This page serves as a quick help for GIT FAs. If something is not addressed here, please contact the GIT Program Chair, Laurie Ralston at laurie.ralston@asu.edu. If it is something specific to a course, please contact the faculty course manager for your course.
General Information
All GIT courses are “managed” by a full-time GIT faculty member, with the exception of a couple. The faculty that manages the class you teach for GIT is your main resource. They will have set up the Canvas shell for the course and are intimately familiar with everything to do with the class. Any questions about the specific course you are teaching should go to the course manager.
Communication
You can communicate with students and other GIT faculty and FAs through:
This is the official means of communication at ASU between students and faculty. You can use any email application and the Canvas InBox to send and receive emails from students.
Slack
Slack is an organized workspace in which students, faculty, and staff can quickly and easily send messages and documents to each other. You are not required to use Slack, but we find it useful for quick communications. The GIT Program Slack workspace is https://git-asu.slack.com. Find out more about Slack at ASU: https://uto.asu.edu/slack.
Student Issues
We’ll be honest… most questions you will have will not be about the course; they’ll be about student issues. Sometimes these are just questions on how to help a student or answer a student’s question. Other times it will be a student problem or a problem that you are having with a student. Here are some answers and help for these times.
Incompletes
This is probably the number one issue we see. A student can’t finish a course and wants to know if they can have an incomplete. There are some guidelines for deciding whether to give an incomplete or not.
- Students must have completed the majority of the course assignments to be eligible for an incomplete. There’s no hard and fast rule for how much can be left, but we typically look for at least 2/3rds of all assignments to be completed.
- If a student is less than that, you can tell them they are ineligible. However, if they still want to request it, they may. I will likely deny it unless there is a very extreme situation. If a student is struggling early enough to miss more than a third of the assignments without contacting you, that’s on them.
- If they tell you early enough, let them know their options, including dropping or withdrawing from the class. If it’s later and their circumstances are dire, they can contact advising to ask for a compassionate withdrawal.
- The form:
- An incomplete grade requires a filled and signed incomplete form. Please don’t give an “I” grade without the form.
- They must provide sufficient reasonings for the incomplete. Simply saying, “I had a rough semester” is not enough. Why did they have a rough semester?
- If it’s a medical issue, they do not need to name the specific ailment, but they do need to explain why it stopped them from doing their work.
- They must list out the exact assignments that they need to make up. Some students will write “complete all incomplete assignments.” This is a contract – it needs to be specific.
- Students can put any date within a year for the completion date. Even they put a date in a few months and they don’t complete it by then, they still get the full year.
- Keep a copy of the form so you can track them. I keep copies and forward them to Advising, who tracks them as well.
There are times when we are a little more generous with the guidelines. If a student has good intentions and you feel like we should give them an incomplete, go ahead and have them submit the form and we’ll consider it.
Be sure to let the student know that submission of the form does not mean they’ve been granted an incomplete.
Download the form here.
Academic Integrity Violations (AKA Cheating)
Both ASU and Fulton Schools of Engineering have Honor Codes, which you can find here: https://engineering.asu.edu/integrity/. There are a ton of resources on this page, as well as on https://engineering.asu.edu/academic-integrity-for-faculty/. The most useful link here is the Faculty FAQ.
If you suspect a student of cheating, you should contact the faculty who manages your course or the GIT Chair and let them know. As the instructor of the course, you will have to be the one who reports the violation, but talking to the chair or the faculty can help clear up any confusion before you move ahead.
Do not feel bad about reporting a violation. Cheating and getting caught is a life lesson for our students that hopefully will stick with them throughout their lives. Most times, if we think they’ve cheated, they’ve cheated. Most students, when caught, will own up to it. If they don’t and want to appeal the punishment, a group of Fulton faculty and students will hear their appeal and decide whether to uphold your decisions. The dean of the Fulton Schools of Engineering makes the final decision.