Overview
In order to ensure fairness to all students and to maintain consistency for ABET accreditation purposes, I generally enforce the course policies and due dates as presented on each course syllabus. On rare occasions, situations may arise in which it is reasonable to deviate from the established policies or due dates. In order to ensure that such requests are properly documented, I require a formal submission to the course learning management system. Unlike email, these submissions are archived with the course and ensure that the reason for any adjustments have been properly documented and included with the course (in case I get hit by a bus).
Accommodations
Per University policy, only Accessibility and Disability Services (ADS) is authorized to grant educational accommodations for disabilities. I am not allowed to grant them for any course, even if you have a request pending with ADS. Please have your accommodation letter sent directly to me at the beginning of the semester (or within a week of receiving approval from ADS, if during the semester). ADS maintains the formal record for accommodations, so you do NOT need to follow the process on this page in order to use your accommodations. Simply email me or let me know in class if you need to use an accommodation that has already been approved.
Situational Examples
Situations in which a Course Adjustment Request might be reasonable include (by way of example):
- Administratively excused absences under the STUD-332 Class Attendance policy.
- Managing Pregnancy, Birth and Related Medical Conditions (Title IX).
- Receipt of military orders. See STUD-302 Student Military Service Policy.
- Aftermath of a disaster that destroys or severely damages your residence.
Examples of situations where a deviation from syllabus policies and/or due dates will generally not be permitted include:
- A situation in which either the proximate cause or a major contributing factor to missing a closing date involves waiting too long to begin the corresponding activity. For example, if you wait until the day an activity closes to begin working on it, and you fall ill on that day, the cause of missing the close of the activity is mostly due to waiting to start it. An adjustment would not be granted in such a situation.
- For Discovery Phase activities that have automatic extensions (full-semester courses), any illness, absence, or interruption that is shorter than the automatic extension. See the previous point about waiting to start an activity.
- Work conflicts, except for military service as described above. You are expected to balance course and work expectations yourself.
Incomplete Grades
The issuance of an Incomplete (I) grade at the end of the semester is always at the discretion of the instructor teaching the course. For my courses, you will need to submit a Course Adjustment Request form to request an Incomplete. I will consider offering an Incomplete grade when:
- The course has reached the Reflection Phase, but you have an unforeseen issue that is otherwise excused and occurs during the final activity of the Discovery Phase or during the Reflection Phase; AND
- Your work on the Preparation Phase and all activity submissions in the Discovery Phase through the penultimate (next-to-last) submission were satisfactory.
For extreme hardships or unsatisfactory submissions that occur prior to the Last Day to Drop with a W, you should generally drop the course. If you have a medical condition, also review STUD-301 Withdrawl: Medical/Psychological, as these types of withdrawals do not use up your withdrawal hours.
Please note that I will NOT assign an Incomplete grade if you should otherwise have dropped the course due to academic performance but are unable to do so as a result of exhausting your withdrawal credit hours!
Request Form
First, verify that this form is the correct one to use. My courses have CSCI and IST prefixes. If your course has a PSYC prefix, then you need to contact the other Dr. Murphy instead (mmurphy3@coastal.edu). This form is for courses taught by Dr. Mike Murphy in Computing Sciences.
Download the following document to your computer by right-clicking the link and selecting "Save As," "Save Link As," or similar language:
Complete the form and export it to PDF format. If you need help with the PDF export process using either LibreOffice Writer or Word Online, please see:
Submission
Submit the PDF version of your completed request form to the Course Adjustment Request activity in the Moodle course for which you are making the request. If you have any additional documentation to submit, you can upload extra files alongside the PDF.