Our class will go a little smoother if we all understand the following policies. If anything is unclear, please let me know.
My primary means of communicating with you as a group is through Canvas Announcements, which I will post on Saturday morning.
I'll send out weekly Canvas announcements to keep you up-to-date on the course. Please be sure to set notifications so that you see Announcements from me right away. Announcements contain important information regarding assignments, deadlines, and other issues that directly affect your success in the course.
I will contact you individually through the following methods:
Canvas Inbox
I'll try to answer all messages I receive Monday through Friday within 24 hours, and any messages received on Saturday or Sunday, first thing Monday morning, if not sooner.
I will leave feedback on assignments through the following methods:
Assignment Comments Boxes, Rubrics, and Comments on Essays
I'll grade your work in a timely manner and provide feedback to help you improve your writing and understanding of the assignments. Most assignments will be graded within a week to two weeks of their due dates.
This course follows a weekly schedule. What is a week? For our class, a week is from Saturday to Friday. Each week you will be participating in activities, such as writing assignments, peer reviews, discussions, and other activities. The weekly schedule allows us to learn from one another, and it keeps everyone on a path toward our learning goals.
All course lessons will be on the pages and videos located in the modules on Canvas. I will be posting short recorded asynchronous videos that you can watch at any time. These videos will cover a variety of topics and can be viewed multiple times. I strongly suggest you read all pages and watch all posted videos in the modules. I create them to help you succeed in the course.
The course is designed to take about 12 - 13 hours per week. Please plan to log in to the course several times each week. We will have weekly due dates on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. All due dates can be found on Canvas Calendar, located in the global navigation menu / on Canvas, the Course Summary located on the syllabus page on Canvas, and you can also see reminders for course assignments and events in the "To Do" and "Coming Up" lists on the Dashboard, course home page, or at the bottom of the Canvas app. Also, in each assignment box, the assignment due date and the last day you can turn the assignment in late is listed at the top of the assignment box and is highlighted in yellow.
Yes, you can use it as a way to brainstorm ideas or as a research tool, but do not let it take away your voice. Rage against the machine! I want to hear your voice. Do not let a computer colonize your voice. Do not let it take away the one thing that is uniquely you, your voice.
You will write four essays this semester. These essays are 4+ pages in length. All essays must be in MLA format (double spaced, in 12 pt. Times Roman with 1” margins).
We will spend two weeks on each essay. The first week, you will be introduced to the essay topic and write a tentative thesis statement and share it with your peers; the second week, you will share your essay with your peers in peer review and submit the essay for a grade.
TurnitIn Plagiarism Review
Please note that when you submit your essays, they will be reviewed by Turnitin Plagiarism Review. The program does not detect plagiarism, but provides a report on text similarity with other published documents, articles, and student papers on the internet.
It also uses an AI writing detector. When text similarities are found, the software identifies them for the student and/or instructor to review.
I will use my own judgment on the essays, though. I will let you know if Turnitin says that a large portion of your esssay is written by AI.
ChatGPT and Google Gemini are AI tools that can help you at every step of the process, from brainstorming ideas, to helping you to structure or outline your essay, to helping with research, revisions, and editing. The one thing AI can never replace is you, a person with a unique perspective, ideas, and words. The creativity and critical thinking that come from you, your own unique perspective and voice are what make a piece of writing truly special.
I support you using ChatGPT as a tool to support you in your writing process and idea development, just not as a replacement for your own writing and thinking. I wanted to let you know that in addition to plagiarism detection software, I will be using AI detectors as a back up when I suspect they are overused, and I will provide you feedback on that when I see it.
You should always be the one guiding the process and determining the direction of your writing. A tool is only as good as the person using it, and you are the person with the unique ideas and perspectives that make your writing stand out.
If you use outside sources, including ChatGPT and Google Gemini, to support your ideas, be sure to cite them correctly using MLA. We will go over citing a lot this semester.
Plagiarism ranges from copying a sentence from an article you read, to turning in an essay that you did not write. In this class, you will receive zero points for any plagiarized work, which may result in failure of the course. If you are unsure if you are plagiarizing or have questions about using sources, please ask.
Crafton Hills College’s statement on academic honesty is as follows: “Lack of honesty in the classroom is considered a very serious offense. Any form of cheating on tests or assignments, turning in work which is not one’s own (i.e. plagiarism), talking during tests, furnishing false information to college personnel, or knowingly misrepresenting oneself to the college are grounds for disciplinary action. The consequences of cheating are severe and may include receiving a grade of “F” for the class and/or possible expulsion from the college.”
This course follows a weekly schedule. The readings for the class are the pages in the weekly modules; in these pages, you will find links to other websites.
I would bookmark the links to other website in the modules and save them in a bookmark folder in your browser entitled English C1000. That way you can find them easily.
Our other readings will be the book, The Boys of Riverside. We will start the book in week 3.
Attendance is not marked by being in class, but rather by your participation within the class activities. For the first week of class, you must log into the course and complete all week 1 assignments or risk being dropped from the course.
Here are the brief "rules" we will follow to guide participation:
Check in and interact in the course at least twice a week;
Participate in discussion board assignments -- they will be due on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Contact me beforehand if you’re going to be disconnected from the course for more than one week.
Please note that if you do not log into the course or contact me for one week, I will assume you are planning on dropping the course.
Please be aware that missing a total of two weeks of class throughout the semester (not submitting any work for two weeks) without notifying me may result in you being dropped from the course.
Interacting with your peers is a central component of this course. Please treat all your peers with the utmost respect by offering constructive feedback and creating an open forum where sharing is welcomed. Throughout the course, we will also follow the class netiquette guidelines located on Canvas. Please extend this respect to all participants—including me. Please follow these netiquette guidelines when interacting with your peers.
Technology can be so frustrating. It seems things always tend to go wrong right when we are ready to start our work. I'd like to enhance your learning experience in this class by lowering your technology-induced frustration whenever possible, so I have included links to help / explanation guides throughout the course.
If Canvas isn't working correctly, your electricity is out, you can't log into Zoom, or an assignment box is wrong, just send me a message through Canvas. If possible, I will fix the problem as soon as I can. If the problem is out of our control, we will just wait to turn in the assignment. So, don't worry! I will always try to help you and fix the problem. I want you to meet your course goals, not punish you or hold you back. So if there is a problem, just send me a message through Canvas. I will get to it as soon as I can.
Furthermore, information can be found on the Canvas Overview and Technical Help page on Canvas. You can also click the Canvas Help Icon on the global (left) navigation menu to locate more support options and the Canvas Student Guides and Canvas Video Guides.
Plan on submitting work on time. All assignments in this course have a due date and deadline, which can be found in each assignment box in yellow, the Canvas calendar, the To Do list, and the Course Schedule located on Canvas. It is important to your success in this course that you complete each assignment before or on the due date.
However, I realize that we are all living busy unpredictable lives, and you may not be able to complete an assignment on time. Therefore, you may submit your essays for up to two days after the assignment due date without losing any points. However, if you submit all four essays on time, you can earn four extra credit points.
Similarly, your other assignments like, discussion posts and group work, peer reviews, quizzes and exams may be submitted for up to two days after the assignment is due without losing any points. However, if you submit all of these assignments on time, you can earn four extra credit points.
If you are having difficulties completing an assignment, advocate for your success by letting me know as soon as possible, so we can identify the problem and come up with a solution. However, if you turn in all these assignments in on time, you can earn four extra credit points.
Most college students are aware college courses often include “adult” topics. Therefore, please be advised that some of the material discussed in may be considered “mature” or “objectionable.” Mature readings, videos, discussions, or writing assignments (involving sex, violence, or profanity) may be part of this course.
Also, the best way to grow as a writer is to read other writers' work, so I may use your writing as a model/sample in our class or for future sections of English C1000. This is a great way for you to contribute to the growth and learning of your peers here at CHC.