2006-2007 Faculty Resource Guide


3. Teaching Information
Academic Support and Student Affairs; Academic Technology and Distance Education; Center for Academic Support and Advising; Course Syllabus; Henry Whittemore Library

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Academic Support and Student Affairs 

This department was created to better represent student needs by combining vital educational aspects of academics with the oversight of social, developmental, and physical aspects of student life. 

The Dean of Academic and Student Affairs is responsible for the overall management of this department.  This includes such offices as the Center for Academic Support and Advising, Residence Life and Housing, Counseling Services, Student Involvement and Campus Events, Multicultural Affairs, and a host of others.  The dean also enforces all academic policies including those pertaining to academic integrity and honesty.  The dean deals with student issues including, but not limited to, classroom behavior.  For more information or to report an incident, please feel free to call 508.626.4596 or visit the department’s Web site. 

Academic Technology and Distance Education

Academic Technology and Distance Education (ATDE) provides support to all faculty, staff and students in the academic use of technology. ATDE provides academic support for software, online courseware and instructional applications. ATDE also oversees the Marion Scherner Leonhard Multimedia Lab, a professional development lab for faculty and staff. Periodic workshops are available ranging from Introduction to Word to Digital Photography. When workshops are not occurring, the Lab is available for one-on-one support or training on course specific software or Web site enhancements.  For more information about Academic Technology and Distance Education, please feel free to call 508.626.4927 or visit http://www.academicsonline.org/. 

Center for Academic Support and Advising (CASA) 

CASA addresses the diverse academic needs and interests of the College community with programs, services, and facilities designed to promote academic achievement.  All students at the College are encouraged to make use of the tutorial services, seminars and workshops, resources, and individual study accommodations offered at CASA.  In addition, CASA provides special admissions opportunities and academic support for persons with physical and/or learning disabilities. 

Students who are experiencing academic difficulty or who are seeking to further strengthen their academic skills can take advantage of CASA’s numerous offerings which include: professional tutoring in math and writing; peer tutoring in subject matter; diagnostic reading evaluation; academic advising; an on-site networked computer lab.  These resources and services are available to all students. 

CASA is located in Peirce Hall and is a wireless laptop site.  Its regular hours are 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.  During the academic year, it is also open during the evenings, Monday – Wednesday until 9:00 p.m. 

Course Syllabus 

The College expects that every instructor will provide a syllabus to his or her students at the beginning of a semester. The syllabus is used to communicate in writing to your students your expectations for the course and all essential information for the course, including course policies, requirements, and grading. Thus, a syllabus should minimally include the following information: 

1)       faculty name, office address, phone, and e-mail;

2)       home address and phone (optional);

3)       office hours and procedures to contact;

4)       required/recommended readings, other materials;

5)       course description/objectives;

6)       outline of course content/assignments;

7)       course requirements and grading system;

8)       significant course policies, especially including attendance, make-ups, submissions of late assignments, academic dishonesty and plagiarism. 

You should feel comfortable in asking other faculty for copies of their syllabi, especially for courses you are teaching. These will help you to think through your own approach to the course and to various teaching strategies, as well as serving as a guide for the amount of material it is possible to cover.  

While a syllabus serves as a quasi-contract between you and your students, you should not regard it as an immutable document written in stone. Thus, it is generally permissible to alter course content and requirements, although it is strongly recommended that this be done in writing with plenty of advance notice. Many instructors include a statement in their syllabus “reserving the right to make changes to course content, requirements, or deadlines.” These changes should not be arbitrary or capriciously implemented.  

Finally, while a syllabus is a formal statement of requirements and policies, you should be encouraged to approach your syllabus as a teaching tool, as a reflection of you and how you run your course. You will find among your colleagues many, many examples of excellent syllabi and wonderful instructors. 

Henry Whittemore Library 

The Henry Whittemore Library provides a combination of traditional and modern resources and services to the College’s students, faculty, and staff.  Local holdings include approximately 200,000 volumes of print materials, 409 periodical titles, and 600,000 units of microforms.  This basic core of resources supports the curricula of all academic departments of the College and is systematically kept current with new acquisitions as selected by specialized staff and requested by faculty and students. 

As a member of the Minuteman Library Network (MLN), the Library’s holdings are supplemented by an on-line catalog accessing more than 5 million volumes held in the combined collections of 41 regional libraries.  MLN also provides access to journals on-line, including many full-text databases.  Inter-library loan requests may be placed electronically, and shuttle delivery moves 8,000 or more such items to and from the Henry Whittemore Library annually.  A similar volume of materials is electronically accessed and requested as needed from among the 600 member libraries of the New England Library Information Network (NELINET) and the 13,000 member libraries of the On-line Computer Library Center (OCLC). 

The library offers access to approximately 50 electronic journal and newspaper databases with over 15, 000 titles in full text.  These databases, as well as Internet access, are available within the library and throughout the campus-wide network. 

Also administered within the Library are the units of Archives/Special Collections, which include historical materials unique to the College, and the Curriculum Library – a large, separate collection of model K – 12 materials supporting studies in Education.