Although Americans tend to view themselves as the highest example of creation and civilization, we have become a decidedly uncivil group of people. In an effort to address the problem of civility, good manners, and professional demeanor in a classroom setting, I would like my students to adhere to the following guidelines commandments:

E-mail

I can be reached reliably only through e-mail, or in person during my office hours. I am, however, reluctant to open mail from unidentified persons. Therefore, please place in the subject line of any e-mail your last name and the course number/section (e.g. GE2004 H). No days or times are necessary because the section letter provides me with that information. If you're unsure about your course number and section, consult my current course schedule on your syllabus. It's also listed on your own individual course schedule.

My email address is cuhlmeyer@aii.edu.

Your e-mail address should be your campus address and it should look like something like this: cu061@stu.aii.edu. If you do not normally use this address, set it up to forward to your standard address (sexpot@yahoo.com) because I will not answer messages from suspect origins, or those that do not include a student's name. You may think your address is cute, but it may be unprofessional and entirely unsuited to an educational situation. If you do not know how to use the campus system, see one of the tech people who can help you set it up. The online system allows you to access grades, your degree audit, and other valuable information, so use it.

After you have sent your message, be sure to check for a response. I usually check my mail four or more times per day during the week, once on Saturday night, and several times on Sunday. If I take the time to answer a query, which I do, religiously, please do me the courtesy of checking for an answer. Otherwise, your question can wait until the next time you see me.

Please use standard English and correct spelling in your messages. I abhor the decline of language skills in the general population, and stupid (yes, stupid) abbreviations and other shortcuts are irritating at the very least. Do not treat an e-mail message to me as if it were a text-message to your friends.

Personal Technologies

All computers and personal communication devices must be turned off during lectures. Only those with special accommodations from the Academic Services Coordinator may use laptops for note-taking. My recent experiment with allowing computers during lectures was a dismal failure and resulted in significantly lower grades for 90% of students who used them, and it is now an official policy of the General Studies Department to disallow all forms of personal communciation devices in class.

If you have a home- or work-related emergency, and need to stay in contact with a boss or family member, please let me know ahead of time, and I will accommodate you by allowing you to keep your cell phone in silent mode, and to leave the room to take a call. Otherwise, please turn phones off in order to avoid distraction. May I remind you, however, that class time includes a 30-minute break, and I raised two children to adulthood successfully without the use of a cell phone. Anyone who leaves class to take a phone call without letting me know of an emergency situation in advance need not return to the classroom. Your priorities are clear, and my lecture is apparently not one of them.

You may not, under any circumstances, record the lectures without a special needs accommodation in writing from the Academic Services Coordinator.

I maintain a significant web presence, including this website (now ten years old), two professional pages for philosophical organizations, three blogs, and a full-length novel, and I participate in two online forums. However, I reject the inexorable shortening of attention spans and coursening of discourse that has resulted from many social networking sites, and while I do understand the attraction of keeping in touch with one's chums, I do not and will not participate in Facebook, MySpace, or the like. Don't even get me started on Twitter. As much as I respect my students, I have no interest in becoming your "cyber-friend," so don't even ask. E-mail works just fine.

Note-taking is an art; it requires practice, and it is an essential skill for students in my classes. I have evidence from cognitive scientists that doodling and other expressions of "multitasking" are not, in fact, condusive to information retention, and can seriously inhibit your ability to assimilate information. You cannot convince me that doodling, drawing characters or sketches for another class, or other activities that interfere with your learning the material for my class are of any intellectual benefit at all. The only sketches you should be making are those related to slides or films being shown on the screen in front of you. If you absolute must draw, use the Cornell method--and relate your doodles to the material.

In my experience, students who doodle rather than take notes do significantly worse on exams than those who actually pay attention and carefully record important information. If you don't want to sit in a class for a second time, take good notes and quit trying to weasel me into thinking that you "learn better while doodling." My exams are designed to help people show me what they've actually learned--so if you don't do well on them, even with the use of your workbooks, better note-taking is in order.

Study Groups (History of Art & Design I & II)

I welcome and encourage study groups in my classes under the following conditions: Slide lists must be created independently and then discussed in groups. You will not learn the material successfully if one person does all the work and others simply copy it. The point of the lists is not to torture you or take up all of your valuable time; it's to help you master a large amount of material as painlessly as possible. If you want to be able to use your workbook on exams, you must complete the major portion of it individually. Once your lists are complete, meet in your group to fill in the gaps and discuss the material. If I find a significant number of identical answers on exams, I will check workbooks and deduct points if they've been copied. In other courses, such as Visual Anthropology, study groups may meet to discuss material in preparation for exercises, but the exercises themselves must be accomplished individually. Identical answers are not acceptable, and points will be deducted for clearly "cooperative" work. "Group think" is a characteristic of totalitarianism, not of freedom.

Identical answers on certain art & design history exam questions indicates a level of "cooperation" that equates with cheating. My exams require thinking and the interpretation of information; therefore, if you copy one another's work, everyone involved will be penalized and referred to the proper authorities for disciplinary action. The best strategy by far is to learn the material well enough to be able to interpret the material successfully on your own.

Absences and tardiness

Whether or not you attend class is up to you; it's your nickel. But anyone who arrives more than fifteen minutes late (without prior communication) is out the participation points for that class meeting. Please be aware, too, that you can only earn workshop points (in classes with workshops) by attending the related class. If you miss the class, you're out the points. Some classes involve presentation of materials unavailable outside the classroom, and exam questions (in classes with exams) may be based on these materials. There are no makeups on exams, and no late work can be accepted as articulated on the syllabus. Three absences before week 5 and failure to take the miderm exam will mean automatic dismissal from the course as soon as midterm grades are tallied. If you are ill or must miss multiple classes for any reason, stay in contact with me, or I will drop you after successive absences beyond the limit. The AiDallas attendance policy is clearly stated in your Handbook and on your syllabus; read it.

Assignments

All essay assignments must be submitted with a cover sheet on which the following information must be present:

Student's first and last name as it appears on the roll sheet

Course number and section letter: Class name

Date submitted (although late work is not acceptable for a grade, I will evaluate it if asked)

Name of assignment and title of essay (see writing guidelines for information on titles)

Essays must include page numbers, but no other headers. If you're worried about my losing pages, pencil your name on the back of each sheet and/or staple the essay and cover sheet together. For blind assessment purposes, no names should appear on pages so that they can be copied anonymously.

See my Guidelines for Written Work and Annotated Bibliographies pages for complete instructions, and then follow them.

General classroom demeanor

My students tend to have a great deal of fun in my classes, often at my expense. But play nicely. My classes all fall within the realm of the humanities, which is concerned with the creative ways in which human beings express themselves. Try to be thoughtful in your remarks, considerate in your interactions with class members, and behave like reasonable adults--at least most of the time. Constant yakking and peanut-gallery commentary (a la Mystery Science Theater) distracts me, annoys other students, and extends the time it takes to complete a lecture. Please confine your comments to the topics at hand, and make them audibly and politely. I reserve the right to separate chatters, and to remove disruptive students from the classroom.

If other students' behavior bothers you, please discuss the problem with him/her/them if possible, or consult me. Things tend to get rowdy occasionally, and although a lively discussion usually means that students are learning, everyone must be allowed a chance to contribute. If your ability to ask questions, take notes, or even hear the lecture is inhibited by boisterous behavior or general frivolity, please feel free to ask me to restore order.

A professional demeanor component is included in your participation grade. Frequent disruption, answering cell phones, rude behavior, and constant whining will result in a diminished score.

No Whining

It's not that I'm not sympathetic, but I have gone out of my way to design materials that will make your life easier in the long run, will help you learn without having to memorize mounds of information, and which will help make you a better, more thoughtful, and more successful designer (or animator, or whatever). I know my stuff, and I've been out in the "real" world for long enough to know that what I offer is valuable. Therefore, please be aware that my classroom is a NO WHINING ZONE. Just do the work. Do not try to whine your way into getting me to accept late work, either, because I won't do it. Ample extra credit is avialable for those who do badly on the midterm, but I expect everyone to deliver assigned work on time and according to my guidelines. If you have doubts about whether or not you're "getting" what's required, see me ahead of time; I'm a good critic and a terrific editor. I'm always glad to help students do their best work.

A final note: many of us have developed allergies to the chemicals in perfumes, colognes, and other applications designed to mask the fact that you smell like a human being. Therefore, please be generous to me and your classmates by avoiding the use of heavily-scented products. Feel free to bathe, but leave the body spray on the drugstore shelf. You will also help minimize disruptions if you visit the rest room before coming to class and before returning to class after break. If I can make it through an hour and a half at my age, you should be able to as well.

owldroppings
10.09.09