Policies

ATTENDANCE POLICY:

Attendance and participation are part of the overall grade.

Points are earned only if students arrive on time and attend and participate fully in the class. Each student receives two “free passes” for unexcused absence or participation during the semester. Beginning with the third instance, points will be deducted for absence, arriving late, leaving early, or failing to participate in class. Students who miss class are responsible for all material covered in that class and must meet all deadlines related to that material.

Excused absences include religious observances, documented illness, death of family or loved-one and pre-approved school-related activities.

LATE WORK POLICY:

Deadlines are at the heart of the journalism and media professions. Audiences expect news and communications in a timely, accurate and fair manner. Supervisors require that media professionals meet deadlines. Therefore, you are required to get your assignments in on time.

Any assignment that is turned in past the deadline and up to 7 days after the due date will be accepted and graded with a 20% reduction in grade.

If you turn in an assignment more than 7 days past the due date, it will not be accepted.

If you are ill or have a serious issue that prevents you from completing an assignment on time, you must request an extension in writing (i.e. email or Canvas message) ahead of time and before the due date. The instructor must approve the extension in writing.

ROWAN UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC POLICIES:

Students are expected to read and abide by all Rowan University policies for attendance, classroom conduct, use of devices, inclement weather, and academic integrity. For updated policies for this semester, see the Canvas shell for this course.

NOTICE OF NON-DISCRIMINATION:

Rowan affords equal opportunity to all and does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, age, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, or any other protected class in its educational programs, activities, or employment policies and practices.

RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS:

If you are in crisis, call 856-256-4911 to speak to a counselor on call. You can also find assistance at the following:

ACCOMMODATION POLICY:

Your academic success is important. If you have a documented disability that may have an impact upon your work in this class, please contact me at the beginning of the semester. Students must provide documentation of their disability to the Academic Success Center in order to receive official University services and accommodations. The Academic Success Center can be reached at 856-256-4234. The Center is located on the 3rd floor of Savitz Hall. The staff is available to answer questions regarding accommodations or assist you in your pursuit of accommodations.

INCLEMENT WEATHER POLICY:

The university has made it a practice to hold classes during inclement weather whenever possible. As the Attendance Policy states, it is the student’s decision, based on his or her assessment of the situation, whether or not to attend class. Students will not be penalized for missing classes because of inclement weather; however, they must contact their professors prior to class and make up any work assigned.

JOURNALISM DEPARTMENT CODE OF CONDUCT:

The Department of Journalism Code of Conduct was created to serve as a practical guide for students as they advance in their academic careers. These policies are meant to encourage students to meet the high standards in the news industry and earn the privilege of becoming a journalist with ethical standards. It is a compliment to Rowan University’s Academic Integrity Policy, which students are required to read and follow.

Journalism is by its nature a public act. As stated in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics, journalists must recognize that the work of “gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort” to others and must do all they can to “minimize harm” and ensure their work is “accurate, fair and thorough.” Therefore, student journalists must always be clear, upfront and honest about who they are and what they are doing. They are expected to abide by the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics. Students must take full responsibility for their conduct and work.

The policy below is not all-inclusive but identifies situations that frequently arise among Journalism students.

Plagiarism and fabrication are serious offenses. Do not use words, photos, or other kinds of content without proper attribution and copyright permission. This includes copying content from the Internet. Plagiarism also includes passing off another’s work as your own or giving your work to another student.

Fabrication is deliberately inventing or altering information with the intent to deceive. Anyone caught plagiarizing or fabricating could receive an F for the course.

All assignments must be completed for this class only. Submitting work from another class, in part or in full, is considered academic dishonesty.

Use your own work from another context without citing that it was used previously. If you are researching or reporting on a topic that you have written on before, you must clear it with the professor beforehand.

In addition, under the Journalism Department’s Code of Conduct, students may not:

-Fabricate – Deliberately invent or alter information with the intent to deceive.

-Cheat – Misrepresent one’s mastery of material on an academic exercise or help someone else do so.

-Misrepresent oneself or work.

-Submit late work without penalty.

-Use others’ words or media without proper attribution and copyright permission; it is always best to use third-party content that is licensed under Creative Commons.

-Use friends or relatives as sources for stories.

-Submit work, in part or in full, from another class.

-Turn in same story or assignment in multiple classes.

-Conduct interviews via email without prior approval from instructor.

-Submit assignments in alternate form than required

-Act unprofessionally to the instructor or other students in the classroom.

-Use cell phones or electronic devices in class for non-class activity.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Course Work

As stated above, plagiarism is a serious offense. Do not use words, phrases, or ideas without proper attribution. This includes copying content from the Internet or from AI. You must be very clear about the source of words that are not yours, put quotes around verbatim usage, and cite the source in the text of your paper or article. Remember, if you take a direct quote from another source, word-for-word, you must not only cite but you must put it in quotation marks. Failing to put quotation marks around something you have appropriated is a serious issue and could result in lowering of your grade or a formal referral for academic discipline.

Artificial intelligence, like all technological advances, presents opportunities and challenges. Some news organizations are using AI chatbots to produce routine stories based on input of basic facts. That said, human journalists are still needed to do original reporting, interview people, attend events, shoot photos and videos, write, edit, verify facts, and create the most significant and critical news content.

This is a journalism course and students are expected to perform their own writing and to learn from the process.

Therefore, AI cannot be used to generate work that impersonates the work of a student and is presented or submitted as such. While it would be unrealistic to rule out AI in research, direct use of the material in a copy-and-paste action will be considered plagiarism. The line between research and plagiarism is crossed when you use the technology to produce the content or structure of work handed in under your own name. This includes using AI to “outline” or “organize” your piece, as this crosses into the process of composition.

In this course any use of generative artificial intelligence such as Chat GPT, DALL-E, Bard, and others will be considered a violation of academic integrity and will be treated accordingly. According to Rowan University policy, students committing any act of academic dishonesty may fail the assignment, fail the course, or face other sanctions. All violations of academic integrity must be reported to the Provost’s office. To avoid plagiarism, students should provide appropriate documentation whenever quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, or otherwise using the language or ideas of others.

Consequences for Violations of Journalism Department Code of Conduct

Instructors will use their discretion to ensure that these policies are met. The consequences for violating the Code of Conduct will be based on the seriousness of the offense and be determined by the instructor, and when necessary, in consultation with the chair of the department.

For serious violations (i.e., plagiarism, fabrication, cheating, lying), students may:

  • Fail the course.
  • Have the incident reported to Academic Integrity Review Board for further disciplinary action.

For major violations, (i.e., violating copyright, improper sourcing, submitting work from another class), students may:

  • Receive no credit for the assignment.
  • Be required to attend a workshop on academic integrity.
  • Have incident reported to Provost’s office.

For significant violations (i.e., submitting late work, failure to attribute facts, using friends or family as sources), students may:

  • Lose points or fail an assignment.