Faculty Policies and Guidelines

All members of the faculty, whether tenured or not, are entitled to academic freedom as set forth in the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, formulated by the Association of American Colleges and the American Association of University Professors. Click here to read more about Academic Freedom and Educational Responsibility from the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Academic integrity is one of the highest standards to which students, faculty, and staff should adhere. The Code of Academic Integrity, which upholds the values of honesty and integrity, advances the basic principle of honest representation in students’ work.

Faculty members are responsible for making students aware of the Code of Academic Integrity at the beginning of every semester. It is the student’s responsibility to know, understand, and be conversant with the tenets and sanctions associated with the violation of the Code. Lack of awareness of the policy shall not be considered a defense against the allegation of plagiarism or cheating. Faculty members are in no way precluded from issuing supplemental guidelines on academic dishonesty.

Definitions of Breaches of Academic Integrity

Plagiarism

(1) Intentionally or knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one’s own, including any kind of writing that is not the student’s own, whether taken from secondary sources, fellow students, or other term papers.

(2) Intentionally or knowingly assisting someone in violating any provision of the Code.

(3) Intentionally and knowingly taking and passing off as one’s own the ideas, writing, or words of another without attribution (without acknowledgement of the author who wrote the material).

(4) Duplicating an author’s words without quotation marks and accurate citation of references.

(5) Duplicating an author’s words or phrases in paraphrase without accurate citation of references.

(6) Submitting a paper in which the exact words or phrases of an author are merely rearranged without quotation or citations.

Cheating

(7) Intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized information, materials, or study aids.

(8) Intentionally using unauthorized notes or another individual’s materials.

(9) Intentionally using unauthorized prior knowledge of the contents of tests, quizzes, or other assessment instruments.

(10) Intentionally fabricating, falsifying, or inventing any information or citation.

Procedures for Suspected Plagiarism and Cheating

The faculty member is responsible for gathering any and all data that support the allegation of plagiarism or cheating within a reasonable time after the date of the suspected infraction. The faculty member shall confer with the student to discuss the alleged infraction. At that conference, which can be conducted by telephone, email, or in person, the faculty member must present the evidence that supports the suspected violation.​

The student shall be given the opportunity at the conference with the faculty member to admit to or refute the charge of plagiarism or cheating based on the evidence provided. The student has the right to appeal any decision of the faculty member that may result in sanctions. Refer to Section VI—Appeals Procedure for Breach of Academic Integrity.

The faculty member shall complete and send the Charge of Violation of Academic Integrity form to theVice President for Student Affairs, with copies to the department chair and academic dean. All supporting documentation must accompany the form.​

While each faculty member has the authority to set attendance and participation requirements for their classes, the College is not an attendance taking institution and expects that students will regularly attend the classes for which they are registered. In the case of online courses, the expectation is participation through timely completion of assignments, involvement in online discussion groups, contact with the instructor, and other such indicators of engagement with the course.

Faculty are required to administratively withdraw any student who fails to attend or participate in a class during the first 20 percent of its meeting dates.

You can take attendance in a paper attendance book but the information must be kept or transferred to the Canvas course attendance feature. The College will use this information to comply with federal regulations regarding financial aid. You will want accurate records should a student challenge your information on their class attendance.​

Check with your chair or program coordinator about your department’s policies.​

Please check with your department office on the appropriate procedure if you are going to be late or absent for a class/office hours. 

• At a minimum, call the office so a notice can be posted.

• Follow up with students on Blackboard.

If you know in advance that you will be absent, please follow the process below or your department policy:

• Inform your office, coordinator, or chair.
• Try to line up your own substitute first, if that is the departmental preference.
• Follow up with students on Blackboard or send an announcement (keep them in the loop).

In the event that an Adjunct misses his or her office hours for a particular day, it is an expected that the hours will be made up.

• In the event that this occurs, communicate the makeup date to the students and the departmental office, coordinator, or chair.
• Consider using a technology solution for holding virtual office hours through Blackboard Collaborate in your Blackboard course.​

Any student who wishes to question a grade should contact the instructor of the course within 30 days of the electronic posting of the grade. The student should first discuss the concern with the instructor outside of the classroom environment. Appeals that are filed after 30 days of the electronic posting of the grade will not be considered.

If there is no supervising coordinator, the student should complete a Request for Meeting with the Department Chair or Dean form to request a meeting with the department chair. The form and procedure are available on the portal (myPGCC) under Academic Resources. The form may also be obtained from any academic department office. If the issue is not resolved after speaking with the supervising coordinator and/or the department chair, the student may take the complaint to the dean of the division. If the complaint is not satisfactorily resolved by the dean, the student may file a final appeal with the vice president for Academic Affairs or his/her designee. After meeting with the student, the instructor, supervisor, department chair, and dean must complete the Student Complaint/ Appeal Administrative Tracking Form and provide it and any supporting data to the next person who hears the complaint.

A master syllabus is available for courses through Curriculog.

First day handouts can be found on your individual Blackboard course sites. Contact your program coordinator or department chair with questions.

Retention Alert encompasses the College’s early alert and early warning system to prevent students from slipping into academic jeopardy. Faculty can submit early alerts when students are performing poorly or demonstrating poor academic skills, poor attendance, or missed assignments. Alerts should be initiated within the first two to four weeks of class and again around the midterm period, but can be sent any time during the semester. In addition to submitting the formal alert, faculty members are encouraged to reach out to students in whatever way necessary and appropriate to ensure success. Research has shown that faculty members have a big impact on student success and retention.

Alerts are sent through Owl Link. Sign in and then click on Contribute Retention Info under Retention Alert on the lower Right side of the page. Enter the student ID number or name. Select the “case type” that fits the student. If there are multiple issues, you can enter more than one area.

Rosters should go on the attendance page. You should print a class roster on Owl Link for the first four weeks of class.  Make sure all your students are on the roster or show you proof of registration. Do not allow students to stay in your class if they are not on the roster. This is a good habit to develop especially during the first weeks of class. Send any students not officially on your roster to Records and Registration to straighten out their records. For a tutorial on printing your class roster or schedule go to the Owl Link page.

Students are no longer allowed to enroll in your class after the first day of class. This policy was established so students do not miss all the important information disseminated on that critical first day of class. They may still enroll in classes that have start dates later in the semester.

Complaints of an academic nature are generally resolved within the division offering the course in which the complaint occurs. Questions about grades and performance in class normally should be discussed first with the instructor. Complaints that are not resolved in this fashion, or that are not suitable for resolution in this way, should be referred to the department chair, who will attempt to resolve the issue. If this is not successful, the dean, as the administrative supervisor of the division’s faculty, will examine the complaint and provide a ruling. Appeals of decisions in academic matters may be directed to the vice president for academic affairs or designee. Appeals of other matters, particularly those related to student conduct, may be referred to the vice president for student services, Kent Hall, Room 119. Concerns arising at one of the off-campus centers should be brought to the attention of the supervisor on duty.

Information on Student Conduct and Community Standards, the Student Code of Conduct, and Behaviorial Intervention Team can be found online under Institutional Information & Policies.

Student evaluations provide valuable information to faculty and administrators that allow for program improvement. Each department will have a system to evaluate adjunct and full-time faculty which may include student feedback, and observations by peers, program coordinators, and chairs.

Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) has a comprehensive process for the assessment of student learning. Instructors play a key role in every aspect the process, from the creation and revision of assessment tools to the design and implementation of interventions based on assessment data. As a new instructor at PGCC, you are expected to familiarize yourself with the process and be prepared to actively participate whenever your course is scheduled for assessment. In order to help you get ready, a special Blackboard Course, entitled Student Learning Outcomes Assessment at PGCC – Faculty Modules, is available for self-enrollment. You are expected to complete the two first Basic Modules.

To enroll in the Student Learning Outcomes Assessment at PGCC course, please follow these steps:

• Go to the Prince George’s Community College Blackboard site.
• Use your PGCC username and password to login.
• When your login is successful, you will see “My Courses” and “eOrganizations” links at the top of the screen.
• Select the My Courses link.
• Type the string ‘Assessment’ in the Course Search Box, and click the GO! button.
• Find “SLO_Assessment” on the list.
• While you point your cursor to “SLO_Assessment”, to the right of it, an arrow (pointing downward) will appear. Click on it then select Enroll.
• Enter the Access Code: Assessment and click the Submit button. (Note: the access code is case sensitive)
• You will see a message similar to: Action Successful: Enrollment in Student Learning Outcomes Assessment at PGCC – Faculty Modules (SLO_Assessment) as [user name] processed. Click OK to continue.

• Click the OK button in the right bottom corner of the screen. This will take you into the course.

 To return to the Student Learning Outcomes Assessment at PGCC course and complete the modules, please follow these steps:

• Go to the Prince George’s Community College Blackboard website.
• Use your PGCC username and password to login.
• When your login is successful, you will see “My Courses” and “eOrganizations” links at the top of the screen.
• Select the <My Courses> link.
• In the course list window, you will see all your courses.
• Click on SLO_Assessment: Student Learning Outcomes Assessment at PGCC – Faculty Modules.
• Click on the Course Content tab to the right and then on the BASIC folder.
• Complete the following two modules:
  • Module 1.1: How to Assess Student Learning at PGCC
  • Module 2.1: Assessment Examples