Course Syllabus: English 1A, Joan Canty
Summer 2008, Section 9580: Online Course Using
BlackBoard
This syllabus contains important and
necessary information about the course. I recommend that you print a copy for
your binder.
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES
ACT: If you have a disability that may affect your performance in this class,
please notify me and/or the Disabled Student Services office (588-5130) within
the first two weeks of the semester, if possible. Your notification will
remain confidential.
This Syllabus is divided into three major
parts:
A. basic information,
"getting started", texts and materials, and contact information;
B. the course organization
and policies; and
C. the Schedule of
Assignments (a brief, preliminary overview).
Part A.
Name: English
1A-College
Course
ID#
9580
This class is a fully online class; no
face-to-face meetings are scheduled, although you may meet with the instructor
during office hours or by appointment. The course software, previously
called WebCT, is now BlackBoard. Any references to WebCT should be
changed to BlackBoard.
Course Description: The following description appears in the college catalog. The
course objectives listed later in this document explain more fully the
topics/skills covered in this class.
Development of college level reading and
composition skills. Emphasis will be on applying techniques of critical
analysis to reading, interpreting, writing, and conducting research.
Writing emphasis will be on the expository essay, including the longer
documented essay. Note: Students will complete a minimum of 8,000
words by the end of the semester. (UC/CSU) (MJC ENGL 101)
Name:
Joan Canty
TECH TIP: Click any
blue underlined text while in the virtual classroom to go immediately to that
place.
INITIAL INFORMATION,
TROUBLESHOOTING, AND CONTACTING THE INSTRUCTOR:
Because we do not meet in a real
classroom, I am making sure that you have a number of ways to contact me.
Please stay in touch. Please notify me IMMEDIATELY if you have computer
or browser problems that cause you to be unable to access BlackBoard or if you
cannot submit assignments through BlackBoard.
Initial information:
College Web site: http://columbia.yosemite.cc.ca.us/cantyj/
IMPORTANT NOTE: BE SURE TO READ THE
ORIENTATION DOCUMENT (UNDER "READ THIS BEFORE YOU START THE CLASS")
ON MY COLLEGE WEB SITE AND ON THE CLASS'S BlackBoard HOME PAGE (UNDER
"START HERE"). IT WILL ANSWER MANY OF THE QUESTIONS YOU HAVE
ABOUT THE CLASS.
HOW TO GET TO
THE CLASs:
BlackBoard
(interactive class site): A few days before the class begins, the College District will
upload the names of the enrolled students into the online class. To get
to the login page: Go to Columbia College home page http://gocolumbia.org/
; in upper left corner click on BlackBoard; then follow directions from the
login page. You can also access this site from my college home page http://columbia.yosemite.cc.ca.us/cantyj/.
PLEASE check your browser and Javascript versions for compatibility with
BlackBoard from the login page. If you find you need updated versions of
browser or Java, the Check Browser link will provide you with links to upload
the updates. Once you log into the class, you will encounter a page My
BlackBoard. Click on the class icon English 1A Summer 2008 9580.
You will now be in the class; Course Tools will be on your left and the class
Home Page is on your right. This class is where you should submit all the
discussion, communication, quizzes, and writing for this course.
If you have login problems, please go to
Troubleshooting, below.
Troubleshooting:
HELP DESK NUMBER (for
problems with login, computer compatibility, and BlackBoard): 588-5282,
588-5385 M-F
http://www.yosemite.edu/helpdesk/
CONTACTING THE INSTRUCTOR:
Class E-mail in
BlackBoard:
Every student in this course has an email account. (Go to Course Tools>Mail)
You can send messages to anyone enrolled in the class including me. NOTE: You
will be not be able to send email to traditional addresses from this account. I
will check this email daily during the week. I consider myself off-duty on
weekends but often check in. Please read the Communication Guidelines
on the class’s home page in BlackBoard that include email etiquette, called
Netiquette. I check my BlackBoard and campus email accounts twice a day, Monday
through Friday, and sometimes on weekends. I will respond to you within
24 hours under normal circumstances; I will announce any change in this policy
in BlackBoard Announcements section.
Campus email: cantyj@yosemite.edu
Web site: Go to the
The following is a direct link to my college home page, which is NOT
included in BlackBoard, the software program that you will be using to access
this course. http://columbia.yosemite.cc.ca.us/cantyj/
(You may also email me from my college
home page.)
PHONE: VOICEMAIL: 588-5100, press 4, ext. 8404. Leave a
message.
MAILBOX: Go into Instruction Office in Manzanita (near Admissions
& Records) and locate mailroom; my mailbox is on the left-hand side.
My mailbox is above my name label
EMERGENCY CONTACT: Sometimes your
computer, or mine, will crash, or a browser may fail, or you may lose
electrical power. On rare occasions the mainframe that supports the class
software, BlackBoard, will fail, or the college Home Page will have difficulties,
or you will not be able to log into BlackBoard. Leave a voice mail for
me, or an email message to my college email address if you can, detailing the
problems you have encountered. I will respond to you within 24
hours. If this is a systemwide problem that I cannot solve, I will notify
the folks who can. You may also contact the Help Desk if the problem lies
with your computer.
Office Hours:
Virtual real-time: Wednesdays 1-2 p.m.
and by appointment; you may log into BlackBoard then and send me a Chat
invitation. You may also issue me a Chat invitation any other time I am
online; check the Who's Online icon under Blackboard Course Tools. I will
be logged into the English 1B class from 2-3 on Wednesdays so may not be able
to respond to your chat invitation in that hour.
Face to face: Wednesdays in my office
from 1-3 p.m. or by appointment.
Office Location: 209-A Tamarack (second floor above the library or
FAX
Number: 209-533-8355
This is my home fax number; if your fax is rejected, email me so I can turn on
the machine!
Campus
Mailbox: Instruction Office,
Ask any of the
Snail-mail
Address:
Textbooks:
The cost of college textbooks has risen
dramatically; thus, I have chosen a shorter main textbook so that students
should be able to spend less than $100 on books for this class. I have
copies of the Behrens and Rosen, Lunsford, and Grealy books at the reserve desk
in the
Notebook or binder: You need a notebook or binder for this class to print out and
collect papers related to class, such as:
· Pages you print
from the weekly Learning Modules
· This Syllabus
· Material that you
print from the Internet
·
Copies of all assignments, including Introductory information, essay
assignments, and communication guidelines
Supplemental Material:
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Part B.
JOAN CANTY’S
COURSE ORGANIZATION & POLICIES
Announcements and Other Information:
You may click on the Announcements icon
either from the My BlackBoard page or from the Course Tools to find important
information and/or changes. Also, check into the class at least three
times a week for emails, updates, information on assignments, and links.
The Homepage is the first page you see each time you enter the class. You can
click Homepage from the Course Tools to get to this page at anytime. If
you click on another icon from the My BlackBoard page, such as email, you will
bypass the Homepage, but be sure to access it afterward.
MAKING SURE YOUR COMPUTER AND BROWSER
WORK EFFECTIVELY WITH BlackBoard (previously known as WebCT); have a backup
computer you can use in case of problems. The
When logging into BlackBoard, you will
get a window that will check your Internet browser and Java version for
compatibility. If you get error messages, you may have to update or
change your browser and Java version, or use another computer. You will
also have to disable the pop-up blocker on your computer browser to access
BlackBoard. One of the most common problems with incompatible JavaScript
is that students cannot attach and upload documents into the Blackboard
assignment drop boxes. NOTE: If you plan on using a computer at your
place of employment, please be sure that the security settings are such that
accessing all the BlackBoard components is possible. Many businesses have
firewalls and other security measures that prevent full BlackBoard
access.
OVERVIEW OF WHAT YOU NEED TO DO WEEKLY
IN THIS CLASS:
Each week there are reading
assignments in Easy Writer, Writing and Reading Across the
Curriculum, Autobiography of a Face, assigned Web links, and Lessons
in the weekly Learning Module. There are weekly writing assignments:
shorter homework exercises, which practice skills needed for the essays, and
longer essay assignments that are due every 2-3 weeks. Almost every week
features a discussion topic; you are responsible for a longer initial
posting (200-250 words) and responses (100-150 words each) to two other
students' initial postings. Almost every week you will have a timed,
open-book quiz on the readings and possibly Web links. Each week I
will try to have goals and objectives listed so you can see how your reading
and writing fit into the larger picture. I do not assign busywork; each
assignment and discussion goes toward other work and skill-building in the
class.
The Course Calendar (see icon
under Course Tools) is meant to facilitate your planning. However, I rely
mainly on the weekly Learning Modules and the Syllabus to show what is
due. If you wish to add your own dates to the Course Calendar for your
convenience, please do so.
Learning Modules (See Icon on Homepage and also listing in Course Tools):
Unlike the Syllabus, which contains course policies and a brief overview of
assigments, the Learning Modules contain updated and complete information about
what is due for the week. IF THE SYLLABUS INFORMATION CONFLICTS WITH THE
LEARNING MODULE INFORMATION, THE LEARNING MODULE INFORMATION TAKES
PRECEDENCE. Learning Modules include the following components, each of
which will be fully explained when you access the Learning Module for each
week.
On Thursday morning of each week, the
Learning Module for the upcoming week will be released. I usually release only
one week at a time because there are assignments that I prefer we work on
together as a class. However, there will also be opportunities to work ahead on
some assignments. Occasionally, I find a need to change a due date. All
changes are announced via the Announcement tool in BlackBoard. Always print out
the assignment sheet, lessons, and essay instructions in hard copy from the
learning modules; there is a printer-ready feature in which you can select
all or part of the items in the weekly learning module. Use the printout
as a checklist as you complete your assignments.
The Learning Module also provides links
to weekly discussions and to quizzes (assessments). However, be sure
you've read all the assignments in the weekly Learning Module before you open
the quiz for that week. Once you have opened the quiz, the timer starts
ticking, and you will have only one chance to take the quiz. If you find
you've opened the quiz in error, contact me immediately. I can reset the
quiz for you in certain circumstances.
Due Date Emergencies: Part of what is needed for an online course are good
time-management skills. I give you ample time to complete the weekly
assignments, quizzes, and discussions, and you should not wait until the last
minute to complete and submit your work. Also, you should save your work
often, and to an external source such as a floppy disk or a flash drive.
Sometimes, however, your browser or computer will time out when you are working
on an assignment or quiz; at times BlackBoard itself, the class software, will not
work. If you cannot submit an assignment or discussion or quiz by the due
date and time because of technical difficulties, here is what you should do:
1) Leave me a voice mail explaining the
difficulty, and 2) send the assignment to me as a Rich Text Format attachment
in a message to my college email address: cantyj@yosemite.edu
If you are unable to use email, then
leave me a voice mail with a callback number and I will contact you. I
may be able to reset a quiz for you.
I will respond to you within 24
hours. If there is a systemwide problem that I cannot solve, I will
notify the folks who can. You may also contact the Help Desk if the
problem lies with your computer. I will extend the due date if the
problem lies with BlackBoard or
I DO NOT ACCEPT LATE WORK OTHER THAN THE
ONE LATE ESSAY OPTION (SEE BELOW). In case of illness or emergency,
please contact me as soon as possible; I will evaluate each situation on a
case-by-case basis.
Grading and Assignments
100 - 90% - A
89 - 80% - B
79 - 70% - C
69 - 60% - D
59 – 0% - F
The major categories are weighted as
follows, based on about 1,000 total points for the class (may vary slightly):
Essays:
550 points, each assigned 1 to 3 weeks apart; these are formal writing
assignments. Each essay builds on the skills learned in the previous
essay and in the weekly writing assignments. Essays 3 and 5 consist of
several components that are due at various times; Essay 3 overlaps Essay 2 at
Discussion postings
165 points (11 weeks @ 15 points)
Quizzes
120 points (approximately)
Weekly Writing Assignments
165 points (approximately)
(homework)
Assignments (which include weekly writing assignments [homework] and
formal writing assignments [essays]) are listed in the weekly Learning Modules
and also under the Assignments icon under Course Tools, and each assignment has
instructions and a drop box.
The Assignments drop box has four tabs:
Inbox, Submitted, Graded, and Published. The Inbox contains what you
haven't yet completed.
Under the Submitted tab are the
assignments you have submitted but that I haven't graded yet.
Under the Graded tab are your graded
assignments with comments from me. Your graded essays with my comments
under the Graded tab will usually be an attachment in this format:
yournamegradedessaynumber.rtf. I have graded your essays in MS Word using
the Tools>Track Changes option, which means my comments should show up in
red on your graded document. Open the graded file to read my
comments. The homework submissions sometimes will be graded, attached
files from me, but more often will have comments directly in the assignment Comment
pane with no attachments from me. If your word processing program doesn't
show my comments on the graded essay, please contact me.
Formal writing (essays): I expect that the final draft you submit will be your best
effort, revised and edited. I will apply the grading standards found on
the course Homepage when grading these essays. For submitting essays,
save your work in Rich Text Format (RTF) and upload to the assignment drop box
as an attachment before the due date. Rich Text Format is necessary
because I cannot open some other formatted documents, such as docx or
wps. It is up to you to make sure that your document is submitted in the
correct format so that I can read it. Do NOT copy and paste essays into
the Submissions pane, as I cannot insert comments into the Submissions pane.
Weekly writing assignments (homework): The shorter writing assignments are less formal than the essays and thus are not graded as closely, but I still expect you to express your thoughts clearly. The purpose of these homework assignments is for you to practice skil