Auditing Classes

All classes may be audited rather than taken for credit. Students auditing a course are required to register as such and pay for the course. Instructors may not grant exceptions to this without the permission of the Academic and Student Affairs Office. Once a student has completed registration officially, the only way to switch from audit to credit or credit to audit is by completing and submitting the Registration Form. The Registration Form must be processed within the first four weeks of class and will need to be signed and dated by the instructor. Instructors should remind students that making these changes may affect their financial aid status or employer reimbursement.

Class Rosters

At the beginning of each semester, a class roster is sent to each instructor listing students who have enrolled in the class. Faculty should report discrepancies to the Admissions and Registration Office. Instructors in vocational courses should check with students to make sure they have declared the correct major. Necessary changes should be reported to the Admissions and Registration Office. Student contact information is included on the roster as a support service to the instructor. This contact information should not be provided to others or used for business purposes.

Course Cancellation

At an appropriate time in the registration process, all course sections offered are reviewed to see if there is sufficient enrollment to justify running the class. For most semesters, courses are reviewed twice: once prior to payment due date and again after payment due date.

When reviewing sections, enrollment levels alone determine which sections need to be examined further. Sections with low enrollment are reviewed with consideration given to numerous factors, including: other sections of the course at comparable times, availability of openings in these sections, whether the course is a program requirement or elective, when the course was last offered/will be offered again, and whether the course is an advanced course in a sequence. When more information is needed to make the decision, the dean, department chair, and appropriate faculty members are consulted.

If a section is cancelled, efforts will be made to contact students before the end of registration so that they may adjust their schedules.

Course Scheduling Procedure

Course scheduling originates with the division faculty and deans. In developing schedules, the College strives to balance courses between morning, afternoon, and evening; TTH and MWF; and on campus and distance learning. Divisions coordinate scheduling to ensure that students in vocational and pre-professional programs have access to the required mathematics, English, and science courses. After deans have approved the proposed schedules, they are reviewed by the Academic and Student Affairs Office to resolve scheduling conflicts.

Course Syllabus

All faculty members provide a course syllabus to their students during the first week of class. Such outlines are important to students so they will know course and instructor expectations. The outline provides help to substitute faculty covering the class in the event of instructor absence. The syllabus should include:

1. Name of the college
2. Semester and year
3. Instructor name, office telephone, e-mail address
4. Course name and number
5. Office location and office hours
6. Measurable student outcomes, oriented objectives of the course
7. The title(s) and author(s) of the text(s) for the course
8. Schedule of major topics to be covered, reading, and homework assignments with due dates
9. Test schedule and policy on make-up tests
10. How grades are computed, including a grading scale
11. Statement of published withdrawal date and related policies
12. Statement about student attendance policy
13. Statement about when graded papers and exams will be returned to students
14. Statement addressing accessibility services for students

Curriculum Procedures

The Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs is responsible for overseeing the development of the curriculum, including courses and programs. The primary source of advice on matters of curriculum development is the Curriculum Committee. Proposals for new courses and programs, course deletions, course changes (including course title/number, credit hours, prerequisites/corequisites, course objectives, and content), and inclusion in the general education distribution requirements may come from the appropriate faculty, divisions, subcommittees, and task forces.

The Curriculum Committee may recommend/not recommend approval. If it recommends approval, this recommendation is forwarded to the Office of Academic and Student Affairs. If the committee's recommendation is rejected, this information is conveyed back to the Curriculum Committee by memo. The Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs may receive and seek advice from others affected by proposed actions, but will view the advice of the Curriculum Committee as representing the majority of the faculty.

Departmental Exam

The College has established policies on the awarding of credit for exam/non-traditional learning. Some departments offer credit for departmental examinations and/or retroactive credit. Faculty members in these departments may be requested to verify, with their signature, a student's performance on a Departmental Exam Grade Form or a Retroactive Credit Application Form.

Drop and Add Procedures

Once a student has completed registration, the only way to modify the class schedule is through the drop and add (Registration Form) procedures adopted by the College. Any student who is improperly registered should be directed immediately to the Admissions and Registration Office for instructions on how to proceed in completing the registration process.

Final Exams

All classes are expected to have some kind of culminating experience during week 16, the exam week. This may be an exam, presentation, or project and will vary from discipline to discipline as appropriate.

No student is required to take more than two examinations during any one day of the final examination period. When the student has three or more final examinations on the same day, the student may arrange an alternative examination time for the last exam scheduled on that day. Some culminating events, such as juries or portfolio reviews, cannot be adjusted.

The student should make arrangements with the instructor of the affected course by the "Last Day to Drop" date listed in the Academic Calendar. The student will be expected to provide evidence to be granted an exception to the final exam schedule.

The rescheduled exam must be completed within the St. Charles Community College final exam schedule.

Honorarium/Guest Speaker/Model Payment

To pay a model, guest speaker, or honorarium fee, a payment request form must be completed. If an employee serves as a model or guest speaker, the Human Resources Department must be contacted so that pay through the regular payroll process can be coordinated; mandatory withholdings will be deducted.

New Courses and Course Changes

All new courses or course changes must be officially submitted by division through the Curriculum Committee to the Office of Academic and Student Affairs. See section on Curriculum Procedures, Pr-620.0.1.

Posting Grades

The public posting of grades, either by student name, institutional student identification number, or social security number and without the student's written permission, is a violation of the federal Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act, and is not allowed. Even with names obscured, numeric student identifier numbers are considered personally identifiable information.

The student may obtain the grade for a particular course in the following recommended ways:

• Individual discussion with the instructor.
• Self-addressed, postage-paid envelope or postcard with identifying information pertaining to the course number and section to be given to the instructor for mailing.

Students cannot obtain grades from the Admissions Office. Grades are processed by the Registrar's Office, then posted to student records. Students may access grades through SCC Connection.

Student Attendance

The matter of excessive absence, and the way it affects a student's grade, is essentially to be determined by the instructor, who in turn should refer to department guidelines where applicable. For example, some departments that offer curricula requiring structured clinical instruction have more strict attendance requirements. In general, students are considered excessively absent when they have missed a class more times than the credit hour value of the course.

Students should be advised in the course syllabus, outline, or other handout of attendance requirements and how attendance relates to grading. Valid grading practice may vary from class to class, but the need to communicate whatever grading practices apply is imperative in all classes.

Attendance requirements relative to students grades should be reasonable, capable of being supported by the department or division, and able to withstand review if protested by a student.

Instructors should maintain adequate student attendance records to document student grades reflecting attendance considerations. Federal guidelines for financial aid require instructors to be able to give a student's last date of attendance.

Textbook Adoption Procedures

(Applies to software and other special course materials sold through the College Bookstore)

1. Criteria for selection:
   1. The course objectives and course content shall be the foundation of textbook selection.
2. Selection of textbooks:
   1. The faculty and the department/program offering the course have the responsibility to select textbooks appropriate to course objectives and course content. The textbook adoption process should originate with all affected faculty.
   2. Where there are multiple sections of a course, it is the expectation that the department/program faculty designate common texts to be used by all faculty members teaching the course. If a department/program decides that it would be in the best interest of their students, the department/program, with the approval of the dean, may allow individual faculty to choose an appropriate alternate text for designated course sections. Every reasonable effort should be made to accommodate the needs of all affected parties.
   3. It shall be the responsibility of the department chair or program coordinator to monitor the progress of textbook adoptions and address any issues in collaboration with the division dean.
3. Textbook ordering and routing:
   1. The requesting faculty member(s) recommend(s) a textbook to the department chair or program coordinator, where appropriate, who authorizes the order. When no program coordinator exists and the department chair is the requesting faculty member, the division dean will be the authorizing signature.
   2. Textbook orders shall be submitted on the appropriate form and follow Bookstore timelines. Departments/programs that have selected alternative texts will designate the sections for which each book is to be used. This information will guide the Bookstore in ordering and buyback procedures.
   3. The textbook adoption form is forwarded to the Bookstore by each department/program with copies of the form kept in the appropriate division office.
4. Miscellaneous procedures:
   1. Faculty members instructing students to return textbooks or other course materials to the Bookstore should first consult with their department chair or program coordinator and the Bookstore.
   2. Textbooks selected through this process should be retained for a minimum period of two years, excluding difficulties in textbook procurement or when changing is judged to be in the best interests of the students.
   3. When possible, textbook changes for existing courses should be implemented for fall semester classes.
   4. In order to facilitate book buy backs, department chairs or program coordinators should notify the Bookstore as soon as it is known that a textbook is being deleted

Waiver of Prerequisite/Instructor Permission

Certain courses offered by the College may require the consent of the instructor and/or the completion of a course designated as a prerequisite before the student is permitted to register. These two requirements may be waived at the discretion of the instructor and the dean. In the case of such a waiver, students will need a Registration Form signed and dated by the instructor and the dean before being allowed to register for the course.

Withdrawal Procedures for Student Who Did Not Receive a "C" or Better in the Prerequisite

Students in classes that require a "C" or better in the prerequisite (ENG, MAT) who did not receive a "C" or better will be administratively withdrawn from those classes. They will receive a 100% refund.