101 My Expectations

This is a regular college course. I expect the same commitment to time and quality as I do in the classroom. The big difference is that internet study is student-centered rather than teacher-centered. This means that you are responsible for your own learning and success. If you are highly motivated, log on and participate at least 6 times in each seminar, work hard on the tests and produce a high quality paper – you will be successful. However, if you log on sporadically, participate minimally, or submit poor work – you will not. On-line higher education is aimed at independent learners. If you require the structure of a classroom, this method will not suit you.

Here is a big, big difference between this course and other on-line courses you may have taken. Every opinion that you post in the seminars must be backed up with evidence from the text, a web site, or a detailed personal experience. This is an absolute rule and I am very strict about enforcing it.  I grade every seminar post and deduct major points if evidence is not provided to support the view being expressed.  It is expected that students will treat each other in a respectful and civil fashion in the seminars. Obscene language that would disrupt seminar discussions is prohibited.

Cheating is defined as giving or receiving help on an assignment. This will result in an ‘F’ for that assignment and the lowering of the overall course grade by one full letter. Further information can be found in the Academic Dishonesty Procedure, Penalties, and Appeal Process sections of the Student Handbook.

I will not accept an exam, assignment or seminar response after its due date unless you have a good explanation for why it is late. You must communicate the explanation to me through course mail. If a problem arises in your life that prevents you from doing the work for awhile, let me know about it as soon as it occurs. I am much more likely to let you submit late work if you let me know in advance that you will miss a deadline. When people tell me they did not submit an assignment that was due two weeks ago because of a certain reason, it is very unlikely that I will accept the excuse.

Here is another big expectation that I have. Take enough pride in your work to care about spelling. Before you submit a seminar post, short answer test, or research paper, I expect you to use the spell checker. It only takes a few seconds to do this. It is very slipshod and unprofessional to a send a message with spelling errors. This includes when you communicate with me in the Talk With the Professor area, the Bulletin Board area and through the message center.