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Office of the Provost

Office of the Provost

Important Reminders for Course Instructors

Dear Colleagues,

As the start of the new semester comes closer, I wanted to reach out to you all with some timely reminders. If you will be instructing a course in the coming semester, please be sure to read and adhere to these reminders. 

Best wishes for a productive and enjoyable semester!

Sincerely,

Gladis Kersaint, PhD

Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

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Course Syllabi

Consistent with our course approval processes and to support consistency across sections of the same course, course syllabi should include:

  • Course Description: The course description should quote the description noted in the undergraduate or graduate catalog verbatim.
  • Course Learning Objectives: Approved course-level learning objectives, which should be shared across all sections of the same course.
  • Student Notification of Absences: Students are responsible for consulting the course instructor and making up for missed work due to planned absences, such as those related to religious observations (see the related section below).Students are also responsible for identifying potential conflicts with final examinations and must contact the Dean of Students Office for final examination accommodation. To remind students of these expectations, we encourage instructors to address this expectation as part of their syllabi.
  • Refer to the Creating your Syllabus page for additional syllabi information.

Academic, Scholarly, and Professional Integrity and Misconduct Policy

Instructors are expected to include a link to the Academic, Scholarly, and Professional Integrity and Misconduct Policy (effective as of July 2023) as part of course syllabi or any other academic/scholarly activity and include any additional unit-specific expectations. Additional information about Academic Misconduct, including reporting incidences of misconduct, are available here.

Course Modalities

All courses must be delivered in the modalities as listed in the course schedule. Instructors are not permitted to change the modality in which a course is delivered. If there is a need to change the modality temporarily due to unanticipated circumstances, the course instructor must obtain prior approval from the Department Head and Dean. Violations of this can result in disciplinary actions.

Student Administration System: Ensuring Accuracy

Please ensure that your semester schedule is accurate and complete in the Student Administration System. In addition to ensuring that you have access to course materials, accurate class instructor assignment information is critical to the success of the SET process as well as reporting for student-faculty ratio and courseloads.

Observation of Religious Holidays

Course instructors are expected to reasonably accommodate individual religious practices unless doing so would fundamentally alter class objectives or result in undue hardship to the University’s legitimate business purposes. Such accommodations may include rescheduling an exam, giving a make-up exam, allowing a presentation to be made on a different date, or assigning the student appropriate make-up work that is intrinsically no more difficult than the original assignment. The Religious Observation webpage includes information on key religious observances this academic year. It also contains links to UConn’s policy on religious accommodations for students, faculty and staff, and resources to learn more about individual holidays. If you notice a religious holiday that is not included on this webpage, please contact provost@uconn.edu.

Mid-Semester Grade Submission Requirement

Per the Bylaws, Rules, and Regulations of the University Senate (E.6, Mid-Semester and Semester Reports), instructors of 1000 and 2000-level courses must submit mid-semester grades for all students during the mid-semester grading period which spans the sixth through eighth week of the semester. Instructors of all other courses are strongly encouraged to do the same. Timely submission of midterm grades is an integral part of our student success initiatives, enabling advisors to identify and support students who may need intervention to achieve satisfactory academic progress.

  • To facilitate this, ensure you have scheduled one or more course assessments before the midsemester grading period to enable you to provide students with feedback on their progress.

Requests for Athlete Progress Reports

To support student success initiatives, instructors are encouraged to respond when the Counseling Program for Intercollegiate Athletes (CPIA) requests student progress reports. This will enable the counselors to give our students appropriate advice and support.

Last Date of Student Academic Engagement Requirement

Effective as of Spring 2024, when submitting final grades for students with non-passing grades, instructors must submit the date of last academic engagement. The collection of this information supports institutional compliance with federal financial aid regulations. Failure to provide this information may result in negative financial consequences for students. Please remember that you can take class attendance (e.g., taking roll or asking students to sign a roster during the class session).

Instructional Support Resources

Faculty are expected to make themselves available to students for additional instructional support. The common approach is to hold regularly scheduled office hours and by appointment. When you identify office hours, ideally these will maximize the likelihood that students can attend them by providing multiple options that include different days and different times of the day.

Student Engagement in Courses: Support for Students

If you notice students who are having difficulty or are not engaged in your courses, please refer them to appropriate university units for additional support:

Professional Development and Learning Opportunities.

UConn offers a range of professional development opportunities for faculty and staff. Please learn about them here:

Also, I encourage you to explore learning opportunities available from the following online resources that you can access with your UConn credentials (e.g., @uconn.edu email address):

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