In-class Announcements: You are responsible for using your official DUKE e-mail account to receive information from and communicate with the instructor. Be sure to check your Duke e-mail at least once a day for possible announcements in EOS/ECS 204. Announcement e-mails will come through Sakai and will be archived under the Sakai tab on the Sakai course page. If you are unsure about due dates, what’s coming up, etc. please check there first to see if your question has already been answered. Also, DO READ, our announcement e-mails when they arrive! I will NOT send e-mails to outside accounts (gmail, etc.), and we are not responsible for challenges or circumstances that might arise due to duke.edu e-mails failing to forward to a third-party e-mail provider. I am not responsible for assuring that every and all announcements made in class are also available as e-mails or in the archives. It is essential that you attend all classes!
Office Hours: Office hours will generally be held in person, on campus, or virtually over Zoom. My office hours will be held once a week, for two hours during which you can visit – I will make weekly announcement on Sakai regarding the format and place of office hours. Of course, you can also make an appointment with me to meet if you cannot make it to a regular office hours.
Attendance and Missing Class: It is ESSENTIAL that you attend all of the lectures. Exams are based ENTIRELY on the material covered in lecture, and you will not do well by merely doing the review quizzes. To do well, you should treat this class as though “attendance” is required. Taking good notes, comparing those notes with peers, and studying together are excellent ways of getting a high grade in this class.
If you find yourself falling behind two or more consecutive lectures due to illness or family emergency PLEASE contact the instructor immediately. Duke University has established procedures to deal with short-term and long-term absences due to illness, as well as family emergencies. Information can be found HERE.
Full lecture recordings will no longer be made available online except to those students who have excused absences (see under Important Policies) from class. Unfortunately, the free availability of such full lecture recordings since the Covid lockdown, has resulted in a massive decline in attendance. I believe the best learning still happens in a live classroom, and multimedia recordings are not substitute for classroom teaching. Therefore, beginning this semester, lecture recordings (audio, sometimes visuals) will only be made available upon request to students with excused absences AND to all students no earlier than 24-hours of the midterm and final exam, for review purposes.
Class in the Age of Covid: The Covid pandemic might be “over” but the virus remains. The society we live in has changed, and “feeling ill” comes with new responsibilities (many other countries already recognized this social responsibility before Covid, but it is arguably new in the US). The days when “a little cold or cough” did NOT stop you from going to class are OVER. That “little cold or cough” could mean a death sentence or long-term debilitation for immunocompromised and other at-risk (the elderly, etc.) people around. SO PLEASE, be a responsible member of your community and STAY HOME when you feel ill, regardless of whether it is Covid, the flu, or “just the cold”. It is no longer OK or laudable to “power through the sniffles”. Protect those around you. STAY HOME.
If you are sneezing or coughing extensively in class, you might be asked to leave. If you are at the end stage of a cold or flu, we strongly recommend that you please wear a mask in class until symptoms have fully subsided.
IF and WHEN you miss class due to illness, fill out an Incapacitation Form. You are now eligible to request access to a recording of the missed lecture IF AVAILABLE. This recording is for YOU only. Sharing it with others in the class or posting it online is a breach of academic honesty and integrity and may result in disciplinary action. Also be sure to get the notes from someone who was able to attend that day in class.
Academic Integrity: Duke University holds its students to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Academic dishonesty of any kind is not tolerated and might result in failure of the assignment, and/or course, and/or expulsion from the university. Plagiarism on written assignments will result in a zero for the assignment and might result in further disciplinary action through the university. As a Duke student you pledge to uphold the Duke Community Standard:
I will not lie, cheat, or steal in my academic endeavors;
I will conduct myself honorably in all my endeavors; and
I will act if the Standard is compromised.
