Department Policies

Computer teachers throughout the Park system are expected to abide by the following policies.

Course Guideline Documents

The ICS Department has prepared Course Guideline documents for each Park computer course. To locate a course's course guideline document, choose the Administration/Course Guidelines option on the ICS Department's web site.

Each course guideline document contains this information: course description, learning objectives, evaluation criteria, approved textbook list. Computer instructors must include the first three items (course description, learning objectives, and evaluation criteria) in their syllabus. However, under certain circumstances it may be appropriate for instructors to modify the learning objectives and evaluation criteria somewhat to fit their particular situations. For example, some course guideline documents specify some leeway in terms of options for different course content. In those cases, instructors are allowed to modify learning objectives in their syllabi in order to fit the chosen course content.

Course guideline documents are updated periodically. Therefore, in the interest of keeping current, administrators should check course guideline documents for updates whenever they have questions about a particular course. Likewise, veteran computer faculty are required to re-visit their courses' course guideline documents each time they teach a course, in case there are any updates.

Faculty Approval

Normally, to teach one of the above courses, the applicant (1) must have a Master's degree and (2) must submit evidence that he/she understands the course's content (courses' contents are described in the Course Guideline documents). If the applicant has a Master's degree, but it is not in a computer-related field, then the applicant must have a particularly strong computer work experience background.

If the applicant does not have a Master's degree, then the campus administrator should reject the applicant and not forward the application to the Program Coordinator. The only exception to this rule is if a group of students is being deployed. If no Master's degree teacher can be found for the deployed students, then a Bachelor's degree teacher may apply for a one-time approval. See the SEL Operations Manual for details. The campus administrator must follow this one-time approval procedure every time the non-Master's adjunct hopes to teach a course (even if it's a repeat of a course already taught by the adjunct).

For each requested course, the applicant must submit "evidence" that he/she understands the course's content by writing a paragraph(s) that mentions one or more of the following:

• relevant work experience
• relevant personal experience
• relevant teaching experience
• relevant course work (that the applicant has taken)

Applicants must provide separate evidentiary paragraphs for each requested course. The only exceptions to this rule are for IS 216/217 (COBOL courses), IS 315/316 (Systems Analysis and Design courses), and CS 151/219 (Java programming courses). For each of those pairs of courses, the applicant may submit one detailed justification that covers the content of both courses. But if the applicant only knows the material for the first course in a pair of courses, the applicant should, of course, only submit a justification for the first course.

The courses' contents are based on the Course Guideline documents. Thus, when an applicant asks about teaching a course, the campus administrator must provide the applicant with a copy of the course's Course Guideline document. Note: old syllabi and old catalog descriptions should not be used as a basis for courses' contents.

If a campus administrator chooses to appeal an applicant's rejection, the campus administrator may call the Program Coordinator to discuss the appeal. If the Program Coordinator verbally agrees to overturn the applicant's rejection, the campus administrator must resubmit the applicant's evaluation form with the (Program Coordinator's recommended) additional evidence to support the applicant's approval. The campus administrator must attach a reminder note to the evaluation form that contains a summary of the appeal conversation between the campus administrator and the Program Coordinator.

Adjunct Evaluations

It is difficult for the Program Coordinator to accurately assess an instructor's teaching ability by simply looking at a performance review. Student evaluations can be subjective and the availability of course materials can significantly impact the quality of a course. Therefore, unless there is a glaring problem, the Program Coordinator will usually "approve continuance" for an instructor. The campus administrator should use the student evaluations in conjunction with his/her own (hopefully objective) opinions of the instructor and decide whether or not it would be appropriate to rehire the instructor. If the campus administrator feels that the instructor should not be rehired or if the campus administrator feels that the instructor needs to change, then the campus administrator should attach a note to the performance review so that the Program Coordinator is made aware of the campus administrator's feelings. When such a note is attached to the performance review, the Program Coordinator will almost always check "disapprove continuance" or "conditional approval," as specified by the campus administrator's note. The Program Coordinator also will add the instructor's name to his personal list of disapproved adjunct candidates so that the candidate will not be approved for other courses (at other sites, possibly) except under special circumstances.

The Department Chair or Program Coordinator may at any time evaluate the performance of an instructor by visiting the class (face to face or online) or by review of student evaluations, grade distribution reports, syllabus reports, instructor attendance records, student projects, or assessment materials. If the instructor has failed to conduct the course in a professional manner, or in accordance with university or department policies, they may be disapproved to teach the course again, or may be disapproved to teach any department courses. Examples of improper performance include (but are not limited to) disregard of university or department policies, disregard of course learning objectives or assessment measures, failure to use syllabus template or required course software, use of an unapproved text, lack of class attendance, grade inflation, dishonesty in statements or published credentials, inattention to directives by university personnel, non-responsiveness or rudeness to students or university personnel, inappropriate or vulgar language, unauthorized use of capabilities or material from other institutions, recruitment of students for other institutions, advertisement of other institutions or personal business activities, and demeaning remarks regarding the university, university personnel, course content or course material.

Special Topics Approval

Since a CS 415 course (Special Topics in Computers) may theoretically cover any computer-related topic, the prospective instructor must fill out a Special Topics Approval form each time he/she wants to teach a particular special topics course for the first time. This form includes a request for a course syllabus and evidence of the instructor's knowledge of the subject matter. As with all syllabi, the syllabus must include the textbook(s) used in the course. There is no posted textbook list for CS 415 courses. Therefore, each time a Special Topics Approval form is submitted, the course's textbook(s) must go through an approval process. The approval process consists of submitting photocopies of the proposed textbook's title page (with the copyright date and the ISBN #) and table of contents. In processing a special topics request, the campus administrator must forward the following items to the SEL main office. The SEL main office will then forward them to the Program Coordinator for approval:

• filled-out Special Topics Approval form
• filled-out Faculty Approval form
• photocopies of the proposed textbook(s)'s title page and table of contents

Textbooks

Whenever a computer faculty member teaches a computer course, he/she is expected to check the ICS Department's Approved Textbook List and select a textbook(s) from that list. To find the approved textbook list, choose the Administration/Textbooks option on the ICS Department's web site.

Due to the dynamic nature of the computer field, the Department updates the approved textbook list fairly often. Therefore, veteran computer faculty are expected to re-visit their courses' approved textbook list each time they teach a course and change their textbook selection to a newer textbook if their previously selected textbook is no longer on the list.

For each course's list of approved textbooks, the Parkville campus textbook selection(s) is listed first, and the books are listed in descending order of preference (better choices at the top). Faculty are encouraged, but not required, to use textbooks at the top of the list. If a faculty member would prefer using a textbook(s) that's not on the approved list, then the faculty member should mail, fax, or e-mail a request to the Program Coordinator (via the SEL office) for permission to use a different selection(s). The request must be accompanied by the proposed textbook's title page (with the copyright date and the ISBN #) and table of contents.

VLE (Validated Learning Equivalency) Procedures

When a student asks about VLE procedures for any course, the campus administrator should 1) inform the student about the VLE petition submission deadline, 2) give the VLE petition forms to the student, and 3) give the official description of the course(s) to the student. For a computer course, the course's "official description" equates to the course description and learning objectives found in the course's Course Guideline document. Note: old syllabi and old catalog descriptions should not be used as the basis for computer course VLE petition rationales.

The maximum number of VLE credits awarded to accelerated program students is 24. The maximum number of VLE credits awarded to home campus students is 12.

Courses that cannot be VLE'd:
CS 140 - Introduction to Computers
CS 415 - Special Topics in Computers
CS 451 - Computer Science Internship
CS 490 - Senior Project in Computers

Testing Out of a Course

Credit hours may be earned by passing a standardized test(s). Contact the Park Testing Center or the Registrar for details.

Currently, only IS 205 has this option, and it's available to all campus centers (including the Parkville daytime campus center).
IS 205: Pass the Dantes Managing Information Systems test ($85).

Only available to the Parkville daytime campus center:
Upon processing an application through the Office of the Registrar, and for a fee of $100, a student may, with permission of the student's faculty advisor, earn credit for any course by satisfactorily completing an end-of-course examination.