Writing Program FAQs
2024 New Student Information System (SIS) FAQs
- What happened to the FacultyLink? How do I check student registrations, see my roster, check my schedule, file grades, etc. in the new MyBUStudent?
New Faculty FAQs
- Who is on the current Writing Program leadership team?
- How do I contact Writing Program staff?
- Email wpadmin@bu.edu with questions. (but please do not share that email address with students!)
- Where can I download WP letterhead for official correspondence?
- How can I find resources for planning my course, syllabus, and assignments?
- The Teaching Writing site has many resources for teaching, including a page to help build your syllabus, and you may also reach out to the Curriculum Coordinators with questions.
Start-of-Semester FAQs
- How do I create a Blackboard site?
- As of Fall 2024, there is no need to create (request that IT create) a new Blackboard site for your classes; they are automatically generated three months before the course begins, and you may edit them and make them available to students directly in Blackboard.
- How do I order my books?
- How do I order desk copies?
- What are the add/drop deadlines for the current semester?
- How do I make sure students have the prerequisite for my class?
- What do I do if students ask to over-enroll in my class?
- How can I figure out where my classroom is?
- Before the first class, use the Building Codes list and/or the Classroom Finder to check out pictures of your room and figure out where it is.
- What forms do I need to fill out at the beginning of the semester?
- How can I show movies to my classes?
- The Geddes Language Center, on the 5th floor of Arts & Sciences, includes a fine language lab with an extensive collection of movies. The center also has facilities for showing films to whole classes. To schedule a screening room, contact geddes@bu.edu.
- How might I respond if a student shows me an accommodation letter from Disability & Access Services about attendance? Isn’t attendance required for our classes?
- Yes, attendance is a requirement and a standard expectation of our classes. However, you may respond in a compassionate way to a student with a documented disability using this as an example.
Mid-Semester FAQs
- I have a student who is missing a lot of class and not handing in assignments. What should I do?
- How should I handle a case of suspected plagiarism?
- How do I request a projector or other audio or video equipment for a class?
- How do I request funding for a class activity that will be held outside of the classroom?
- How do I redeem Faculty Seminar funds?
- What if my classroom is locked, or there is a facilities emergency such as an active leak
- Call Facilities at 617-353-2105 to report a facilities emergency. Also feel free to email wpadmin@bu.edu to let us know about the issue, though we may not be able to help you right in the moment during class.
- What if my classroom has a technology emergency, such as a projector failure?
- Call the LETS Hotline at 617-353-3227 for a classroom technology emergency.
End-of-Semester FAQs
- When is an Incomplete grade (I) warranted, and what is the process for submitting one?
- When are final grades due?
- How do I change a student’s final grade?
- How do I view my student evaluations, after the semester has ended and grades are filed?