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Information for All Adjunct Faculty

Academic Integrity:

Your syllabus should refer to the College policy on academic integrity.

  • All cases of possible student academic integrity violations must be referred to your school’s Academic Integrity Officer.
  • To report suspected academic integrity violations, use the College’s reporting system, Symplicity.
  • For more information on the Academic Integrity procedures, please see the Academic Integrity website.

Calendar:

The calendars page includes links to the academic calendar and to the faculty information calendar. Special note: In the fall semester, the make-up day for Labor Day is the Tuesday after Labor Day. Remember to follow the Monday class schedule on that day only. 

Canvas:

Canvas, TCNJ’s course management system, is designed to facilitate communication between professors and students in an online environment. Instructors can use Canvas to post course information, upload documents, and email their class or selected students. Faculty are strongly encouraged to use Canvas to provide course information to students.

Classrooms:

Most classrooms are equipped with the multi-media resources faculty need for their teaching. Typical equipment includes a computer with internet and projector, DVD, and video (Find the equipment specific to your classroom).

  • If you desire training to use the teaching console, please contact the IT Help Desk at (609) 771-2660. You can make an appointment to meet with IT personnel for a short review of the equipment in your classroom (usually taking only 15-20 minutes).
  • If you need media equipment assistance during class time, call x2006 (609-771-2006); assistance is available from 7a-10p on Mon-Thurs during the fall and spring semesters, and 7a-5p on Fridays.
  • You may request keys for teaching consoles through the support staff in your department.

 

Email:

Email is TCNJ’s official means of communication. All members of the campus community, including adjunct faculty, are expected to maintain and actively monitor their TCNJ email regularly and be aware of any communication sent to them by the College. Throughout the academic semester, faculty are encouraged to check email daily, Monday through Friday, for important department notices, and School and/or College announcements. Individuals with multiple email accounts may find it helpful to forward their TCNJ email to another email account that they check more frequently.

Faculty Absences:

It is expected that all scheduled classes will be met. If it is necessary for you to miss a class, you must email or phone the chairperson of your department. If you are aware of an unavoidable absence in advance, please discuss it with your chairperson so that coverage can be arranged if possible. It is the responsibility of the instructor to provide advance and/or prompt notification with online communication (such as through Canvas) to students if a class will not be held, and/or to provide alternative assignments/learning experiences to make up for any cancellations. 

Feedback on Teaching:

The student feedback questionnaire is administered electronically, toward the end of the semester, but not during final examinations. Feedback will be reviewed by the department chairperson or program director and then made available to the adjunct faculty member after the semester ends and all final grades have been processed. Use of this feedback is valuable in identifying strengths as well as areas that need improvement. TCNJ takes this feedback seriously and strongly encourages faculty efforts to facilitate student completion of the feedback questionnaire.

Faculty Peer Observations:

New adjunct faculty should be observed by a full-time faculty member at least once each semester for the first four semesters they teach at TCNJ. You will be contacted by your department for a convenient date for this visit. Beginning with the fifth semester, adjunct faculty should be observed every two semesters until they have taught for a total of eight semesters. Thereafter they will be observed every fourth semester. (This schedule is consistent with peer observations required of full-time and part-time faculty.) 

FERPA:

(Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act). Rights under FERPA transfer from parents to students at age 18 or when entering a postsecondary institution at any age. Consult the policy for further information. It is vital that all faculty respect the student’s right to privacy and are informed as to what information they may disclose and what they must not disclose. 

Final Examinations:

All courses must include a final exam or evaluation, which can take various forms. The final exam policy specifies the weight of the final assessment in the course grade, the form this final assessment may take, the prohibition of scheduling final assessments during the last two weeks of class (i.e., instead of during final exam week), and other details. The date of your exam(s) can be found on Canvas. If your final exam is scheduled for a day/time that you cannot be present, contact your department chairperson immediately to discuss coverage in your absence.

Grading:

The College’s grading system can be seen at: https://recreg.tcnj.edu/grading-system/. Course grades are submitted via PAWS. For grading policies within departments, consult with the chair.

  • In-Progress Grades.  An In-Progress (IP) grade may be used if there are compelling academic reasons for permitting a student to complete work for a course after the course has ended. The IP is generally reserved for independent/research studies, though you may consult with your department chair regarding other potential uses.
  • Incomplete Grades. An Incomplete (INC) may be used only for a student in good standing in the course when there is a compelling reason (such as illness or serious hardship) why the student is unable to complete work for a course during the semester. The INC or IP grade must be submitted according to the instructions provided by the Office of Records and Registration. If no deadline is given for completion of the course, the date of March 15 is used for courses taken in the fall semester and October 15 for courses taken in the spring semester or summer session. Courses that remain incomplete after the deadline are assigned grades of F.
  • Change of Grade. If an instructor finds that a grade that he or she previously awarded misrepresents the completion of course requirements or the relative merit of a student’s performance, the instructor may submit a change of grade form. A change of grade requires approval by the chair of the department or program in which the grade was given and the dean of the school in which that department or program is housed. The instructor will be required to state the reason for requesting a grade change. The form for a grade change is available in your department office.
  • Student Grade Appeals. In the case of a grade appeal, please review the College’s Grade Appeals policy and consult your department chair.

Media Equipment (i.e., classroom teaching console):

Information Media & Technology Support Services (MTSS) is responsible for all of the media classrooms on campus, as well as videoconferencing and maintaining the media equipment for various facilities on campus. MTSS also delivers equipment to venues that are not media-equipped. If you are not assigned to a classroom that is media-equipped, let your department chair know. By using your account login, you can reserve equipment (you must do so at least 48 hours in advance), which will be delivered to your classroom before the start of your class.

  • Should you need media equipment assistance during class time, call x2006 (609-771-2006); assistance is available from 7a-10p on Mon-Thurs during the fall and spring semesters, and 7a-5p on Fridays.

Mid-Semester Evaluations:

Mid-semester progress reports are required for all students in all courses. At a minimum, the reports will indicate satisfactory progress, unsatisfactory progress, or caution. The reports may provide optional comments as well.

Office Hours:

Adjunct faculty are not required to hold office hours, but are expected to be available to meet with students.  For more information, see the college policy on office hours and faculty availability.  Please list the hour(s) on your syllabus if you choose to hold office hours. Adjunct faculty should inform the staff of their department if they plan to hold office hours to ensure private use of an office/space. Adjunct faculty who do not hold office hours should use Canvas or email to communicate with students.

Optional 4th Hour (“Extra Scheduled Conference Hour”):

Most TCNJ courses are scheduled for three contact hours. Consult with your department regarding use of the 4th hour, and include an explanation of its use on your course syllabus. Some faculty find this time useful for labs, showing extended videos, group work, presentations, etc. Memorandum of Agreement 62 notes that the College:

“ . . . revised its class schedule grid to facilitate faculty efforts to significantly increase out-of-class learning by establishing an extra “conference” section per week for all classes . . .   It is agreed that the conference hour is used at the instructor’s discretion in keeping with the best pedagogical practices of the discipline. The College shall not require nor expect any faculty to meet with the class or individual students during the conference, except in the cases of special part-time faculty or professional staff assigned to handle these sessions as part of their established load.”

PAWS:

PAWS is the campus-wide computerized system used by faculty to view class rosters, course descriptions, and submit grades. It gives students self-service access to their records. If you need assistance with this system, see the PAWS help page.

School Closing (and alerts):

In the event of a school closing, a message will appear on the TCNJ website. In addition, adjunct faculty may sign up for PHONE and TEXT ALERTS from the College. Note that text alerts will notify you of emergencies as well as school closings. You may also call the TCNJ hotline at 609-637-6000.

Student Absence and Attendance:

The course syllabus should specifically state the instructor’s policy on classroom attendance, consistent with the College’s attendance policy. While instructors may not include attendance as a direct factor in grading, instructors may give credit for class participation. A course audit of student attendance is requested early in each semester by Records and Registration via Canvas. The instructor determines the make-up policy for students absent for an exam.  

Student Issues:

Concerns over a student’s comments, behavior, or repeated absences should be shared with the department chair. In situations where a student’s comments and/or behaviors remain unresolved or escalate, you should file a TCNJ Cares Report and consult with Mental Health Services (x2247) and/or the Dean of Students Office (x2780). Notify your department chair and assistant or associate dean if a Cares Report has been filed or MHS/Dean of Students Office has been consulted. If at any time students appear to be in danger of harming themselves or others, immediately contact Campus Police at 609-771-2345 (from a campus phone, you may dial 911). 

Syllabus:

All faculty are required to submit copies of syllabi for every course, every semester, to their department chair. These are critical for the department to be able to share with new faculty as examples, to determine equivalency with courses taken elsewhere, and in cases when emergency coverage is needed. For information about TCNJ requirements for the content of the course syllabus, see the Syllabus policy.

Textbook Selection and Book Orders:

Please consult your department chairperson for information regarding policies for textbook selection. If your department asks you to order your books yourself, you may do so by going to the College bookstore website and selecting “Faculty Resources.” Early orders ensure good prices as well as availability for our students; moreover, Federal law requires complete textbook information to be posted for students at the time of course registration (see 20 U.S. Code § 1015b.Textbook information). On request, publishers generally provide a free desk copy and support materials (test item banks, power-point slides, instructor’s manual) for the instructor when a book is ordered for a class. All faculty are advised to contact the bookstore prior to the start of the semester to be sure that sufficient copies of the books for their classes are in stock. 

Title IX:

All students, faculty, staff, contractors and other third parties within the College’s control are expected to abide by the College’s Sexual Harassment, Misconduct, and Discrimination policy which expresses its commitment to “protect the community and the rights of its members, and to cultivate and sustain a positive living and learning environment.”  The College will not tolerate “sexual harassment, including misconduct such as physical sexual misconduct, domestic or dating violence, and stalking (collectively, “Sexual Violence”).”

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