Posting made December 12
The final exam is now posted. Note that it is very important that you follow through with our course communication policies. If you don't receive a reply within 48 hours of sending an assignment, you need to follow those policies that are listed below. When you send your final exam I should send a reply within a day.
Note that the course grade that shows is not necessarily how the point totals will add up to at the end of the semester. The syllabus point totals still ultimately determine your final grade, although I think the Blackboard gradebook grade should come out close. The final participation point total will be determined by the formula listed below (percentage of total possible points). So if you have 90% on your participation total, you will receive 27 points in that category. Just add your total essay points and participation points and compare with the grade scale to know your final grade.
The essay scores are based on 10 points and are roughly equal to the following grades:
10-9 = A, 8 = B, 7 = C, 6 = D
Keep track of your point totals and match them with the syllabus grade scale. I recommend having a class folder in your email client and keeping all the assessments and scores I send you there, but I also have your grades posted on Blackboard.
Discussion board postings are based on credit points. We will have one "Major Posting" worth double credit. I might be a bit off on this, but participation points will be about 27% of your final grade. The number of points you receive will be based on the percentage of credits earned. For example, if you earn 9 out of 10 credits (90%), you would then get 90% of participation points (27).
Course Policies and Information
Make sure to keep in contact. If you are struggling with the readings or writings, please take time to ask questions and give an update if you are not able to send in an assignment during the week.
If you don't receive a reply from me on an assignment or question within 48 hours, please send a follow-up message. If you don't receive a reply to your follow-up e-mail, then definitely use my voice mail. This can be found on our syllabus. If e-mail correspondence isn't working, definitely use the phone, however, use e-mail first, as voice mail is much less efficient in the online course.
Plagiarism is a common problem in academics and seems especially so in on-line classes. Some students copy directly from Internet sites, other texts or even other students' papers and fail to include quotation marks and citation. I run into numerous incidents of this each semester and am becoming increasingly less tolerant of this problem. I will approach incidents of plagiarism on a case by case basis. However, at the minimum, expect a failing grade in the paper if plagiarism is found. Also expect that I will file an incident report with Citrus College's Dean of Student Activities. At the maximum, you will also receive an F in the course. Any questions? If so, please send them via email so we can make sure this doesn't happen to you.