Policies

Academic Honesty

Academic honesty develops respect between faculty and students, ensures fair and effective grading, and creates an environment that fosters learning. Although I encourage you to study with other students, any assignments, exams, and lab submissions must represent your OWN work. Academic dishonesty is defined in University Regulation 802, Revision 2 as "an act attempted or performed which misrepresents one's involvement in an academic task in any way, or permits another student to misrepresent the latter's involvement in an academic task by assisting the misrepresentation." There is a well-defined procedure to judge such cases, and serious penalties may be assessed. Do not risk your career by engaging in unethical conduct!

Accommodations for Disabilities

If you have any kind of disability, whether apparent or non-apparent, learning, emotional, physical, or cognitive, and you need accommodations or alternatives to lectures, assignments, or exams, please feel free to contact me to discuss reasonable accommodations for your accesss needs. Please also work with University Disability Support Services (UDSS) in SEO, room 330 Knight Hall, 766-6189, TTY: 766-3073.

Civil Rights Discrimination

Civil rights discrimination is defined in University Regulation 1-5 as ``Adverse treatment and harassment on the basis or race, sex, gender, color, religion, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, genetic information, political belief, or other status protected by state and federal statues or University Regulations.'' Title IX makes it clear that violence and harassment based on sex and gender are civil rights offenses subject to the same kinds of accountability and the same kinds of support applied to offenses against other protected categories such as race, national origin, etc. If you or someone you know has been harassed or assaulted, you can find the appropriate resources at the Office of Equal Opportunity Report and Response (EORR), or at this link:
http://www.uwyo.edu/diversity/eorr/complaints/index.html

Additional help

If you need help with this class, you should contact the professor or TAs by visiting office hours or making an appointment. On-campus tutoring services can be found at
http://www.uwyo.edu/studentaff/step/tutoring/. Resources include

• the STEP Tutoring Center http://www.uwyo.edu/studentaff/step/tutoring/step.pdf
• Tau Beta Pi http://www.uwyo.edu/ceas/current-students/tutoring.pdf.

Expectations

What you should expect from me:

• To teach fundamental physics concepts in a clear, organized manner to help you become competent and confident problem solvers. At the expense of skipping some of the later topics, I will reserve the option of slowing down the pace of the course according to the students' needs.
• To administer at least two feedback questionnaires, to better gauge your perceptions of the course.
• To encourage group learning in lecture with frequent conceptual questions to be discussed in groups. Research on how people learn physics STRONGLY indicates that lecture alone is NOT an effective way to learn. Effective learning requires interaction with the instructor and classmates.
• To incorporate demonstrations into lectures, given that students learn in a variety of ways.
• To expeditiously grade and return the exams to you. I plan to return exams by Monday after the exam.

What I expect from you:

• To attend and participate in each lecture, laboratory, and discussion session. It is your responsibility to obtain and understand the material presented, even if you are not in attendance due to illness or a University-sponsored activity.
• To work both independently and in groups of your peers who can help you understand the course material. If you need help finding a study group of classmates, I will help connect you.
• To take each exam at the scheduled time. If you have a scheduling conflict due to a University-sponsored activity, it is your responsibility to inform the instructor well before the date of the exam.
• To make a good effort and to be prompt in completing assignments and labs.
• To typically spend 12-15 hours per week, including in-class time, to learn the material. If you are spending more time than this, please see the instructor so that I can ensure that you spend your time efficiently.
• To work as many problems as you can beyond the assigned homework. As with everything in life, practice, practice, practice...
• Check your UW email

Example of a conversation that happens every semester:
Student: ``I'm feeling like lectures don't help much and that I'm needing to teach myself out of the book all the time.''

Instructor: ``That's exactly what I would expect. The purpose of lecture is to amplify material from the text, not the other way around.''

Student: ``But I feel like I spend an hour every night reading the book and trying to follow examples from the book.''

Instructor: ``Every major university expects that students spend 2-3 hours out of class working problems and reading for each hour spent in class. This means that for the 5 hours we spend in class each week, there should be 10-15 hours spent out of class. If you feel like you are working this much and still having trouble, please come see me and we'll work together to help physics go better.''