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Math / Stat 319

Policies and Guidelines

Table of contents

  1. Technology Requirements
    1. Help Resources
  2. Disability Accommodation
  3. Counseling and Psychological Services
  4. Military Personnel
  5. Educational Equity / Report Bias
  6. Academic Integrity
    1. How Academic Integrity Violations Are Handled
    2. More Information on Academic Integrity at Penn State
  7. Student Responsibilities and Conduct
  8. Course Copyright
  9. Subject to Change Statement

Technology Requirements

Students will need to use software to generate random numbers, run simple statistical analyses, and complete their assignments. This can be accomplished by downloading the required computational software on their personal computers, or by downloading the necessary software on the university computers.

Help Resources

If you need technical assistance at any point during the course, please contact the IT Help Desk

Disability Accommodation

Penn State welcomes students with disabilities into the University’s educational programs. Every Penn State campus has an office for students with disabilities. Student Disability Resources (SDR) website provides contact information for every Penn State campus. For further information, please visit the Student Disability Resources website.

In order to receive consideration for reasonable accommodations, you must contact the appropriate disability services office at the campus where you are officially enrolled, participate in an intake interview, and provide documentation: See documentation guidelines. If the documentation supports your request for reasonable accommodations, your campus disability services office will provide you with an accommodation letter. Please share this letter with your instructors and discuss the accommodations with them as early as possible. You must follow this process for every semester that you request accommodations

Counseling and Psychological Services

Many students at Penn State face personal challenges or have psychological needs that may interfere with their academic progress, social development, or emotional wellbeing. The university offers a variety of confidential services to help you through difficult times, including individual and group counseling, crisis intervention, consultations, online chats, and mental health screenings. These services are provided by staff who welcome all students and embrace a philosophy respectful of clients’ cultural and religious backgrounds, and sensitive to differences in race, ability, gender identity and sexual orientation.

Military Personnel

Veterans and currently serving military personnel and/or spouses with unique circumstances (e.g., upcoming deployments, drill/duty requirements, disabilities, VA appointments, etc.) are welcome and encouraged to communicate these, in advance if possible, to the instructor in the case that special arrangements need to be made.

Educational Equity / Report Bias

Penn State takes great pride to foster a diverse and inclusive environment for students, faculty, and staff. Acts of intolerance, discrimination, or harassment due to age, ancestry, color, disability, gender, gender identity, national origin, race, religious belief, sexual orientation, or veteran status are not tolerated and can be reported through Educational Equity via the Report Bias webpage.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity—scholarship free of fraud and deception—is an important educational objective of Penn State. To learn more about academic integrity at Penn State, please visit the Penn State Academic Integrity site. Academic dishonesty can lead to a failing grade or referral to the Office of Student Conduct.

Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to:

  • cheating,
  • plagiarism,
  • fabrication of information or citations,
  • facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others,
  • unauthorized prior possession of examinations,
  • submitting the work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor and securing written approval, and
  • tampering with the academic work of other students.

These are all examples of academic dishonesty. Instructors regularly monitor the web for inappropriate posting of instructional materials.

It is expected that any work submitted is your own. Class members may work on homework assignments and lab assignments in groups, but each student must write up answers in their own words and submit separately. Students may study together for quizzes and exams, but each student must complete these assessments independently, using their own words.

For any material or ideas obtained from other sources, such as the textbook or other information you find on the web, in the library, etc., a source reference must be given. Direct quotes from any source must be identified as such

How Academic Integrity Violations Are Handled

In cases where academic integrity is questioned, the Policy on Academic Integrity indicates that procedure requires an instructor to notify a student of suspected dishonesty before filing a charge and recommended sanction with the college. Procedures allow a student to accept or contest a charge. If a student chooses to contest a charge, the case will then be managed by the respective college or campus Academic Integrity Committee. If a disciplinary sanction also is recommended, the case will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct.

All Penn State colleges abide by this Penn State policy, but review procedures may vary by college when academic dishonesty is suspected. Information about Penn State’s academic integrity policy and college review procedures is included in the information that students receive upon enrolling in a course.

Additionally, students are expected to act with civility and personal integrity; respect other students’ dignity, rights, and property; and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their own efforts. An environment of academic integrity is requisite to respect for oneself and others, as well as a civil community.

More Information on Academic Integrity at Penn State

For the university and specific college information visit one of the following sites:

Student Responsibilities and Conduct

  1. Students are responsible for online course content, taking notes, obtaining other materials provided by the instructor, taking tests (if applicable), and completing assignments as scheduled by the instructor. As a general rule, students should plan on logging into the course at least three times per week and spending at least three hours per course credit per week on the course, e.g., if the course is three credits, the student should plan on spending at least 9-12 hours per week on the course, just as they would in a residence course.

  2. Students are responsible for keeping track of changes in the course syllabus made by the instructor throughout the semester.

  3. Students are responsible for monitoring their grades.

  4. Students must contact their instructor (and teammates when working on any collaborative learning assignments) as soon as possible if they anticipate missing long periods of online time due to events such as chronic illnesses, death in the family, business travel, or other appropriate events. The instructor will determine the minimal log on time and participation required in order to meet course responsibilities. In the event of other unforeseen conflicts, the instructor and student will arrive at a solution together.

    a. Requests for taking exams or submitting assignments after the due dates require documentation of events such as illness, family emergency, or a business-sanctioned activity.

    b. Conflicts with dates on which examinations or assignments are scheduled must be discussed with the instructor or TA prior to the date of the examination or assignment.

  5. Students are responsible for following appropriate netiquette (network etiquette) when communicating with their instructor and classmates.

  6. Behaviors that disrupt other students’ learning are not acceptable and will be addressed by the instructor.

  7. For severe and chronic problems with student disruptive behavior, the following will be applied for resolution:

    a. Senate Committee on Student Life policy on managing classroom disruptions: Office of Student Conduct

    b. Penn State Principles

Course Copyright

All course materials students receive or to which students have online access are protected by copyright laws. Students may use course materials and make copies for their own use as needed, but unauthorized distribution and/or uploading of materials without the instructor’s express permission is strictly prohibited. University Policy AD 40, the University Policy Recording of Classroom Activities and Note Taking Services addresses this issue. Students who engage in the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials may be held in violation of the University’s Code of Conduct, and/or liable under Federal and State laws.

Subject to Change Statement

⚠️ Please note that this Course Syllabus is subject to change. Students are responsible for abiding by such changes. ⚠️