About You (The Students)

Your needs

Respect for diversity

It is our intent that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives be well served by this course, that your learning needs be addressed both in and out of class, and that the diversity that students bring to this class be viewed as a resource, strength and benefit. We strive to present materials and activities that are respectful of diversity: gender, sexuality, disability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, and culture. Your suggestions to increase diversity--e.g., materials that present course topics from other perspectives or more inclusive activities--are encouraged and appreciated. Please let us know ways to improve the effectiveness of the course for you personally, or for other students or student groups. Last, we ask that everyone respect the diverse backgrounds of their fellow classmates and encourage others to share their perspectives.

Your personal identity

All humans have the right to be addressed in accordance with their personal identity. In some cases you may prefer to be called by another name. For example, you want us to call you “Jim” rather than “James,” "Ale" instead of "Alejandra,"  Sometimes this means that though your given name might be “Helen,” you identify as male, and use a different name and a masculine pronoun. In all cases, we will use the name you provide, rather than the name provided by the campus database. If you have reason to believe that we may refer to you by the incorrect pronoun (“s/he”), please let us know how you would prefer to be addressed (she, he, they, ze, etc.) right away.

Your responsibilities in the online environment

Be ready to receive course-related messages via email and/or text message

• Instructors will use Canvas announcements and email as the primary methods to communicate class-related messages. You are responsible for reading all messages and making sure that the correct e-mail address is attached to your Canvas account throughout the semester. Students who forward SF State e-mails are responsible for maintaining their e-mail boxes so that class-related messages do not bounce.

  • • See the Canvas guide, How do I edit my profile?, to learn how to check your e-mail address.

• Instructors also use Remind.com to send text message versions of important announcements. Click the Activity 0.1b link in Canvas (Quest 0) to sign up for Remind.com announcements.

Use Internet etiquette (Netiquette) 

• Please support your fellow learners by respecting them (even if they have different opinions), providing constructive feedback and giving encouragement. We will use Netiquette (Internet etiquette) guidelines for our online interactions.

Your participation

Course-level expectations

• Quantity: We recommend that you log in and complete activities at least 2x / week (so you can participate in the discussion forums over time). This should be the equivalent of ~5 hours / week. If you have a hard time keeping track of what's due each week, there are two tools you can use:

  • • Download the weekly schedule and activity checklist from Canvas

    • Request a personal copy of an online to-do list with every course activity - check out the Todoist.com website. You can a) change the settings to get email reminders for each due date and/or b) upload this to-do list to an Apple iCal or Microsoft Outlook calendar. 

• Quality: We expect that you will submit your own, original work (see the policy on Academic Integrity , Plagiarism and Artificial Intelligence on the About the Class page). Remember, we learn from our mistakes! Also, there are many opportunities to get feedback and submit revisions or additional work to earn more points. When it comes to artificial intelligence in particular, we are trusting you to submit something you created yourself. If you are feeling stressed about a deadline, we would rather you request an extension than ask an AI tool to write your essay for you. 

Quest-level and Activity-level expectations 

• Quantity: If you complete all required assignments for each Quest, you should earn enough points to get the grade you want. After each Quest we will let you know roughly how many points you should have earned, and how to catch up if you fell behind. Remember, there are twice as many points as you need to get an A! For discussion forum activities, in general we expect 1 original post and 2 replies to other students. For assignment activities, in general we expect roughly 500 words or 1 page, unless otherwise noted in the instructions.

• Quality: We want you to try your best on each assignment. We know everyone is taking other classes, working a job, taking care of children or family members, and much more! This means you should plan ahead instead of procrastinating, so you have enough time to do good work.