Humanities 2319

Upon completing this course, the student will be expected to have met the following outcomes:

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Structure of the Course

This course is organized into a series of lectures that can be found on the Lecture page.  Each lecture will contain the reading material for which you will be held responsible.  At the end of the lecture, if there is an activity associated with the lecture, you will find a link.  You will complete the activity associated with the lecture and email it to me to be graded and returned.

You are going to be expected to spend at least 3-4 hours on each lecture and you should keep yourself a notebook or some sort of 'running' list of all the terms you come across,  in the lectures so that you will be prepared when you see them again.

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Navigating the Course

The procedure for completing this course is quite simple. You will find a topic listed, listed by unit.  There are three units containing lectures for this course.  In the lectures you will find discussion and explanation of the material in the text. In each lecture, you will find UNDERLINED, BOLD text. These are hyperlinks....VISIT THEM.  You will find them to be useful in both understanding the lectures, the text, preparing for the activities and later, the exams. There is also  BOLD text that you should pay attention to as well.  BOLD TEXT are concepts or important things you should make a note of, because, as I said earlier, you WILL see them again.  I typically encourage students to keep a running list of the terms they come across and either jot them down, or if you print your lectures, highlight the term and the definition. If the definition is not included in the lecture and it is defined in a link, you will want to jot that definition down or make a note of the lecture you encountered it in so that you can return to it more easily when preparing for the final exam.  If there is no reading other than the lecture, consider this basically  as what you would "hear" me talk about in class if you were attending an 'on campus' course.   These lectures are supplemented by examples from many scholars across the litany of subfields of political science as well as, embedded links that portray "real world" situations or examples. Hyperlinks are NOT decoration, so click on them and you will be taken to appropriate examples or sites for further reading. 

You should complete ALL the readings before you attempt the activity. The information you glean from each lecture will be necessary to complete the activity.

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Communications

I teach several sections of internet, and three sections are of another course and offered during a different point in the spring semester.  It is IMPERATIVE that you include your Course (HUM 2319) in the subject line when you email me.   Upon paying tuition for this course YOU MUST EMAIL ME.  If you fail to contact me within the first week of classes you will be dropped for non-attendance and will NOT be readmitted.  While I do hold office hours on campus on Mondays from 8.30 until 4. pm, you may find it easier to reach me by Yahoo Instant Messenger.  I am available for chat on most nights (except Monday)

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Books and Materials

As I have already alluded, you will need to download some free software, create an email account if you do not already have one, and email me.   You may certainly use your ACCD email, but be advised, it can be unreliable at times.  You may want to consider an alternate email provider and if you already have one, you are more than welcome to use it.   You should also create a filter for my email address so that when I send out materials it doesn't wind up in your junk/spam folder. Again, if you do not know how to do this, just instant message me and I will walk you through it.

There are some software programs that you will need to get in order to view/hear some sites.  Please click on these links before beginning the course and download Yahoo Instant Messenger.  After seven years of internet instruction have found it to be the MOST efficient  This program allows you to communicate with me as well as your classmates in real-time chats on-line.    I will provide EVERYONE with EVERYONE ELSE'S yahoo IDs.  You may choose to accept or reject invitations from your classmates. You will need to add me to you list of friends and after you do I will be sent a message so that I can add you.  MAKE SURE you tell me your FULL name and section number in the invitation to add me as your friend so that I can match your Yahoo ID to your name and organize my messenger properly. 

My Yahoo ID is c.kaupert .

Before you begin working within the course website there are some programs you will need to view some of the material.  If you have these programs, you may skip this bit, but otherwise, please click on the following and download the free software.  These are Adobe reader, Excel viewer and Powerpoint viewer. 

Communicating with Me

• Yahoo Instant Messenger

I use Yahoo! IM  for conferences, chat,  as well as 'office hours,' so you must complete this procedure in order to participate.

On-line office hours will be held during most days but you can most definitely expect to get me on Tuesday and Thursday evenings between 9-11pm.  You can IM at that time if you have any questions you need to discuss.  You can also generally catch me on the messenger on Tuesday and Thursday between 8.30 am to 10 am or Monday's from 8.30 am until 4 pm.  I am also available on the weekends as I leave the messenger on.    Irrespective of whether you see me online or not; if you have a question, just click on my id and send your message, I will see it when I log on or come back to my desk and will answer it. 

• Yahoo Bulletin Board

There is also a bulletin board on which you may post questions so that I or your classmates can answer.  I think you will find Yahoo provides a RELIABLE bulletin board and I have been using it for over seven years with NO problems.

Just enter your email address in the box below and you will be subscribed to the group.  I will admit you once I verify your enrollment.  Please wait until at least January 15th before you subscribe (and after you have paid your tuition). 

The bulletin board is located at  http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/american_political_culture/   (Just click on the Yahoo! Groups logo below and it will take you to the site, but you may want to right click and place a shortcut on your desktop for easy access) 

                                                

You will need to join and may choose to sign up for notification of postings there. The default settings will send ALL postings to your email account but with 100+ students, this may quickly overwhelm you.  YOU MAY CHANGE THIS!  Just go to your preferences and select your choice of "No mail," "Daily Digest" or "Special Notices." I send all my postings out as special notices so at a minimum, you should consider selecting this option.  If you do choose this option, be advised, you will not receive follow-up postings from me or other students to comments which were previously posted.

The Bulletin Board is a place where further discussion of lecture material occurs and everyone can benefit from it.   I will post course notices and news there.  You should make it a point to check this at LEAST once a day if you do choose NOT to receive the BB posting in your email box.

Because of the number of students I have, I do not answer course related questions in private emails, therefore you MUST post all course related questions to the Bulletin Board.  Matters of a personal nature however, can and should be readily instant messaged to me. 

I receive posting notifications and will respond as soon as I am able.  It also has a chat facility there if you choose to meet and discuss class material there as well, you don't need me to be there.   Please familiarize yourself with the BB site as that is where most of my communication with the group takes place. 

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Grades

There are 700 points available in this course

• 4 activities: 100 points each           400 points              57%   of grade
• Midterm exam                                100 points              14%    of grade
• Final exam                                      200 points              29%    of grade

Clearly, the activities make up the most critical portion of your grade, the midterm and final, are important but your performance on the activities are what will most heavily influence the grade you ultimately earn; so do not procrastinate or do a poor job on these.  My expectations for activity work is explained in detail in the section on Activities. There will be opportunities for extra credit, however it will be on a 'first-come, first-served' basis. 

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Extra Credit

A 'point to ponder' will be posted on the bulletin board.  The first five students to offer SUBSTANTIVE comments on them will receive 3 points extra credit.  You may NOT answer more than 3 times over the semester (giving a MAX of 9 points).  The rules require that the FIRST person address the 'point' and MY comments; the second student must address the points made by the FIRST student AND my comments, the third student must address the points made by the SECOND student and MY comments, and so on.

There may also be extra credit included on the exams; but do NOT RELY on this.

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Participation/Attendance

Because this is an internet class we don't 'meet.'  I don't use Web-CT so I cannot monitor your 'attendance,' and am therefore  VERY strict about turning in assignments and attendance at exams.   I cannot be 'chasing you around.'  If you fail to turn in an activity and do NOT notify my within 48 hours as to why, I will drop you from the course for non-participation/non-attendance, as is my prerogative.  If you miss the midterm, you will be dropped for non-participation/non-attendance. 

BE WARNED: If you are dropped for non-participation you WILL NOT BE REINSTATED. No exceptions. 

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Activities

There will be four activities completed over the semester. A link to the activity is located at the bottom of lectures that have activities associated with them.  You will have six opportunities to complete an activity over the semester.  Please check the calendar page for which Lectures have these.  For each activity, you will complete two essays.  The first essay is a mandatory essay for everyone, you then will have a choice among several for the second essay.  The following are suggestions for writing essays and answering short answer questions for this course:

• Always answer the question. Writing about guns is not the same thing as writing a defense of a gun control law.

• Write concisely. No essay question in any of the lessons requires an answer longer than a page. Some essays can be effectively answered in less than three paragraphs. In most cases, a benchmark is about 500 words.  You will need to use no larger than a 12 font and single space. Typing your work in a word-processing program and copying/pasting straight into an email is often the most effective method for students but it also allows them to save their work on a disk or to their hard drive in Word/WordPerfect format for future reference.   In ANY event, you should most definitely make sure that your email service SAVES A COPY of your SENT work in case, as is always possible, something gets lost in the transmission or I accidentally delete or misfile your work (as has happened in the past-because, gee....In spite of the rumors, I am human.)

• Incorporate your own ideas. It will be difficult to answer most of the essay questions adequately without incorporating your own thoughts or insights into the answers. Thus, don't expect to answer the questions by doing little more than cutting and pasting sections from the lecture section of this course or from other sources on the web. In fact, I will add here a word of caution: As easy as it is to "steal" others' work, it is that easy to get caught! Of course, many of you may not be quite sure what constitutes plagiarism, so just click HERE and run this this tutorial to familiarize yourselves. To help you understand proper citation style, this is a great site and Cal State has links to several style manuals for the respective disciplines.  When I have caught students in the past, and I do catch them, I have several "options" available to me, (and here is your first example of bureaucratic "discretion") depending upon the "degree" of copying: I can give a zero on that activity on the one hand, or at the other end of the spectrum, we may have a "chat" about the proper method for citations. 

• Do cite the author(s) and sources you use to support your opinions.  It really is expected that you do this, and this is true in ALL course work in college. There is no denying that because of the volume of work out there on the net inadvertently we may wind up finding similar writings, but intent is very important:  are you copying someone's work to represent as your own?  Even I have been known forget to properly cite the work of others, with no malicious intent;  goodness knows we could all use an editor to ensure that we have given credit where credit is due! My point is just be mindful that it actually looks much better for you when you do go out and research the issue as it shows the professor that you took the time and initiative to study the topic and provide sources of OTHERS who have studied the topic.

• A truly well-developed essay will have the characteristics identified above and will be stylistically and technically polished (i.e., proper tone, grammar, spelling, etc.)

Remember, your work is the only impression I will have of you as a person, please take some pride in what you submit to me.  Check spelling and form, in other words, PROOFREAD your work.  

There are due dates for the activities so plan your reading accordingly. If your activities are submitted late, meaning after the 12.00 am deadline, you will be penalized 1 point for each day the activity is late without exception!

Finally, copy and paste your work in an HTML formatted email and send a copy to me.  You should not use an attachment as I won't accept them.  It generally takes me a week to grade them and send them back, but this can vary and I post an announcement on the Bulletin Board when I have completed grading of an activity.  If you fail to get anything back, don't worry (unless you haven't saved a copy of what you sent)  you need only instant message me and let me know.  I will check into the problem and in the worst case, you will need to resubmit your sent copy to me.

Submitting work from former students is the SAME as plagiarism.  The first time I find that you have attempted to do this, you will get a warning with a loss of TEN POINTS.  The second offense will earn you a zero for the entire activity.  End of discussion.   Please don't test me on this issue.  I find it annoying and a little petty to have to call students down on it.

Please be sure to head your paper with your name and and HUM 2319 in the subject line of ALL of your activity submissions.   

MAKE SURE TO SAVE A COPY OF WHAT I SEND BACK TO YOU!!! You should probably save these to a disk as some email programs will delete mail after a time. This will protect you in the event of grade discrepancies. 

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Exams

Each exam will consist of essays, short answers and identification questions or fill in the blank as well as matching or multiple choice.  A review sheet will be made available for both the midterm and the final. 

Test questions will be reflect information in your book as well as lecture readings and the internet essays that you will complete. Consequently, it will not be possible to simply read the lectures to prepare adequately for the exam. You will need to consult all information sources:  textbook, lectures, and web assignments to be properly prepared. The final exam is to be held during finals week. The final will include some items from previous exams; however, it is weighted the same.

Where and How to Take Exam:

The exams will be taken in a proctored environment. If you cannot come to the SAC campus, you will need to make arrangements with a proctor and have the proctor contact me through email as to where I will need to send the exam.

It will take me at least 5 days but generally no more than a week to grade the exam and return your score. If you take the exam under circumstances other than with me, the grading of your exam could be delayed. Exams will be given on the SAC campus in the Chance Academic Building on the scheduled dates and times listed on the calendar page.  You will need to bring ONLY a pen or pencil with you to the exam.  

Make-Up Exams:

Let me first say, I LOATHE make-up exams. Make-ups are only given in cases of EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES. The syllabus is posted with the test dates, so you will need to apprise yourself of those dates and make arrangements accordingly. 

If and only IF extenuating circumstances arise, proof must be provided to me (OFFICIAL DOCUMENTATION WILL BE EXPECTED:  doctor's excuse, death notice, bond paper, detached limb, etc) and THEN a make up will be offered. 

The FINAL EXAM presents a COMPLETELY different issue however.  A make up will consist of a 10 page paper on a topic of MY discretion, so plan accordingly or be willing to provide proof.

Withdrawing from Course:

First, there are two things with which you should be familiar:  The three-peat rule and for Freshman (as of fall 2007) the Six-Course Drop Rule. 

• Because of changes made in state law, ALL students, if after attempting a course and dropping it  on two previous occasions, upon the THIRD attempt, the student will be required to pay TREBLE costs--this is equivalent to International Tuition rates for the class. 

• Secondly, as of the fall 2007, ALL incoming Freshmen are subject to a six-course drop limitation over the LIFE of their academic careers up to the completion of a Bachelor's degree.  If you have a desire to transfer to university, all courses that you complete (or drop) will be considered by the university accepting you.  If, at some point, you choose to drop a course and you have already dropped the maximum of six courses, you will be forced to complete the course and receive the grade (if you choose to do no work, an F is highly probable).  There are exceptions to this latter rule.

 So BEFORE dropping ANY course, you would be wise to consult FIRST with your instructor and/or a counselor to consider your options. 

To withdraw from this course, a student MUST consult with me prior to dropping.  You must send me an email stating WHY you need to withdraw so that it may be documented. Your email should include your name, section number and reason for the withdrawal request.  Your email should have COURSE WITHDRAWAL in the subject line.  This is your responsibility!! 

Once your drop has been approved by me, I would advise you check with the registrar's office 2-3 days later to ensure your request has been submitted and was processed.  I will repeat, this is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!

Academic Dishonesty:

The full text of the policy may be found in the "Student Code of Conduct," on pages 52-60 in the San Antonio College Catalog.

The text reads, in part: "Students found guilty of an act of academic dishonesty may be subject to:
    (1) Academic penalty including one or more of the following when not
         inconsistent 
            a. A requirement to perform additional academic work not required of
                other students in the course
            b. A reduction in grade 
            c. Assignment of a grade of "F" in the course.

 (2) Corrective measures including any penalty which may be imposed in a
          student disciplinary hearing pursuant to this Code of Conduct.

I do monitor student's work and have, on several occasions (as noted above), caught students plagiarizing their work from the web or from students from prior semesters (and YES, I am well aware of the sharing that goes on in fraternities and sororities so DON'T test me.)  There is nothing wrong with using other people's research, HOWEVER, you must give them credit by citing the website and author from where you got the information. 

Keep in mind, I have been using the internet for over FIFTEEN years. I know what is out there in a general sense and more importantly, I know how to find almost anything.  It really is not worth risking your grade or your academic career by cheating. 

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Contract

You must copy and paste the paragraph below into an email to me before the end of the first week of classes.