English 125 (hybrid)

Policy (Fall 2007)

Objective

College-level skills in writing

Texts/Supplies

English Simplified (Ellsworth and Higgins); The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue (Muñoz); Highway 99: a literary journey through California's Great Central Valley (Yogi, Mak, and Wakida)

Hybrid: Face-to-Face and Online

E-Mail and Online Site

To access the  course site go to the following URL: http://blackboard.reedleycollege.edu. Login using your seven-digit student ID for your username and password. Go to Personal Information and enter your e-mail address. You will need to be officially enrolled before you will be allowed to enter the site.

For a more complete discussion of what you need to know before taking a class with an online component, please see the document What You Need to Know.

Necessary Programs

In order to do work from home for the online portion of class, you should have the following programs (all of which are installed on computers here on-campus): Internet browser (such as Internet Explorer or Netscape); e-mail access; word processor (MS Word preferably, see Paper Format below); Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Attendance

If you miss more than two face-to-face sessions during the first nine weeks, you will be dropped. Although I will not take attendance per se in the online portion of the class, you do need to make your presence known every week. There will be quizzes and/or a reading response assignment every week and Discussion Board assignments in addition to the papers. If you fall behind at any point during the course of the semester, you will find it extremely difficult to catch up.

Discussion Board

The Discussion Board is really where the "life" of online learning takes place, and as such we want to grant it the importance it is due. So, let me make a couple of observations:

	First, unlike discussion in a traditional classroom, you have the opportunity to think carefully and deeply about the things that you "say" on the Discussion Board without the constraint of time pressure or the concern of whether or not your voice will be heard over the voices of others; you also have the opportunity to edit your remarks. Please take advantage of those opportunities.
	Second, because this is an academic environment, please do not consider the Discussion Board as analogous to text messaging, instant messaging, or e-mail to friends. Your comments should be grammatical and mechanically sound with regards to spelling and punctuation.
	Finally, remember that a significant portion of your grade is based upon the quantity, but more importantly, the quality of your participation.

Late Papers/Missed Exams

I will accept no late papers (nor will I schedule any make-up exams) unless you have contacted me prior to the deadline posted for the assignment. There will be no make-ups of missed quizzes or reading responses for any reason.

Grades

The point and grade scales are listed below. Every week you will write a short reading response and/or take a quiz covering material on mechanics, sentence structure, essay structure, or the use of research materials. Tests will be objective in nature and covering everything that we have covered previously. Essays will be assessed on the basis of style, organization, content, and the degree to which you have followed the directions for the assignment. No essay seriously deficient in the area of mechanics (spelling, grammar, punctuation) will receive a passing grade. Your face-to-face and online participation will be worth a maximum of 100 points over the course of the semester.

Plagiarism

Use of another’s work as though it were your own will not be tolerated. In the current Reedley College Catalogue, plagiarism is defined as follows:

Plagiarism is a specific form of cheating: the use of another’s words or ideas without identifying them as such or giving credit to the source. Plagiarism may include, but is not limited to, failing to provide complete citations and references for all work that draws on the ideas, words, or work of others, failing to identify the contributors to work done in collaboration, submitting duplicate work to be evaluated in different courses without the knowledge and consent of the instructors involved, or failing to observe computer security systems and software copyrights. Incidents of cheating and plagiarism may result in any of a variety of sanctions and penalties, which may range from a failing grade on the particular examination, paper, project, or assignment in question to a failing grade in the course, at the discretion of the instructor and depending on the severity and frequency of the incidents.

Extra Credit

During the course of the semester there will be several readings sponsored by Reedley College Speakers Series and Reedley College First Wednesdays at One. Following your attendance at a reading you must turn in an Extra Credit Form to receive as many as ten points per reading. You may earn as many as forty extra credit points. I will give you notice of dates and times. Please note: extra credit is just that--extra; if you are unable to attend extra credit events due to schedule conflicts, lack of transportation, or for any other reason, I will not provide alternative events or assignments.

Paper Format

All work must be typed, double-spaced and in 12-point type of a standard typeface (Times Roman, preferably). You must submit your work via the Assignments area. You must submit files in one of the following formats: Word documents (*.doc) or Rich Text Format files (*.rtf).

Accommodation

Schedule of Assignments

Grading Scale