University of North Carolina School of Public Health
Department of Epidemiology

EPID600, Principles of Epidemiology for Public Health

Course Absence Policy

EPID600 is taught over a 15-16 week semester, and the basic expectation is that all participants plan to be available to participate during that period. Many of us have competing obligations and responsibilities (e.g., conferences, travel, planned vacations, family illnesses, and personal needs), and the instructors and your fellow small group members do try to accommodate personal needs within the constraints of a large class and some University-imposed deadlines. However, we cannot guarantee that there will be no disadvantages that result from being absent from the course.

Here are our suggestions and requests if you will be away from the course during a period of group work or a submission deadline:

1. Please inform your TA and group members in advance and, if applicable, remind them when the time arrives that you must be absent.
2. Make arrangements for someone else to cover responsibilities you may have been assigned (e.g., facilitating a group case study submission). If finding a substitute is not practical (e.g., you unavailability results from illness, injury, death in the family, or disaster), please attempt to inform your TA and alert her of the need to arrange for someone to take over your responsibilities.
3. Since most course materials (lectures, additional resources, case study readings, case study questions) have already been posted, you can do coursework ahead of schedule and after the first week you can submit your individual case study answers whenever you have them ready. (Please do not expect your TA to review your work in advance of its scheduled due date, however.)
4. Examinations are generally not available in advance of the date indicated on the schedule. However, we are flexible about granting extensions should you need one. If you need an extension please submit the request form at www.unc.edu/epid600/students/request.cfm and explain the circumstances in the comment box. If you do not receive a response within 48 hours you may assume that your request has been granted. If you obtain an extension you must: 1) inform other students with whom you interact that you have not submitted your answers, 2) avoid conversations or group discussions that concern the examination, and 3) not view the instructor answers should they become available. Note that late submissions of the final paper (Exam 3) may require a temporary grade of IN, as explained in the instructions for that assignment.
5. The component of the course that is the most difficult to manage in relation to periods of unavailability is the development and submission of your group's consensus answers to case studies. Consensus case studies are assigned for most weeks (see the course schedule). Since these projects are carried out by your small group, we suggest that you explain your situation to the group and seek some mutually agreeable arrangement, such as taking on extra responsibility in another week or weeks. Since each group member’s share of the group grade is determined primarily by the other members of the group, any reasonable arrangement that satisfies them will be acceptable to the instructors.

We try to be reasonable, and for the most part people seem to be able to manage their schedules and the course requirements.

More information about this semester’s course

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1/6/2008 by Vic