Program Policies

First-Year Writing classes are required GE courses, and there are a lot of complex policies that govern the program, including campus policies, state law, and professional standards. Rather than try to post them all, here we’ve tried to highlight some of the ones we think are most important for you to have easy access to.

Attendance

University policy F15-12 states: “Attendance shall not be used as a criterion for grading,” but “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,” and “Participation may 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.”

In writing classes, much of the learning happens in class during groupwork, peer review, and writing activities. Regular attendance is critical to succeeding in SJSU’s writing classes, and you should take responsibility for showing up because what happens in class can’t be made up by reading the book or studying outside of class.

Student Workload

SJSU classes are designed such that in order to be successful, it is expected that students will spend a minimum of forty-five hours for the length of the semester, including preparing for class, participating in course activities, completing assignments, and so on.

These are writing courses, but let’s do some math. All the First-Year Writing courses are 3-unit courses. That means you are signing up to do a minimum of 9 hours of study per week just for one 3-unit class. 2½ hours will be class time. You’re supposed to budget the remaining 6½ hours each week to prepare for class and complete reading and writing assignments. Because of the nature of writing classes, some weeks will be more work than others. But this math is what instructors are expected to use to plan.

Grading

All students have the right—within a reasonable time period—to know their test scores, to have their papers and examinations reviewed, and to be provided with an explanation of how their grade was determined. To pass ENGL 1A, Stretch English, ENGL 1B, or ENGL 2, you must earn a “C-” or higher. If you earn a grade lower than a C-, you will have to retake the course to fulfill your GE requirements.

Academic integrity

For this one, we think it’s particularly important to be technical, so we’ll quote from the official University policy, which you can find SJSU’s Office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development. 

The San José State University Academic Integrity Policy (Senate Policy F15-7) requires that each student:

1. know the rules that preserve academic integrity and abide by them at all times, including learning and abiding by rules associated with specific classes, exams, and course assignments;
2. know the consequences of violating the Academic Integrity Policy;
3. know the appeal rights and procedures to be followed in the event of an appeal;
4. foster academic integrity among peers. 

Faculty members are required to report all infractions, and they are responsible for determining the appropriate consequences. These might include a verbal warning, failure of an assignment or activity, a lower grade in the course, failure in the course, or referral to the Student Conduct Board.

A lot of the language around academic integrity is about violations and consequences, and that’s because violations are really complicated and stressful for everyone involved. Honestly, we’d prefer to never have to think about academic integrity violations, so we encourage you to reach out to your instructor(s) early and often, especially if you’re feeling anxious or confused about an assignment. It’s literally our job to help you. And if you have trouble finding the support you need, don’t hesitate to reach out to the First-Year Writing Program directors. We can help.

ChatGPT/Generative AI/Large Language Models

SJSU does not yet have a formal policy for dealing with AI-generated work. Each instructor is expected to communicate their policy for their own class to students. In First-Year Writing, and all across campus, some instructors are comfortable with AI, some allow it in specific ways, and some don’t allow it at all. There may be good reasons for each one of these positions. AI can be a useful tool for some things, but it can also interfere with learning, and learning is sort of our thing.

Submitting AI-generated work is categorically a violation of SJSU’s academic integrity policy, which includes a definition of plagiarism as “the act of representing the work of another as one’s own without giving appropriate credit, regardless of how that work was obtained, and submitting it to fulfill academic requirements.” Which means, unless you have permission from your instructor, using AI on an assignment is probably a violation of Academic Integrity. But we don’t want it to come to that

We know issues around AI are complicated. We’re as anxious about them as you are! And things are always changing, which is why creating policies is so hard. But ultimately, we want you and your instructor to come to a shared understanding of when, if, and how AI is allowed long before you even start working on an assignment so that everyone knows what’s expected. 

You can also access additional resources and support through SJSU’s AI Writer’s Toolbox. And again, the First-Year Writing Program directors are happy to hear from you if you’re not sure who to talk to.

Consent for Recording of Class and Public Sharing of Instructor Material

University Policy S12-7 [pdf] requires students to obtain instructor’s permission to record the course:

• “Common courtesy and professional behavior dictate that you notify someone when you are recording them. You must obtain the instructor’s permission to make audio or video recordings in this class. Such permission allows the recordings to be used for your private, study purposes only. The recordings are the intellectual property of the instructor; you have not been given any rights to reproduce or distribute the material.”
• In classes where active participation of students or guests may be on the recording, permission of those students or guests should be obtained as well.
• “Course material developed by the instructor is the intellectual property of the instructor and cannot be shared publicly without his/her approval. You may not publicly share or upload instructor generated material for this course such as exam questions, lecture notes, or homework solutions without instructor consent.”

Additional Policies

As we said, there are lots more policies, but we think these are the most common ones that students have questions about. If you’re curious about other policies, about things like accommodations for students with disabilities, adding and dropping classes, and religious holidays, you can visit the University’s “Syllabus Information” page.

The Syllabus Information page also has information about support services, such as the Writing Center, Peer Connections, Counseling and Psychological Services, Technology Resources, or SJSU Cares crisis support.

And if you really want to get into the policy weeds, you can visit the Academic Senate’s “University Policies” page, especially the General Education link, the Curriculum link, and the Student Rights, Responsibilities and Services Policies link.