Teaching-Related Policies @SJSU 📌

Many of our campus-wide policies on teaching emerge from SJSU's Academic Senate, where they are crafted by Senate committee members, reviewed by the Senate as a body, and ultimately signed into effect by the University President.

Selected Teaching-Related Policies

You can view all current policies on the SJSU Academic Senate website Links to an external site.. For now, a non-comprehensive list of some key teaching-related policies is below. Note that in addition to the Academic Senate policies, individual departments may devise their own policies as well.

S22-3 Links to an external site. Accessibility in Curricular Materials

Accessible materials shall be made available to all students regardless of disability status; and the university shall ensure that faculty have access to the appropriate resources to convert or create accessible materials. Faculty shall ensure the conversion of any materials that are not accessible to an accessible format with the help provided from the Accessible Education Center, Affordable Learning Solutions, CFD/eCAMPUS, and other offices. If materials cannot be made accessible due to technology limitations then an equally effective alternative must be created or provided.  

S22-2 Links to an external site. Student Excused Absences

Faculty shall treat personal matters of “reasons for absence” with the utmost sensitivity. Faculty should request documentation only in rare cases. Faculty members may only require students to provide verification for repeated or successive absences, or absences on the days of tests, presentations, and other graded activities. Faculty shall reasonably accommodate absences to the extent possible. Excused absences normally should not exceed two cumulative weeks of class time. The faculty member should make arrangements with the student to address missed learning opportunities, which could include submitting work late, completing different but comparable assignments, or waiving an assignment.

F07-3 Links to an external site. Access to Instructional Materials: Timely Identification of Textbooks, Course Readers, and Library Reserves

Faculty must identify course materials as indicated by the Course Materials Deadline.  This helps ensure students can receive their course materials in an accessible format.

F12-6 Links to an external site. Evaluation of Effectiveness in Teaching for All Faculty

This policy establishes that evaluation of teaching effectiveness is holistic, outlines the process of direct peer observation, and provides guidance for the usage of the SOTE (or SOLATE) instrument to evaluate teaching.

F15-12 Links to an external site. Attendance and Participation

Attendance shall not be used as a criterion for grading.  Students are expected to attend all meetings for the courses in which they are enrolled as they are responsible for material discussed therein, and active participation is frequently essential to ensure maximum benefit to all class members. In some cases, attendance is fundamental to course objectives; for example, students may be required to interact with others in the class. Attendance is the responsibility of the student. Participation may, therefore, be used as a criterion for grading when the parameters and their evaluation are clearly defined in the course syllabus and the percentage of the overall grade is stated. 

S17-1 Links to an external site. Final Examinations, or Culminating Activities Policy

Faculty members are required to have a culminating activity for their courses, which can include a final examination, a final research paper or project, a final creative work or performance, a final portfolio of work, or other appropriate assignment. In the case where there is to be a timed, sit down final examination or an online synchronous final, it must occur during the scheduled final examination time for that course. The required submission date and time for take-home examinations, final papers or other culminating activities must fall no earlier than the beginning of the scheduled final examination time for the course. Online asynchronous final exams are to be treated like take-home exams. Final exams shall not be given, nor culminating activities due, during regularly scheduled class periods or on “Study/Conference Day.” Supervision, Internship and individual study courses are not required to have a culminating activity. This policy outlines how students may request an alternate day/time for their culminating activity.

S12-1 Links to an external site. Faculty Office Hours

The policy requires that full-time faculty members teaching a normal load schedule a minimum of 2 office hours per week, but allows departments to develop departmental guidelines for office hours that differ from this policy, to best meet the needs of their faculty and students. 

S20-9 Links to an external site. Instructor Drop Policy

It is the responsibility of the student to drop classes. While instructors are not required to drop students, they are permitted to do under the circumstances and via the process outlined in this policy.

S20-2 Links to an external site. Students' Rights to Timely Feedback on Class Assignment

Feedback on an assignment is a student’s right. Timely feedback enables a student to successfully progress in and complete a course; therefore, faculty should provide feedback in a timely manner. When assigning student work, faculty should indicate the expected timeframe when feedback will be provided, and if a delay occurs, students should be notified of the new expected timeframe. When feedback on an assignment affects performance on subsequent assignment(s), the due date for the subsequent assignment(s) should enable students to maximize their performance on the assignment(s).

F18-5 Links to an external site. University Grading System Policy

This policy indicates the parameters for SJSU's grading policy, including that instructors may assign +/- grades.

F13-2 Links to an external site. Technology Intensive, Hybrid and Online Courses and Programs

The faculty has final responsibility for determining the pedagogies and instructional methods most appropriate for the courses and academic programs that the university offers. The review process for technology intensive, hybrid, and online courses and programs will follow the same criteria, guidelines, and processes as those used for the review of in-person courses and programs, thus taking into consideration issues of curricular quality and infrastructure needs (e.g., reliability and sustainability of technology, student support services, assessment of student learning outcomes, faculty workload). Technology intensive, hybrid, and online courses and programs will be held to the same student learning outcomes, assessment requirements, and credit hour assignments as in-person courses and programs when reviewed by department, college, and university curriculum committees. 

Policies in Response to COVID-19

In Spring 2020, the SJSU Academic Senate crafted several important policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Senate also passed the Sense of the Senate (SS) Resolutions listed below.

Unlike a policy, a Sense of the Senate Resolution is not reviewed or signed into action by the University President, and as such, it is non-binding. However, Sense of the Senate resolutions hold symbolic importance in their expression of collective attitude and will. 

SS-S20-6 Links to an external site. Condemnation of Ethnocentrism, Xenophobia, and Racism in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic

SS-S20-3 Links to an external site. On Maximum Flexibility and support of SJSU students during COVID-19-pandemic