Reading, Thinking and Writing for College

English 101 - sections OFS, OFC

Fall Quarter 2003

* Unless the VISTA server is down, the fastest way to contact me is to use the e-mail service on the class website. Please do not contact me at my BCC address unless you have an emergency and cannot reach me on the class website. Only in this case should send an e-mail to my BCC address. You may also choose to leave me a message on my voice mail. However, you will then have to wait until I am in the office to return your call.

• Introductory Remarks
• My Expectations
• What do I have to do for this class?
  • Grading Standards
• How do we communicate with each other?
• Student Responsibilities
• Student Procedures and Expectations, Arts and Humanities Division

Introductory Remarks

English 101 is a completely online class; therefore, you are not required to attend classroom sessions. However, English 101 is not a correspondence course, completed on your own timetable in isolation. Online courses require particular skills of their participants besides the obvious computer expertise. Some personal attributes are critical, such as being self-motivated and having good problem solving skills. Your ability to communicate and work effectively with "distant classmates" and a "distant instructor" in a totally visual medium is also important. How much you learn will be directly proportional to how much you participate in the online community. How frustrated you become will be inversely proportional to how well you manage your time and follow written directions. By far, having college level reading and comprehension skills is terribly important in an online class.

This class will ask you to give much of yourself to learn to write well. Many students may mistakenly believe that writing is a talent, gifted to everyone else. But writing is not a single task, accomplished in isolation. Writing is a skill, developed with practice in reading texts, analyzing texts, thinking through the texts and then lastly, writing the words down. Anyone with enough determination and effort can learn to communicate effectively in writing. This class is designed to use writing, in a variety of forms, to improve your written communication skills. However, to learn these skills, you must open your mind and persevere even if the thinking work is hard or the technology doesn't work as well as you would like.

This course will require the students to develop critical reading, thinking and writing skills. Some students may already have a measure of these skills (hopefully!); some students may be better at some skills and less comfortable with the others. Whatever your abilities before now, I ask you to approach the class with compassion and tolerance for each other.

If you signed up for this course thinking that it would have less work than a course in the classroom, you were mistaken.  Please be advised that the workload may be very difficult for you if work and family demands do not allow you a minimum of two to three uninterrupted hours every weekday to work on the assignments for this class. I have tried to focus and space assignments to facilitate as many learning styles as possible, but extra time may be needed, especially around paper writing/editing time, depending on your ability to read or write.

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Because of the special method of course delivery, several requirements must be considered.

1. First and probably most important, the student enrolled in this course MUST have a reliable computer and some attendant software and services, including a word processor (Office 95/Word 7.0 or better minimum), an Internet Service Provider, and a browser service (Netscape Communicator 4.7 or Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher work best). Perhaps more importantly, the student must be familiar with the use of the above-mentioned items. Using AOL or Internet Explorer in versions earlier than 5.0 may prevent you from participating in some important areas of the class website. If you use these programs be sure to upgrade to the newest version. If you are using a Macintosh or other Apple computer, please let me know immediately.
2. Some critical skills you must have include: uploading and downloading files, following simple written directions, attaching files to e-mail messages, and knowing how your browser and computer system work. I do not teach computer skills; I teach English. I will help if I can, but I am no expert in computer systems. 
3. Always keep me informed if you have problems, and I will try to find help for you. I do my best to establish what our challenges will be within the first week of the course, but I expect that you bring some expertise with you to help in solving any problems that arise. Ultimately, that is your responsibility.

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As you know, every teacher has expectations. These are mine.

1. I expect that you signed up for this course because you want to learn to read, think, and write critically. We call that formal academic writing. Therefore, I expect that you will complete the work I have created to teach you these skills. I expect that each of you has a varying degree of these skills already, though you may not have attempted these types of academic assignments before.
2. I expect that you have come to this class with a working usage of modern English grammar as English 101 does not teach grammar. I may suggest additional non-graded work for students who struggle with grammar. I have provided a Grammar Page for additional help in this area. I encourage you to schedule an appointment with me in my office or utilize the Writing Lab's virtual tutor or go to D222 (Writing Lab) on campus for help with grammar problems. All papers with major grammatical errors lose points in this class. See the page Major Grammar Errors under the Resources and Tool area for help in identifying these errors.
3. I expect that you will participate in all class activities, including peer editing reviews and discussions as assigned.
4. I expect that you will take care to back up your papers and journal assignments on more than one disk and/or store them on your hard drive AND a disk. It is your responsibility to keep track of this material. If some computer catastrophe should occur, you will still be responsible for producing the work by the due date in order to get a grade. Be careful! Save and back your work up regularly!
5. I expect that you will show respect to everyone by responding to e-mail/discussion transmissions in a way that is not judgmental, degrading, or derogatory. Even though we may disagree with the interpretations of others, please use some self-restraint and compassion in dealing with these issues. Logical and questioning responses are encouraged. Choose your words and the tone of your message with utmost care. I also expect tolerance for others' abilities and learning styles. Also, please remember your audience when you write your essays: essays taking an extreme political view or those of religious nature are not appropriate themes for this class.
6. I expect that you will try to the best of your ability to master the skills taught in this class. According to the English department at BCC, by the end of the quarter, you should:
   • use a variety of prewriting methods to develop ideas and organize a writing plan.
   • revise, edit, and proofread papers (both on and off the computer) until the final submitted draft shows the skill and effort you have put into it.
   • write for a specific audience with a specific purpose, as assigned, using an appropriate voice and tone.
   • build a complex, but coherent paper around your own thoughts and analyses.
   • use a single, well-stated sentence that clearly expresses the central idea of your essay, focuses your topic, and controls ideas to the point of creating unity.
   • connect paragraphs to the thesis and each other; produce a smooth flow of ideas using appropriate coherence techniques.
   • construct paragraphs that develop and support the main idea with specific examples and concrete details.
   • analyze, evaluate and interpret complex material.
   • write essays with effective introductions and conclusions.
   • construct clear, grammatically correct sentences of precise and appropriate words.
   • understand and apply subordination and coordination in sentences to emphasize important ideas.
   • be able to differentiate your personal opinions and assumptions from another's.
   • be able to self-assess.
7. I expect each final draft will be submitted to the appropriate locations and in the manner specified on the assignments page by the date shown on the specific assignment page and the class calendar. Papers submitted after the due date/time specified on the course calendar will lose 10% per 24 hour period that they are late. I will not accept papers more than 2 days late.
8. I expect honesty. I expect that you will neither do work for others nor use work done by others. Cheating and/or plagiarizing will not be tolerated. Plagiarizing is cheating, as is copying answers on a test, glancing at nearby test papers, swapping papers, buying papers, using ideas from other sources without proper documentation, writing papers for others, or having them written for you. BCC utilizes a plagiarism detection software, and if I even remotely suspect your paper sounds plagiarized, I will submit it to this site. If you cheat or plagiarize, the following actions will be taken:
   • You will receive a grade of "0" on the work (period).
   • A report of the incident will be filed in the Dean of Students' Office. This report may become part of your permanent record or the Dean may choose to pursue further disciplinary action.
9. Personal conferences on your paper can be held in my office if you can or want to come to the campus; otherwise, e-mail or phone conferences can be held. Please contact me first to set up an appointment BEFORE coming to the campus.

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You will write four (4) formal papers in this class. The process for writing, revising and submitting work is on a tight timeline. Don't fail to meet these deadlines. The process will look like this for all papers except the two revisions:

1. You will post an original, self-revised draft of each paper to the discussion area in the appropriate forum by the date on the calendar. This draft should be copied/pasted into the correct forum. If you expect to get help on your papers, you must post them early. Papers posted late in the review process may overlooked by other students as the deadline nears.
2. While you wait for comments on your paper, you will give peer comments, as described below, on two other group members' papers which have been posted. (I will give direct feedback on your peer comments for Paper 1 Review only, so that you know how to do this important work.)
3. After giving comments, collect your comments and revise your paper. Then, revise and edit your paper before submitting it to me by the date and time listed on the calendar.
4. Directions for submitting your final draft to me are posted in the Course Content/Assignments area. 

Self Assessments: You will also write two self-assessments: one at the opening of the quarter and one at the end. These assignments are available in the Assessments area of the course, or you can access the Beginning Assessment in the Start Here! module and the Closing Assessment in the final module. Each self-assessment is worth 10 points.

Total self assessment points available: 20 points for the quarter. 

Essays:

• Your papers will be graded based on the standards posted under the Grading Standards link, which may be accessed from the Resources and Tools area. Papers 1 - 4 are worth 50 points each. Total 200 points.
• I will read and grade papers when they are submitted. It usually takes about 6 working days to process the papers for a full class.
• You MUST average a C- or better on the papers in order to pass this class. Points from peer review and discussions are important, but if your papers do not average a C- or better, you will not pass the class.

Total essay points available: 200 for the quarter.

Rewrites:  Please note that you are required to substantially revise two papers this quarter. Revision 1 (see the course calendar for due dates) requires you to select either paper 1 or paper 2 to rewrite.  Revision 2 requires you to select either paper 3 or paper 4 to rewrite.  While the grade for the rewrites does not erase the original grade, each rewrite is worth twice as many points.  Rewrites must demonstrate substantial revision--that means addressing my comments and suggestions, rather than just fixing superficial errors.  Each rewrite is worth 100 points.

Though I have created a discussion forum for each rewrite, you are not required to post your paper there or to give comments on papers posted there. I have created the forum for your use, if you and others wish to ask for help on your rewrite papers. 

Total rewrite points available: 200 points for the quarter. 

Peer Reviews: Much of what you will learn in this course will come from participating in a peer review of others' papers. Do not fail to participate in this area of the course. See the Assignments area/Peer Review Section for details on this critical work!

 To participate successfully in peer review, you will complete these tasks: 

1. You will review two other students' papers using the Peer Review tool.  You MUST use this assessment tool to earn full credit for comments on student papers.  
2. You will post this specific feedback on the two papers in the appropriate discussion areas. Directions for how to post your peer comments are given. 
3. Last, you will email to me the names and comments of the two students whose reviews were the most helpful to you in revising your own paper.  Briefly explain in your email why those reviews were helpful. These emails will be kept confidential.  

• For posting reviews of two students' papers on assignments #1, #2, #3, and #4 to me, you will earn 5 points per posting (40 points total).
• If your comments are identified by at least two students as being most helpful, you will earn an additional 10 points for each paper assignment (40 points total).

Total review points available: 80 for the quarter.

Discussion: I have created discussion areas for the Ishiguro, McQuade, and the Marius texts. Instructions and requirements for participating in discussions are posted in the Assignments area. See Seminar discussions. I do my best to participate in the discussion; however, I cannot possibly respond to every comment or answer.

Points available -- McQuade reading discussions (12 pts. each X 3 discussions) total 36 points; Marius seminar discussions (12 points each X 5 discussions) total 60 points. Ishiguro reading discussions (12 points each X 2 discussions) total 24 points.

Total discussion points available: 120 for the quarter

Total Points for the course: 620 

* NOTE.To figure out your grade at any time, simply divide the total points you have earned by the total points you have submitted to that point. 

The discussion area **for the class provides an asynchronous place for student discussions regarding course materials. The discussion area has several fora (forums) each of which has a specific purpose.

• Class Announcements - This forum is where I will post class announcements. Do not post questions for me here. Check this regularly; I will update you about paper returns, computer problems, and anything I think would be of interest to the class.
• Main Forum - This forum is for student discussion and contact with each other. For example, you may post announcements here if you wish to petition your classmates to join you in an endeavor, say a face-to-face discussion group or a chat room discussion. However, be aware that I do not read this forum regularly; therefore, do not post questions for me here.
• McQuade discussion fora - These fora will house your discussion about our readings in the McQuade text. Please follow the dates on the class calendar for posting questions and for commenting. I have allowed time for you to do this work; don't fail to do it before the deadlines posted on the class calendar.
• Marius Seminar fora - Like the fora above, these fora will house all of our discussions on Marius text about writing and editing.
• Remains discussion fora - These fora will house our discusions of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, The Remains of the Day.
• Peer Review fora - These 4 fora are named by paper number and draft number. Here is where you will post your drafts and give comments to your group members for peer review.
• Questions for Instructor forum - Post questions for me in this area if you think that others in the class may benefit from knowing the answer to your question. I will check this forum at least twice per weekday, (morning and afternoon) if not more. However, if your question is of a very personal nature, please use my website mailbox.

You are responsible for posting the discussion messages into the correct forum depending on its purpose. You must also handle the postings, downloading messages you wish to keep to your home computer, and creating folders to store that information. Please do save any messages you wish to keep as I will get rid of excess information every two weeks or so as too much of it clogs up the system.

A mailbox** has been provided for private e-mail communication between you and me or you and other classmates. I get between 40 and 50 e-mail messages every day at my various addresses, so I will appreciate "URGENT" notices in the subject line, if you have a real emergency. Please use the Questions for the Instructor forum (in the Discussion Area) rather than e-mail to post questions about the class. I do my best to respond in a timely manner to all messages, whether or not they are urgent. Please do not use e-mail to submit your work unless we cannot work out another method. If you are having problems submitting your work, let me know in an e-mail rather than submitting a paper as an attachment.

**Certain web browsers may not work with these sections of the web site. Please contact me immediately, if you have any problems. AOL is notorious for limiting your ability to participate in this class. Please consider using another internet service. WebCTVista works the best with Netscape 6.1 or Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher (excluding 5.5).

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Bellevue Community College

URL: webct.bcc.ctc.edu:8900

Site Updated: 03/31/03