Spring 2019 Course Syllabi

Professionalism: In this class, you are a professional-in-training and as such will act like one. Remember that professionals are people who earn and give respect based on their actions. I insist on a class that maintains respect regarding others’ ideas, thoughts, and perspectives. At any time, if I feel students are not respecting each other or me, I will deal with the situation accordingly. This may require removing the disrespectful student(s) from the class altogether, in which case those students will be required to receive administrative consent before returning. Threaded Discussions: To receive full credit for a discussion post, a student will do the following: Respond and fully address the initial question; reply with a substantive post to two or more peers and follows up on questions asked of you while the discussion is current according to the weekly schedule. Note: A substantive reply is one that acknowledges what peers have said, expands on what was said, asks questions, or otherwise re-engages and expands the discussion. Formatting Assignments: The body text of all assignments will be formatted in double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point font, on a page setup with one-inch margins on every side. Always include your name, my name, assignment name, and due date in the upper left-hand corner. If you make your fonts or your margins bigger, I can tell. Don’t do it -- it makes you look lazy and silly. Netiquette: Communication in an online environment can be tricky because physical cues and auditory cues like intonation and loudness to help us decipher the communicator's meaning and intent are absent. Violation(s) of the netiquette policy may result in being removed from the course. Given that we only have the written word to determine a communicator's intent, here are some guidelines to keep in mind when communicating with the instructor or other students (such as posts on the discussion board):  When you are posting comments on the discussion board, remember that you are addressing the class as a whole, not just the instructor, so do not say anything that you would not say publicly.  Read your messages before you send them.  Avoid using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE INTERPRET ALL CAPITAL LETTERS AS SHOUTING.  Online discussions can be rather informal, but try to express yourself using proper spelling, capitalization, grammar, and punctuation so that your message can be clearly understood.  Do not use text and chat abbreviations (e.g., OMG, BTW) because not everyone will know these abbreviations.  Always respond to other people respectfully; do not attack.  Avoid offensive language because as a college student you should be learning to express yourself more eloquently than the average person.  Do not make discriminatory or hurtful comments about anyone based upon race, sex, gender identity, disability, religion, and sexual orientation. Remember, we live in a world that has a lot of diversity of beliefs and customs.  Be careful when using humor and sarcasm because humor is highly subjective. Consider using emoticons {e.g., :) ;-) :-0 } if you are not sure whether the reader will know you are making a joke. Humorous comments are a great way to help people get to know you, but again, carefully scrutinize the comments you make; many psychologists argue that most humor is a form of aggression because there is typically a victim in a joke. (If you doubt this viewpoint, watch a stand-up comedian on TV or the internet and you will notice that there is typically a victim, i.e. a blonde, redneck, etc., in the jokes; sometimes the victim is the comedian him-/herself.)  When you send an e-mail message, make sure that the subject line accurately describes what the message is about.