VCOM College Catalog and Student Handbook

Attendance/Hours of Duty Policy

Observed Holidays VCOM observes the following holidays (certain holidays falling on the weekend will be observed either on the Friday before the holiday or the Monday after the holiday):

Holiday

Date

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Third Monday in January

Memorial Day

Last Monday in May

Independence Day

July 4

1 st Monday in September 4th Thursday in November Friday after Thanksgiving December 24 – January 1

Labor Day

Thanksgiving Day

Day After Thanksgiving

Winter Break

Attendance Requirements for OMS 1 and OMS 2 Students VCOM creates a variety of venues to support a quality learning environment and to assure excellence in teaching. The attendance policy strives to support VCOM students by honoring the students’ varied learning styles while supporting faculty, Course Directors, and Discipline Chairs to maintain the integrity of the curriculum. While all lectures are recorded and are available on VCOMTV for flexible viewing and review, many required interactive academic activities are not captured on VCOM TV including class discussion, interactive sessions, I Clicker quizzes, flipped classroom experiences, group discussions, laboratory experiences, and skills development activities. Participation in these activities keep the students abreast of the curriculum and while this requires regular attendance in order to benefit from the full academic program, VCOM TV allows the student to remain caught up should a student have to miss due to illness or other unexpected absence. Students in the OMS 1 and OMS 2 years are expected to attend all lectures with a minimum acceptable attendance of 70% in each block. For lectures that require a minimum of 70% attendance per block, the 30% of allowable absences is calculated by multiplying .30 by the number of lectures in the block. All absences (excused and unexcused) are included in the 30% of allowable absences. Some learning activities are designated as mandatory learning activities and require 100% attendance: • Basic Science Laboratories Faculty led demonstrations and interactive sessions, including anatomy laboratories, microbiology laboratories, and histology/pathology laboratories. • Clinical Skills Laboratories Faculty supervised demonstrations and practical training of history and physical examination skills, including osteopathic manipulative medicine laboratories, ICC experiences, clinical simulations, and clinical procedural skill laboratories. • Case-Based Learning Faculty facilitated clinical application discussions of course materials self-studied in advance by the students. • Small-Group Learning Faculty facilitated small group learning activities to solve various common basic science and clinical challenges.

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