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coursedesign

This version was saved 4 years, 7 months ago View current version     Page history
Saved by Laura Gibbs
on August 6, 2019 at 1:58:35 pm
 

 

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.

 

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: and the goddess Lakshmi for Indian Epics, the goddess Isis for Myth-Folklore section 995, and the goddess Amaterasu for Myth-Folklore section 996.

 

 

 

PART ONE: CHOOSING YOUR SCHEDULE

 

Core Assignments. This week is an Orientation Week,  and then you will have the same basic schedule for Weeks 2-15, with six core assignments each week. Those core assignments consist of two reading assignments, a storytelling blog post based on that reading, commenting on other people's blogs, working on your own class project, and giving other people feedback on their projects. Those assignments will begin in Week 2.

 

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 a fully online course, there are no scheduled meeting times. That means it will be 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. That's totally up to you! 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 to make sure you do not fall behind, 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. And if you work a week or two ahead, you can finish the semester early!

 

Canvas Calendar. Each assignment in Canvas has a due date. All the assignments are due at "midnight" (11:59PM) on a given day of the week, as you can see here.

 

 

Canvas Grace Period. There is also an "unavailable until" date for each assignment which goes until "noon" (12:01 PM) the next day. The difference between the due date and the available until date is the "grace period" in Canvas. The assignment is marked as late, but you get full credit if you turn the assignment in during that morning grace period.

 

Basically, the grace period is there as an emergency extension if you need it, 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. There is no partial credit; the assignment must be complete if you want to take the points. 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.

 

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. Most of the people in this class are seniors with very heavy workloads. If you just need to pass this class with a C in order to graduate, that's fine with me. Whether you get an A, B, or C is entirely up to you; my goal is just for everybody to pass the class. (Last semester, everybody passed! Yay!)

 

I know this 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

 

Dead Week / Finishing Early. You are done with the course as soon as you reach the total points you need for the grade that you want. If you complete the core assignments during Weeks 1-14, you will have enough points for an A at the end of Week 14 (with a total Dead Week in Week 15). If you work ahead and/or do extra credit, you can finish the course even earlier. More about how that works: Progress Chart

 

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.

 

 

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, think about how you want to schedule your 6 hours each week, and then fill out this 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 if you change your mind as you work through the assignments and want to try a different schedule instead, just let me know.

 

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, which is 100%. Your grade will always be 100% in this class because everything is based on completion, and your final grade is determined by the number of points completed. And now... congratulations on getting started!

 

Are you ready to continue? You can move on right now to the next assignment: creating your blog!

 

Here is the text of the Declaration that you will see in Canvas:

 

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

 

I have read the information about assignments and due dates for this course, and I have also read the information about points-based grading.

 

I will be honest and accurate when I make my Gradebook Declarations, doing the Declaration only AFTER I have completed each assignment.

 

I have filled out the Google Form, including my tentative schedule for the class.

 

 

 

 

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