Course Syllabus

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Instructor Information

  • Instructor: Dr. Alisa Cooper
  • Office Hours: 
    • Monday & Wednesday: Online only 10:30-11:30am & 8-9pm, 
    • Tuesday On Campus: 10:30-11:30am in Writing Center
    • Thursday: On Campus: 11:30-12:30pm in 05-118
    • Friday: Online 10:30-11:30am or On Campus by appointment only
  • Office Phone: 623-845-4915 (Only during on campus Office Hours)
  • Cell Phone/Text: 602-325-3259
  • E-mail: dr.coop@freshmancomp.com
  • Class Time: Online 24-7
  • Section: 15118 & 15119 (Aug. 17-Dec. 13, 2013)

Additional Contact Information

  • Text Messages: 602-325-3259 (Any time before 10pm)
  • AIM IM: TufProf
  • Skype: TufProf
  • Google Talk: Dr.Coop@freshmancomp.com (in Gmail)
  • Google+: Alisa Cooper
  • Twitter: ENG102 ( http://twitter.com/eng102)

Please feel free to connect with me on any of these accounts.

Course Materials

Required:

  • No Textbook: No traditional paper textbook, that is. You need to purchase an online handbook access card (see below)
  • Online Handbook Access Card: Connect Composition 2.0 Online Access for The McGraw-Hill Handbook - Connect Composition 2.0
  • Maricopa.edu Email address
  • Headset: ear phones & microphone and computer speakers
  • OPTIONAL but highly recommended: webcam or smartphone (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows 7)

Course Technology & Skills Needed

Skills Needed for Online Learning

Course Description

Emphasis on rhetoric and composition with a focus on persuasive, research-based writing and understanding writing as a process. Developing advanced college-level writing strategies through three or more writing projects comprising at least 4,000 words in total. Prerequisites: ENG101 with a grade of "C" or better.

Course Objectives

  1. Write for specific rhetorical contexts, including circumstance, purpose, topic, audience, and writer, as well as the writing's ethical, political, and cultural implications.
  2. Organize writing to support a central idea through unity, coherence, and logical development appropriate to a specific writing context.
  3. Use appropriate conventions in writing, including consistent voice, tone, diction, grammar, and mechanics.
  4. Find, evaluate, select, and synthesize both online and print sources that examine a topic from multiple perspectives.
  5. Integrate sources through summarizing, paraphrasing, and quotation from sources to develop and support one's own ideas.
  6. Identify, select, and use an appropriate documentation style to maintain academic integrity.
  7. Use feedback obtained through peer review, instructor comments, and/or other sources to revise writing.
  8. Assess one's own writing strengths and identify strategies for improvement through instructor conference, portfolio review, written evaluation, and/or other methods.
  9. Generate, format, and edit writing using appropriate technologies.

Grading Policies

Grades for completed written work are given in percentages:

  • 90-100 = A,
  • 80-89 = B,
  • 70-79 = C,
  • 60-69 = D

Below 60 is a failing grade on an individual assignment; however, a score of below 60 does reflect credit for the work done and certainly is more valuable than a zero (0), which is a score when no work is turned in.

Grades:
A = 1000-895 pts
B = 894-795 pts
C = 794-695 pts
D = 694-595 pts
F = 594-0 pts

Final Note About Grades: 60% of your grade in this class is dependent on your essay writing skills. That's over half of your grade. You are guaranteed to not do well if you do not complete any one of the essay assignments. To give you a fair opportunity to do well in ENG 102, please complete ALL Odyssey and paper assignments.

Attendance Policies

You are expected to attend all class sessions. Sessions in an online class include any scheduled chats, online discussions or personal conferences. See the Discussion Rubric. Attendance is also measured by your activity in the class and online. You should plan to participate at least 3 days a week. This is measured by your log-in times in the course management system. Should you miss more than the recommended participation time you may be withdrawn from ENG102 due to excessive absences. You may also lose class participation/attendance points for excessive absences in the hybrid class.

You are expected to participate cooperatively, constructively, and to the best of your ability in all class and online activities. These activities may include synchronous class or small group discussion and asynchronous online discussion forums and writing assignments. In order to participate, you must be prepared--complete all class reading assignments before "coming to class." If you come to class unprepared, you may be counted absent, and you will lose class participation points for those discussions.

Late Work & Assignments

You must turn in all assignments, discussion posts, prospectuses and papers complete and on time if you want to do well in this class. Complete means everything specified in the assignment. Incomplete assignments will not be graded. On time means by midnight on the date the assignment is due. The grade for any late PAPER or assignment will be reduced 10% each day it is late. You can submit late work, but the grade will be reduced. Late essays and assignments will be accepted up to one week following the due date. Papers and assignments over a week late will not be accepted for credit. No late discussion posts or research prospectuses will be graded. Late work is not eligible for rewrites. 

In addition, all Odyssey assignments must be completed in order for you to be able to submit your final paper. These assignments must all match the work presented in the final paper. If any one Odyssey assignment is not submitted or is completed on a different topic, your final paper will not be accepted, and you may not pass this class. The Odyssey assignments are: Assn. 3, 5, 6, 8 & 9.

Plagiarism

It is important that you become familiar with the plagiarism policy of the English Division. Credit must be given where it is due. Creators of ideas deserve to be recognized for them. If you present material without acknowledging an outside source, readers will assume that you are its author. When writers deliberately present another author's work as their own, they are guilty of plagiarism. When you write for others to read, as in an essay, you are bound by certain rules of fair play. Specifically, unless you quote directly, you must completely restate material borrowed from your sources using your own words and your own style. Failure to do so is called plagiarism, an act of dishonesty. If you plagiarize in any assignment in this course, you will receive zero (0) points for the plagiarized assignment, and possibly a failing grade for the class. Multiple offenses will be reported to the Dean, and you will receive an F for the course.

Paper Format

All papers and writing assignments handed in electronically should:

  1. follow MLA or APA format depending on the assignment guidelines,
  2. be typed (double-spaced) with 12pt font
  3. have 1" margins on top and bottom and 1" on the sides;
  4. include the writer's name, course title/time, assignment # & name, and date in upper left corner of the page (Heading).
  5. be saved as either MS Word (.doc/.docx) or Rich Text Format (.rtf). No Word Perfect (wps) or Open Office (odt) files!
  6. and the file should be saved with the following naming format: first name and Assn.# (Example: Tracy A1.doc)
Assignments that do not follow these format guidelines will be penalized no less than 5% and no more than 10% of the grade.

Communications Etiquette

I. You are permitted to contact the instructor via email, chat or phone (phone before 10pm). Please follow appropriate etiquette when doing so:

      1. Be sure to send your email from an email account that belongs to you, and make sure the account has your name attached to it. Your school email account (maricopa.edu) is preferred)
      2. Use a proper subject for the title of your email.
      3. When typing email, do not type in all capital letters.
      4. Be sure you clearly identify what your problem, question or needs are.
      5. When leaving a voicemail message, be sure to include your name, class, and phone number.
      6. Lastly, please do not send chain letters, jokes, or any non-course related emails to the instructor.

When contacting your instructor, you can expect a response within 48 hours outside of office hours and within the hour during office hours. However, I will not respond to questions that ask when something will be graded or inquires whether or not I received an assignment. 

II. You are permitted to send emails and messages from the course network to students in the class for only class related business. Please follow appropriate etiquette when doing so:

        1. Sending message from the course network will keep your email address private, but the recipient will be able to reply back to that message.
        2. Be succinct when you state your business in an email or network message.
        3. If you receive messages from a student and you do not want to communicate with him/her, inform the instructor so that she can contact the student. Save the message as evidence.
        4. Do not send repeated emails if the person does not respond.

III. The best way to ask questions and communicate with your classmates is to use Piazza. Questions asked there will be answered sooner than if asked via email or Canvas.

Using Web-Based Applications

We will be using a web-based social bookmarking application (Diigo) for academic use in ENG102, First Year Composition. By default, the bookmarking site is open to the public for the purpose of sharing your work with the larger Internet community; specifically, using the bookmarking application will:

  • provide an opportunity to track and reflect upon your research process/progress,
  • provide an opportunity to collaborate on large scale projects, and
  • engage a larger audience who may provide feedback on the project.

To use the social bookmarking application responsibly please observe all laws, GCC, and MCCCD policy that are incorporated into the Codes of Conduct and Academic Integrity. Some specific aspects of law and policy that might be well to remember are prohibitions against copyright infringement, plagiarism, harassment or interferences with the underlying technical code of the software. Some resources to remind yourself about GCC and MCCCD policies as well as laws about copyright and fairuse:

As a student using the social bookmarking application certain rights accrue to you. Any original work that you make tangible belongs to you as a matter of copyright law. You also have a right to the privacy of your educational records as a matter of federal law and may choose to set your social bookmarking privacy settings to private and only share with the instructor and your classmates. Your contributions to the social bookmarking application constitute an educational record. By contributing to the social bookmarking application, and not taking other options available to you in this course equivalent to this assignment that would not be posted publicly on the Internet, you consent to the collaborative use of this material as well as to the disclosure of it in this course and potentially for the use of future courses.

Student Support Resources

Glendale Community College offers a variety of resources to support student learning and offers the student support services listed below:

  • Need assistance with writing skills?  Check out GCC's Writing Center. Be sure to take note of the Electronic Writing Center listed on the main Writing Center home page. 
  • Need assistance with study skills?  Time management skills?  Test-taking skills?  How about one-on-one tutoring?  GCC's Center for Learning offers a variety of services to support student learning.
  • Need to find more information on Therevada Buddhism?  Not sure where to find scholarly articles on religion and popular culture?  Trying to find primary sources on early Christianity?  Looking for a film on Hindu ascetics? Not sure how to cite a source?  GCC's Library and Media Services provide excellent resources and training.
  • GCC's Counseling and Career Services provides additional support to students interested in career exploration, enhanced study skills training, life coaching, and personal counseling.
  • Have general questions regarding enrollment, class schedules, advisement, and graduation?  Check out GCC's Enrollment Services.

Disability Services

If any one of you has a disability, including a learning disability, please contact me as soon as possible to discuss any potential accommodation needs.

Glendale Community College's Disability Services Mission Statement:

"The Mission of the Glendale Community College's office of Disability Services & Resources is to support the campus community (students, faculty & staff, and administration) and local service providers (high schools, rehabilitation agencies) by offering individuals with disabilities the natural benefits afforded by access to our facilities, academic programs and student support services.

In addition, Disability Services & Resources aims to promote establishment of campus policies, procedures, and technology that are more inclusive and understanding of individual functional limitations through advocacy, academic advisement, and the use of effective, reasonable, and efficient academic accommodations designed to enhance equal access to education, self advocacy, and the independence of this uniquely diverse and historically disadvantaged population."

If you have a disability that may have some impact on your work in this class and for which you may require accommodations, you need to notify the Disability Services office, located in TDS-100. Telephone: (623) 845-3080. Video Phone for the Deaf (623)-845-3083 or 1-(866)-869-7383.

This course uses Canvas as the principle content delivery tool for the course.  To learn more about Instructure's commitment to accessibility, please see their accessibility statement.

Final Statements

  • Information provided in the syllabus and due dates are subject to change due to the exigencies of the real world. Keep informed of any changes by attending class regularly online and making note of any announcements made in class. Students will be notified via announcement by the instructor of any changes in course requirements or policies.
  • As a registered student in this class you are responsible to know and understand the syllabus. The instructor is willing to answer any questions you may have concerning the syllabus. It is recommended that you keep a copy of this syllabus in the front of your notebook for this class to have easy reference while offline.
  • Students are responsible to know their rights and responsibilities. You can find these in the College Catalog and the Student Handbook.
  • If you need to withdraw from this course, please be sure to note the official Last Day Student Initiated Withdrawal Accepted on your student schedule in my.maricopa.edu. If you wish to drop this course after the Last Day for Withdrawal without Instructor's Signature, you will need to fill out and sign an official drop slip and submit it to my office. There will be no drops without the proper signed paperwork.
  • Lastly, a word to the wise: don't let minor problems get in the way of your continued participation in the course. You never know when a real emergency will occur, and if you're already behind there's not much you can do. Also, don't let the procrastination bug bite you. Get the work done early and avoid the last minute panic. You're guaranteed to do a better job on your assignments. Good luck this semester, and I really hope you enjoy the class.

24-7 Live Help

  • Canvas Help
    • There's also an orange HELP button in the upper right corner of Canvas
  • Maricopa Help
    • Use this link for access to Maricopa's Help pages.
  • GCC Help Desk
    • This resource is great for campus related technology issues.

Course Summary:

Date Details Due