The McGill School of Information Studies is committed to excellence of instruction in support of student learning outcomes, and to further program, School, and University goals and missions. Our goal is that all SIS instructors are well-informed of School and University guidelines, policies, and regulations related to instruction; information is easily accessible, accurate and up-to-date, and is promoted and referred to on a regular basis.
The resources below are designed to ensure that instuctors are informed of pertinent policies and resources and to support the ongoing professional development of instructors in their capacity to provide the highest quality teaching in stimulating, satisfying learning environments.
- New SIS instructors: carefully review the information below prior to teaching. If you have any questions whatsoever, please see the contacts below.
- Established instructors & faculty are to check this page on an annual basis, at minimum.
Getting started
>> Teaching preparation checklist
Get started with myCourses
For information and self-serve training materials, please visit the myCourses website.
SIS encourages all instructors to contact the Educational Technology Consultants from McGill's Content and Collaboration Solutions (CCS) to set up an initial appointment to discuss the many options available for developing a dynamic and interactive myCourses interface for their courses. You may submit this form to request a one-on-one consultation or custom workshop.
Get to know the School's teaching and learning goals and McGill regulations
>> MISt program goals & learning outcomes
Office space, office support, and technology resources
Includes information on: building access, telephones, mailboxes, offices, assignment collection, copy cards, and room bookings
All instructors are provided with temporary office space and access to laptops for classroom instruction. Please speak to Caterina Venetico, Administrative Coordinator.
Get connected with resources and instructional support
Familiarize yourself with resources and support available to you as a SIS instructor, including those available through McGill's Teaching & Learning Service and the McGill Library.
Guidelines, policies, and regulations
School of Information Studies
Course Duration and Exams
Classes normally meet for 3 hours/week throughout the semester, as determined by the length of the semester. In both the Fall and Winter semesters, there is a one-week study break. If a final examination is to be held, this should take place in the week following the 12th class. If you are having a mid-term or final exam, please inform the SIS Administrative Coordinator by week 2 of your class so that arrangements for invigilation can be made.
Class Tests/Mid-Terms
Class tests should be scheduled during regular class time. Instructors should avoid scheduling tests on religious holidays. See the following site for dates: https://www.mcgill.ca/importantdates/holy-days-0
Times or dates of tests should not be announced or changed after the end of the add/drop period. Examination booklets for exams should be requested from the SIS Administrative Coordinator.
Final Exam
(See important dates for examination period.)
Written examinations (including take-home examinations) shall not be held during the last two weeks of scheduled classes during the fall and winter terms, except where a pattern of continuous evaluation has been established, in which case the total value of examinations given in this period shall comprise no more than 10% of the final mark.
If the written examinations in a course constitute 50% or more of the final mark, one of these shall be given as a final written examination; and it shall take place during the examination period after the last day of scheduled lectures in December or April.
Final examinations, including take-home examinations and examinations invigilated in the School must be scheduled during the final examination period in order to avoid conflicts with students’ examinations in other courses. Formal final examinations must have a minimum weight of 25%. The duration of formal final examinations is three hours. A McGill ID card with photo is required for admission to all final examinations.
Instructors should inform Cathy Venetico by week 2 of the term, regarding mid-term and final examinations in their courses, so that invigilators can be found.
Grade Changes
The Mark Submission/Change form is used to submit mark changes, such as the grade following a K grade. The reason for the mark change must be clearly stated. You can get information about this form from Kathryn Hubbard, the Administrative & Student Affairs Coordinator. See note above for deadlines.
Disciplinary Issues or Problems
Instructors who encounter disciplinary issues, plagiarism allegations, or other problems should first consult with the School of Information Studies Master's Graduate Program Director (GPD) for advice and appropriate procedures. After discussion with the GPD, problems involving McGill graduate students that cannot be resolved at the School level are referred to the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Office.
Questions
The School of Information Studies Director can be consulted for clarification of any points concerning your role and responsibilities as an instructor.
McGill Guidelines & Policies Related to Teaching
>> https://www.mcgill.ca/tls/instructors/policies
McGill academic integrity information & resources for instructors
Course outlines
Course descriptions, as specified in the Handbook on Student Rights and Responsibilities, must be distributed during the first week of classes to all students enrolled in graduate courses or seminars. Instructors must also submit the same information to their unit, where it must be kept on file for at least one year.
Required statements for course outlines
IMPORTANT: All McGill instructors must include required McGill course outline statements in official syllabi.
>> TLS Course Outline Guide
Reference copies of course outlines for web
The School requests instructors to provide reference copies of syllabi for web posting prior to each semester, as applicable. Reference syllabi help prospective and current students with course selection, among other uses.
Although some instructors may prefer to release a full outline for posting, these do not need to be full outlines, but may be truncated or summarized in the manner preferred by the instructor. These outlines are for unofficial, reference purposes; official syllabi are available in MyCourses to students registered in specific classes.
Before submitting, instructors should be aware of the information found in the SIS Website Guidelines for Posting Web Syllabi document below.
>> SIS Guidelines for Posting Web Syllabi
Support for instructors
The McGill Teaching and Learning Services site is McGill's main hub for instructional information, resources, and support, including: policies & guidelines, course design, course evaluations, workshops & events, & FAQs
>> Library resources for instructors
Course evaluations
The MERCURY system is key to McGill’s ongoing work to provide students with enriching learning experiences. Student involvement in this process is critical to enhance the general quality of teaching and learning and all students are strongly encouraged to participate.
As taken from https://www.mcgill.ca/gps/staff/graduate/courses
Instructors may add up to three questions to their course evaluation questionnaire. This is an opportunity to receive feedback more specific to the course context or on particular areas of focus, such as new teaching strategies.
Evaluation of graduate courses and seminars can be used:
- to provide feedback for improvement;
- as part of a teaching dossier for tenure or promotion review;
- to help students choose courses.
Evaluations should be conducted for all graduate courses and seminars. It is suggested that evaluations draw on several sources of information in addition to students, such as the instructor, other faculty attending the seminar, and/or professionals from Teaching and Learning Services (formerly CUTL) who have been consulted by the instructor.
Units are encouraged to develop appropriate methods to evaluate their graduate courses and seminars and to share information about useful evaluation procedures with other units. Information about methods for evaluating courses may be obtained from Teaching and Learning Services (formerly CUTL).
It is understood that many graduate courses and seminars have limited enrollment, which may compromise the validity of statistical summaries of student reports. Any evaluations of small courses (as defined by the unit) should be used mainly for purposes of feedback to the instructor.
When conducting student evaluations of graduate courses and seminars, units must safeguard respondents' confidentiality in a number of ways:
- Evaluation forms must be collected and returned to the person responsible for administering the evaluations by someone other than the instructor.
- The instructor of the course must not be present when students fill out course evaluations.
- Information regarding evaluations must not be made available to an instructor until all grades have been submitted.
- Units should adopt special steps to maintain respondents' confidentiality in small courses or seminars.
The results of the evaluations are made available to the chair of the unit and to the instructor.
Students should have access (e.g., through library reserve or the unit's Graduate Program Office) to summaries of the evaluations under the conditions that:
- the summaries include only information pertinent to students and exclude individual comments;
- the instructor has had an academic teaching appointment for more than two years at any university;
- a minimum number and percentage of students in the class (fixed by the unit) have responded to the course evaluation;
- the instructor has granted written permission to allow such access. Instructors may grant or withhold permission to publicize evaluations independently for graduate and undergraduate teaching and independently for large and small graduate courses or seminars.
Unions
McGill Course Lecturers and Instructor's Union (MCLIU)
Technology
See the IT page for technology-related information.
Please note: A laptop must be brought to the classroom as there are no computers in the classes. If you do not want to bring your own laptop to class, Netbook loaners are available from the School, and will be made available to you for the duration of the term in which you are teaching.
Contacts
- Graduate Program Director (Master's): General questions re: MISt program and courses. Teaching-related issues or concerns.
- Graduate Program Director (PhD): Questions re: PhD program and courses.
- Director:
- Administative Coordinator (C. Venetico): Instructor space, instructor laptops, SIS building access, sessional instructor contract questions.