Chem 119 Syllabus

Course Policies

Attendance and Excused Absences Policy:

Though attendance is not taken at lecture and much of the lecture material is made available as pdf files for download, you are expected to attend all scheduled lectures and laboratories. Information provided in lecture may not be duplicated on the class web site. You will be responsible for information provided in lecture.

The class policy on absences follows the University policy, which can be found in the section on academic responsibilities (page 55 and following) in the current University Catalog. Any absences from exams should be announced, if possible, by e-mail in advance of the exam, and the student missing an exam will be required to provide an excuse note to be offered a make-up exam. Absences from labs will be excused for medical reasons (serious illness requiring a doctor's care), family emergencies, some University sanctioned events, and employer-required absences. Scheduled absences must be made known in writing to the course instructor in advance so that arrangements can be made for adjustment of due dates of class and laboratory assignments. Scheduled absences may require an e-mail from the Dean's Office or from the employer to support student claims.

There is no makeup of clicker questions included as a part of class.

Minor absences may be excused at the discretion of the course instructor (but not a course teaching assistant!) on a case by case basis, depending on the reason for the absence and what course material is missed.

Each week 9 REQUIRED problems are assigned on WebCT.
Full solutions to these (not just answers!) are due to your TA on Wednesdays, 1 week after they are assigned.

You are encouraged to work together on the homework, but you must turn in your own set of solutions.
Identical sets of solutions will be graded and the score will be divided among the numer of identical submissions.

Each set is due on Wednesday by 1200 (Noon) to your TA’s mailbox (in Rm 115 BrL, to the back on the right hand side as you enter)
or to your TA's office. Solution sets will be e-mailed to the distribution list and made available for access/download here.

Warning! No homework papers will be accepted after the solutions are e-mailed.
Any set that omits solving more than 4 of the 9 problems may not be graded.

Homework will be graded by your TA as follows:

2 problems from each assigned set will be selected by Prof. Brown "at random," and your answers to these will be scored
as “right,” "partly right," or “wrong.”
For each “right” you receive 4 credits, for each "partly right," you receive 2 credits. "Wrong" answers receive 0 credits.

Your homework will be assigned a % score according to the number of the total possible credits and the total credits you have earned.
The % score from the homework will be averaged with your 2 mid-term % scores.

Any homework due prior to an exam and whose solutions are posted before the exam
is considered eligible for inclusion on the examination.

Homework assignments can be done in pen or pencil, on any standard paper. You can turn in homework to your TA, not the course instructor. You can turn in your homework personally, at office hours or at the TA’s office. Or you can turn your work in to the TA mailbox in Room 112 of Brown Lab. In either case, be SURE that you have your name, your course (that’s CHEM 119), your section (that’s a number from 015 to 021) and your TA’s name on ALL pages, using the upper right hand corner of your homework. Make these legible, please. You can also put “page x of y” on each page, where x and y reflect which page this is (that’s the x) and the total number of pages (that’s the y). Pages do get separated on occasion. Then, securely staple the homework.

If you must turn in homework to your TAs office, please don’t just stuff it under the door! Be sure that it goes on the TAs desk or is placed so that it won’t get removed and discarded, or otherwise overlooked. It is best to give it to your TA personally.

If you turn in homework to your TA’s mailbox in Rm 112 of Brown laboratory (and be warned - the door is locked at about 1630!), please be careful to get the correct mailbox. The TA mailboxes are in the back, on the right hand side as you face away from the door. The name label is above the box, not below it. Several TAs share a mailbox, so make sure that you have labeled and securely stapled your work as described above.

Lab Reports

Chem 119 lab reports are to be done on the report forms available on the WebCT class site. These reports should be completed in pen. You will turn in Chem 119 lab reports, when due, to your TA at the start of your lab, in 022 Drake Hall. You will never need to turn in your laboratory notebook. All notebook checks in Chem 119 will occur in class, so your lab notebook will never leave your possession.

Disclosure of Chem 119 Scores and Grades:

Your TA – never the course instructor! – will return your graded lab reports, homework and mid-term exams. All graded material will be retured at the start of your laboratory section, in 022 Drake Hall. They will generally be returned the week after you submit them. While you can ask the instructor about your Chem 119 scores throughout the semester, and can see your scores then, you can get Chem 119 final course grades only from the UD Registrar - neither the instructor nor your TA can release them to you by phone or e-mail. No scores or course grades from Chem 119 will be released by the course instructor or TA at any time to parents, relatives, friends or others, including other UD departments or programs.

Special Accomodations:

Students requesting special accomodations in Chem 119 must already be registered with UD's ADA Center or Academic Enrichment Center, as appropriate. Those students should contact the course instructor well in advance of any course activity to arrange for special accomodations that follow the terms of the arrangements set by the Center staff.

Academic Honesty:

University policy concerning possible breaches of academic honesty is found in the current Undergraduate Catalog (see page 16 of the pdf document) and in the on-line Student Guide to University Policies. You are encouaged to become familiar with The University’s Policy of Academic Honesty found in the UD Student Guide. Policies delineated in the Student Guide apply to this course. Except for responses to assigned class homework and any laboratory work done on laboratory experiments where you are asked to work in pairs or threes, all written and experimental work in the laboratory and in the classroom examinations for Chem 119 is to be done independently. You may not give help to or receive help from others on exams. While collaboration and discussion is encourged for in-class clicker questions, submitting answers to in-class quiz questions for others by use of their clicker is a violation of academic honesty. By turning work into the instructors of this course, you acknowledge being made aware of the academic honesty policy and affirm your compliance with the policy.

Safety:

You will receive instruction in laboratory safety and chemical hygiene, and you are asked to follow the guidelines given during that instruction. You'll need to take the WebCT Basic Right-to-Know training course on your own during the first week of the semester and to provide your lab TA with a printed certificate indicating that you completed the training. That certificate is due to the TA at your first lab period (the week of September 11, 2006) and you must turn it in to attend the lab. To take the WebCT safety course, you'll need to set up a few things on your computer first to use WebCT. You should have already received an e-mail about this on Right-to-Know training for Chem 119, but if you enrolled late, or if you didn't save it, you can find a copy of that e-mail here. Please note that the WebCT Right-to-Know training course is not administered or maintained by the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Chemistry staff cannot address any problems that you may encounter in accessing or running this web course.

We take your safety in laboratory very seriously. You are expected to do your part to ensure a safe laboratory. Please note carefully that any major safety infraction - such as failure to wear safety glasses as required - can be grounds for expulsion from the laboratory for the period in which the infraction occurs. Any work not completed as a consequence of an expulsion cannot be made up or repeated.

Seat Claim Policy:

Because of the demand for a limited number of spaces in Chem 119 lab, this course follows the Seat Claim policy established by the Provost’s Office and outlined in the UD Catalog: anyone missing the first two classes or laboratory sessions is regarded as relinquishing his/her claim to a seat in this course. Further, those students registered for Chem 119 but not claiming a seat and not completing the drop process may receive a “Z” grade for the course. Attendance will be taken within the first 30 minutes of each laboratory at the beginning of the semester.

E-Mail Policy:

Important notices and correction of errors will be sent to the e-mail distribution list for the class to provide the fastest dissemination of the information. The registrar will include your campus e-mail account on these class distribution lists, so plan to activate your campus e-mail account quickly and to check it regularly.

Course personnel make every effort to repond promptly to e-mailed questions or concerns from students but turnaround is not always immediate, so please plan ahead.

Cell Phone Policy:

Placing and especially receiving phone calls in class is disruptive and discourteous to your fellow students and to the course instructor. You are expected to turn your cell phone off and stow it during lectures, labs and course help sessions. Accessing a cell phone during any Chem 119 exam is a violation of academic honesty and may result in the immediate expulsion of the student from the exam.