English 125 Online
  Writing Skills For College ~ Reedley College
Fall 2005

Section 53014
Mandatory Face to Face Meetings in INC-1 from 1:00-4:00 pm
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Saturday, October 1, 2005
Saturday, November 19, 2005	
	
Instructor:  Ms. C. Karle
Office:  A-Annex #4
Office #:  638-3641 ext. 3421
E-mail: carey.karle@reedleycollege.edu 	On Campus Office Hours:
Tuesday 9:30-10:30 am
Thursday 9:30-10:30 am
Friday 7:30-8:30 am
Arranged	

Table of Contents

Course Description	Required Course Work	Essential Information	
Course Outcomes	Grading Scale	Accommodations for Students with Disabilities	
Required Texts	Weekly Schedule	Helpful Hints	
Computer Requirements	Paper Policy	Important Dates	
	Attendance	Notes About Technology	

Course Description:
The purpose of this course is to assist you on your journey to becoming a better writer.  Before you can become a better or stronger writer, you must believe that writing well is important and serves a purpose in your life.  You have to be willing to constantly ask yourself, "What am I trying to say?"  Then, you must challenge yourself to answer this question honestly and fully.  

This course emphasizes the development of the process of writing, revising, and finishing short papers, including the logical development and organization of ideas; avoiding common writing errors; developing reading skills by reading model essays and analyzing rhetorical strategies; developing critical thinking skills by matching the structures of writing to meaning and audience, and by using writing as thinking, to explore and express ideas.

We will be using Blackboard as our classroom.  Our classroom Blackboard contains documents, announcements and other information needed for our course; in addition; Blackboard allows for e-mailing and online discussions.  There are various tabs to the left of the screen in Blackboard.  These tabs lead you to necessary and supplementary documents, to all assignments and schedules, and more.  You can access our Blackboard directly from the Reedley College Website (click on the “Online Classes” link):
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Course Outcomes:
•	Prewrite constructively to generate ideas and determine ideas, opinions, positions, and ultimately theses and plans
•	Respond to a prompt quickly and independently 
•	Write a developed in class essay with a clear thesis and support
•	Write with some sophistication:  introduction should be more than a thesis; a conclusion should be more than a summary; an essay should have ample substance
•	Plan and revise fairly independently employing all stages of the writing process as necessary and appropriate
•	Recognize and revise common errors such as problems with comma splices throughout a piece
•	Construct idiomatically correct sentences although there may be an “accent” resulting from a consistent type of ESL error
•	Use a variety of rhetorics and structures, including documented sources
•	Use MLA style with some guidance to set up papers and document sources
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Required Texts:
Clouse, Barbara Fine.  A Troubleshooting Guide for Writers:  Strategies and Process.  4th ed.  Boston:  McGraw-Hill, 2005.
Gaines, Ernest J.  A Lesson Before Dying.  New York:  Vintage Contemporaries, 1993.
 The Mercury Reader: A Custom Publication for C. Karle English 125 Fall 2005 (ISBN 0536935394).  Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2005.
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Computer Requirements:
Skills Needed:
•	Familiarity with computers (knowing where the power switch is located, for example) 
•	Know the basics of word processing (saving files, using spell check, moving text, etc.) 
•	Know how to access the Internet and navigate the Internet (use a browser, utilize search engines, save and or print from the Internet)
•	Know how to send e-mail and e-mail with attachments

Hardware Needed
•	Pentium (PC) or Mac equivalent
•	Home Internet access is desirable.  You can use the computers on campus; however, they are not always available, so you will need to find out when each lab is open and available for drop-in use.  You should also know if your local library has computers available with Internet access.  If your home computer crashes, is in need of repair, or you lose Internet access, you need an alternative way to complete the required work for this class.

E-Mail
An e-mail address is essential. If you do not currently have one, you should set one up through Reedley College, Hotmail or Yahoo. These accounts are free and available through any computer that has Internet access; however, the Reedley College account must be activated first from campus. I will use e-mail to communicate with the class as a whole, with groups, and with individuals. Whether you have Internet and e-mail access at home or on campus, you should plan on checking your e-mail at least every other day—once a day is preferred. 

Word Processing Formats 
The most common word processing format is Microsoft Word. If you use another word processing program, you will need to find out how to save your work as Rich Text Format (RTF) file.  Guidelines for how to save in RTF are found under the Course Documents tab of the classroom Blackboard.  Please, do not use Microsoft Works or any other program that does not allow for easy conversion.    Using WordPad is unacceptable.  If you have WordPad, you must plan to visit a local library—public or school—to convert your work before sending it for review or as the final product.
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Required Course Work:
Class Participation 							Required
Quizzes								  5%
Reflections, Postings, Cover Letters, Journals, Homework, etc.	10%
In Class Essays							13%
One Essay for Online tutorial Review and 1-page response		  2%
Essays									70%

Class participation is defined as reading the class assignments; joining in the exchange of opinions in group and whole class discussion; starting appropriate new items for discussion; and perhaps most important of all, asking questions.

When figuring your final Quiz grade, I will drop the two lowest grades and average the remaining scores.  A missed quiz is equal to a zero, and no make-ups are allowed.

I do not accept late work, nor do I allow for make up work.  This means you need to be in class (online) and do the work as assigned.  (Return to Table of Contents)

Grading Scale:
	90-100 %  =  A
	80-  89%   =  B
	70-  79%   =  C
	60-  69%   =  D
	  0-  59%   =  F

I use a program called Micrograde to record grades.  Each time I update grades, I will send an email that will include the link along with a user name and password so you can check your grade.
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Weekly Schedule:
For the weekly schedule refer to the Course Information tab of the classroom Blackboard.  Then click on the “Tentative Semester Schedule.”  Here you will find reading assignments, posting due dates, essay due dates, and more. 

Each week’s assignments will be emailed to you by Sunday evening and will also be posted on the announcements page of the Blackboard.
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Paper Policy:
•	All papers must be revised and typed in accordance with MLA guidelines.  All work leading to your final paper must be kept—for example, all prewriting, rough drafts, peer responses, and any other work produced.  There are no exceptions to this policy.

•	Guidelines for each essay, as well as how to name the essay for sending through the digital drop box, are found on the Blackboard under the Assignment’s tab.

•	Word Processing Formats:  The most common word processing format is Microsoft Word. If you use another word processing program, you will need to find out how to save your work in Rich Text Format (RTF).  Guidelines for how to save in RTF are found under the Course Documents tab of the classroom Blackboard.  Please do not use Microsoft Works or any other program that does not allow for easy conversion.

•	If you do not turn in an essay on time, you can turn it in up to one week after the due date.  After this one-week “grace” period, you can not turn in the essay.  In addition, any essay turned in during this grace period will be read and docked one full letter grade.

•	Essays are to be turned in via the “Digital Drop Box” and are due as posted in the schedule.  Guidelines for accessing and using the Digital Drop Box are found under the Course Documents tab of the classroom Blackboard.  

•	Should I discover while reading your essay that you have not run spell check or sufficiently proofread and edited your work, I will discontinue reading and return the essay to you.  You will then have until the following week to revise the paper (the return date will be clearly marked for you).  The highest grade such a "returned" paper can receive is a "C".

•	You will be required to post some of your essays in progress for peer review.

•	We will be doing various types of writing assignments this semester.  Process will be focused upon as well as final product.   
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Attendance Policy:
Although the online class differs from the regularly attended classes, students must be in contact with the instructor. Students are required to attend three meetings of the class on the Reedley Campus:  an introductory meeting to receive passwords and learn to use the software, a meeting prior to midterm to complete an in class essay and answer questions that have arisen, and a third meeting to discuss research, complete an in class essay, and answer any questions.  For dates and times of these on-campus meetings, refer to the first page of the syllabus, the Weekly Schedule (found under the Assignments tab of the classroom Blackboard) and/or the fall 2005 Schedule of Courses.  In addition, weekly online contact must be maintained.   
Students' online contact will be monitored through the Blackboard discussion board and e-mail. Students are required to make substantive contributions to the discussions. Students may address the topics suggested by the instructor, devise their own topics, or respond to their classmates.  
Failure to post to the discussion board for two weeks in a row and/or complete assignments, without contact with the instructor, will mean that you are no longer participating in the class.  I then may formally drop you from the course.   
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Essential Information:
•	It is your responsibility to stay informed concerning any changes of assignment due dates, readings, etc…  This means you should check the Blackboard announcements on a weekly basis and your e-mail daily.

•	It is the student's responsibility to officially withdraw from this and/or any course.  Failure to do so may result in an "F" grade being awarded.

•	Because this is an online class, and we are using Blackboard, a class e-mail list is generated.  This e-mail list is to be used for school related messaging only.  Any other use of the e-mail list can result in your being dropped from the course.  Continued sending of unsolicited e-mail could be viewed as a form of harassment.  Appropriate action will be taken as necessary per school policy.
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Accommodations for Students with Disabilities:
If you have special needs as addressed by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), including alternate media requests, please notify me immediately.  Reasonable efforts will be made to accommodate your special needs.  (Return to Table of Contents)

Helpful Hints:
•	Always keep a copy of each of your papers.  This protects you if the instructor should happen to lose one of your papers.  You should be saving your work on your hard drive and backing up your work to disk, zip disk, or CD.

•	Keep track of your work.  You should save all of your work until the end of the semester so you can double check the grade recorded by the instructor.  

•	Should you discover that you are unable to regularly attend class (online) for whatever reason, it is imperative that you discuss this with the instructor as soon as possible.  Telling the instructor of work schedule changes, illness, family emergencies, etc. after missing several days/weeks is unacceptable.
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Important Dates:
Labor Day Holiday					Monday, September 5, 2005
Final Drop Date					Friday, October 14, 2005
Veterans’ Day						Friday, November 11, 2005
Thanksgiving Holiday					Thursday-Friday, November 24-26, 2005
Finals Week						Monday-Friday, December 12-16, 2005
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NOTES ABOUT TECHNOLOGY:
•	If an essay is due and you cannot access the Blackboard, probably the Blackboard is down.  Don’t stress—just keep trying.  When this happens, watch for email messages from me.  I will let you know the revised due date.  Of course, if an essay is due and the Blackboard is down, I can’t hold you to the original due date.

•	Check your email daily.  If you do not send your essay in RTF and you aren’t using Microsoft Word, and I can’t open your essay, I will be sending you an email reminding you to resave and resend your essay.
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