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coursedesign

Page history last edited by Laura Gibbs 3 years, 2 months ago

 

Designing the Course: It's Your Choice

 

For this first assignment of the semester, you will learn about the many CHOICES you will be making: choosing your schedule, and also choosing your grade. All that may seem a bit strange at first, but as you work through the Orientation Week, it will all fall into place, I promise, and you can contact me any time if you have questions: laura-gibbs@ou.edu, or send me a Canvas message.

 

This assignment will take appx. 15 minutes to complete:

  • read the information on this page
  • fill out the Google Form (you'll find the link below)
  • complete the Canvas Declaration

 

Returning students: Welcome back! In addition to reading the information here and filling out the form, you'll want to check out this important information: Orientation for Returning Students.

 

Canvas is where you will record your completed work and track your class progress, and each course has its own distinctive course card image: the Indian goddess Lakshmi for Indian Epics and the Egyptian goddess Isis for Myth-Folklore (the links lead to more info about the images).

 

 

 

PART ONE: CHOOSING YOUR SCHEDULE

 

Core Assignments. This week is an Orientation Week, and then you will have the same basic schedule each week with six core assignments: two reading assignments, a storytelling blog post based on that reading, commenting on other people's blogs, working on your own class project, plus giving other people feedback on their projects.

 

Time Required. Those core assignments will take about 5-6 hours each week to complete. Think of that as being the equivalent of the 3 hours you would normally spend going to class, plus 2-3 hours of work outside of class each week. The workload is very steady: no tests, no midterms, no final... just a steady 5-6 hours of reading and writing every week.

 

YOU Design the Schedule. Because this is an "asynchronous" online course, there are no scheduled meeting times. That means it is UP TO YOU to design the schedule. Maybe you want to do all the work on Monday-Wednesday-Friday. Maybe you want to do it all on Saturday and Sunday. Maybe you want to do the work on Monday and Tuesday, finishing up on Friday. At the end of this assignment, I'll ask you to fill out a Google Form with your preferred times so that I can help you arrange the core assignments based on the schedule you prefer.

 

Due Dates. Yes, there are due dates, but I hope you will not wait for the due dates to do the work. Instead, you should work according to your own schedule. You can always complete the work early, ahead of the due dates. Take some advice from former students: they highly recommend that you WORK AHEAD. The work will be much more enjoyable and less stressful if you are working on your own preferred schedule instead of rushing to meet a deadline.

 

Canvas Grace Period. Each assignment in Canvas has a due date. All the assignments are due at midnight (11:59PM) on a given day of the week, and there is also an "until" date for each assignment which goes until noon (11:59 AM) the next morning. So, for example, this assignment is due on Tuesday... but if you are running behind, you can use the grace period on Wednesday morning to complete the assignment. That space between midnight and noon the next day is what I call the "grace period" in Canvas.

 

When you use the grace period, the assignment is marked as late in Canvas, but don't worry: you get full credit in this class; there is no penalty for using the grace period. The grace period is there as an emergency extension as needed, no questions asked. Hopefully you won't need to use the grace period very often... but it's there if/when things do not quite go as planned.

 

Cartoon by Dan Regan.

 

PART TWO: GRADING

 

You will be doing all the grading in this class. I give you feedback (lots of feedback!), but the grade is up to you. My goal is for everybody to pass the class, but whether you want to go for an A or B or C is your choice. Here's how that works:

 

Points and Declarations. Each assignment has a point value, and you receive the points when the assignment is complete. As you finish each assignment, you will record the points in Canvas by means of a "Declaration" — which is just a true/false quiz checklist where you confirm that the assignment is done. The points you declare are automatically recorded in your total points, which you can see in the upper right-hand corner of the Canvas Gradebook. You'll do a Declaration at the end of this assignment, so you'll see how that works.

 

Final Grade. Each week, there are 30 points of core assignments, plus a lot of extra credit assignments. So, that means there are 450 points total (30 points per week for 15 weeks), along with all the extra credit. Your final grade is determined by your total points. If you have 410 or more points at the end of the semester, that's an A. For 360 points, you will receive a grade of B. You need 320 points to pass the class with a C. It's completely up to you what grade you want to aim for. I know this do-it-yourself grading system may seem a little strange at first, but it works really well. If you want to read what past students think about it, you can see their comments here: DIY Grading: What Students Say.

 

Honor Code. This class is governed by an Honor Code. So, make sure you read the Declaration carefully before you answer "true" and take the points; this grading system depends on your Declarations being honest and accurate. For more information about the Academic Integrity Council at OU, see the OU Guide to Academic Integrity.

 

 * * * 

 

Spring 2021. Given all the uncertainty this semester, I've set up two Break Weeks. In Week 5 and Week 10, you will get full credit for the week's work automatically. Any work you choose to do during Week 5 and Week 10 will count as extra credit. I hope that will help make this difficult semester more manageable for everybody. There's no Spring Break overall, but you will be able to take two weeks off in this class, either in Week 5 and Week 10, or during two other weeks if that is more convenient for you. More about that here if you are curious: Spring 2021 Break Weeks.

 

 * * *  

 

 

PART THREE: PLAN YOUR WEEK

 

Now that you've had a chance to think about how the class works, I'd like you to tentatively plan out your weekly schedule. You can change your mind at any time, but you need some kind of schedule in mind for Week 2. So, don't worry if you know your schedule is going to change; the goal here is just to get a plan ready for Week 2.

 

So, think about how you want to schedule your 6 hours each week, and then click this link to fill out the Google Form: DESIGNING YOUR SCHEDULE. For example: MWF 2 hours each day, or maybe MWF 1 hour each day plus 3 hours on Sunday, or maybe 1 hour every day except Friday... any combination of 6 hours over the week will work! Then, based on the hours/days you mark on that form, I'll send you back a customized schedule that you can use starting in Week 2. Save the email you get back from me with the suggested schedule for Week 2, and you can use Week 2 as a kind of planning experiment to see how that goes and adjust as needed.

 

 

 

DO YOUR FIRST DECLARATION

 

Okay, you're done! It's time to complete your first Gradebook Declaration: log on at Canvas and choose this course from your dropdown menu of your courses. Click on the Modules link on the left and you will see Week 1 at the top. Click on this assignment: Week 01 Design Your Course. Take the quiz, answering "true" to the Declaration, and then "submit" to finish the quiz.

 

 

After you submit your answer, you'll be able to see your points in the Canvas. The total points should show up in the upper right-hand corner of the Gradebook; after you complete this Declaration, you will see "2/2" as your total points so far. 

 

And now you can move on right now to the next assignment, which I hope will be a fun one: creating your class blog!

 

 

 

 

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