Instructors teaching UW Undergraduate Business Alliance classes are expected to accommodate students with an authorized reason to miss class or submit late work. As there are certain activities beyond the classroom (e.g., university-sanctioned field trips and athletics events) and certain situations (e.g., medical or religious issues) that an institution may require the instructors to accommodate as an excused absence, instructors teaching Alliance classes should adhere to institutional practices as follow:
- The student’s home campus policy on excused absences will apply.
- UW – Eau Claire
- UW – River Falls:
- UW – Superior
Instructors are required to include their own excused absences and late work policy in their syllabus.
Guidelines for Excused Absence and Late Work Polices
The following list includes guidelines instructors should consider when drafting their class-specific policy:
- Instructors must provide accommodations to students requiring deadline extensions due to military service as an excused absence.
Rationale: According to President Obama’s Executive Order – Establishing Principles of Excellence for Educational Institutions Service Members, Veterans, Spouses, and Other Family members from 2012, educational institutions must “…accommodate short absences due to service obligations, provided that satisfactory academic progress is being made by the service members and reservists prior to suspending their studies.” In order to meet this requirement, instructors should request that active service members inform them as soon as possible if an absence due to service obligations will occur so accommodations can be made. Any extended or recurring absence due to service obligations should be discussed with the Distance Learning Coordinator and instructor to determine the most appropriate course of action since our courses are not designed for self-paced and independent completion. - Instructors should provide flexibility when extraordinary circumstances occur for students.
Rationale: We recognize that sometimes situations occur that require a student to have more than a few day extension (death in the family, hospitalization or illness, etc.). We suggest that these situations be handled by the student contacting the instructor as soon as he/she realizes the situation is occurring and that instructor and student together determine if an extension or an incomplete is advisable or if the student should officially drop the class based on the student’s home campus policy regarding excused absences. - Instructors should provide extensions on individual assignments, papers, and/or exams whenever possible with a reasonable penalty.
Rationale: We request that instructors recognize the complicated lives many of our students live. A family emergency, a last minute work request, etc. can result in a student having to make a choice between fulfilling other obligations and submitting an assignment on time. To allow for those situations without creating an overwhelming penalty for the student, we recommend that instructors allow for late individual work with a reasonable penalty, such as a 25% deduction and no credit after 2-3 days. The extension deadline should also take into consideration the other students in the class. For example, when a student submits late, the instructor may not be able to release feedback/answer keys to the rest of the class delaying their feedback. - Instructors are not required to accept discussion work late.
Rationale: We agree that a zero for late discussion work is often the logical option since entering a discussion after it is over is not very beneficial to anyone. In the event that a student has an excused absence that results in a missed discussion assignment, the instructor can provide an alternative assignment. - Instructors are not required to provide an extension when a student’s technology fails.
Rationale: If an outage or technical problem occurs with D2L that could prevent students from submitting work on time, the iDocs staff will contact any active instructors as quickly as possible so an extension or work-around can be communicated, if necessary. Students should be reminded that there are alternatives to accessing the internet and/or submitting assignments if they encounter personal technology issues. For example, they can email files if they encounter problems with D2L or find an alternative location with WiFi if their home connection is unavailable. Most importantly, students should not wait until the last minute to submit work.