Faculty Help Desk Now On-Line By Alix Schwartz November 20, 2001

The College of Letters & Science has launched an on-line Faculty Help Desk. This site provides quick, reliable answers to the pressing questions that arise when instructors and students converge, particularly in the classroom—and particularly in Letters & Science. You can find the Help Desk at http://LS.Berkeley.edu/FacultyHelpDesk/. Topping the site will be some timely advice, geared to the current week in the semester. In week one, for instance, you will find out about your obligation to students on the wait lists for your classes. In week fifteen you will find out when to assign a grade of No Report (a sneak preview: the answer to this question is "never!"). The main content of the site is divided into eight sections:

1. Enrollment Issues, including the instructor-drop option, over- and under-enrolled classes, and retroactive adds.

2. Academic Deadlines, including the last day to add or drop a course or change the grading option. Grades, including incompletes, pass/no pass, grade changes, and the intricacies of reporting grades.

3. Confidentiality, including details on what information you can and cannot have access to, and what information you may and may not reveal.

4. Students in Academic Difficulty, containing ways you can help students who are having trouble keeping up in your course.

5. Student Conduct, including such problems as cheating, plagiarism, and disruptive students.

6. Special Arrangements for Students, including disabled students, student athletes, and student parents.

7. Enrichment, containing information about programs and resources such as undergraduate research programs, instructional technology, and internship opportunities for your students.

Much of the information and advice contained in the Faculty Help Desk is available elsewhere, and in fact the new site includes links to sites that will give more extensive, detailed answers to many of your questions. The special contribution of the Faculty Help Desk is that you won't have to wade through all of the Academic Senate regulations or the Letters & Science policies to find the answer to the particular question or problem that you are facing. The creators of the Help Desk have done that research for you.

We hope that you will bookmark this site and use it as a resource throughout the academic year. It's our goal to make the site as helpful as possible, so if you think of any questions or topics that would be useful additions, please take advantage of the "Tell us what you think!" email link, which appears on the bottom of every page of the L&S Faculty Help Desk.