FAQs for Instructors

The College has more than 80 departments and programs, 900 tenured/tenure-track faculty, 500 non-tenure faculty, and 13,000 active undergraduate students. The College includes the School of Art and Design, School of Global and International Studies, and The Media School.

You should first contact the staff and administrative team in your own department. If they cannot answer your question, contact the Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs at 855-1647 or 855-8245 or via email at coasaado@iu.edu.

Students in the College are advised by professional academic advisors for their major. There are also other advising support units on campus, including the Hutton Honors College, Athletics, Groups Scholars Program, Hudson and Holland Scholars Program, and 21st Century Scholars Program which work with the students.

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.), Bachelor of Arts in Journalism (B.A.J.), and Bachelor of Liberal Studies (B.L.S.).

The undergraduate Bulletin in effect at the time students matriculate governs the requirements a student will follow; when requirements change, students may elect to stay with those in effect when they matriculated (for up to 8 years). All College undergraduate students have requirements in foundational skills, breadth of inquiry, culture studies, and a major or concentration; electives bring the minimum total to 120 credit hours; most of these credit hours must be taken in courses offered by the College.

In accordance with federal law, student records (e.g., quick "chats" about a student's progress in a course) are protected from third parties unless you have a written release signed by the student. Parents are third parties, even if they pay tuition. Also, do not post grades in any form on walls, doors, etc., and do not discuss grades or indicate student ID numbers in e-mail. Conversations with students about their grades must occur in a private setting.

Students withdraw from ("drop") classes using the eDrop/eAdd Classes app in One.IU. After the first week of classes, classes can be dropped electronically with a grade of W through the Automatic-W deadline. The Automatic-W deadline occurs about mid-way through the class session (current deadlines are found in the Registrar's Official Academic Calendar). After the Automatic-W deadline, students must obtain permission to withdraw.

• Before the Automatic-W deadline, students may drop courses with a grade of W without special approval from the dean through their Student Center in One.IU. Students who want to withdraw from ALL classes must work with the appropriate campus office. Domestic students should contact the Student Advocates Office. International students should contact the Office of International Services.
• After the Automatic-W deadline, students may only withdraw with permission from the dean of their academic unit (e.g. the College, Kelley School of Business, Jacobs School of Music, etc.). Evidence of urgent reasons related to extended illness or equivalent distress occurring after the Automatic W deadline is required for approval. College students must follow this procedure:
  1. Submit eDrop request through One.IU
  2. College Office of Retention and Student Success (OURSS) sends Late Withdrawal Petition to student, requesting details and documentation
  3. Student must submit the petition or information by the deadline provided. If petition/information is not provided by the deadline, the request is denied.
  4. OURSS may request additional information from student and/or request that student meet with a member of the College student success team
  5. If approved (and many are not), eDoc is approved by OURSS and routes to instructor
  6. Instructor must assign a grade via the eDoc. According to University policy, if the student is passing at the time of withdrawal, the grade will be a W. If the student is not passing at the time of withdrawal, the grade will be an F.

NOTE: Instructors are not able to authorize Late Withdrawals. The instructor's willingness to allow a student to withdraw from their class does not guarantee approval of the late-withdrawal request by the dean. The procedures above apply only to students in the College. Refer students in other units to their academic advisors.

Instructor or university error only. (The College will not approve requests to change grades for students wanting to raise a grade with extra work after the semester is over, nor will it approve changes of grade for students who forgot to add or drop a course at the correct time.) A clear syllabus—with a statement of expectations and policies in the course, especially how students will be evaluated—will eliminate many problems; you may also find it helpful to remind students to monitor their enrollments. Requests to change grades are initiated via the eGrade Change app in One.IU by the instructor of the course. If approved by the department chair, they are then routed to the College dean for review. Additionally, a request to change a grade in a course can be considered only if it is within one year from the end of the semester in which the course was offered, if a "W" or "I" is involved, and if the student did not take the final exam, complete the final paper/project, etc. Note: you may be asked by other offices (such as the Student Advocates Office) to consider a student's request for a grade change; please know that the ultimate authority for grades rests with the instructor and the College. Do not feel pressured to change a grade.

Incompletes are rare and must be agreed upon in writing by both instructor and student. The student must be passing the course at the end of the semester and NOT have taken the final exam. The student must produce official documentation of circumstances (generally a serious medical condition or other compelling circumstance), rendering it (almost) impossible to complete the course by the end of the semester. A copy of the written agreement between the instructor and the student for removal of the "I" must be kept on file in the department (this form is available on the College's Faculty/Staff Intranet). Students do not subsequently re-enroll in the course. After one year, the "I" automatically converts to "F" if the stipulated conditions have not been met. See also ACA-67 for the official policy on Incompletes. The grade of “I” with a check in the ‘Academic Misconduct’ box on the final grade roster indicates that there is an academic misconduct matter pending and that the final grade has not been determined. Once the academic misconduct matter has been finalized (meeting with the student or student has not responded to instructor’s good faith effort to hold a meeting), the instructor will use the ‘Submit eGrade Change (Instructor)’ app in One.IU to record the final grade.

"F" indicates a student did not sufficiently master the course material to pass. "FN" is necessary for financial aid issues and is only used internally for students who began attending a course, then disappeared, but didn't officially withdraw. If you have such a student, record a grade of "FN" on the final grade roster and note the last known date of attendance. The "FNN" grade is an "FN" with no recorded last date of attendance (i.e. the student never attended). The grade of “F” with a check in the ‘Academic Misconduct’ box on the final grade roster indicates that the student committed academic misconduct. The instructor must have previously filed a report with the Office of Student Conduct and checked ‘asterisk notation’ on the report.

The FX policy itself no longer exists. In its place, there is the Extended-X policy, which allows students to re-take some courses and have the earlier grade no longer factor into the GPA.

Follow the steps outlined on the College’s Academic Misconduct Procedures webpage on the Faculty and Staff Intranet.

Students should establish contact with the Accessible Educational Services, 812-855-7578, to ensure they receive services for which they are eligible. To ensure equitable treatment of all students, instructors must require students to present the AES Accessibility Memorandum before making special arrangements with students requesting accommodation(s). Accommodations are not permitted if a student does not present current (each semester) documentation from AES.

It is up to the individual faculty member and/or departmental policy to determine what excuses, if any, are acceptable, as well as the amount of documentation required to support a student request. In the case of classes missed for religious observances, students and instructors must adhere to the Accommodation for Religious Observances policy (ACA-59). Note also that the College endorses IU's policy on University Approved Curricular and Extracurricular Activities about which you can find more information through the Student Care and Resource Center. As with other matters mentioned here, it is important to clarify on the syllabus your expectations concerning attendance and absence.