26 Communication and Classroom Etiquette

Helpful Strategies for Students

Here are some guidelines for appropriate classroom and communication etiquette to ease your interactions with your classmates and instructors.

• While it may seem like an ideal time for you to grab a bite and eat in class, the sounds and odors of your food often make other students uncomfortable or hungry, and the garbage can be overwhelming in our classrooms. If you promise not to eat in class, we promise that we won’t come lecture to you while you are at a restaurant with your friends or family!
• Please turn off your cell phones while you are in class. An active phone is an active distraction. While you may mean to just check the time, before long you are checking your email, responding to a quick text, and updating your Instagram. If you have an emergency that requires you to be available, please turn your phone to silent and leave it in your bag. Using your phone in class is highly distracting to your classmates and is disrespectful to your professor. All our classrooms have clocks, so using your phone to check the time is not an excuse.
• Please read the syllabus before each class.
• Make sure you have access to the textbook for each class. The library has reserve copies of most texts, the Palomar College Foundation has textbook scholarships, zero cost textbooks can be found on the department website, and there are many rental programs available to get texts for reduced rates. Your reading is important.
• Be on time to class. Even if you are only 5 minutes late, you likely missed some important information, answers to questions, or lecture information. Similarly, please don’t leave early. Class time is important and necessary. The department expectation is that classes will meet for the full scheduled time each week, with rare exceptions. Please respect your instructors and your fellow classmates’ time and attention to class.
• When you call or email a professor, PLEASE include your full name, the class you are referring to, and your contact information. Faculty teach a variety of courses and have multiple students to support each semester. It is difficult for to answer questions if we can’t easily discern who you are.
• When you email an instructor, please make sure that in addition to including your full name and class information (see above), that you use appropriate greetings, signatures, and avoid using text abbreviations.
• Learn your teacher’s name, especially if you need to drop off papers for an instructor. There may be multiple sections of a course each semester, so we cannot ensure that your communications get to the appropriate instructor if you do not know whose class you are in.
• If you choose to use a laptop to take notes in class, please know that your instructor has the right to ask you to change where you are sitting. Do not use class time to surf the internet, check your email, or update your social media status. Maintain respect to your instructor and your classmates.
• Avoid side talking during class. This is extremely distracting to everyone in the classroom.
• Respect the learning environment as a safe space. For productive discussions to take place, all students must trust that information shared during class discussion, lectures, or online are kept confidential by all class members and the instructor.
• Be a good group member and good classmate. CHDV classes incorporate group work, whether in assignments or in class for exercises and discussion. Follow through on your promises to your classmates, be on time, do your part, and communicate often. Additionally, make sure you are being fair to your group members.