Concepts for Unit 1 (including the Primary: The Requerimiento of 1510) and How to Post in Discussion Topic 1-1

Why Concepts and Why Collaboration?. 1

Concepts for Unit 1. 1

The Requirement for Careful Use of Subject Lines to Save Everyone Time and the 3 Types of Posts That Earn Points. 1

The Requirement for Your Using Only Two Sources for Definitions. 2

The Requirement for Signaling What You Wrote and What Merriam-Webster or Dr. Bibus Wrote. 2

Requirements You Can Tell Best by Looking at the Rubric—Including That You Can Earn Points By Reading Posts. 2

Why Can’t You See Your Post Until After I Read It. 2

 

Why Concepts and Why Collaboration?

Understanding concepts is frequently essential to understand accurately what you are reading, but students have different backgrounds. With on-campus classes, it is comparatively easy to cover key terms or concepts with a group. With distance learning classes, it has been difficult. I have permission from my Department to try this method to help students with concepts and to do in a way that means:

·         That every student does not have to look up every concept but instead could collaborate or share the labor by posting definitions that all can use

·         That students can ask or answer questions about those concepts

Concepts for Unit 1

Click on Required Concepts and you will see a list for Unit 1 as a whole. You may post on any of those that are not in dark gray.

The Requirement for Careful Use of Subject Lines to Save Everyone Time and the 3 Types of Posts That Earn Points

A fellow student should not have to click on every discussion posting to find what he or she needs. Make it clear in the Subject line.

Treat a Discussion posting like work where you get paid: no one pays you (if the boss) or no one likes you (if fellow workers) if you waste time. The examples are from concepts about the primary, but they apply to all Unit Work.

·         If you are posting a definition of one of the concepts above, you would place in the Subject line the word Concept and then the exact term from the lists.
If you were going to post a definition for the word slave in the list in the row above, you would type
Subject line for this example: Concept: Slave
Tip: You do a good deed for your colleagues in the class and you make points for this kind of post.

·         If you found a word in the primary the Requerimiento of 1510 that you had to look up in order to understand the primary, you place in the Subject line the words Term in Primary and then the exact word. If you had to look up the word terra firma in the primary, you would type
Subject line for this example: Term in Primary: terra firma
Tip: You do a good deed for your colleagues in the class and you make points for this kind of post.

·         If you are posting a question, you would place in the Subject line the word Question followed by the simplest way you can ask your question.
If you were confused about the difference between slaves and serfs, you would type
Example of the Subject line: Question: What’s the difference between a slave and serf?
Tip: You do a good deed for your colleagues in the class and you make points for asking or answering a question.

The Requirement for Your Using Only Two Sources for Definitions

·         You may use Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary available at http://www.merriam-webster.com/
If you used that source for your definition, you would type at the end
From Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary at http://www.merriam-webster.com/

·         You may use definitions I provide with this primary.
If you copied a definition from my file, you would type at the end
Copied from the definitions provided by Dr. Bibus.

The Requirement for Signaling What You Wrote and What Merriam-Webster or Dr. Bibus Wrote

You may use either of the two methods shown in the example postings in the Topic 1-1:

·         A pair of quotation marks (“”) at the beginning and end of the words you are quoting. For an example, see the posting for Concept: slave.

·         A box containing the definition. For an example, see the posting for Concept: vassal

If you insert words into another’s words, you must use square brackets ( [ ] ). If you remove words from another’s words, you must use ellipses (…). A better method is avoid all of these rules by using the Brain Trick in this link from the Good Habits for Evidence tutorial.

Requirements You Can Tell Best by Looking at the Rubric—Including That You Can Earn Points By Reading Posts

This rubric means that students can earn a B- by reading posts.

The rubric also shows how grading works. Click here for the rubric.

Why Can’t You See Your Post Until After I Read It

You will not be able to see your post until after I read it to be sure it is accurate. The reason is that once a false definition is in your head it will stay there.

I will normally read them each afternoon.