Teaching & Learning

Class Schedule Development

The process to create a class schedule is initiated months in advance of the schedule due date for print.  The class schedule is a living document and subject to change in the class offering, instructor, and class location.  Changes to the class schedule are made even after the semester has begun.

The division follows these steps to establish its schedue.

1. To request a teaching schedule, each faculty member must complete and submit a class schedule request form.  To access our generic class schedule request form, please click here.
2. The department chairpersons will develop their recommended class schedule based upon the faculty's written request and the needs of our students. 
3. The recommended class schedule will be submitted to the division dean.
4. The final class schedule will be established based on the following criteria:  the faculty's written request, faculty contractual obligations, the department's recommended class schedule, student needs, and college facilities and budget constraints.

For additional information on the class schedule development, please click here.

Course Curriculum
Each course offered by the College has an official course outline that has been developed by the faculty, approved by the Curriculum Committee and Academic Senate, and adopted by the Board of Trustees.  Course outlines assure consistency of instruction between one instructor and another and one semester and another, and are the bases for determining transferability between Saddleback College and other colleges and universities. As such, they must be adhered to by every faculty member.

Course Syllabus

All faculty members are required to prepare a syllabus for each specific class section.   The syllabus should describe how the individual instructor will carry out the terms of the official course outline by giving specific dates, grading standards, and other rules of conduct of a course required by the instructor.  A syllabus allows the instructor to include methods and topics which may go beyond the course outline and gives the instructor the opportunity to bring out his or her individual talents and strengths.  To learn more about developing a comprehensive syllabus, please click here.   For samples of exemplary course syllabi, please click here.

Provide the Division Office with a copy of your course syllabus within the first week after the beginning of each class.  Submit your syllabus in hard copy form or electronically to Sue Brown in BGS 318 or via email at scsbs@saddleback.edu.

Faculty Profile

All faculty members are encouraged to create and post their faculty profile on the online class schedule.  In addition to pertinent information about you as a faculty member, please attach a link to your class web page.  To create your faculty profile, please click here.

Samples of Faculty Profiles for:

Allison Camelot

June Millovich

Amira Rezec

Class Web Page

Students use the online class schedule to "shop" for classes.  To better inform students of the content and procedures of your class prior to registration and/or the first class session, please consider establishing a class web page and posting it to the online class schedule.  To get you started, the College will create a class web page for each division faculty member.  Once created, you can easily post the web page by attaching it to your Faculty Profile.

To learn how to create and maintain your Class Web Page - please click here.

Blackboard Account
You are encouraged to establish a blackboard account to post your syllabus, course calendar, assignment descriptions, lecture notes, and discussion boards for each of your classes.  You can create a new blackboard account by completing and submitting the "Blackboard Faculty User Request Account Form ."  To access this form, please click here.

For additional information on Blackboard online instructions, please click here.

ITC will provide assistance to any instructor who would like to learn about the Blackboard system.  ITC User Services can be reached at 582-4397 or via e-mail at /itc/user/ or usersrv@saddleback.edu.

Textbook Orders

As you begin to order textbooks and other instructional materials for your classes, please work closely with the textbook publishers.  Book companies tend to have “deep” pockets.  Specific to your discipline, you may find that many textbooks now come with a wealth of resources such as video clips, tutorials, online tests, links to supporting information, and textbooks online, etc.  Dynamic textbooks and their supporting resources will assist you in creating a productive and innovative learning experience for your students.

Per the College's official outline for credit courses, faculty members must assign readings from a college-level textbook. In addition, specific courses may require and be augmented by additional reading sources such as newspaper articles, journals, primary source readings, and literature based books.  For further information on your selection of textbooks and additional reading sources, please consult with the official course outline and the department chairperson.  You can obtain a copy of the official course outline through the Division Office.

Textbook Order Process:

To order your Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 textbooks, please do the following:

1. Download this textbook order form to your computer (home or work).
2. Complete and save your form to your computer.
3. Send as an attachment to scsbs@saddleback.edu

Textbook Order Form - download to your computer and send completed form to scsbs@saddleback.edu as an attachment.

Should you need any help with this form or process, please immediately email sbrown67@saddleback.edu or pflanigan@saddleback.edu

Status of your Textbook Orders for Fall 2008.

To check the status of your textbook orders for Fall 2008, please do the following:
1. To ensure that your textbook order has been correctly posted on the College Bookstore web site, please click here.

2.  Visit the College Bookstore (Student Services Center) to ensure that your textbooks are in stock.

3.  Ensure that the information posted on our web site Division Student Resources for Required Textbook by Instructor for Fall 2008 is correct.

If you encounter any problems with your textbook order, please immediately contact Jim Harding, book store manager, at

(949) 582-4716 or via email at James Harding.

Note:  Be sure to post your textbook order and purchasing options on your faculty profile and/or class web page.  For a sample, click here.

Student Support for Textbooks

The cost and potential lack of access to textbooks can make it difficult for students to take and/or be successful in your classes.

To support students with textbook costs and availability, please consider the following..

• Submit your book order to the division office.
• Ask your textbook publishers for two desk copies of your textbook.  Place one desk copy on reserve in the college library.
• Limit the number of textbooks/instructional resources to what is absolutely necessary to support the learning in your course.  With higher gas and housing prices, it is becoming increasingly more difficult for our students to purchase expensive textbooks/instruction resources.
• Be creative.  Explore alternative (and less expensive) sites for students to purchase textbooks.  Via online or at a number of off-campus bookstores, textbooks may be less expensive and easier for students to obtain.
• Include the title and ISBN number of your textbook on your faculty profile, class web site, and course syllabus.  This will enable students to obtain textbooks at alternative sites such as the internet, off-campus bookstores, through friends, etc.

For alternative sites for students to purchase their textbooks, click here.

Security Procedure for Textbooks

For the safe delivery of textbooks to faculty once these textbooks have been delivered to the division mailroom (BGS 317), the division staff will follow this process.

1. Textbooks will be hand-delivered to the offices of all full-time faculty member in the BGS building.
2. Most textbooks will be packaged and labeled.  The textbooks will be placed under lock and key in BGS 318.  Faculty will receive a notification of a textbook arrival in the division mailbox and instructed to immediately ask our administrative assistants for the textbook package..
3. Given limited storage, your textbook delivery will be remain in the division office area for one month from your notification date.  To access the textbook notification form, click here.

Academic Dishonesty Procedures

All faculty members are required to develop their own policy and consequences for acts of dishonesty in the classroom within the framework established by the College’s recommended range of sanctions and disciplinary actions.  Please communicate this policy and its consequences to your students in writing via your course syllabus and verbally during the first week of classes.

Click here for samples of Academic Dishonesty statements found in course syllabi.

Reporting Acts of Academic Dishonesty:

Students have the right to challenge their grade. Whenever a student has committed an act of dishonesty such as cheating or plagiarism that results in a change of the student's assignment/course grade, please complete the Academic Dishonesty report below. Submit the report along with a cover letter (see example below) and any supporting documents to Patti Flanigan within ten (10) business days of the incident.  The Academic Dishonesty report is a legal document and may be used in a formal grade grievance process and/or ultimately a court of law.  The Division maintains a file on all academic dishonesty reports.  This file serves as a way for the college to track and discipline students who consistently engage in acts of dishonesty.

Academic Dishonesty Report

Academic Dishonesty Report - Cover Letter

Turnitin.com
Turnitin is an online system that instantly identifies papers containing unoriginal material.  The College now has a license to use http://www.Turnitin.com.  There is a seamless plug-in for Blackboard users.  For training, please contact Valerie Senior or Kathy Constance through ITC.  For more information about Turnitin, click here for web site access.

Make-up Exams

Make-up exams may not be given to students in the division office area.  It is the instructor’s responsibility to arrange a time and place for students to take make-up examinations. 

Make-up Examinations - Potential Options:
As a general rule, whenever a faculty member offers students the opportunity to make-up examinations, the faculty member should have a way to give/proctor the examination for the students without requiring the support of our classified staff.

How might a student take a "make-up examination?

• You may allow the student to "make-up" the examination in your class during one of the classes.
• You may allow the student to "make-up" the examination by posting it on Blackboard (See our ITC staff about how to do this.)
• You may give the student a "take home" examination that requires independent research and thought in lieu of the classroom examination.
• You may ask one of your colleagues to proctor the examination.
• You may schedule an examination session for your students in our new conference room in BGS 345.
• You may arrange with one of our administrative assistance a classroom where you can proctor the examination with your students
• Finally, I would encourage all of you to work through your Academic Senate and the Vice President of Instruction to get a Testing Center here at the College.

*To schedule an examination session in our conference room (BGS 345) or in a vacant classroom, please contact our administrative assistance at 582-4733 or via e-mail at scsbs@saddleback.edu. 

Student Learning Outcomes

The Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) assessment process is a means to discover if students, are, in fact, learning what they are expected to learn in courses and programs throughout the college.  The accrediting agency for California Community Colleges (ACCJC) has elected to use SLOs as an integral part of its accrediting standards.  At Saddleback College, each department has established and implemented its own set of student learning outcomes per course.  Used with department SLOs on the program and course level, individual faculty members are encouraged to establish SLOs specific to each course.  

Service-Learning

Service-Learning is when faculty members take the opportunity to assist students in community service.  Community service is integrated into the class curriculum with other academic coursework.  Service-Learning is distinct from volunteerism as the experience is applied to the academic learning within the classroom and is considered to be an integral part of the coursework.  Students take part in helping with the needs of the community and are provided with real world learning experiences and develop the skills necessary to work with diverse populations.  Students apply the academic topics covered in the classroom to real world situations, which encourages additional thought and evaluation skills. 

In Service-Learning, students will:

• Learn that they can make a difference in today’s society;
• Take risks, leave their own comfort zones and enter new domains;
• Achieve a greater understanding of the course content through hands-on experience;
• Learn new skills and gain leadership experience;
• Learn to solve problems and to increase their decision-making skills, which will make them more competitive in the job market;
• Experience working in diverse and competitive situations;
• Grow as individuals through a sense of personal and professional fulfillment;
• Have an increased feeling of group responsibility.

To access additional information on Service-Learning, click onto Service Learning Packet and

Service Learning Application and Analysis Paper.

Institutional Effectiveness Office: (Curriculum, Student Learning Outcomes, and Program Review):

The Academic Senate of Saddleback College has created the Office of Institutional Effectiveness (IE) in order to coordinate the efforts of the Curriculum Committee, the Program Review Committee, and the Student Learning Outcomes Implementation Team. Through this office, these three important components of institutional effectiveness will be linked to a comprehensive process of evaluation, planning, and curriculum/program change. 

To access additional information, click onto the Institutional Effectiveness Office.