Information for Faculty
DEPARTMENTAL POLICIES FOR UNDERGRADUATE ECONOMICS COURSES
Information for New Faculty
There are several resources available to your new faculty as they plan for and begin teaching in the College.
The first is a workshop on teaching offered in connection with the Dean Bushnell’s orientation session for new faculty on Tuesday, September 8, 2009. At the workshop, which begins after lunch, new faculty will meet several experienced colleagues who will lead discussions on a number of topics including the habits of Penn students and ideas about effective teaching. We intend this session to be of value regardless of one’s level of teaching experience.
In addition to this workshop, there is a website, http://www.sas.upenn.edu/ctl/newfaculty/index.html, designed to provide new faculty with some basic, important information they will need as they prepare to teach in September. Faculty who have other teaching-related questions should be in touch with Bruce Lenthall (lenthall@sas.upenn.edu), director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, for assistance.
Courses taught in the Department of Economics are covered by a common set of course management policies laid out in this document.
Teaching Policies and Recommendations for Faculty
Common Syllabus
The Department of Economics has a standardized set of course policies in writing that you can attach to your course syllabus. They are found at www.econ.upenn.edu/Undergraduate/Departmental%20Course%20Policies.htm. This document is designed to make your life easier by making the rules, such as those for missing an exam or correcting errors in grading, transparent to the students.
Final Exams
See faculty handbook statement for university rules governing final exams
http://www.upenn.edu/assoc-provost/handbook/ Departmental policy: make-ups should generally be given only in the designated make-up exam week (first week of the following semester).
Documented illness or death in the family is a valid excuse for missing an exam. The policy on the make-up of a missed exam should be made clear to students early on in the semester and/or before exam period, so that they know what it is if they get ill. It would also be helpful to include the policy on the syllabus.
If students have complaints about the grading of their exams (final exam or midterm exams), the complaints should be put in writing.
To discourage students from writing down everything they know in their bluebooks (regardless of whether related to the question), give an exam where space is available on the exam for writing the answer. You can have students use bluebooks for scratch paper (handed in with the exam). This policy also helps avoid your questions being disseminated because students have to hand in the questions with their exam.
Confidentiality of Student Records/Exams
Student grades cannot be posted to the internet, an office door or on a wall using their SSN or ID numbers. Neither professors nor TAs may leave bluebooks or graded exams outside their offices. Students should not have access to other students exam grades.
If parents telephone faculty, faculty may not discuss the student’s performance with the parents unless they have explicit permission in writing from the student to do so.
Students have the right to see their final exam. If the faculty will be gone after the final, arrangements should be made for students to be able to pick up their exams.
Guidelines for Grading
For a typical course, we recommend a grade distribution that includes no more than 30% grades of A or A-, 40-50% grades in the B+,B,B- range and the rest C+ or below. This is only a guideline and there can be exceptions depending on the performance of the class. For example, an honors class might give a higher fraction of A’s. A grade of F is given only rarely. A grade of F means that the course will not count towards the number of courses required for graduation.
If a student is doing badly in a class (e.g. grade below C-), or has unapproved exam absences or did not hand in major assignements, then the university asks that professors fill out a Course Problem Notice (CPN) during the semester as soon as the problem becomes apparent. This is essentially a warning to the student of poor performance and also to the student’s college advisor. To submit a CPN, go to www.upenn.edu and click on “Faculty & Staff” and then click on “Courses in Touch Problem Notices” and enter your PennKey and password.
Ways to Avoid Cheating
One possibility is to Xerox exams before handing them back to students to ensure nothing is added after they are already graded, or grade exams with a red pen and cross out blanks. It is recommended that you tell students that you Xerox exams (or a random sample of exams for a large class) to deter cheating.
Inform your TA about how to avoid cheating and about how to actively proctor the exam and address questions during the exam. Students should not be left unattended during an exam. If at all possible, either proctor the exam yourself or have your TA proctor the exam so that any questions that come up during the exam can be addressed.
Have students sit spaced apart during an exam if the seating allows. If the exam is being given in two rooms, there needs to be a proctor in each room at all times. If you have a relatively large class, you may need more proctors. In this case, please contact costello@ssc.upenn.edu with some advance notice so she can find some graduate students to help proctor the exam.
Be clear about whether students are allowed to work together on assignments so that there is no misunderstanding about what constitutes cheating. When you allow group work in your class, be clear what you mean by group work and how large a group is allowed to be.
How to deal with violations of academic integrity
It is recommended that as a preventative measure you discuss the importance of academic integrity in your class and make it clear that cheating will not be tolerated. Include a statement like the following on your syllabus to make clear the consequences of cheating: “If a student is found in violation of academic integrity, it is at the professor’s discretion to give the student a failing grade on the assignment and/or for the course.”
If you encounter a student cheating during an exam, immediately confront the student quietly and take any evidence of cheating away from the student (for example, a cheat sheet). The evidence will be needed to document the case. Also, record the names of any other witnesses. Report cheating violations to the undergraduate chair, who will contact all relevant individuals, gather documentation and report the case to the Office of Student Conduct. You will most likely be asked to write a brief letter explaining the incident.
Relations with Graders and TAs
Faculty are ultimately responsible for the actions of his or her TA or grader. Supervise your graders. Give them a detailed grading scheme and solutions and tell them how to award points for questions. Explain what is meant by “partial credit.” Look at the graded material before handing it back to the students. It is acceptable to ask your TA to attend your class if you think it necessary.
Ask your TA about what types of issues are coming up during office hours.
Canceling Classes
Because of conferences or seminars, faculty may miss one class for a two-day a week class, or two classes for a class that meets three days a week, without making them up. If you have to miss additional classes, then you either must make up the class or ask another faculty member to give the class. It can be difficult to find a time for a make-up class when the class size is large. One of the make-up classes can be a review session given during reading period.
It is not permissible to ask your teaching assistant or graduate student to teach in your place if you are not present. It is permissible to have your teaching assistant teach up to two classes as long as you are present and provide feedback on the graduate student’s performance.
Office Hours
Faculty are expected to hold two office hours at different time blocks (not both at 10am, but 10-noon is ok). TAs are also expected to hold office hours, which should not be at the same time as for the faculty member.
Additional Tutoring Services
There is a tutoring center at Penn that provides tutoring services for several of our economics courses, incl ECON 1,2,10,101,102,103,050 as well as some other classes. Students can sign up for one-on-one tutoring or attend tutoring sessions that are held at regular times. There is no charge to the students for these services. The tutoring is provided by advanced undergraduates and by graduate students.
The tutoring web address is http://www.upenn.edu/tutoringcenter. It would be helpful to include this address on your syllabus or webpage so help students find it. Also, if a professor requests it, the tutoring center will provide additional services, such as scheduling group sessions with a tutor for a class or providing additional office hours. The tutoring center is always looking for recommended students interested in serving as tutors – the current pay rates are $10/hour for undergraduates and $16/hour for graduate students. Faculty recommendations should be directed to dbrown@pobox.upenn.edu.
Other Issues
Specify the exams, dates and grading criteria clearly on your syllabus. Try to stick to the plan you gave the students. Also, do not cancel exams that were scheduled and do not change grading policies in the middle of the semester. Also, try to avoid changing announced exam dates if you can, since students often schedule travel home or to job interviews in advance.
Exam Attendance
Courses have individual policies regarding midterm exam attendance. Final exams attendance is mandatory and is governed by a number of university regulations.
Final exams can only be given on the exam date scheduled by the university registrar. no instructor can hold a final exam or require submission of a take-home exam except during the period in which final examinations are scheduled. No final exams may be scheduled during the last week of classes or on reading days. All students must be allowed to see their final exam, with an access period of at least one regular semester after the exam has been given.
In cases where attendance at a midterm or a final exam is mandatory, there are only a few valid excuses for absences:
-3 exams scheduled within one calendar day
-If an exam is given outside of the regular class schedule and the timing conflicts with another class in which the student is enrolled.
-documented illness/health emergencies
-religious observance
-UPENN business that takes a student away from Campus
-documented disabilities that allow a student to take the exam under other circumstances
-a death in the family
Examples of reasons that are not valid for missing an exam are:
-early travel arrangements
-job interviews
-job internships
-beginning fall or spring break early
-any other reason that is simply a matter of preference
Students are responsible for making sure, at the beginning of the term, that they can attend the exams. Registering for a course means that student certifies that he or she will be present for the exam (unless one of the explicitly stated exceptions above arises.)
If a student is taken unexpectedly ill at the time of an exam and unable to reach the instructor ahead of time, then the student must give notification and documentation of the illness as soon as he or she is able. A student who is ill must not take an exam expecting the opportunity to retake the exam because of doing poorly because of illness.
Absence from campus on UPENN business includes, for example, athletic events in which a student is actively participating. In such cases, the student needs to make arrangements with the professor ahead of the exam date to take the exam at another time (preferably earlier than the scheduled date).
Students who arrive late to an exam will generally be required to hand in their exam at the same time as other students.
Withdrawals and Incompletes
UPENN provides an option for students to withdraw from courses; students may withdraw up to the end of the 8th week of classes for any reason. Students may request incompletes after that deadline provided (1) the only work that is incomplete is the course final exam or final paper and
(2) there is a health emergency or a death in their family. Sstudents should work out an arrangement for clearing an incomplete with the professor as soon as possible.
Make-up Exams
Make-up final exams are to be taken only during the designated make-up exam week, usually at the beginning of the following semester.
Deadlines
Work should be handed in on time. Work that is not handed in on the day that it is due may, at the professor's discretion, receive less or zero credit.
Professors may request that a hard copy rather than an emailed copy be handed in.
Grading
The relative weights on the different elements of course work are set by the instructor.
So are the rules that permit (or do not permit) dropping the lowest problem set score. If a student is permitted to drop one exam or problem set score, but misses more than one exam (for an invalid reason), then the student may receive a zero for the missed exam.
One department-wide rule is that, if the course permits dropping the lowest problem set score, a student who has entered a course late and missed the first problem set drops that one, not a later one.
Online Grading - Quick Overview
Faculty are notified by email when their courses become available for Online Grading. Go to Courses In Touch at http://www.upenn.edu/isc/apps/CoursesInTouch/ and login using your PennKey and associated password.
Choose Select Courses or Course Summary from the Online Grading menu, and then select the specific course-section to be graded.
Enter the appropriate grade for each student and SAVE or SUBMIT.
-You may save at any point in time (allows for editing).
-You may partially submit at any time.
-Once submitted, only a change of grade action can alter the grade.
For details on how to Upload/Download the grade sheet in Excel and Blackboard, submit a Change of Grade, check grade spread/statistics, review the history of each transaction, and more, please refer to detailed sections of the User Guide.
Correcting Errors in Grading
Errors in grading sometimes occur; this section lays out rules and procedures for requesting a correction. The important general rule is that such a request should clearly and succinctly state the unambiguous error you believe has occurred.
Errors in grading arising from illegible or garbled answers are not subject to correction. Students who believe their work has been graded incorrectly should petition for a correction in writing to the Professor. Students should not approach either the instructor or the TA with an oral request before making their written request. Requests should be focused on the specific error and should be made within a week of the work being returned.
The entire graded work (problem set or examination) should be resubmitted; there is no guarantee that grades will rise as, statistically, positive and negative errors in grading are equally likely. If the request arises because a student thinks that different students have been graded differently, all the affected students should submit their work as a group.
Here is a suggested way to request correction of an error in grading: "Dear Prof. X: I am a student in your economics xxx course. I believe that the grades on my midterm were added up incorrectly. As you can see from the exam I left in your mailbox, I have 25 on each of the four questions, but 73 on the exam. Sincerely, Z."
Academic Integrity Issues
Academic integrity is a very important part of student life, and the Department of Economics takes it seriously. The department reserves the right to undertake procedures to catch breaches of academic integrity, should any arise, such as photocopying or scanning midterms or other work before it is returned, and close proctoring during exams. Students who are suspected of committing infractions will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct.
It is recommended that faculty who intend to give a failing course grade to students found in violation of academic integrity should include the following wording on their syllabus:
"If a student is found in violation of academic integrity, it is at the professor's discretion to give the student a failing grade for the assignment and the course."
Use of Short and Long Incompletes
There are two types of incompletes allowed on the grade sheet – a short incomplete (I) and a long incomplete (II). A short incomplete must be completed within the first 4 weeks of the next semester, while a long incomplete must be completed by the end of next semester. It is departmental policy that students who miss the final exam for valid reasons should be given a short incomplete. The short incomplete automatically becomes a fail after the first 4 weeks of the next semester (and so faculty need do nothing if the student misses the makeup without a valid reason). If a faculty member wishes to give an extension for a student to hand in papers, etc., he or she should use the long incomplete. There is also a category on the grade sheet called “no show.” That should only be used for students who disappeared from a class early in the semester (prior to the 5th week) and are still listed as being registered.
Course Support
Please keep the following information available:
Undergraduate Academic Bulletin is on the Registrar's
web http://www.upenn.edu/registrar/
The CLASS LIST function in IRQDB is under Courses InTouch (CIT).
CIT is a new application that houses both Class Lists and the Course Problem Notice (CPN).
Faculty may access CIT and CPN either via the U@Penn Portal:http://medley.isc-seo.upenn.edu/penn_portal/u@penn.php in the section labeled "Student Advising & Administrative Resources" or via http://www.upenn.edu/isc/apps/CoursesInTouch
Faculty wishing to access their own teaching history and advisee list (with photos), should ontinue to use IRQDB http://www.sas.upenn.edu/IRQDB/
To access a class list, point your www browser to: http://listserv.upenn.edu then follow the link on this page called “Class List Request form” where course instructors can activate a class list. You will need the following:
Penn Net ID and Password
The class department code, class number and section number, i.e., ECON101-001-05c – this info is mandatory.
Note that only the instructor listed in the system can activate a class list. If you were assigned a TA for your course, they should be added so that they may activate your class list through IRQDB. If they cannot, please let me know and I will check to see if their name appears in the system.
The class list will not be available if:
The instructor does not have an email address in Penn’s WHOIS database. Please check http://director.upenn.edu.
SRS does not have an instructor listed for the course. Please check with me if the information for a course is inaccurate.
If you continue to have problems activating a class list, please contact: Postmaster@sas.upenn.edu with any problems/questions.
You may also access a class list with email addresses and pictures off the web in the SAS Institutional Research Data Base (IRQDB): http://www.sas.upenn.edu/IRQDB/ To access this list, you will also need to have a Penn Net ID and a Password.
In addition, since many of you are now using Blackboard for your course material, you will need to fill out the online form if you would like to have Blackboard set up for you. This applies to anyone who teaches courses above Econ 2. The address for the form is:
http://www.library.upenn.edu/cgi-bin/bb/bbreq.cgi
Classroom Setup and Support
As we did last spring, staff from SAS Computing Multi-Media Services will check the Econ 1, 2, and 010 lecture rooms each Monday and Wednesday to make sure that everything is working correctly. Blackboard is already set up for Econ 1, 2, and 010. Sites for recitations will be created as soon as we have confirmed RIs.
Blackboard sites are not created automatically. Blackboard sites are created when the instructors request them. You can request a site ahead of time -- often almost a semester ahead of time, if you wish.
In general, the easiest and most convenient way to request a Blackboard site is to use our online form. You can find it on the library's website (www.library.upenn.edu) by clicking on the link for "Courseware/Blackboard" and then for "Course request form (for instructors & TAs)". Alternatively, you can create a Bookmark or Favorite in your web browser for its web address:
http://www.library.upenn.edu/forms/courseware/bbrequest.html
This form allows you to select from several options, and gives you the opportunity to select materials from a previous Blackboard site to be copied automatically into your requested site.
If you need help with any aspect of Blackboard usage, please contact http://www.bb-help@sas.upenn.edu . There is a team of people who handled BB requests. If you have an especially urgent problem, you can contact either Jay Treat (jtreat@sas.upenn.edu / 573-3171) or John MacDermott (macderm@sas.upenn.edu / 898-3046). Jay is our senior Blackboard specialist.
If you have trouble with AV equipment or have special requirements, you can contact Multi-Media Services at 898-4947 or send mail to reserve@ccat.sas.upenn.edu . Erin Fallon is the manager; Dave Nash coordinates most AV services. Most other IT support needs, including any problems concerning websites on the Econ server should be directed to Social Science Computing sschelp@ssc.upenn.edu .
When requesting a room for a Review Session, please use the online request form at:
http://www.isc-cts.upenn.edu/finder/findermain.asp
ALL requests for change in classroom are submitted using the Course Classroom Change request form located on the Classroom Finder:
http://www.isc-cts.upenn.edu/finder/findermain.asp
Please be sure that you notify me as well of a possible room change request.
Please be sure to add Sandy Kuszmaul (kuszmaul@econ.upenn.edu) and tel. #8-7701 to the Admin. Asst. section so that she is aware of your request.
Also, please remember that the computer classrooms in MMETS and McNeil
building seat only 20 students.
The form to request computer labs for classes is available at:
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/computer/labs
Recording of Lectures
Students sometimes request faculty record lectures because they cannot attend (often due to religious holidays). This is NOT mandatory and is at the discretion of the faculty. If you would like to have a class videotaped or recorded, fill out the online form at:
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/computing/mms/recording_form
Since resources are limited, this should be done early prior to major holidays.
Placing Books on Reserve
Here is information on how to reserve or place course books on hold at any of the UPENN libraries. You can reserve materials or books, journal articles, etc., which is required for a Penn course when requested by faculty for teaching.
Depending on which library, for example, contact for the Lippincott Library is Adele Chatelain at 8-6729 or email at:
Adele prefers to be reached by email only
At the Van Pelt library, the contact is Paul Farber or Bijan Hossein at 8-7561 or email at:
Thank you and have a good semester!
updated Sept., 2009
Welcome to a New Semester!DEPARTMENTAL POLICIES FOR UNDERGRADUATE ECONOMICS COURSES
Information for New Faculty
There are several resources available to your new faculty as they plan for and begin teaching in the College.
The first is a workshop on teaching offered in connection with the Dean Bushnell’s orientation session for new faculty on Tuesday, September 8, 2009. At the workshop, which begins after lunch, new faculty will meet several experienced colleagues who will lead discussions on a number of topics including the habits of Penn students and ideas about effective teaching. We intend this session to be of value regardless of one’s level of teaching experience.
In addition to this workshop, we offer new faculty a website, http://www.sas.upenn.edu/ctl/newfaculty/index.html, designed to provide them with information they will need as they prepare to teach in September. We cannot of course anticipate all that your faculty must do to be ready for the start of the semester, but the site does provide some important basic information and can supplement any communication you have with them about teaching. If your faculty have other teaching-related questions, feel free to refer them to Bruce Lenthall (lenthall@sas.upenn.edu), director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, for assistance.
Exam Attendance
Courses have individual policies regarding midterm exam attendance. Final exams attendance is mandatory and is governed by a number of university regulations.
Final exams can only be given on the exam date scheduled by the university registrar. no instructor can hold a final exam or require submission of a take-home exam except during the period in which final examinations are scheduled. No final exams may be scheduled during the last week of classes or on reading days. All students must be allowed to see their final exam, with an access period of at least one regular semester after the exam has been given.
In cases where attendance at a midterm or a final exam is mandatory, there are only a few valid excuses for missing an exam. Valid excuses are:
-3 exams scheduled within one calendar day
-If exam is given outsie of the regular class schedule and the timing conflicts with another class for which the student is enrolled.
-documented illness/health emergencies
-religious observance
-UPENN Business that takes you away from Campus
-documented disabilities that allow you to take the exam under other circumstances
-a death in the family
Examples of reasons that are not valid for missing an exam are:
-early travel arrangements
-job interviews
-job internships
-beginning fall or spring break early
-any other reason you would prefer not to be at the university when the exam is scheduled.
Students are responsible for making sure, at the beginning of the term, that they can attend the exams. Registering for a course means that you certify that you will be present for the exam (unless one of the explicitly stated exceptions above arises.)
If you are unexpectedly ill at the time of the exam and unable to reach the instructor ahead of time, then you can give notification and documentation of your illness as soon as you are able. Do not take an exam if you are ill and then expect to have an opportunity to retake the exam because you were ill the first time and did poorly.
Absence from campus on UPENN business includes, for example, athletic events in which you are actively participating. In such cases, you need to make arrangements with your professor ahead of the exam date to take the exam at another time (preferably earlier than the schedule date).
Students who arrive late to an exam will generally be required to hand in their exam at the same time as other students.
Withdrawals and Incompletes
UPENN provides an option for students to withdraw from courses to do so; students may withdraw up to the end of the 8th week of classes for any reason. Students may request incompletes after that deadline provided
(1) the only work that is incomplete is the course final exam or final paper and
(2) there is a health emergency or a death in their family. Sstudents should work out an arrangement for clearing an incomplete with the professor as soon as possible.
Make-up Exams
Make-up final exams are to be taken only during the designated make-up exam week, usually at the beginning of the following semester.
Deadlines
Work should be handed in on time. Work that is not handed in on the day that it is due may, at the professor's discretion, receive less or zero credit.
Professors may request that a hard copy rather than an emailed copy be handed in.
Grading
The relative weights on the different elements course work are set by the instructor. So are the rules that permit (or do not permit) dropping the lowest problem set score. If a student is permitted to drop one exam or problem set score, but misses more than one exam (for an invalid reason), then the student may receive a zero for the missed exam.
One department-wide rule is that, if the course permits dropping the lowest problem set score, a student who has entered a course late and missed the first problem set drops that one, not a later one.
Online Grading - Quick Overview
You are notified by email when your courses become available for Online Grading. Go to Courses In Touch at http://www.upenn.edu/isc/apps/CoursesInTouch/ and login using your PennKey and associated password.
Choose Select Courses or Course Summary from the Online Grading menu, and then select the specific course-section to be graded.
Enter the appropriate grade for each student and SAVE or SUBMIT.
-You may save at any point in time (allows for editing).
-You may partially submit at any time.
-Once submitted, only a change of grade action can alter the grade.
For details on how to Upload/Download the grade sheet in Excel and Blackboard; submit a Change of Grade; check your grade spread/statistics; review the history of each transaction; and more, please refer to detailed sections of the User Guide.
Correcting Errors in Grading
Errors in grading sometimes occur; this section lays out rules and procedures for requesting a correction. The important general rule is that such a request should clearly and succinctly state the unambiguous error you believe has occurred.
Errors in grading arising from illegible or garbled answers are not subject to correction. Students who believe their work has been graded incorrectly should petition for a correction in writing to the Professor. Students should not approach eithier the instructor or the TA with an oral request before making their written request. Requests should be focused on the specific error and should be made within a week of the work being returned.
The entire graded work (problem set or examination) should be resubmitted; there is no guarantee that grades will rise as, statistically, positive and negative errors in grading are euqally likely. If the request arises because you think different students have been graded differently, all the affected students should submit their work as a group.
Here is a suggested way to request to correct an error grading: "Dear Prof. X: I am a student in your economics 222 course. I believe that the grades on my midterm were added up incrrectly. As you can see from the exam I left in your mailbox, I have 25 on each of the four questions, but 73 on the exam. Sincerely, Z."
Academic Integrity Issues
Academic integrity is a very important part of student life, and the Department of Economics takes it seriously. The department reserves the right to undertake procedures that would catch breaches of academic integrity, should any arise, such as photocopying or scanning midterms or other work before it is returned, and close proctoring during exams. Students who are suspected of committing infractions will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct.
It is recommended that faculty who intend to give a failing course grade to students found in violation of academic integrity should include the following wording on their syllabus:
"If a student is found in violation of academic integrity, it is at the professor's discretion to give the student a failing grade for the assignment and the course."
Use of Short and Long Incompletes
There are two types of incompletes allowed on the grade sheet – a short incomplete (I) and a long incomplete (II). A short incomplete must be completed within the first 4 weeks of the next semester, while a long incomplete must be completed by the end of next semester. It is departmental policy that students who miss the final exam for valid reasons should be given a short incomplete. The short incomplete automatically becomes a fail after the first 4 weeks of the next semester (and so you need do nothing if the student misses the makeup without a valid reason). If you wish to give an extension for a student to hand in papers, etc., , please use the long incomplete. There is also a category on the grade sheet called “no show.” That should only be used for students who disappeared from your class early in the semester (prior to the 5th week) and are still listed as being registered.
Course Support
Please keep the following information available:
The 2006 Undergraduate Academic Bulletin is now live on the Registrar's web http://www.upenn.edu/registrar/
As of Monday, February 27, 2006, the CLASS LIST function in IRQDB has transitioned to a new location under a new name, Courses InTouch (CIT).
CIT is a new application that houses both Class Lists and the Course Problem Notice (CPN).
You may access CIT and CPN either via the U@Penn Portal:
http://medley.isc-seo.upenn.edu/penn_portal/u@penn.php
in the section labeled "Student Advising & Administrative Resources" or via the following url:
http://www.upenn.edu/isc/apps/CoursesInTouch
To access your own teaching history and advisee list (with photos), please continue to use IRQDB.
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/IRQDB/
To activate a class list, point your www browser to:
http://listserv.upenn.edu
Follow the link on this page called “Class List Request form” where course instructors can activate a class list. You will need the following:
1. Penn Net ID and Password
2. The class department code, class number and section number, i.e., ECON101-001-05c – this info is mandatory.
Note only the instructor listed in the system can activate a class list. If you were assigned a TA for your course, they should be added so that they may activate your class list through IRQDB. If they cannot, please let me know and I will check to see if their name appears in the system.
The class list will not be available if:
1. The instructor does not have an email address in Penn’s WHOIS database. Please check http://director.upenn.edu.
2. SRS does not have an instructor listed for the course. Please check with me if the information for a course is inaccurate.
If you continue to have problems activating the class list, please contact: Postmaster@sas.upenn.edu with any problems/questions.
You may also access a class list with email addresses and pictures off the web in the SAS Institutional Research Data Base (IRQDB):
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/IRQDB/
To access this list, you will also need to have a Penn Net ID and a Password.
In addition, since many of you are now using Blackboard for your course material, you will need to fill out the online form if you would like to have Blackboard set up for you. This applies to anyone who teaches courses above Econ 2. The address for the form is:
http://www.library.upenn.edu/cgi-bin/bb/bbreq.cgi
Classroom Setup and Support
As we did last spring, staff from SAS Computing Multi-Media Services will check the Econ 1, 2, and 010 lecture rooms each Monday and Wednesday to make sure that everything is working correctly. Blackboard is already set up for Econ 1, 2, and 010. Sites for recitations will be created as soon as we have confirmed RIs.
Blackboard sites are not created automatically. Blackboard sites are created when the instructors request them. You can request a site ahead of time -- often almost a semester ahead of time, if you wish. In general, the easiest and most convenient way to request a Blackboard site is to use our online form. You can find it on the library's website (www.library.upenn.edu) by clicking on the link for "Courseware/Blackboard" and then for "Course request form (for instructors & TAs)". Alternatively, you can create a Bookmark or Favorite in your web browser for its web address: http://www.library.upenn.edu/forms/courseware/bbrequest.html
This form allows you to select from several options, and gives you the opportunity to select materials from a previous Blackboard site to be copied automatically into your requested site.
If you need help with any aspect of Blackboard usage, please contact http://www.bb-help@sas.upenn.edu . There is a team of people who handled BB requests. If you have an especially urgent problem, you can contact either Jay Treat (jtreat@sas.upenn.edu / 573-3171) or John MacDermott (macderm@sas.upenn.edu / 898-3046). Jay is our senior Blackboard specialist.
If you have trouble with AV equipment or have special requirements, you can contact Multi-Media Services at 898-4947 or send mail to reserve@ccat.sas.upenn.edu . Erin Fallon is the manager; Dave Nash coordinates most AV services. Most other IT support needs, including any problems concerning websites on the Econ server should be directed to Social Science Computing sschelp@ssc.upenn.edu.
When requesting a room for a Review Session, please use the online request form at:
http://www.isc-cts.upenn.edu/finder/findermain.asp
ALL requests for change in classroom are submitted using the Course Classroom Change request form located on the Classroom Finder:
http://www.isc-cts.upenn.edu/finder/findermain.asp
Please be sure that you notify me as well of a possible room change request.
Please be sure to add Sandy Kuszmaul (kuszmaul@econ.upenn.edu) and tel. #8-7701 to the Admin. Asst. section so that she is aware of your request.
Also, please remember that the computer classrooms in MMETS and McNeil building seat only 20 students.
The form to request computer labs for classes is available at:
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/computer/labs
Recording of Lectures
Students sometimes request faculty record lectures because they cannot attend (often due to religious holidays). This is NOT mandatory and is at the discretion of the faculty. If you would like to have a class videotaped or recorded, fill out the online form at:
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/computing/mms/recording_form
Since resources are limited, this should be done early prior to major holidays.
Placing Books on Reserve
Here is information on how to reserve or place course books on hold at any of the UPENN libraries. You can reserve materials or books, journal articles, etc., which is required for a Penn course when requested by faculty for teaching.
Depending on which library, for example, contact for the Lippincott Library is Adele Chatelain at 8-6729 or email at:
chatelaa@wharton.upenn.edu
Adele prefers to be reached by email only
At the Van Pelt library, the contact is Paul Farber or Bijan Hossein at 8-7561 or email at:
vpreserv@pobox.upenn.edu
Thank you and have a good semester!
updated August, 2009