Syllabus Plus

Note to the Class: I have not yet copied the individual links of examples from my work in another course last term. I will try to get that done. You should still be able to see sections of the syllabus to help yourself by looking at the green labels.

This is the same syllabus as the one in your course, but it

·         Does not have dated information at the beginning and end of it

·         Has examples and heading changes to help you notice parts of the course that can help you

·         Has this table of contents so you can notice those sections of the syllabus that have green labels placed at the beginning of headings that cover things such as No Risk on 240 points.

Prerequisites:

Communication Policy:

General Education Core Objectives:

History Department Student Learner Outcomes:

Required Course Materials:

Required Preparation to Use Blackboard:

Method of Instruction to Help Students With—and Without—a Broad Background in History

Organization of the Course:

How to Succeed on Learning Modules (All Content & Graded Work) and with the List of Due Dates

No Risk on 240 Points How Self-Test and Full-Test Quizzes Can Help You If You Already Know Something—or Not:

Course Requirements and Graded Assignments

Getting Started Activities and Trying to Give All Students Their Best Chance in Getting Started:

Lowered Risk on 400 Points Learning Quizzes and Pre-Learning Questions for the Exam for the Unit:

Ladder to Evidence Skills Learning Discussions for Each Unit or for Assignments Occurring Along With that Unit:

Lowered Risk on 400 Points 3 Unit Exams and the Goal of Exam Questions to Be Useful for Your Life

Lowered Risk on 400 Points Departmental Final Exam—F for the Course If Not Taken

Introduction to Respondus, to the Seriousness of Monitoring, and to WCJC’s Video and Other Aids

How Respondus Works in This Class

Ladder to Evidence Skills Written Assignments:

Grading Scale:

Ladder to Evidence Skills Grading Formula:

Caution about the History Department’s Course Objectives and Its 30 Percent Writing Requirement

Ladder to Evidence Skills How This Course Tries to Help Different Types of Students Succeed with Writing about History:

Lowered Risk on 400 Points Incentives (Extra Credit with a Reason) to Help You Persist

Grading Response Timeframe:

Course Policies

Late Work Policy:

Technology Outage Policy:

Attendance Policy:

Online Classroom Behavior Policy/Classroom Civility:

Academic Honesty Policy:

Dropping a Course with a Grade of “W”:

Six Drop Rule:

Dates Set by WCJC That Are Not Covered in the List of Due Dates:

 

 

Prerequisites:

TSI satisfied in Reading and Writing

Communication Policy:

Your Responsibilities to Communicate

You must log in at least 3 times a week and check both Course Messages (Email) and Announcements. Both are on the Course Menu (Blackboard’s menu you may display on the left of the screen). If I email you in Blackboard, you must read and reply or call your instructor if you do not understand. You must read all Announcements since your last login.

Your Instructor’s Timeframe for Responding

I make every effort to return messages (course email, phone, discussion postings) within 36 hours (weekends and holidays excepted). Tip: I usually check course email again before I leave for the day, but not after I leave for the day.

Online Office Hours, Hours On-Campus, or Help by Phone

During Online Office Hours (on the first page of this syllabus), I respond to Course Messages and postings on the Discussion Board. I am glad to help you online, meet you either at the Richmond or Sugar Land campus, or work with you by phone. If we both have Blackboard open, working together by phone frequently brings the fastest solution.

General Education Core Objectives:

·         Social Responsibility (SR) - intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities

·         Personal Responsibility (PR) - ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision-making

History Department Student Learner Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will:

1)      Create an argument through the use of historical evidence.

2)      Analyze and interpret primary and secondary sources.

3)      Analyze the effects of historical, social, political, economic, cultural, and global forces on this period of United States history.

See Syllabus Plus for meanings of these terms. (Syllabus Plus includes links to examples and modified headings.)

Required Course Materials:

History Department’s Required Textbook

David M. Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen, and Mel Piehl, The Brief American Pageant: A History of the Republic, 9th edition. The ISBN for the 1 volume edition (41 chapters covering both History 1301 and History 1302 is 9781337124645. This ISBN is a “bundle” and includes the textbook and an online program called Mindtap. In this course, we will not use Mindtap.

You must use your textbook and other resources provided in the course (including primaries for your writing work assignment) as your only source for your written assignments. For all written assignments, you must cite a specific page from the textbook or a primary for your facts. (For details, see modules Evidence Quizzes, Writing 1, and Writing 2.)

Distance Education’s Statement of Requirements

You will need a computer, an external webcam and microphone, a reliable internet connection, and access to the WCJC Blackboard site. Following the method recommended by the Distance Education Department, this course requires an external (clip-able) webcam. (You may not use the internal webcam within your laptop.)

Required Preparation to Use Blackboard:

You are responsible to prepare your computer and its browser to work with WCJC’s Blackboard. Getting Started provides the Distance Education FAQs that contain the technical information you need and how to get more help if needed.

Method of Instruction to Help Students With—and Without—a Broad Background in History

The course uses Blackboard’s “Learning Modules” method so you can use in 1 place content and assignments that go with content. It provides ways that students can make points by teaching themselves or can save time if they already know. The History Department requires writing and that you use primaries (documents written during the period covered by the question), but part of your grade is also The Blackboard course provides everything you need to do the writing—except the textbook. The textbook serves a) as a reference and b) as a source of maps.

See Syllabus Plus: No Risk on 240 Points, Lowered Risk on 400 Points, Ladder to Evidence Skills, Why History Matters?

Organization of the Course:

United States History I covers from 1500s to 1877. It has 3 major periods that reveal shifts in our history in 3 modules:

·         Unit 1: From New World to New Empires - the 16th Century to 1776

·         Unit 2: From Making a Revolution to Making a Nation - 1776 to 1830s

·         Unit 3: Transforming the Nation - 1830s to 1877

Two resources at the top of each Unit help you know how to work:

·         The Overview for the Unit reminds you of what to do in the Unit.

·         The Study Guide for the Unit helps you focus your work so you save time and succeed on your Unit Exam.

How to Succeed on Learning Modules (All Content & Graded Work) and with the List of Due Dates

The Course Menu (on the left of the Blackboard screen) that lets you directly access:

·         All Learning Modules with everything you need: study guides, instructions, lessons, primaries—including all of the Blackboard tools you use from assignments to quizzes to discussions to exams.

·         List of Due Dates with what, when, where, and why for all content and graded in the Learning Modules.

No Risk on 240 Points How Self-Test and Full-Test Quizzes Can Help You If You Already Know Something—or Not:

Whether Learning Quizzes (200 points) or Evidence Quizzes (40 points), these quizzes work this way:

·         A Self-Test lets you find out what you know and you do not know. To succeed, you need to measure yourself accurately—but with this grading system you do not lose points with Self-Tests. Self-Test questions are only extra credit and only worth .01 each. (Think of .01 as equivalent to a penny.)

·         Once you submit the Self-Test and have at least 1 question correct, Blackboard automatically displays:

·         Additional information If needed for you to succeed

·         Full-Test with the same questions in the Self-Test, but with each question worth 1 or more points. With this grading system, you can earn full points while teaching yourself what you did not know. How? a) You may repeat as many times as you wish. b) Your highest score counts. If you persist, you can earn all of the possible points. That means you can pre-earn 24% of your grade if you complete them before the due dates.

See Syllabus Plus: No Risk on 240 Points

Answer Self-Tests to measure your own brain accurately if you do not know the answers—or you do—for 2 reasons:

Reason 1: You want to know what you know and even more what you do not know.

Example: If you miss many questions on the Evidence Quizzes, you know that writing about history in this class is different from your prior experiences. You take the Full-Test so you answer all the questions correctly and get full points and you also realize you have to work differently in this class so you think about how you will change. Solution: You follow instructions carefully and ask your instructor when you have questions. (You will be fine!)

Reason 2: You can avoid busy work with this grading system. How? If you know 80%+ of the questions on a Self-Test, you can get the full points without taking the Full-Test.

Example: You are taking a Self-Test and you are pretty sure that you know the content already.

Solution: You slow down a bit. You answer carefully. You double check your answers before you submit. You are right on 8 of the 10 questions. You do not have to take the Full-Test, but you get the points. How? Your instructor enters the Full points for you. When? At the end of each Unit after the Learning Quizzes close.

Course Requirements and Graded Assignments

Getting Started Activities and Trying to Give All Students Their Best Chance in Getting Started:

The Getting Started activities are listed on the last page of the Course Orientation link. If you come in past the due date, you must still do these activities, but I will record—temporarily—a 1.11 for each grade with a Comment about the grade if it had been on time. At the end of the term, you email your instructor that you have not been late with any other assignments. I then change the 1.11 grades to match what I have entered in the Comment for that grade.

Lowered Risk on 400 Points Learning Quizzes and Pre-Learning Questions for the Exam for the Unit:

The exact words for questions from these quizzes are also 8 (about a third) of the 25 questions on each Unit exam.

See Syllabus Plus: Lowered Risk on 400 Points.

Ladder to Evidence Skills Learning Discussions for Each Unit or for Assignments Occurring Along With that Unit:

You may ask (or answer) questions to help your learning and your grade. The first posts by your instructor cover:

·         How to make your post useable to others, including Good Habits for Evidence and sample posts

·         How the rubric shows how to earn points—even if you are hesitant to post and just want to read

·         How Blackboard’s “moderated” discussion works when you post and why your instructor uses it

See Syllabus Plus: Ladder to Evidence Skills

Lowered Risk on 400 Points 3 Unit Exams and the Goal of Exam Questions to Be Useful for Your Life

There are 25 questions in sets (so students in Blackboard see different questions). Eight (about a third) of the 25 sets are pulled from Learning Quizzes so you not only pre-earn points for the quizzes, but can pre-learn 8 of the 25 questions.

The goal of the exam questions determines the remaining seventeen (about two-thirds) of the 25 sets of exam questions. In this class, questions do not require that you show you know everything, but you show that you know something. The questions focus on your recognizing significant traits of such things as regions, time periods and their dominant beliefs or events, and representative historical figures. Tips:

·         The best way to recognize these things is in your instructor’s Lessons in each Unit, not in a textbook.

·         The best way to use the Lessons efficiently is to use them with the Unit’s Study Guide (top of each Unit’s folder).

·         The Lessons are like a textbook with bullets with all of the same issues in one place. Example: If you need more about a Study Guide item for Lesson 2, click on Lesson 2, press Ctrl-F (for Find), and type a few letters of the word in the Find box. Click through all uses of that word in that Lesson. If you still need help with searching for a specific fact or a map, use the index at the back of your textbook. If you do not find it, post a question. If you do find it, you may also want to post that in the Learning Discussion to help others.

See Syllabus Plus: Lowered Risk on 400 Points.

Lowered Risk on 400 Points Departmental Final Exam—F for the Course If Not Taken

The Final Exam consists of 25 questions, at 4 points each. A review is provided in Learning Modules. Cautions:

  1. Departmental policy is an F for the course if you do not take the Final. Example: If you have 900 points (an A in this course) but do not take the Final Exam, your instructor is required to enter an F in the official record.
  2. To avoid an F for this course, you must take the Final Exam; therefore, you also must deal with WCJC’s requirements for Respondus Monitor-Lockdown Brower.

See Syllabus Plus: Lowered Risk on 400 Points with its review

Introduction to Respondus, to the Seriousness of Monitoring, and to WCJC’s Video and Other Aids

Introduction to Respondus-Lockdown Browser (Written by WCJC’s Distance Education)

This course requires the use of Lockdown Browser for taking online exams. The Lockdown Browser software prevents a user from accessing other applications or going to other websites during an exam. The webcam records you during the exam to ensure you're only using resources that are permitted. Together, these tools make it possible for students to take online exams from any location, and at times that are convenient. It also creates a fair testing environment for everyone in the course. Instructions for downloading the Lockdown Browser software are posted in the course.

On the Left, Your Required Actions – On the Right, the Penalties and How Many Points You Will Lose on Your Final

Exam Conduct Requirement:

Consequence for Violation of Exam Conduct:

Valid photo ID shown

Penalty up to minus 30 percentage points

Correct placement of webcam

Penalty up to minus 30 percentage points

Complete environment scan

Penalty up to minus 30 percentage points

Microphone turned on and recording

Penalty up to minus 30 percentage points

Sufficient lighting of the testing environment

Penalty up to minus 30 percentage points

Student is in seated position with computer on hard surface (desk, table, TV tray etc.)

Penalty up to minus 30 percentage points

Student remains in webcam view during exam

Penalty up to 0 for the Exam

No unauthorized materials near desk area

Penalty up to 0 for the Exam

No talking with others during the exam or playing of music or other audio recordings.

Penalty up to 0 for the Exam

WCJC’s Video and Your Instructor’s Aids to Help Students-Succeed with Respondus and Testing

To help you:

·         WCJC’s video with a demonstrator showing exactly how to do each step with Respondus. All students must observe carefully Distance Education’s excellent video. Caution and a Personal Favor:

o   The Caution—Respondus is updating their screens. You do not want to look at WCJC’s video until after WCJC’s Distance Education department has updated their video to match the changes.

o   The Personal Favor—If it is after 9/8 and if I have not removed this statement and the Caution below, please email me.

·         A checklist to help students notice what is in the video and your prof give you feedback on how you did with Sample Respondus Exam. Caution: I must update that shortly after Distance Education finishes the video.

·         The Sample Respondus Exam that lets students practice as much as they want and—when they think they know how to do it—get feedback so they know if they are OK or must change how they do this.

How Respondus Works in This Class

In this course, you only use Respondus with the Final Exam. (Do notice the statement at the end of the syllabus about my reserving the right to change the syllabus.) In this course, you have two things to make this more flexible for you:

1.       A 3-week period to meet the requirements, but do notice:

a.       There are fewer points possible if you wait until the last opportunity to do the 2nd Way. Do it early so you can get more points!

b.      Caution: If you do not act during that 3-week period, you cannot meet the requirements and therefore you cannot take the Final Exam and you cannot pass the course. Get it done early so you do not forget!

2.       2 Ways to meet the requirements

The 2 ways to meet the requirements are meant to help students with different experiences:

·         1st WayFor students who are experienced with using Respondus for taking exams at WCJC.

a)      You do not have to do the Sample Respondus Exam.

b)      You do have to follow the instructions in Respondus and 2 Ways to Be Able to Take the Final Exam. It tells you what to do and what to write in an email to your prof. What you sign stresses that this is your responsibility.

·         2nd Way For students who have never taken a Respondus-monitored test at WCJC or who realize after they watch WCJC’s video that they were not doing it correctly before.

a)      You do have to do the Sample Respondus Exam.

b)      You do have to email your prof that you are ready for review. Your prof will review it and reply back with the marked checklist as feedback and—depending on the issues marked—you may have to do it over. Your prof is glad to help you.

Ladder to Evidence Skills Written Assignments:

How Writing Assignments Work in This Course

Writing assignments are freshman level, brief, and use only the textbook and primaries in the course. You focus on a specific historical question as though you were teaching another student. You follow rules for citation provided in the course. Every part of the writing and all feedback is based on 5 very basic rules for evidence—rules essential not just for history but keeping a job.  Grading is not about your style or your opinion or your memories—or mine. It requires you practice skills essential to get and keep a good job. You write 2 papers with the timing in the List of Due Dates. You submit your paper to Turnitin within the Blackboard course.

See Syllabus Plus: Ladder to Evidence Skills

Grading Scale:

This is a 1000-point course, with points added as you earn them. At the end of each Unit, an Announcements shows you your current letter grade. If the grade is lower than you want, ask for help. The Final Letter Grade uses this scale:

Point Range

Final Letter Grade

895 – 1000

A (exceptional)

795 – 894

B (above average)

695 – 794

C (average)

595 – 694

D (below average)

Below 594

F (failing)

Ladder to Evidence Skills Grading Formula:

The 1000-point course consists of these points, with the last being written work:

 

See Syllabus Plus: Ladder to Evidence Skills

Caution about the History Department’s Course Objectives and Its 30 Percent Writing Requirement

The History Department’s student learner outcomes require that you write with evidence and use primaries as well as secondaries. The written work must be over 30 percent of your final grade, a requirement for all history instructors.

See Syllabus Plus for these terms, for math examples of why you cannot pass without writing

Ladder to Evidence Skills How This Course Tries to Help Different Types of Students Succeed with Writing about History:

First, it provides information and quizzes on basic rules of evidence so you can find out what you do not know about evidence before you write. Second, it uses a rubric that tells you which of the 5 Good Habits for Evidence could help you avoid problems revealed by your paper. Third, if you did not succeed with the 5 Good Habits for Evidence with the 1st paper, but asked questions and tried more carefully with the 2nd paper and did do better on the 2nd paper, remind me and I will gladly raise Good Habits for Evidence portion of the grade on the 1st paper.

See Syllabus Plus: Ladder to Evidence Skills

Lowered Risk on 400 Points Incentives (Extra Credit with a Reason) to Help You Persist

There is no extra credit to help a few people make a higher grade, but there is to help all students become stronger. Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary defines incentive as “something that makes a person try or work hard or harder.”

There are two types of incentives in the course to help you persist:

1.       With the 3 Learning Discussions, you earn 10 incentive points on each 30 point Discussion if you a) make over 60 on the Unit Exam and b) if you earn a C or above (over 21 points out of 30) on the Unit Discussion .

2.       With Learning Quizzes and Evidence Quizzes, you earn 1 incentive point for each quiz if on the date listed for that incentive it had 80% of the questions correct either on the Self-Test or the Full-Test.

See Syllabus Plus: Lowered Risk on 400 Points, link to Duckworth’s Ted Talk on persistence as one of the keys to success.

Grading Response Timeframe:

I make every effort to provide feedback for written assignments by the date in the List of Due Dates. If I cannot, I post an Announcement. I generally:

Course Policies

Late Work Policy:

It is your responsibility to email or talk to your instructor if you do not know what to do. The earlier we communicate, the better are our chances for success.

With due dates for any assignment, including exams and required writing, there are no extensions unless it is appropriate to make an extension to all of you. You have these responsibilities:

  1. If your planning at the beginning of the term shows you cannot do these assignments, such as having previously scheduled a trip, tell your instructor immediately and suggest an earlier date for you do the assignment.

Tip: Examine the List of Due Dates to determine if you have conflicts and immediately propose an earlier date. Caution: Use the List of Due Dates (not the Calendar, not My Grades, nothing else). Ask; do not assume.

  1. If something happens that you cannot plan for, such as suddenly becoming very ill (doctor’s note required) or having a death in the family, tell your instructor immediately and provide a valid, written excuse.

·         With a valid, written excuse for something that no one could plan for, these rules apply.

§  If you miss an exam, your make-up exam is taken on the date of the Final Exam.

§  If you miss a required writing, you receive an extension, set by me, with no penalty.

·         Without a valid, written excuse for something that no one could plan for, you receive a 0.

Tip: If you had an event that does not meet the criteria above or you cannot prepare as much as you prefer, do the assignment as best you can. A low grade is better than a 0.

Technology Outage Policy:

If Blackboard is non-functioning, first, please try a different browser to determine if the source of the problem is browser-specific. If the problem persists within another browser, then submit a Request for IT Support Form (opens is same window/tab) or contact them directly at 979-532-6568. See Blackboard’s Help &Resources page (upper right side of Blackboard’s Login Page) for a link to IT Help Desk hours of operation. Also contact your instructor immediately using a working form of communication (email, phone, etc.) should a Blackboard outage occur.

Attendance Policy:

WCJC’s Student Handbook explains responsibilities for attendance and when a student should withdraw from the course. With distance education, Blackboard stores extensive data on time spent and where. Given the speed of an 8-week course covering 16 weeks’ of work, students should log in at least 3 times a week to work online with quizzes, resources, and student discussions. Students should also work offline, including careful reading of the required sources.

Online Classroom Behavior Policy/Classroom Civility:

WCJC’s Student Handbook explains student responsibilities for civility. As with on-campus classrooms, each student is expected not to disrupt the class or abuse any person. Blackboard stores what you do (including messages you create with any tool), when you do it, and where you go. Some Blackboard tools—such as the Discussion Board—not only store messages permanently, but also make what you write visible to everyone in the class. When communicating publicly with the whole class and with individuals, you need to be both kind and collaborative.

Academic Honesty Policy:

WCJC’s Student Handbook explains student responsibilities and provides examples of misconduct. It states “plagiarism and cheating refer to the use of unauthorized books, notes, or otherwise securing help during a test; copying tests [or] assignments….” The Handbook provides details on college-level consequences. Also see the Academic Honesty Statement for Online Classes in Getting Started. In this course, copying any part of an assignment from the Internet or another source is a zero (0) on the assignment.

Dropping a Course with a Grade of “W”:

In the History Department, instructors may not drop students. Students must drop their course. WCJC sets the last date for a student to drop a course. That date is on the first page of this syllabus and in the Essential Information section (below). In making this decision, make sure you also understand the 6 Drop Rule from the Texas legislature.

Six Drop Rule:

Under section 51.907 of the Texas Education Code, “an institution of higher education may not permit a student to drop more than six courses, including any course a transfer student has dropped at another institution of higher education.” This statute was enacted by the State of Texas in spring 2007 and applies to students who enroll in a public institution of higher education as a first-time freshman in fall 2007 or later. There are many exceptions to this rule. Please refer to the current WCJC catalog for information.

Dates Set by WCJC That Are Not Covered in the List of Due Dates:

·         Last day for you to “Drop” the course with grade of “W”:  October/4/2019

·         Holidays: Fall Break (10/25)