Scholastic Dishonesty

According to the UTSA Information Bulletin, section 203, “The University can best function and accomplish its objectives in an atmosphere of high ethical standards. All students are expected and encouraged to contribute to such an atmosphere in every way possible, especially by observing all accepted principles of academic honesty…” (utsa.edu/infoguide/).

“Academic or scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit or any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student, or the attempt to commit such acts. Academic dishonesty is a violation of the Student Code of Conduct…”

Cheating includes but is not limited to

• Copying another
• Using unauthorized materials during tests
• Having unauthorized materials during testing periods
• Collaborating with another during test times
• Discussing a test with another who has not taken the test yet
• Divulging the contents of an examination to one who is scheduled to take it and substituting for another or having another substitute for oneself in an examination.

Further, “plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, the appropriation, buying, receiving as a gift, or obtaining by any means another’s work and the submission of it as one’s own academic work offered for credit.” In other words, buying or downloading a paper from the internet is plagiarism.

“Collusion includes, but is not limited to, the unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing academic assignments offered for credit or collaboration with another person to commit a violation of any section of the rules on scholastic dishonesty” (Appendix B -Student Code of Conduct, Sec 203. Scholastic Dishonesty, pages 143-145).

Incompletes

The grade “IN” is given by an instructor to indicate that some part of the work of a student in course has, for good reason, not been completed, while the remainder of the student’s work in course was satisfactorily completed. The Incomplete allows a student to complete the course without repeating it. In order to removed a grade of incomplete in a class, a student cannot re-take the course; the original class where the “IN” grade was received must be completed with a grade/ A grade of Incomplete may not be assigned when a definite grade can be given for the work done. The Writing Program requires students to have completed at least 60% of the course work to be eligible for an Incomplete. The student must also have been in attendance at least three-fourths of the semester to receive a grade of “IN.”

In undergraduate courses, incomplete work must be made up no later than the end of the final examination period one year from the semester the Incomplete was received and before the student’s graduation. If the work is not completed within this time, the “IN” is automatically changed to a grade of “F” or “NC.” In no circumstances will grades be changed one calendar year.