Attendance and Participation 

I want you here with us! Your perspective is valuable, and it wouldn't be the same without you. Attending an online course is achieved by participating in the course, contributing to discussions, asking questions, proposing answers, submitting assignments, and collaborating with your peers. You'll have many opportunities to participate in the coming weeks. 

Online courses turn the idea of attendance on its head. Online, you can "attend" class in your pajamas at 2 am in the morning, or sitting by the pool on a sunny day. Attendance is not marked by your body in a class, but rather by your participation within the class activities. 

Here are the brief "rules" we will follow to guide participation:

• check-in and interact in the course at least twice a week;
• participate in all discussions--the first reply each week is due on Wednesday;
• connect with me beforehand if you are going to be disconnected from the course for more than 3 days.

This course follows a weekly schedule. Each week you will interact with your peers in weekly discussions, and complete a series of activities and assignments. The weekly schedule allows us to learn from one another, and it keeps everyone on a path toward our learning goals.

Your participation is an important part of the success of this course, but we also recognize that you each have other courses, family and friends to visit with, and, because we are human, sometimes we are just swamped or under the weather. If you have reached a point where you can't meet a deadline, please contact me--we will work together to make a path to success. 

Submission/Late Work Policy 

Plan on submitting work on time.  

Every assignment has a due date, rubric, and a deadline for submissions. You are expected to submit assignments on or before the assigned due date, which, in turn, allows me time to review your work and provide meaningful feedback. Due dates have been designed in the course to ensure time is provided to allow you to produce your best work. 

In a fast paced online course like ours, it is incredibly important to submit your work on time. Our class runs on a specific structure. It is vital to submit them on time, so we can work on revising together and help each other through it. Submitting your work on time allows both your classmates and I to be able to review your work, provide you feedback and work as a team. Each due date will be clearly stated under the assignment in the appropriate week. Make sure to double check these dates regularly and maybe even input them into your personal calendars. You can also download the Canvas app, which can send you reminders of these due dates.

I do understand that life happens, and there might be a time when you can't submit your assignment before the due date.  If an extension is needed, I am happy to talk to you about it on one to one basis, but, to remain fair to those submitting on time, these extensions are rare  and lead to a 10% point deduction.  

Don’t want the penalty?

If you recognize a due date might be a problem, advocate for your success by following these steps:

1. Identify the problem
2. Contact me to propose a solution
3. Let's negotiate

Academic Integrity

In this course, I want to help you make choices reflecting integrity and responsible actions. Academic integrity means honesty in academic work. All work and all grades are results from the participants own effort. However, one may feel pressure by the amount of work needed to accomplish a task. Yet violating academic integrity policies can compromise one's academic career.

Plagiarism is using another author’s ideas or writing as your own. This is an English course and we will be doing an extensive amount of writing, so keep in mind that just as it is easy for you to find information to plagiarize, it is also easy for an instructor to catch acts of plagiarism.  

We will learn how to document outside sources, even when we are paraphrasing. If you are caught plagiarizing, it will be reported to the Dean of Student Affairs, and it will be placed on your student record. In addition, you will fail that assignment, and you may fail the course. I consider using online assistance sites, like Grammarly and/or translation services, or other people in your household as forms of plagiarism. While you can of course use a dictionary to look up words, you should be writing on your own and in English, not writing entire sections or essays in another language and then translating them fully. Furthermore, taking anything from any website and changing the words using a thesaurus is still considered plagiarism and will not be tolerated. All of your work will be checked through TurnitIn, which is featured in Canvas and checks your work against the work of other students as well as any information found on the internet. 

Plagiarism not only hurts me but it hurts you as well. I am here to help you become a better writer, and I can’t do that if you do not give me your writing and ideas. I take reporting  plagiarism very seriously, and I do not allow plagiarized assignments to be revised. Also, if you are caught plagiarizing, you will no longer be allowed to complete any extra credit activities.

Communication 

I enjoy hearing from you. No question or concern is too small, and there's no such thing as a "stupid question." With that being said, please talk to me. Send me emails, come into our Zoom office hours, or let me know if you need to see me on campus. If something is going on in your life that may be hindering your ability to participate in our course, let me know. Issues arise in your lives, and I am sure they will arise in mine, so keeping communication open and consistent in key. Hearing from you about anything is never a bother. I much rather talk to you than grade essays. 

What You Can Expect From Me:

• Announcements: Weekly communication will be send through announcements, usually 1-2 a week. 
• • As needed, I will post announcements on our Canvas homepage. You are welcome to reply to my announcements as well.
• Canvas Inbox:
  • I will use the Canvas Inbox to message the entire class. Also, if you start to fall behind, I'll use the Canvas Inbox to check-in with you and learn how I can best support you. I will also respond to all student questions within 24 hours. 
• Feedback on assignments within 48 hours, except for essays, which will be graded within a week
  • Feedback and grading comments: I will provide feedback and grading comments to help you improve your concept attainment and skill mastery in this course. I encourage you to respond to my grading comments and ask questions or begin a dialogue about how to improve your work (if necessary). I will respond to your questions/comments within 24 hours (if not sooner)
• Post a few times within weekly discussion to help guide conversation if needed