Fall 2019 Course Syllabi

1. Submit at least one initial post to the discussion question and two substantive peer posts (responses) per discussion week. Substantive means that you must take time in formulating your response, organizing your own thoughts and incorporating the reading materials (you should be citing parts of the book and/or other reading materials in your posts). You must demonstrate evidence of critical thinking and prompt further discussion of the topics among your classmates. Even if there is only one discussion question for a particular week, you must still have three substantive posts(initial and two peer responses). Your initial post should include an APA formatted in-text citation and reference. This is where most students miss points given that they do not provide research for their work or do not put an in-text citation in their post. 2. Submit at least two additional posts directly to your classmates. These posts may be shorter than your two substantive responses, but must be more significant than one-word responses. This is your opportunity to discuss the information further with your classmates or to discuss whether you agree or disagree and state why or why not. Remember to stay on or at least close to the topic of leadership. (For example: “I love shopping at Walmart” is not an appropriate response in a discussion about leadership training at Walmart - that has nothing to do with leadership.) Try to focus on meaningful discussion vs. your number of posts, otherwise it becomes clear that you are posting just to try to meet the requirements. You can respond to any of the questions that I post as that can count as a peer response. You need to have at least one paragraph(3- 4 sentences) for your post to count. WHEN AND HOW OFTEN DO I POST? In addition to quality, also included in your grade is the frequency with which you are “in class,” in other words the amount of times you log onto Blackboard and participate throughout each week. I keep a close eye on this and you will lose points if you do not meet the minimum requirements. Although some students choose to log on every day, that is NOT a requirement for this class! Once you are in a routine, the requirements should be very reasonable. In order to earn full points, you are required to participate at least once between each Sunday and Thursday and once between each Thursday and Saturday of every discussion week (your additional posts can fall anywhere during the week). Here are some guidelines to help you with your participation each week. • Log on by each Sunday afternoon and read the activities/assignments for the week. • Post your first substantive response between Sunday and Thursday. • Post some replies to your classmates and another substantive response between Thursday and Saturday, finishing up the discussion by Saturday at 11:59 p.m. • Do not fall into the cycle of waiting until the last minute to participate! Students who only participate on the last couple of days of our discussion week consistently earn minimum points. It is also disrespectful to your classmates who have taken the time to participate all week! DISCUSSIONS CAN’T BE MADE UP…ever! Our discussion weeks end on Saturdays at 11:59 p.m. Any posts made to the weekly discussion after this time will not count toward your weekly point total. And, unless you absolutely have to make another statement, please refrain from posting anything after the deadline. It is inconsiderate to your fellow students who are ready to move on to the next week and have to go back to read late posts. Weekly discussion is the opportunity for the class to discuss the topics each week. Therefore, there are no opportunities for you to make up a week of discussion if you miss one. Your peers are waiting on you to reply, so start early! Please do not ask for extra credit beyond this under any circumstances because there really are no exceptions! REQUIRED FORMAT (Read carefully…) You must begin every message with an appropriate greeting. For example, if your message is to the entire class, “Class,” “Dear Class,” “Class and Lisa,” “Hello Everyone,” etc. If your message is in response to a person or persons, “Lisa,” “Mary and John,” etc. You must also end every message by signing your first name. I expect you to spend time making sure you are communicating professionally in this class. This means proper spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. Writing your posts similar to the way you text message friends is not appropriate! Pay close attention to where you are posting your messages to make sure the discussion stays organized and easy for everyone to follow. When you are responding to a question or to another person’s posts, you should reply to the specific message, not create a new thread. For example, you should reply to a weekly discussion question with your answer. I would recommend changing the subject of your posts to make it easier to review. HOW IS THE GRADING DONE? The grading for weekly discussion is worth 50 points per discussion week. The specific point breakdown is as follows: