Chemistry Attendance and Exam Policy

Chemistry Department Course Policies

The following Chemistry Department Policies apply to any course in the Chemistry Department that references one or more of the policies in the course syllabus. If a course uses alternate policies, they will be described in detail in the syllabus for that course.

Student Attendance Policy for all Chemistry Classes.

Students are expected to attend all scheduled classes and labs and are responsible for any work missed. Failure to attend will lead to a warning, grading penalties, and/or dismissal from the course with a failing grade.

The Department of Chemistry supports college-sponsored activities or events (e.g., musical performances or athletic competitions) and recognizes that they may infrequently conflict with a class or lab. Students should never miss class or lab for an athletic practice. It is the responsibility of students to communicate directly with their instructors during the first week of class to resolve scheduling conflicts. Athletic schedules are available on the web (https://www.colby.edu/athletics). Students on academic probation may not be excused from any class because of extracurricular or athletic activities.

Students that have a critical emergency or illness are not expected to attend class or lab. We do request that, after the fact, the students Advising Dean verify the emergency or illness to the course instructor.

Instructors will notify students in writing of attendance policy violations. The notification will detail the nature of the violation and the consequences of a repeat violation.

Students who are dismissed from a course due to unsatisfactory attendance through the mid-semester deadline (with the exception of first-year students) will receive a grade of WF. Students dismissed after mid-semester day will receive a grade of F in the course, with the exception of first-year students who will be dismissed with a mark of WF.

Attendance Policy for Labs.

Laboratory education is fundamental to learning chemistry. In the laboratory, students reinforce concepts seen in lectures, develop safe laboratory techniques, learn about and use instrumentation needed for experimentation, further verbal and written scientific communication skills, practice the scientific method, solve problems, and more. The Colby Chemistry program is certified by the American Chemical Society, which recognizes the essential role of the laboratory by requiring significant in-person laboratory experiences in general chemistry as well as a specified minimum hours of laboratory experience beyond general chemistry within each the sub-disciplines of chemistry studied: https://www.acs.org/education/policies/acs-approval-program/guidelines/laboratory.html#:~:text=Students%20completing%20the%20requirements%20for,introductory%20courses%20(general%20chemistry).

Laboratories are time-intensive both for students taking the laboratory course and for instructors preparing the laboratory curriculum, readying the instrumentation and supplies for each laboratory experience, teaching each lab section, and grading student work.

We realize that during any semester a student may experience an illness, family or personal emergency, planned athletic competition or performance, or another critical reason for which they are unable to attend their scheduled lab section or, when extended, to submit a post-laboratory assignment by its deadline. In order to provide the flexibility to equitably accommodate such occurrences, we have developed the following Chemistry Department student lab attendance and assignment policy. Such flexibility must have limits, as rescheduling labs and assignment deadlines requires additional time by the lab instructor, which must not add an unreasonable additional burden to their already substantial workload. In addition, such accommodations cannot fundamentally modify the learning goals or general requirements of the laboratory course.

Students are expected to attend all of their scheduled laboratory sessions and submit all assigned laboratory work by the stated deadlines. Missed laboratory periods and post-lab assignments will only be accommodated in the following situations unless specifically stated otherwise in the laboratory syllabus.

If a student must miss a lab for a significant reason communicated in advance to their laboratory instructor or a health emergency immediately before the laboratory session (that is communicated as soon as possible), AND if possible based on the availability of the student, laboratory instructor, and laboratory facilities plus the nature of the experiment, a student may make up a lab experiment no later than the end of the week following the period missed.

This can happen without penalty for one laboratory meeting in a given semester if made up during the week after the experiment concludes for the class,

This can happen without penalty for two lab periods for labs that have multiple sections if made up during another lab session while the same experiment is being performed by the class (which usually means during the same week of the missed lab period).

The student’s laboratory instructor will often request confirmation of the reason for the absence or an anticipated absence from the student’s Class Dean.

For athletic contests, religious observances, or other College-sponsored activities, at least a two-week notice is required for a single anticipated lab-activity conflict. For two or more anticipated conflicts in a semester, the laboratory instructor must be notified within the first two weeks of the semester in order to determine the best possible way to handle those absences, which could mean moving the student to another lab section for some or all of the semester that avoids as many of those conflicts as possible.

All students may have one no-penalty, no-questions-asked two-day post-lab assignment extension per semester. Otherwise a grade penalty will apply, as described in the laboratory syllabus for the course.

Pre-lab assignments are required to be finished on time (i.e., before the lab time in which the experiment is to be done) to receive credit, as these preparations are essential to ensure a safe, efficient, and productive lab experience during that lab period.

Please note that a laboratory grade of < 60% is considered failing. For some courses with an associated laboratory, such as general chemistry courses, the lab must be passed in order to pass the entire course, which will be clearly stated in the lab syllabus. Laboratory or course instructors are expected to file timely academic alerts for students in jeopardy of failing the lab, so these students are made aware of this possibility to be able to act appropriately. Any student receiving an academic alert for a chemistry laboratory needs to immediately reach out to their lab instructor to discuss options available to them at that time.

Policy on Missed Exams.

Students are expected to take all exams at the time that they are scheduled, and there are NO MAKE-UP EXAMS. The grade for an unexcused missed exam is zero. If a student will be away for an official College activity, it is the responsibility of the student to let the professor know of the conflict, well in advance, so that arrangements can be made for the exam to be administered by a college official (such as a coach). In the event of a serious unexpected medical or family emergency, as soon as possible you must have your advising Dean contact your course instructor, who may then excuse you from the exam (note that only your course instructor has the authority to do so). You should expect, however, that only for extremely exceptional circumstances will you be allowed to miss an exam in any chemistry course, and you should expect to fail the course if you miss more than one exam in that term. Because subsequent topics in chemistry classes typically build upon previous course material, it becomes difficult to catch up if you fall behind. Therefore, students missing an exam in a chemistry course will receive an academic warning from the course instructor because of the potential for failure in the remaining portion of the course.

Policy on Time Extensions for Exams.

Exams are designed to be completed during the class time allotted. Some students may have approval from the Dean of Students Office for time extensions on exams. These students must bring a letter from the Dean of Students Office that gives the appropriate time extension directly to the course instructor each term.

Department Policy on Academic Honesty

The Department of Chemistry does not tolerate academic dishonesty in lecture or laboratory courses. Cheating, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, or deception in any written, oral, or other form of graded material, including laboratory notebooks, constitutes academic dishonesty. Working together in small groups to study course materials is encouraged as such discussions are useful to generate ideas to solve problems and make learning more interesting. In instances where students work as partners in a laboratory setting, each student may exchange experimental details and data with her/his lab partner and other classmates if expressly permitted by the instructor. However: ALL materials that YOU submit for a grade must be uniquely the results of YOUR work ONLY.

This policy includes exams, pre-lab assignments, lab notebooks, laboratory reports, and homework assignments. All answers to questions must be in your own words, and you must perform all calculations yourself, even when working with a partner. Acts such as copying homework problems, using data from another student or external source, and photocopying material from anyone else’s laboratory notebook to include it in your notebook are serious offenses. In addition, allowing your own work or data to be copied by another student is considered academic dishonesty as well.

Exams, Tests, and Quizzes

On exams (and quizzes), academic dishonesty can take many forms including but not necessarily limited to:

Looking at and/or copying material from another student’s exam, or allowing any other student to copy any of your work.
Using any sources or materials during an exam that are not expressly allowed by the instructor, creating such materials and leaving them in a location where they might be used by you or another student (i.e., all such materials should be secured in a bag or not brought to the exam, they may not be: on the floor, hidden in your exam, written on your hand, programmed into an electronic device, left in the bathroom, halls, or surrounding area, etc.).
Altering your exam in any way after it is handed back to you when asking for regrading of a portion of or all of an exam.

Labs, Homework, and other Graded Assignments

Academic dishonesty is no less serious on laboratory reports and other graded laboratory work, or homework and other graded assignments. As with exams and quizzes, sanctions for any offense range from a minimum of a grade of zero for the entire assignment, to failure in the course, suspension and/or expulsion. Notification of all infractions will be reported to the Department Chair and the Colby Academic Review Board.

Colby Policy on Academic Honesty & Consequences for Academic Dishonesty

Honesty, integrity, and personal responsibility are cornerstones of a Colby education and provide the foundation for scholarly inquiry, intellectual discourse, and an open and welcoming campus community. These values are articulated in the Colby Affirmation and are central to this course. Students are expected to demonstrate academic honesty in all aspects of this course.

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to: plagiarism (including quoting sources without quotation marks around the borrowed words and a citation); presenting another’s work as one’s own; buying or attempting to buy papers or projects for a course; fabricating information or citations; knowingly assisting others in acts of academic dishonesty; violating clearly stated rules for taking an exam or completing homework; misrepresentations to faculty within the context of a course; and submitting the same work, including an essay that you wrote, in more than one course without the permission of instructors.

Academic dishonesty is a serious offense against the college. Sanctions for academic dishonesty are assigned by an academic review board and may include failure on the assignment, failure in the course, or suspension or expulsion from the College.

For more on recognizing and avoiding plagiarism, see the library guide: libguides.colby.edu/avoidingplagiarism

Cell Phone Policy

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the Chemistry Department prohibits the use of cell phones and other portable electronic devices during quizzes and exams for any reason. Any use of portable electronic devices (for example, leaving the room to make or receive phone calls, sending or reading text messages, or accessing the internet) will be considered a violation of academic honesty. The only exception is an approved calculator.