Instructural Responsibilities

Adjunct faculty members play an important role in the educational experience of Bowling Green State University students. Adjuncts are responsible for providing high quality experiences and upholding the standards established by the University. It is your responsibility to teach your assigned classes, to support student growth and to follow college policies and procedures.
Major responsibilities:

1. Provide each student with a syllabus and acquaint each student with the course requirements and objectives during the first class meeting.
2. To present and explain grading procedures as well as to apply them fairly.
3. To diversify the delivery of course material in ways appropriate to content and student need.
4. To meet with your classes at the scheduled time and remain for the scheduled duration.
5. To provide students with multiple opportunities to demonstrate their understanding.
6. To design fair and valid assessments of material covered in the class.
7. To provide students with frequent updates on their progress.
8. To return graded work in a timely fashion and submit final grades on time.
9. To maintain accurate records of attendance and grades.
10. To model appropriate classroom dialogue.
11. To encourage critical thinking.

The College of Health and Human Services encourages all faculty to participate in workshops and other services offered by BGSU’s Center of Faculty Excellence (CFE). If you are not familiar with Canvas, our learning management system, one of the first workshops to consider is the Introduction to Canvas. For a complete list of workshops and how to register, please visit the CFE Workshop Catalog.

Here are some brief guidelines for successful teaching:

1. Create an engaging learning environment by modeling professional behavior. Students should be encouraged to participate knowing they will be supported by both their instructor and their peers.
2. Get to know your students and create opportunities for them to get to know each other. Engage their interests in your instruction.
3. Involve and engage students by designing lessons for small group discussions, activities, etc.
4. Probe your students’ understanding of material on a regular basis. Enrich the experience for those mastering concepts easily, and provide scaffolded support for those who struggle.
5. Provide students with multiple resources related to the subject matter, as well as opportunities to critically examine those resources.

What is Navigate?
Navigate is a collaborative effort between faculty and advisors to ensure student success and persistence. Navigate is both an early warning and student tracking system, as well as an educational support networking system. Feedback on students can be reported anytime throughout the semester as well as through periodic surveys. Appropriate personnel are informed of the flags and kudos that are raised and cleared.

What Does Navigate do?
Navigate has several capabilities:

• EARLY and ON-GOING ALERT processing and referrals:
  • Faculty members utilize this system to RAISE FLAGS (potential problems/concerns),
  • REFER students to the Learning Commons for academic support.
• ADVISING NOTES and EMAIL histories: Navigate has the ability to store and share notes or email communications made with students. Each advisor can view the history of the conversations between students, advisors, and others charged with interacting with our students.
• Instructors are strongly encouraged to submit ALERTS anytime they are concerned about a student’s academic progress. This is especially true for any instructors teaching freshmen-level classes. The ALERTS are shared with advisors who can then provide early intervention when appropriate.
• Instructors are also encouraged to include a statement about Navigate on their syllabi, and to inform students at the beginning of each term that they will use Navigate to monitor attendance, participation, and performance.

A copy of the course syllabus can be found in your respective department office. See the department secretary for a copy. An electronic copy of your syllabus should be put on file with the appropriate department.

Consistency is key to a meaningful educational experience. Classes must meet at regularly scheduled times and locations. You can find your room assignment in MyBGSU, under “Classes You are Teaching.”

Adjunct faculty must notify their Program Coordinator anytime a class is cancelled (unless it will be made up at a later date).

Several courses in the College of Health and Human Services contain key assessments necessary for program accreditation. To determine if the course you are teaching contains a key assessment, see your respective Department Chair, School Director or Program Coordinator.

Adjunct faculty are responsible for inputting key assessment and other course data. Failure to do so may impact your ability to receive a future employment contract with the College.

Once you are listed as the Instructor of Record, your class roster can be accessed through the Canvas system. Select the appropriate course via MyBGSU under “My Canvas Courses.”

Adjunct faculty members are not expected to advise student majors. Refer non-declared majors to 253 Central Hall,
419-372-8943, and declared majors to their assigned full-time faculty advisor for advising issues.

Final Examination Policy

• All faculty must conduct class during their assigned final examination time slot. In those courses where a final examination is deemed inappropriate, faculty shall conduct other appropriate course-related activities during the period scheduled for final examination.
• Consistent with traditional principles of academic freedom, the faculty member or group responsible for a course shall determine whether a final examination is or is not appropriate (such as in graduate seminars).
• Ohio Board of Regents specifies that an academic semester consists of sixteen weeks. The sixteenth week of the semester at BGSU is reserved for the scheduling of final examinations.

Congress passed the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA), also known as the Buckley Amendment, on August 21, 1974 to protect the privacy of student education records. Within the context of higher education, FERPA provides students the right to review these records and prohibits unauthorized dissemination of educational information by the institution or its employees. BGSU, like most institutions of higher education, falls under FERPA regulations and is obligated to develop policies for the protection and restricted dissemination of records related to each student’s education.

However, FERPA also affords BGSU some latitude in establishing its own policies, defining relevant terms, and conveying critical information for the health and safety of individual students and other members of the institution within the legal parameters of the Act. When responding to an emergency, or in some cases preventing a potential emergency from occurring, health and safety issues assume priority over student education privacy rights.

Students are expected to abide by the BGSU Codes of Academic & Student Conduct.

Students are expected to maintain the highest level of integrity in their academic work. From time to time, however, issues such as cheating, fabrication, or plagiarism in an academic exercise arise. The original jurisdiction and penalty both vary depending on the offense and when it is discovered. Also, there are specific requirements for record keeping and notification of the student and academic dean. The official policy is included in the Faculty Handbook (Academic Charter). The policy is also available in the Student Handbook (Codes of Conduct).