Course Policies

All-University Courses

Departments in colleges of the university may offer any of the following courses subject to adequate student interest. The following course numbers are regarded as “reserved” for these uses.

0198P, 0298P, 1198P, 2298P, 3398P, 4498P Professional Development Workshop 0-3 credits. New methods and opportunities to enhance and supplement skills. Subject to the approval of the dean of the student’s college, a maximum of eight credits earned in workshops may be applied toward a degree; students taking the courses only for personal development may choose the 0-credit option; those seeking professional development must choose a for-credit option. May be repeated. May be graded S/U. Courses and course instructors are approved by the appropriate department chairs and college deans. Idaho State University maintains responsibility for the academic quality of all programs and courses through management and supervision by Idaho State University faculty and administrators. Credit for these courses is established using the same methods as a normal semester course (i.e., 15 contact hours equals one credit). Course assignments and tests should be used for outcomes assessment and should be clearly linked to the course goals.

0199, 0299, 1199, 2299, 3399, 4499 Experimental Courses 1-6 credits. The content of these courses is not described in the catalog. Title and number of credits are ­announced in the Class Schedule. Experimental courses may be offered no more than three times.

4493 Senior Thesis 1-4 credits. Supervised by a committee of at least two faculty members, the thesis must be approved by the chairperson(s) of the department(s) involved. The thesis topic may be interdisciplinary, with up to six credits total conferred by one or more departments. May be repeated for up to 6 credits. PREREQ: Senior standing and permission of chairperson(s) involved.

4497 Professional Development 1-3 credits. A course for practicing professionals (certified Idaho teachers) aimed at the development and improvement of skills. May not be applied to undergraduate or graduate degrees. May be repeated. May be graded S/U.

Attendance

Students are expected to attend all meetings of classes in which they are registered. During the first week of class, those students who do not attend any sessions of a class and do not participate in any online activities associated with it may be dropped from the class by the instructor if they have not made prior arrangements with that instructor. In the case of online courses that lack an in-person component, students may be dropped if they have not logged in to the class during the first week of instruction.

No student may be absent from the campus in connection with extracurricular activities more than sixteen college instructional days per semester. No one extracurricular activity may take students away from the campus more than twelve college instructional days.

Auditing Courses

An auditor is a person who is permitted to attend a course as an observer without participating in class discussions or class activity or submitting work for a grade. Students must pay the part-time credit hour fee to audit a course. This fee is waived in the case of full fee paying students. A final grade of AU is recorded at the time of registration. Changing from audit to credit is not allowed at any time.

To register for audit, a student must submit a completed Schedule Change Card to the Office of the Registrar during the published Add/Drop period for the term. In a full semester course, students may not change from credit to audit after the 10th day of class. In an 8 week course, students may not change from credit to audit after the 5th day of class.

Schedule Change Cards are available at https://isu.edu/media/libraries/registrar/ScheduleChangeCard-October-2019-.pdf.

Course Numbering

Courses numbered 0000-0099 do not apply towards an academic degree.

Courses numbered 1100-9999 are technical courses. RCET courses numbered 3000-4999 are both upper division and technical.

Courses numbered 1000-2999 are lower division courses, while courses numbered 3000-4999 are upper division courses.

Courses numbered 55xx, 66xx, 77xx and 88xx are graduate level courses and are for students admitted into the Graduate School only.

Courses numbered 99xx are currently reserved for the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) program.

Course Scheduling

To assist with your academic planning, courses in the Undergraduate Catalog are designated according to the semester they are usually offered. Unanticipated faculty vacancies and academic program changes may affect future course scheduling. Therefore, students should always contact the academic department to verify future course offerings, especially when specific courses are needed for graduation.

The following letters that appear after the course descriptions indicate the anticipated course scheduling:

F = Fall Semester, every year
S = Spring Semester, every year
Se = Sequential; a series of courses is presented until all have been taught.
Su = Summer Semester, every year
EF, ES, ESu = Even-numbered years, Fall, Spring, or Summer Semester
OF, OS, OSu = Odd-numbered years, Fall, Spring, or Summer Semester
D = Students should contact the department to ask when this course will be ­offered.
R1 = Course is rotated every year, either Fall or Spring
R2 = Course is rotated every two years, either Fall or Spring
R3 = Course is rotated every three years, either Fall or Spring

Prerequisites and Corequisites

Courses showing the abbreviation “COREQ” require simultaneous registration with each course named as a corequisite.

The abbreviation “PRE-or-COREQ” means that each course named may have been taken prior to or may be taken concurrently with the course for which it is required.

Courses showing the abbreviation “PREREQ” require the courses named as prerequisites to have been taken previously.

Special Course Fees

A special course fee (also called a "class fee") is an additive fee on top of the standard per credit hour fee, which may be charged to students enrolled in a specific course for materials and/or activities required for that course. Special course fees, or changes to such fees, are established and become effective in the amount and at the time specified by the chief executive officer or provost, and must be prominently posted so as to be readily accessible and transparent to students, along with other required course cost information. These fees shall be reported to the State Board of Education upon request.  

At Idaho State University, the recognition for and establishment of course fees is a responsibility assigned to individual academic units. This effort must be consistent with all elements of the State Board of Education Policy on Special Course Fees as outlined below. Guidelines for establishing or removing course fees are available at the Academic Affairs Web-page: http://www.isu.edu/academicaffairs/faculty-support/

Oversight of course fees and the assurance of implementation of State Board of Education Policy with respect to special course fees for example, the required 3-year review and maintenance of special course fees, their use, and accounting practices associated with these fees (i.e., sections c), d), and e) below) are a specific job assignment and responsibility of the University Business Officer assigned to each academic unit having localized jurisdiction over these fees. Those course fees not reviewed and reapproved after a 3-year period shall automatically be removed by the University Business Officer.

a) Special course fees shall be directly related to academic programming. Likewise, special course fees for career technical courses shall be directly related to the skill or trade being taught.

b) Special course fees may only be charged to cover the direct costs of the additional and necessary expenses that are unique to the course. This includes the costs for lab materials and supplies, specialized software, cost for distance and/or online delivery, and personnel costs for a lab manager. A special course fee shall not subsidize other courses, programs, or institutional operations.

c) A special course fee shall not be used to pay a cost for which the institution would ordinarily budget including faculty, administrative support, and supplies.

d) Special course fees shall be separately accounted for and shall not be commingled with other funds; provided however, multiple course fees supporting a common special cost (e.g., language lab, science lab equipment, computer equipment/software, etc.) may be combined. The institution is responsible for managing these fees to ensure appropriate use (i.e., directly attributable to the associated courses) and that reserve balances are justified to ensure that fees charged are not excessive.

e) The institution shall maintain a system of procedures and controls providing reasonable assurance that special course fees are properly approved and used in accordance with this policy, including an annual rolling review of one-third of the fees over a 3-year cycle.

Reference: https://boardofed.idaho.gov/board-policies-rules/board-policies/financial-affairs-section-v/v-r-establishment-of-fees-04-2016/