English 102, Section 22, danika brown (http://www.u.arizona.edu/~danika)

University of Arizona

Course Policies

(Go to the "Assignments" link for information about the policy on major assignments, grades, and links to those assignments)
Attendance and Participation. Since discussion will be an integral part of the course, I will expect you to be present and to participate. Students who miss more than 3 course meetings may be dropped with an "E." Failing to participate and/or tardiness may result in a loss of up to 5 points per class meeting. Since I take attendance at the beginning of each class session, it is your responsibility to ensure that I have not marked you absent should you arrive late. Each day a reading assignment is due, you must be ready to offer 1-2 meaningful observations or questions about the reading that would be suitable for class discussion. If you do not have an observation or question ready, I will assume you have not done the reading and will deduct 5 points from your overall grade each time you are not prepared.
 
Late Assignments. Your written work for this course, including essays, journals, and informal assignments, are due on the dates indicated in the class outline below or as indicated in class. If you cannot attend class on the day an assignment is due, make arrangements to have the assignment posted on the MOO. You may not miss class on the day of a peer review. Your grade will be reduced by a full letter grade each day an assignment late. After the final draft of the major assignments, you may revise the three major assignments to improve them up to Dec. 8, but only if you turned the assignment in on time in both the draft and final draft stages. You may not write your assignments during class unless you are directed to do so.
 
Plagiarism. Plagiarism occurs whenever you borrow another author's words or ideas without giving that author credit for his or her work. If you are not sure about how to cite a source in your writing, please review Ch. 3 of the Student's Guide. If you still have questions, see me or send me email. If I notice plagiarism in your writing, you will receive an E for the assignment in question with no chances for revision. Serious cases may result in an E for the entire course. The University of Arizona takes academic dishonesty very seriously. See the Code of Academic Integrity on pp. 137-138 in the Student's Guide.
 
Class Conduct. We will have fun this semester, and there will be a great deal of give and take in our discussions. But we will only have fun if you conduct yourself with respect for yourself and others. I expect you to 1) come to class prepared and take pride in the work you do, 2) offer support and encouragement to your classmates, 3) listen to others carefully before offering your opinion, and 4) talk to me outside of class if anything that happens during class bothers you.
 
Collaboration. You will be expected to collaborate with your peers both in and out of class. I believe strongly that all settings are community settings and that you benefit from your interactions with your peers. Consider everyone in this class a colleague. I will ask you to form groups for the final projects early in the semester. You will work with this group often in class on class exercises as well.
 
Class Webpage. The class web page is located at http://www.u.arizona.edu/~danika/courses/102fall.html/. In addition to publishing your essays on this site, I will utilize your course web page to post all assignments and handouts that you receive in class. In addition, updates to the schedule and current reading assignments will be posted there. I will also provide resources for research, on-line writing labs and other related resources there. I recommend that you check and utilize the web page regularly. If you lose an assignment page or handout, you will want to get a copy from the website rather than from me.
 
Gender-fair Language. Because the way we write and speak influences the way we think, students in this course are required to use gender-fair language in their writing and speaking. See p. 57 of the Student's Guide for help with using gender-fair language.
 
Essay and Assignment Format. The only handwritten assignment you will submit this semester is the final exam. All of your other work in this class must be available to be posted electronically. You will be posting drafts and responses in OldPuebloMOO as well as turning in final versions of papers to the instructor on the MOO. You will also be posting all final drafts in an HTML version on the Web. In general, all assignments will require a title, your name, my name, and the date. Specific format issues will be addressed for each assignment. You are responsible for keeping back-up (I recommend several) copies of all your work since electronic texts can be lost. If your assignment is lost in cyberspace, I will expect you to repost it within the same day I ask for it. Posting papers to the MOO and on the Web will be discussed in class.
 
Netiquette. While working in the labs and communicating with others on the MOO, it is important that you consider some general guidelines. Stay on task and do not access websites that are not related to what is going on in class. When communicating on the MOO, consider the conversations as having the same boundaries as any real life interactions. For instance, on OldPuebloMOO, you will have available to you the opportunity to "emote" or "show emotion." For instance, if you want to 'nod in agreement' to someone's comment, you can type ':nods at Tom' and everyone else will see "Linda nods at Tom." One should keep in mind the same general principles for touching on the MOO as in real life--no 'assaults' ("Linda kicks Tom") or 'inappropriate touching' ("Tom kisses Linda"). If someone asks you to stop emoting or whispering at them, respect their wishes.
 
No "flames" (personal attacks). If you happen to be "flamed" by a member of the class, it is best to let me handle it. If you feel compelled to respond, I recommend a request for information, e.g., "What makes you say that?" Responding in kind feels good momentarily, but escalating the flame will only quash discussion for the rest of us. In addition, do not download material to the class listserv or send messages to members in private or on the listserv that could make other members of the class uncomfortable. Think of the class as a professional place, like an office, and your fellow classmates as fellow professionals. Within these guidelines, our online interactions should be an enjoyable and productive.
 
MOO Listserv. You are required to post at least one message per week on the class listserv on OldPuebloMOO in addition to your MOO-Journal (see below). To try to make our messages to each other easy to recognize, try to place in the subject heading a meaningful phrase describing the content of your message. For instance, if you are discussing a chapter in Kingsolver, you could write in the subject line "Ch. 1 of Kingsolver." If you have a response to someone's comments, you might put in the subject line, "Re: Linda's Response to Kingsolver." If you have a question about a class policy, please post it to this list so others can benefit from my response. So, for instance, if you want to ask about the grading policy, write "Question about Grading."
 
Writing Center. The Writing Center, located at 1031 N. Mountain, has resources to help you improve your writing. The staff can help you identify and correct problems with all aspects of your writing. If I require you to go to the Writing Center, you must obtain a stamp on the writing assignment in question (e.g., on the draft of one of the essays) before you turn in the final draft of that assignment.
 
Computer Labs. To find a place to work on campus, see the Appendix to the Student's Guide for listings or consult the CCIT website, connected to the main campus website (www.arizona.edu).
 
 

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