ECPS Policies
ul>Generally the School follows the policies of the Faculty and the University. However, in some cases ECPS has introduced supporting policies that explains the School’s position on the issue and about implementation.
Attendance
Policy confirmed 2003
Tutorials and seminars are your main contact with academic staff and other students in the School: for campus-based students they are also regarded by the School as core teaching and learning activities.
For these reasons, attendance at tutorials and seminars is a requirement as well as a means. Send an apology if for any reason you are unable to attend.
Medical documentation (or equivalent) is required for more than two absences; four or more will render you ineligible for a pass grade.
Section and individual unit/subject handbooks on attendance should also be consulted, but the above minimal requirement applies to all subjects in the School, not only to those that include tutorial/seminar participation in the formal assessment. For film screenings, please refer the to appropriate Section subject requirements.
Underlying Principles
Attendance at Classes
In an era of flexible teaching methods and student centred learning it might be easy for students to think that they are no longer required to turn up to all classes offered in a unit. This is not so. If you are enrolled in a unit in which there are regular lectures and tutorials, then part of the teaching method is designed expecting regular attendance, and therefore you are required to attend regularly.
The School wishes to retain as much flexibility as possible in dealing with individual cases, but the following list sketches out our minimum expectations. Individual units will warn you about what the specific minimum attendance rate is in their particular case. You should pay careful attention to what is required in a unit in which you are enrolled, since it is quite possible that you might fail the unit through not satisfying a minimum attendance requirement.
Obviously there will be times when students miss classes or tutorials through illness or other circumstances beyond their control. We understand this, but it is very much a student’s responsibility to contact the staff member involved (preferably in advance of a class or tutorial) to explain their absence, to make arrangements to catch up, etc., and, if the absence is prolonged, to apply for Special Consideration.
Lectures
Where there are one or more lectures for all students enrolled in the unit in addition to classes or tutorials, it is unlikely that a roll will be taken at the lectures. Lectures are provided for the students’ benefit and normally cover material directly relevant to the teaching and assessment of the unit. Students miss them at their own cost. Often if the unit has a sizeable enrolment the lectures will be available through Monash Lectures Online or they may be recorded for the School.
Where the lecture is, say, part of a two hour class which constitutes the entire direct contact for that unit, then attendance is likely to be compulsory and a roll may well be taken. This situation is more common when the unit enrolment is smaller. This may well be the only chance that the lecturer has to demonstrate material to students and get individual responses. It would be reasonable to require a minimum 9 out of 12 or 13 classes, or 8 out of 11, in a semester.
Classes and Tutorials
Much of the teaching in the School is designed around classes or tutorials. The numbers in these may vary, but they all involve a process of exchange of information and ideas between staff and students and among students. They often require presentation by students of short papers. The teaching method requires regular involvement and attendance. The School expects a minimum attendance at all such tutorials and classes. It would be reasonable to require a minimum 9 out of 12 or 13 classes or tutorials, or 8 out of 11, in a semester.
Film Showings, Practical Classes, Rehearsals, etc
In addition to the two main teaching practices dealt with above, the School offers units which may involve a wide range of other activities, such as film showings, practical classes and rehearsals. Depending on what happens in them, attendance may or may not be compulsory. In some cases (such as rehearsals for shows in DTS) not all students in a unit may have the same schedule, but of course once a student has agreed to be involved in the unit’s activities in a particular way, then participation may be assessed or required. Sometimes, as in the case with film showings in Film & Television Studies, attendance at the activity may superficially seem unnecessary (“I have already seen that film”), but frequently lecturers present films, comment on key elements in them during the showing and expect a recent knowledge of the print they are using - which will make such film showings a required part of the unit at which a minimum attendance is expected.
Students should read carefully the guide provided for each unit in which they are enrolled, as any attendance requirements will be spelt out in writing.
Auditing Graduate Units
Universities are thought to have originated with groups of people gathering to hear the words of some master or teacher speak in public. Ideally universities should offer a place of learning and debate free of the constraint of outside influences. But even in the early days of universities economic constraints played their part and from the beginning students paid fees to listen to their chosen fount of wisdom. We regret that, now as then, units like the School of ECPS have to temper their wish to be a source of inspiration and education for everyone with a degree of caution and control. While we would like the classes of brilliant teachers and thinkers to be open to all, this is not possible. Students who have paid, directly or indirectly, quite large sums of money to enrol in their units have a right to be heard. We need to generate sufficient funds to pay for high quality staff. The workload of dedicated academics has to be limited, especially if we want them to produce interesting new work.
We regret that the School cannot allow uncontrolled auditing of postgraduate and honours classes. At the risk of seeming heavy-handed we need to ensure that class sizes are not swollen out of proportion by non-enrolled students. The following are the basic rules:
PhD students have no right to audit units. But in part in order to satisfy the large demand across the Faculty from students (and supervisors) for access to particular classes, the Centre for CLCS has established a set of PhD units. These can be taken by Centre students as part of a PhD including course work (with a slightly shorter thesis). But a single unit can also be taken by any other PhD student individually. Students must enrol for these units (and EFTSUs are therefore transferred if applicable). There is no change to the conditions of candidature otherwise. As a result of the provision of these units the Centre will not normally allow PhD students to audit PhD classes in the Centre — please enrol instead.
There are some rare circumstances in which PhD or MA students enrolled in ECPS may be allowed to audit MA or undergraduate units. Students will have to get written permission from the Head of ECPS or the Postgraduate Coordinator of ECPS as well as verbal permission from the teacher involved.
MA students are normally doing some course work units and are not allowed to audit others. Some research MA students in ECPS have legitimate reasons for auditing units and, since they can enrol neither at PhD nor undergraduate level, the School is sympathetic to requests from its own students to do this.
Undergraduate students cannot normally attend either MA or PhD units. There are some rare occasions when they will be allowed to access elements of advanced courses. Students will have to get written permission from the Head of ECPS or the Undergraduate Coordinator of ECPS as well as verbal permission from the teacher involved.
All postgraduate students are strongly encouraged to come to the Research Seminars organised by the Centre for CLCS on Wednesday afternoons.
Several of the School’s staff have expressed a wish to be as helpful as possible to groups of students who wish to set up reading groups to explore new books and topics — this is a very valuable way of networking.
The School is anxious to give access to its staff, but cannot do so without some controls nor without some recompense.
Copyright
Copyright is a growing issue that affects all levels of university life. See the University’s Copyright at Monash webpage for an explanation on the regulations governing use of material that is not your copyright.
Penalties for Late Submissions
The Faculty of Arts Late Work Policy applies to all ECPS coursework units (undergraduate, honours and postgraduate). Late Work Policy.
Plagiarism
Policy confirmed 2003
The submission of essays, assignments and homework is an essential part of the learning process and a vital way of assessing students’ understanding of a subject. The submitted work must therefore be students’ own work. This does not mean that students may not make use of the work of others. However, in quoting or paraphrasing material from other sources, those sources must be acknowledged in full. It may be useful to seek the help of a tutor in preparing the piece of work and to enlist the help of fellow students in sorting out ideas, but the final product must be written by the student in his or her own words. Plagiarism is a form of cheating, and as such, an offence for which a student can be charged under Monash Statute 4.1 ‘Discipline’ (see Monash University Calendar).
The following hints will help students avoid plagiarism:
when taking notes, distinguish as clearly as possible between the ideas you find in the sources and your own ideas
in notes, as well as the essays you write from, place quotation marks around all material that is copied out directly and note the source
give a reference – according to the preferred system of the department to whom you are submitting the work – for any idea that is not your own, even if it is paraphrased or summarised in your own words and does not appear in quotation marks
never download material from the internet or other electronic source directly into your essay – treat it the same way you would any other printed source.
For further information see the Plagiarism and Cheating webpages: