NVCC Distance Courses History 121 and 122, Fall 2010 August 1, 2010 Dear Students in History 121 and 122: It is important that you read all of this letter as well as all the material in Course Documents in Blackboard. The same material can be found on the syllabus and at the top of your assignments page, so you can’t miss it. It is all designed to help you complete the course successfully. COURSE POLICY. The first thing you need to know is that the only way to complete this course successfully is to meet course deadlines and finish on time. Experience shows that allowing extra time for students to complete assignments, or complete the course, is not in their best interest. Over the years, only a very small percentage of students who got an incomplete ever finished. Thus I do not give incomplete grades or course extensions. Students who start on time and keep working almost always pass the course successfully, usually with an A or B. COMMUNICATION. I don’t use Twitter, IM, blogs or other Web2 options. I have tried some of them and find it only causes confusion. The simplest, clearest and most direct way for us to communicate with each other is via email. You must also check Blackboard announcements regularly. The college tells you to use your college email, but for this class you may use any email. If the college sends info to all students, I will post it in announcements. Please use my primary email, hsage@cox.net for the fastest response. COMPLETE ALL WORK ON TIME. To help you complete the course successfully, I assign deadlines to assignments. Once you get behind, it is very hard to catch up. If you fail to meet course deadlines, you may be withdrawn. If you decide to withdraw voluntarily, use NovaConnect. I cannot assign a W grade. Once you pass the college course withdrawal deadline, you no longer have the option to withdraw. You must either complete the course or get an F. COURSE CONTENT. All required content for this course can be found at www.academicamerican.com. I suggest that you print the content out and place it in a notebook along with your assignment sheet. Your reading topics are linked in the left-hand column of the Assignments page; assigned documents are listed in the right-hand column. Be sure to read the head notes (top of the page) in the document pages. Exams are based on both topic summaries and documents, including head notes. TEXT OPTIONS. As a convenience, you can purchase a print version of the text site including documents from Lulu.com for less than $20, or download a complete PDF file for about $3 at www.lulu.com/hjsage. You can pay with PayPal or credit card. Delivery takes about one week. While you wait, you can get the first sections from the web site. The only major difference between the print copy and the web copy is that hyperlinks are included in the web version, and the graphics will be mostly in color. The bookstore will not carry this text; if it did, the cost would be significantly higher. EXAMS & QUIZZES. Each exam and quiz will have a practice quiz/exam in Blackboard. Practice quizzes are not graded, and you may take them as often as you like, print out the questions, or use them any way you see fit. Some of the questions, or similar questions, will appear on the regular quiz or exam, so it is worth taking the practice quizzes. Note that the practice quizzes do not necessarily cover every possible topic. You may take the two short quizzes at home or anywhere else. There is no password, but you may only take them once and must complete them in one session. You may refer to your text or notes while taking quizzes, but do not close your browser window on the quiz. Resetting quiz may require a 10% penalty. You will take the Midterm and Final exams for credit in a testing center, using your exam passes. The testing centers have the password. When you finish your exam, click the “Submit” button, and you will see the partial results. After I grade the essay questions and add those points, you may check your final score in Blackboard under “Student Tools.” WRITING ASSIGNMENTS. I have changed the writing assignments so that you will have a graded requirement every other week. Thus you cannot afford to get behind. Writing Assignments are:
DISCUSSION FORUMS: I will post regular discussion question in Blackboard. You can earn up to 50 points extra credit by doing regular discussions. They will be posted for credit for about two weeks. Watch Announcements. EXTENSIONS & DEADLINES. I give extensions of one week on all assignments; after that you get half credit or less. Students who run short of time often seem tempted to cut corners and sometimes fail the course because of plagiarism. Watch Blackboard announcements for reminders. All work must be completed by the official course end date. After that a grade penalty will be assessed. TIPS FOR SUCCESS:
Good luck in the Course! —JS History 121 Home | History 122 Home | Updated July 29, 2010 |