Many faculty members believe that student incivility is on the rise. As teachers prepare their syllabi, some commentators think the document can be effective in heading off problems in advance. Particularly important is the review of the syllabus with students on the first day of class. This is the best time to establish and emphasize rules and expectations. (This assumes, of course, that the students who need such reminders attend on the first day.)
During a 90-minute seminar, "Managing Student Discipline Issues Legally and Effectively," Rob Jenkins, associate professor of English at Georgia Perimeter College, and attorney Deborah Gonzalez share strategies for maintaining appropriate discipline without alienating students or compromising the course. They also explain the legal issues around disciplinary hearings, including differences between public and private institutions with regards to student rights and due process.
A CD of the seminar can be ordered here, but a recent article in Faculty Focus by Mary Bart discusses some of its major points.
For instance:
Before crafting your syllabus, you’ll first want to familiarize yourself with your institution’s student code of conduct. Then, Jenkins recommends asking yourself a few questions:
- How do I expect students to behave?
- What will or won’t I tolerate?
- What compromises or “concessions to reality” am I willing to make?
As you write your syllabus, it’s important to set clear expectations for learner behavior and responsibilities, as well as workload, learning outcomes, deadlines, grading, late assignments and assessment. Then, as you go over the syllabus with students, you’ll want to clarify specific points that are particularly important to you so as to avoid any misunderstandings down the road. Jenkins likes to use this time to explain why he has certain rules and often shares past experiences to illustrate his point.
“One of the things that I’ve learned in 26 years of teaching is that there are steps faculty can take very early on that will head off a lot of these problem to begin with,” said Jenkins. “I think sometimes we create rules because things annoy us and not because they actually disrupt the class. You have to decide, what’s your level of tolerance? Are you really going to try and ban smart phones in your class? Is that even feasible? It’s important not to have rules that you can’t enforce.”
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