Course Syllabus

Instructor: David N. Scott, MTS, Ph.D.

Introduction to the Course

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Course Details
Overview & Objectives
Evaluation
Additional Policies
Required & Recommended Texts
Reading Assignments

Syllabus as a Word Document
Final Draft

Sign-Up Sheets
Discussion Starter
Book Review

Course Rhythm

In my experience, providing students a clear rhythm for a typical class week helps them plan their time in the course more easily. Keep yourself to a regular rhythm as suits your schedule to avoid getting lost. Let me know if you have questions.

Monday Night: The module for the current week becomes fully available at 6 pm MT (8 pm ET). The module will include an introductory video by the instructor. The remarks in this video are intended to help frame and inform class discussion.
Discussion forums also open at this time. Starting in Week 2, Discussion Starters are due by 11:59 pm MT (1:59 am ET). (See the Discussion Starter assignment description and sign-up sheet on Canvas.) While all students will have access to the discussion forum at this time, only students providing a Discussion Starters should post before Tuesday. Conversation will benefit from waiting until all that week’s Discussion Starters have been posted.
The deadline for all other written assignments in the course will be 11:59 pm MT (1:59 am ET) on a Monday night. (See Course Calendar for details.)

Tuesday Morning: The week's discussion forum is officially open to all students. There will be only one discussion forum in a typical week (Weeks 1 and 5 being the exceptions). Students should watch the instructor’s video introduction to the module and read all Discussion Starters before making their first posts.

Thursday Night: Each student’s first discussion post is due by 11:59 pm MT (1:59 am ET). This should be a 150-to-250-word response to one of that week’s Discussion Starters. Strong posts will directly address the content of a Discussion Starter, responding to its exposition of an assigned reading and/or attempting to answer the question(s) it poses. Students should not feel the pressure to make these posts mini-essays in their own right; they should simply be relevant and meaningful statements in an academic conversation. Also, posts may exceed the upper limit stated here. However, keep in mind that the longer a post runs, the more likely it is to put off classmates.

Friday: Having given students ample opportunity to engage one another first, the instructor will read all posts made up to that point and contribute as necessary.

Sunday Night: All other discussion posts are due by 11:59 pm MT (1:59 am ET), when that week’s forum closes. Each student must provide at least two additional responses per forum (three total) - no length limits. This is a bare minimum requirement; even more posts across any or all of the forum’s threads are encouraged. The only posts that will be marked down are those that are late (see Late Policy) or stray too far afield in their content (also see Policies on Academic and Collegial Integrity).

Monday Afternoon: Weekly round-up. After reading over the weekend’s posts, the instructor will post a response video in that week’s module. This response will summarize key points raised during discussion and revisit ideas from the readings that may deserve further attention. Students should watch this video before moving on to the next week’s module or forum. The course rhythm starts over later that evening.  

Week 5 Exception (Gathering Days)
There will be no online discussion forums during the week of October 8th. There will still be assigned readings, but the work we do with that material will take place in on-campus sessions on October 11^th and 12^th. Our assigned room is Iliff Hall 301.

Having read this description of the Course Rhythm, do you have a question or concern? Share it here.