Copyright Statement
The materials in our physics courses and shared on the Moodle and Teams sites are only for the use of students enrolled in this course for purposes associated with this course and may not be further distributed
Academic Integrity
The academic program at the College seeks to promote the intellectual development of each student and the realization of that individual’s potential for creative thinking, learning, and understanding. In achieving this, each student must learn to act rigorously, independently, and imaginatively.
The College’s understanding and expectations in regard to issues of academic honesty are fully articulated in the Code of Academic Integrity as published in The Scot’s Key and form an essential part of the implicit contract between the student and the College. The Code provides framework at Wooster to help students develop and exhibit honesty in their academic work. You are expected to know and abide by these rules.
Dishonesty in any of your academic work is a serious breach of the Code of Academic Integrity and is ground for serious penalties. Such violations include turning in another person’s work as your own, copying from any source without proper citation, violating expectations for a group project, submitting an assignment produced for a course to a second course without the authorization of all the instructors, and dishonesty in connection with your academic work. You will be held responsible for your actions. Particular attention should be directed to the appropriate use of materials available online. Whether intentional or not, improper use of materials is a violation of academic honesty. If you are unsure as to what is permissible, please contact your course instructor.
Working together; when does it go too far? Working together is an excellent way to learn physics, however any work that you submit must represent your own efforts. You can discuss a problem and share ideas, and even work side by side and compare answers, but you should not copy verbatim any part of another student’s work or allow yours to be copied. And keep in mind, it will only ‘help’ to increase your homework points, NEVER your exams, which count much higher.
Furthermore you must actively participate with your study group and truly be ”independent minds working together”. If a group of students turns in homework with identical, egregious errors, this will prompt a discussion with me about the need to think more independently and critically and may result in disciplinary action. Your lab write-ups must be completed independently and any similarities in wording between two lab reports will result in a consultation and possible disciplinary action as described above.
Title IX
The College of Wooster and its faculty are committed to ensuring a safe and productive educational environment for all students. In order to meet this commitment and to comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and guidance from the Office for Civil Rights, the College has developed policies and procedures which prohibit discrimination, sexual harassment/misconduct, and retaliation.
Any member of the College community (faculty, staff, students, visitors, and third party vendors) who believes that they have been a victim of sexual harassment/misconduct, domestic violence, dating violence, bullying, cyber-bullying, stalking and/or gender-based discrimination is encouraged to file a report with the College’s Title IX Coordinator at title-ix(at]wooster.edu or via phone at 330-263-2017.
Reports can be filed in person, via email, or online at https://inside.wooster.edu/title-ix/.
In order to ensure student safety and address the well-being of students, the College \textbf{requires} all employees, including faculty members, to report incidents of sexual and gender-based violence shared with them by students to the College’s Title IX Coordinator. Exceptions are situations where students are unlikely to expect that a disclosure would trigger a reporting obligation such as in a class writing assignment. Excepted persons are the College’s Chaplain and employees of the Longbrake Wellness Center.
A faculty member reporting to the Title IX Coordinator does NOT mean that the student will be obligated to participate in any formal proceedings; that decision remains at the discretion of the student unless the information indicates that one or more students are at risk of further harassment. Information regarding the College’s non-discrimination policy (including bias-related harassment), sexual assault/sexual misconduct, Title IX, and filing a report can be found at https://www.wooster.edu/offices/title-ix.
Bias Statement
The College of Wooster is committed to promoting its mission of inclusivity and equity in all aspects of the educational enterprise. This commitment extends to all rights, privileges, programs and activities, including housing, employment, admissions, financial assistance, and educational and athletic programs at the College. The College’s Bias Incident Reporting Process is designed to effectively respond to bias concerns raised by faculty, students, staff, alumni and visitors to the College. If you or someone you know are the victims of bias, you can:
- File a report online (where you may choose to identify yourself or not)
- Contact Campus Safety: 2590 (from campus phone) or 330-263-2590
- Call the Anonymous Tip Line: 2337 (from campus phone) or 330-263-2337
- Contact the Dean of Students Office: 2545 (from a campus phone) or 330-263-2545
Academic Resource Center:
Academic Support, Disabilities, and English Language Learning
Contact: Amber Larson, alarson@wooster.edu, (330)263-2595, ARC Website
The Academic Resource Center, which is in APEX (Gault library) offers a variety of academic support services, programs and 1:1 meetings available to all students. Popular areas of support include time management techniques, class preparation tips and test taking strategies. In addition, the Academic Resource Center coordinates peer-tutoring for several academic departments. Students are encouraged to schedule an appointment.
An additional support that the Academic Resource Center offers is English Language Learning. Students can receive instruction or support with English grammar, sentence structure, writing, reading comprehension, reading speed, vocabulary, listening comprehension, speaking fluency, pronunciation, and American culture through 1:1 meetings with the Academic Resource Center staff, ELL Peer Tutoring, ELL Writing Studio courses, and other programming offered throughout the year.
The Academic Resource Center coordinates accommodations for students with diagnosed disabilities. At the beginning of the semester, students should contact the Academic Resource Center to make arrangements for securing appropriate accommodations. Although the Academic Resource Center will notify professors of students with documented disabilities and the approved accommodations, students are encouraged to speak with professors during the first week of each semester. If a student does not request accommodations or does not provide documentation to the Academic Resource Center, faculty are under no obligation to provide accommodations.
All discussions will remain confidential. If you are allowed extended time you should contact me at least one week before the exam to make arrangements.
Curricular and Extra-curricular Conflicts
The College of Wooster is an academic institution, and its fundamental purpose is to stimulate its students to reach the highest standard of intellectual achievement. As an academic institution with this purpose, the College expects students to give the highest priority to their academic responsibilities. When conflicts arise between academic commitments and complementary programs (including athletic, cultural, educational, and volunteer activities), students, faculty, staff, and administrators all share the responsibility of minimizing and resolving them.
As a student you have the responsibility to inform the faculty member of potential conflicts as soon as you are aware of them, and to discuss and work with me to identify alternative ways to fulfill your academic commitments without sacrificing the academic integrity and rigor of the course.
If you know of any conflicts that will require you to miss class or lab, notify your course instructor before class or your lab instructor before lab.
Final Exam Policy
No final examinations are to be given during the last week of classes or on reading days. Students who wish to reschedule a final exam must submit a petition the Dean for Curriculum and Academic Engagement in advance of the examination. The student must confer with the instructor before submitting a petition, and the instructor should indicate to the Dean if they support the petition. Normally, such petitions are granted only for health reasons. If other reasons necessitate a request for a change in a final exam, the request must be submitted three weeks in advance of the examination. Find electronic petition forms on the Registrar’s website.