Policies and Procedures for Dr. Michelle Parrinello-Cason’s Classes

Families will receive a full refund if they withdraw before the class begins. Families who withdraw after class begins (except for Book Club enrollments) will receive a prorated refund based on the time remaining in the class.

(NOTE: Refunds made more than 30 days from purchase date will be docked a 15% administrative processing fee.)

For the Book Clubs, no refunds are given after the start date because full-month materials are made available to families on the day class begins.

If the withdrawal is for schedule conflicts or a learner struggling with class content (that is either too easy or too hard), I am happy to work with families to try to find solutions.

I try my very best to avoid class cancellations. I often teach classes even if the minimum number of enrollees has not been met. However, I do reserve the right to cancel a class if the minimum enrollment is not met. I will do so 48 hours before class begins and issue full refunds.

In the event of an emergency that requires me to cancel an individual class meeting, I will work with individual learners to find a sufficient make-up strategy. This may include a recorded session or a rescheduled session.

In the rare event of an emergency that requires me to cancel a substantial portion of the class, I will either find a substitute or issue prorated refunds for the class. If I must find a substitute, families will have the option to receive a prorated refund instead of continuing the class.

I recognize that students have different comfort levels and experience with participating in online class environments. Students are welcome to participate in the way that works best for them. While I prefer students to appear on camera and participate via microphone in live classes, I am also okay with students who do not want to appear on camera and use only the microphone or chat box (unless the class is specifically about live participation, which will always be noted in the class description.) 

My classes tend to be fairly involved, so there are often assignments between live meetings for live classes and throughout any other format. I highly encourage students to complete all homework assignments on time as I have designed them to scaffold future work. 

If students cannot complete homework, they are welcome to reach out to me for guidance or a possible extension on the due date. 

If families choose not to do some or all assignments, learners may stay in the class. However, I will only issue letters and certificates of completion to students who have met the assignment threshold as explained in that particular class. (Generally, completion of 70% of the work).

Basically, I welcome families to do what works best for them, but I believe learners will get the best experience if they complete the work assigned. 

Generally speaking, I try to work with students to make the class work as well as possible. If there is a good reason that a learner needs an extension on a due date, please reach out to me. Work that is turned in late may be late receiving feedback. There will be a point for every class (typically two weeks after its end date) where I can no longer accept assignments.

My policies also extend to the way I treat learners in the classroom. I believe that respect is the foundation of positive educational experiences, so I have the following policies in place to help ensure that my respect for learners is centered in my interactions.

• I will call learners by their preferred name and pronouns.
• I will announce methods to get my attention in the case that a learner is having trouble being heard in class. These can include using the “raise hand” button, sending me a private message, or creating alternative ways for a learner to participate that works best for them.
• I will do my best to accommodate requests for alterations that help make materials accessible.
• I will be available for questions outside of class and answer those questions in a timely manner (generally within 24 hours).
• I will give feedback in a constructive way that respects the efforts learners have made.
• I will be understanding of learner differences and individual personalities and be as flexible as possible as I strike a balance between keeping the class productive for everyone and allowing room for everyone’s individual needs.

It is important to me that all students have a safe and enjoyable classroom experience, so I have some behavioral guidelines to reach that goal.

In addition, many classes involve creating a joint guidelines document where learners negotiate their own classroom expectations.

My general behavioral guidelines are as follows (and will also be announced directly to students in an age-appropriate way):

• Mute microphones if there is excessive background noise
• If we are in a large class, you may have to use the “raise hand” feature before speaking
• No mean-spirited comments in discussion boards (disagreements should be handled respectfully)
• Students must wear clothing when on camera
• No flooding the chat with off-topic content
• No name calling, bullying, or unwanted private messaging
• No sharing contact information with other students without parent permission
• No disruptive behavior that distracts other learners (such as constantly changing background screen, changing screen name to something silly, making faces at the camera, etc.)

We live in a world with rapidly-evolving technological advancements and learning tools. It can be challenging to fully understand where the line between your work ends and the work of others begins — especially when many programs have embedded AI tools. 

My policy on academic honesty and AI use is, generally, this: All learners should strive to do work that challenges them to do their own thinking, present ideas with integrity, and ethically credit others for ideas or work they have used to produce their own projects. 

Depending on the class or project, there may be more specific guidelines on using/not using particular AI tools. In general, these policies for academic honesty and AI tools are in place: 

• The use of built-in spellcheck, grammar check, and style suggestions are acceptable. Learners should review these suggestions and make their own judgments on whether the suggested change accurately reflects their goals. (Don’t just accept the changes without thinking about them! They’re often wrong!)
• The use of AI text generators (like ChatGPT, Bard, etc.) are generally discouraged since we’re in classes designed to learn how to write. If you do use a tool like this, it should be in limited, controlled ways where you are making informed decisions about the final product.
  • An unacceptable use of these tools would be to have the program craft full paragraphs or entire essays. 
  • An acceptable use of these tools would be to have the program generate an outline based on your brainstorms. 
• It is possible that your project could justify more extended use of AI tools. (For example, you might write a paper about AI and its potential for usefulness or abuse.) In those cases, you must disclose clearly and plainly which parts of the text are generated by AI. (You could do this by announcing it in the text, including a footnote, marking it with an asterisks and explaining the use at the end of the paper, etc.) 
• All sources you’ve used to gain information beyond “common knowledge” must be properly cited. Classes involving source use will generally include instruction on the MLA-style citation systems. When in doubt about whether something counts, go ahead and cite it! 
• Do your own work! Getting feedback from a parent, tutor, friend, etc. is an encouraged part of the writing process, but the decisions about what you write and the words themselves should be your own. I’d much rather see messy ideas that are your own than polished ones that are someone else’s. Writing is thinking, and it’s your thoughts I want to read! 
• If you ever feel confused about whether something is acceptable, get in touch! I’m happy to discuss it with you so you can make an ethical, fair decision about the work you do. 

If I suspect academic dishonesty, I will generally give learners a chance to explain their choices and (if appropriate) redo the assignment. Repeated violations of academic honesty may result in failing grades (for those who opt into numerical grading), no course completion letter, and no feedback (I don’t want to spend my time reading work written by robots!) 

The most important thing is that we’re here with (I hope) the same goal: to work toward your improved writing, analysis, and critical thinking skills. If we keep that goal in mind, we can navigate the rest together!

My top priority is that all learners get the best experience they can out of the class. This means that my response to behavioral concerns is to address the individual problem with the least amount of disruption to the student concerned as possible. In general, I try to mitigate a specific behavior rather than remove a student from the classroom or limit their participation. Here are some examples of ways that I may address behavioral issues in order from least to most invasive:

• Disable particular functions of the online classroom (for example, turn off private chat, manually mute microphones, turn off a video feed)
• Privately reach out to students to ask them to stop the behavior during class
• Reach out to students and their families to brainstorm a solution to a behavioral issue outside of class
• Require a parent/guardian to be present during live sessions in the event of repeat behavioral violations
• Remove a student from live sessions but allow them to continue in the rest of the course and send recordings
• Remove a student from the class

In the very rare event that a student is removed from a class for behavioral concerns, a prorated refund will be given.

It is important to me that learners feel safe and supported in the classroom. It is also important that I have the ability to document and investigate any safety concerns. I record live sessions and store them for a period of 12 months.

I do not share these recorded sessions publicly or with other learners in the class (any make-up sessions will include a video summary without learner participation to protect learner privacy).

I may share recordings with individuals (such as parents/guardians of involved participants) involved in the discussion of any classroom incident if necessary for a safety issue or a third-party (such as a charter school) as required by their safety protocols.

Just as I have an academic honesty and AI use policy for students, I think it is only fair and reasonable that I have one for myself. 

In general, here’s my promise: The materials I provide in classes are my own and/or will be presented with ethical, clear reference to their creators. 

Here are some ways that I may use work from others and from AI tools: 

• I often provide quotes, details, facts, and statistics from research I have independently conducted. I will provide references where applicable. 
• I may use built-in AI tools in subscription services I use to create teaching materials to enhance the student experience. These include the following:
  • AI-generated design templates on Canva and Mailchimp. 
  • Auto-generated captions for video using Otter. 
  • Spellcheck and grammar check in Word and Google Suite. 

Here are some ways I will NOT use work from others and from AI tools:

• I will never use AI as a replacement for research. I promise to read, analyze, and synthesize information from outside sources myself. 
• I will never use AI to generate significant portions of written materials. My words will be my own. 
• I will not plagiarize others’ work and present it as my own. I will cite my sources and provide information for students to explore them on their own.

Safety in Live Meetings

I use the “Waiting Room” so that learners cannot enter the classroom until I am present and open the class. This ensures I am present to observe group activity in live meetings and that strangers cannot enter our classroom.

I am well-versed in the safety features to shut off cameras, turn off chat, eject a participant from a meeting. 

In the rare event that there is an incident during a live meeting that jeopardizes student safety (sexually explicit content, threats of violence, etc.), I will contact Parents/Guardians (using contact info given in the Welcome Survey) as soon as possible. 

Private Chat in Live Meetings

Typically, I leave the feature for students to chat individually with other classmates on for small, ongoing classes. Learners are encouraged to communicate any abuse of this feature, and I reserve the right to turn it off at any time. Learners can also adjust their own device settings to make chat less obtrusive/distracting for their personal experience.

Breakout Rooms in Live Meetings

I often utilize breakout rooms as a way to break learners into smaller discussion groups. 

Research shows the use of these smaller discussion opportunities are pedagogically important to processing and synthesizing information. (Put simply, learners learn better when they can talk about it in smaller groups and with peers.) 

I cannot directly supervise all breakout rooms simultaneously, but I do move between them to check in. Learners also have access to a “Help” button (that they can press anonymously from peers) to call my attention to a room for any reason. 

As such, learners may be  unsupervised with peers for short periods of time in virtual spaces. 

Discussion Boards

I use internal discussion boards that are not accessible by people outside of the classroom. I monitor these discussion boards periodically (typically weekly). I have policies in place about respectful discussion board use. 

In the rare event that content on the discussion boards breaks these policies, I will take action as soon as possible and contact the Parents/Guardians of impacted learners (using contact information from the Welcome Survey). 

Sharing Personal Information

Learners are instructed to never share physical addresses via the discussion boards or live meeting chats. 

Learners are instructed to only share personal contact information (such as email addresses, social media accounts, etc.) with parent/guardian permission.