Midlands Technical College
Information Systems Technology Department
Adjunct Faculty Manual
updated: October 17, 2006
The purpose of this manual is to provide additional information for adjunct faculty members who teach in the Information Systems Technology Department. Nothing in this manual is to be construed as having precedence over the Midlands Technical College Faculty Manual. In case of conflicts, the latest version of the MTC Faculty Manual will prevail.
Admin. Assistant: Sandy Clary
Beltline Campus, WM214
738-7776
clarys@midlandstech.edu
Admin. Specialist: Kat Kinnie
Beltline Campus, LB 111
738-7732
kinniek@midlandstech.edu
Admin. Specialist: Jeanne West
Airport Campus, CO 131
822-3594
westj@midlandstech.edu
A list of the most frequently called telephone numbers:
Operator Assistance: 738-1400
Beltline Campus:
Security 738-7850
Information Center 738-7743
Help Desk 738-7888
Fax Machine 790-7513
Media Support 822-3550
Airport Campus:
Security 822-3210
Information Center 822-3271
Help Desk 738-7888
Fax Machine 822-3631
Media Support 822-3550
Each campus has an Information Center. The Beltline Campus Information Center is located in the Wade Martin Building, Room 250, telephone number 738-7743. The Airport Campus Information Center is located in the Academic Center, Room 110, telephone number 822-3271.
Adjunct faculty payday is the 15th of each month. Pay checks are mailed to the designated address. Questions should be directed to the MTC payroll department. Telephone: 822-3278 or 822-3277.
The College may be closed because of inclement weather. This news should be available on the website at http://www.midlandstech.edu at the main phone number at 738-1400, and announced on WIS-TV and radio. Please check frequently in changeable weather for closings and re-openings. If the College closing or reopening means that you will have at least 30 minutes of a class, you should plan to meet the class.
Classroom Computer Laboratory Security:
Report all classroom disruptions to the security office immediately. Please fill out an Inappropriate Student Behavior form (you can obtain this form from Sandy (Beltline) or Jeanne (Airport), and notify the IST department chairman of the incident as soon as possible. Airport Security: 822-3210 Beltline Security: 738-7850. With any student discipline problem, please contact Mary Holloway at 822-3529. You must contact her first and then follow the process, which she will explain to you.
These must be done on-line. You need to verify your course(s) using your user name and password. We will post a reminder in the mailrooms as to the due date. (Usually a week after classes begin).
Be sure that all students have some means of communicating with you. You need not give them your home phone, but you must give them an e-mail address or some other way to reach you. Also, try to be available for at least a few minutes before and after class so that quick questions can be answered. You are not required to keep office hours. However, you may use the Adjunct Workrooms as offices for conferences if you want. Also, try to make clear to students that you are willing to discuss grades and other problems, even if you cannot make the changes they hope for. You are expected to know the rules governing student privacy and you should also speak with all students in a professional manner.
Computer Hardware and Software Problems:
Please email any problems to helpdesk@midlandstech.edu or call 738-7888 (The Help Desk) and please cc Marian at nursem@midlandstech.edu. You will need to provide the MTC identification "Z" number located on the PC. Please do not assume that someone else has reported the problem. For your convenience on Airport Campus, a “Broken Equipment Form” is located in CO 120 which can be filled out and put in Jeanne’s box. She will report the problem for you.
Adjunct faculty may have access to the MTC computer system. All requests for computer accounts should be submitted to the IST department chairman.
All faculty are expected to check e-mail regularly (several times a week). Most essential information will be sent via e-mail, so you must have an email account set up and you must keep it available to receive mail. You may open a free MTC e-mail account to use which you may access from home or from computers on campus.
Student Evaluations are now done on-line. We will provide you with a schedule and instructions to share with your students. In addition, the department chair will visit the classes of instructors new to Midlands Technical College and a short student evaluation will be done prior to class.
Regular and punctual class attendance is expected of all faculty. Faculty are expected to teach ALL class periods scheduled for the semester, and classes must meet on time for the full time. Please do not miss class unless you have unavoidable, unforeseeable emergencies; we are not able to offer paid sick leave to part-time faculty. To cancel your class, please call either Kat Kinnie (Beltline) or Jeanne West (Airport) before 4 o’clock and they will post a cancellation notice. If it’s after 4, you will need to call Security and have them post a notice of the class cancellation. Also, leave a voice message for either Kat or Jeanne so they know you were absent. Remember that students can not remain in our labs unattended so labs can not be opened for students to work independently if you are not there. If a class is cancelled, the hours will be deducted from your pay. To prevent this, you may make prior arrangements to have someone cover your class. If you do so, be sure to notify Sandy or Jeanne. If you cannot find someone to cover your class, we shall search for a substitute. Please do not announce a cancellation to the class without giving us a chance to provide coverage.
Faculty Cancellation after 4:30 p.m. or on weekends.
Notify Beltline Security at 738-7850 or Airport Security at 822-3210 to request that Class Cancellation notices be posted. Leave a message for Jeanne or Sandy so we know that the class did not meet.
The Exam Schedule is determined by the college. You will find a link to the exam schedule on the MTC Web Site at www.midlandstech.edu. You may not change the date, time, or place of your exam without permission from the department chair and the agreement of all students in the class. Unless approved by the department chair, no final examination shall be given during an instructional period. If a final examination is not planned for the examination period, a meaningful classroom activity should occur during that time period. Faculty members are to proctor their final examinations; any change must be arranged through the department chair. Please put the exam date on your syllabus and announce it several weeks in advance, because some exams are not scheduled for the same days of the week as the class. Some students may not understand that the exam period for a course does not occur during normal class times and days. Please do not wait until the last day of class to explain this to your class and inform them of your final exam requirements as there may be students who miss the last class.
The IST department has two standard grading scales: one for our service course, CPT 101 and a different scale for all other departmental courses. Determination of an appropriate grade assignment for each student is a faculty prerogative and responsibility. However, please do not give a grade of Incomplete “I” without permission of the Department Chair. If a student never appears in your class, but remains on the final roster, assign that student a grade of NS. If a student withdraws or misses an excessive number of class meetings before midterm, give that student a “W” and show last date of attendance on your roster. If a student withdraws after midterm, award a “W” or a “WF” depending on whether or not the student was passing on the last date of attendance (LDA) and record that date. Finally, keep your grading policy as simple as possible, and make sure that the students understand it.
Grades must be submitted on-line using your user ID and password. Please refer to the College Calendar as to the due date. We will also post a reminder in the mailrooms. Please note the importance of getting grades submitted on time. New hires will be assigned a “user name” and “password” to assess MTC’s web site. (We will set this up for you and it takes about a week from your hire date.) You can then go on-line at: www.midlandstech.edu/fcmenu to become familiar with the different menu options and to make sure your user name and password are working. If you have any questions or cannot assess the web site, please call “Computer Operations” at 738-7635.
Remember to:
a) Keep accurate attendance: NS, W, WP, WF
b) Be consistent in your grading
c) Turn in a copy of your grades and attendance record to either Kat (Beltline) or Jeanne (Airport) at the end of the semester
d) Turn in a one paragraph explanation for any F or WF grades.
The only holidays observed by the college are: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Holidays and the Christmas Holidays. On all the other holidays, the college will be open. Fall break is generally scheduled for sometime in October, and Spring break is schedule for March. Please call Jeanne if you have any questions.
Adjunct faculty may obtain an ID card by first submitting a request to the IST Department Chairperson and secondly, taking the completed form to either Vanessa Brown on the Airport Campus (Student Center, Room 127) or Thomasina Hughey on the Beltline Campus (Student Center, Room 101). An ID card will facilitate checking out books from the MTC library.
Adjunct faculty are permitted to check out books and use the library facilities. An MTC identification card may be required, or library personnel can look up your MTC Colleague ID number.
Each adjunct faculty will be issued a mailbox on their respective campus - CO 120 or SA 119 (Airport) or LB 126A (Beltline). IMPORTANT: Please check your mailbox each time you are on campus. We provide you with periodic updates throughout the semester.
Multi-media equipment is now available in most classrooms. The equipment is in locked cabinets, so please see either Kat (Beltline) or Jeanne (Airport) for a key. The key will be checked out to you but must be returned at the end of the semester. Our college provides training for you, so let Jeanne know if you would like to meet with someone from the multi-media department for a training session.
The Academic Success Center provides access to computers and tutorial services for current MTC students. All services are free. Some of the computers in each of these labs contain all the software used in IST department courses. Academic Success Center monitors are not authorized to help students with computer programming assignments or any other computer assignments. Tutoring is not offered all hours that the Centers are opened (check the MTC's website for hours of operation). Be sure to check with the staff for tutor availability - Beltline Campus:738-7871, Airport Campus: 822-3545.
Parking permits are issued to faculty, adjuncts and staff only entitling parking in areas designated as "permit parking only". All members of the college --- students, faculty and staff --- are subject to the same traffic and parking regulations. The college is not responsible for theft, vandalism or other damage to vehicles (or contents) while on college property. Parking Decal Application Cards may be obtained from either Jeanne on the Airport Campus (822-3594) or Kat on the Beltline Campus (738-7732), or at the Operations Office on either campus. The parking decals will be issued and placed in your mailbox after processing. If you feel you need an escort to your car after dark, please call Security at 738-7850.
Photocopies:
Copiers are available in the departmental workrooms.
Beltline Campus: Richland Hall, Room 126A – contact Kat Kinnie for the code.
Airport Campus: Congaree Hall, Room 120 – contact Jeanne West for the code.
Copy cost is 5 cents per sheet and the cost of materials sent to the Copy Center is 3 cents per sheet. Please use the Copy Center located in Morris Hall on the Airport Campus for more than 35 copies if at all possible. You can send photocopy requests through campus mail or you can submit your copy request on-line. Materials will be returned to your mailbox . If you teach on more than one campus, be clear where you want materials to be returned. The Copy Center has a very fast turnaround, usually within one day - tests are run on the same day. You can submit work on the web by:
1) go to www.midlandstech.edu
2) click on the top tab labeled "Faculty & Staff"
3) click on the MTC Intranet link
4) at this screen, on the left side, select "Forms"
5) under "Forms" select and click on "Media Services Requisition Form"
This will link you to the instructions on how to submit files directly to the Copy Center.
There is security officers located on both the Beltline and Airport campuses.
Airport Campus: 822-3210
Beltline Campus: 738-7850
To Open Rooms, either campus: 738-7850
Please DO NOT POST GRADES in any form. This practice can violate student confidentiality guidelines. And by college policy, you may not provide grades over the phone. Please establish other ways for students to obtain grades if necessary (e.g. have students submit a stamped addressed envelope to you at the final exam. You can then mail them their test and/or final grades). Do not communicate any information about a student, including grades and attendance, to ANYONE (including parents and police) unless the student is present.
Students Needing Special Accommodations:
Counseling Services (822-3510) will notify you of any student needing special accommodations. It would be a good idea to contact them after you receive notice of an enrolled student in your class who has a disability. If accommodations are not forthcoming, please call the IST department chair immediately. A statement that MTC advising special needs students on how to obtain help appears on the master syllabus. Please announce this service in your class(es).
These are very important documents and are your direct responsibility. Each course has a master syllabus document describing prerequisites, text and other material needed, course attendance policy, special needs policy, academic integrity policy and student competencies. You will find links to these in the course table on the main adjunct instructor web page. Each instructor is responsible for providing students with an addendum listing topics to be covered each week, exam dates and project deadlines, home work assignments, instructor contact information, evaluation methods, term grade computation method, and classroom policies. Make your expectations clear. Your syllabus must provide one way in which students can contact you. (Internet instructors with mailboxes on Beltline – Kat Kinnie. Internet instructors with mailboxes on Airport – Jeanne West). You MUST distribute these documents to each student during the first week of class (and must send a copy of the addendum to the your campus administrative assistant office during that week). You may satisfy this requirement by showing the students where on the IST website the syllabus and your addendum may be found and by sending a link to your addendum to Kat or Jeanne. Once a syllabus and addendum have been given to students, the college expects an instructor to adhere to it or give the students written notice of change. Please remember that your syllabus is a legal contract, and that you must notify students in writing of changes to the syllabus.
Please contact either Kat (Beltline Campus) or Jeanne (Airport Campus) for any supplies you may need during the semester.
Please know that non-teaching staff can not give tests for you. Please use our Testing Center located on both campuses. The contact number for Beltline’s Testing Center is 790-7522 and Airport’s Testing Center is 822-3659. They will be glad to make arrangements for your students to take makeup tests, but try to give them a few days notice. Also, check with the Testing Center for their hours of operation.
If you are not teaching the same course the following semester, please return all materials to Jeanne, as our book supply is limited.