Plan to spend 6-8 hours total each week on your class assignments (more in the intercessions of Winter and Summer). Work may be done on your own schedule, provided you meet the due dates.
Every assignment has a due date. Assignments will open each week on Wednesday and will close on Tuesday nights at 11:59 PM. I expect you strive to submit each assignment by the due date. This ensures I have an opportunity to give you feedback. Missing a due date in an online class often leads to missing another due date. Getting behind is overwhelming and can derail your ability to make progress towards our learning goals. I want you to succeed.
Late work is not accepted in this course for any reason. There are a number of mandatory assignments though that will result in a zero if they are not submitted on time. (Although the assignments do not result in a zero you are still STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to do them. They will not only help your grade, they are providing information and support for the learning in the class and you are expected to complete them). The assignments that will result in a zero are Midterms, Tests, Quizzes, Final exams, Group Projects, Discussions, and any assignment that is specifically stated (in the lab the Models of Geography is an example) Look at your course calendar for more specifics as to what is required.
After reading and studying the content provided in each lesson, students should attempt to complete each exercise and participate in discussions to show their understanding of the course content. However, this is a learning experience, and the exercises are not meant to be quizzes. Therefore, students will have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and try the exercises again until the due date. After the assignment is graded, per school policy, “Students will not be permitted to resubmit work to improve their course grade either during or after completion of the course.” Although attempts may be made in completing exercise questions, exams will only allow one attempt. Please see below in the next section for important information about exams.
The only assignments that are timed are the exams and quizzes. Once the exam is opened by you, you must complete the exam within the time provided. Therefore, do not open an exam until you are ready to take it. If you accidentally open the exam, there is nothing I can do about that. You will have to just do your best, as I will not restart it for you. Plan accordingly, because remember, there are no make-up or late exams.
Weekly discussion forum participation is mandatory. Two types of posts must be made by students each week, using at least 100 words for each post. Students may discuss the opening topic presented by the instructor in the forum, or discuss another topic that pertains to that week’s course content, which will be worth up to ten points. Then, students must make two additional posts, either replying to another classmate's post, and / or discussing another topic from that week’s course content, using at least another 100 words to contribute scientifically to the discussion, for another five points for each post (That is 3 total things written each week for a total of 20 points). Your original post and your replies must be 18 hours apart and replies before Friday do not count... You must wait until Saturday to start posting replies. Students are encouraged to discuss something they found interesting that pertains to the current week’s topics. To be given credit, student posts must contribute substantive information about the topic at hand, providing an informative response. Although posts that basically say “nice idea,” or “I agree” are not discouraged, if that is all they really add to the discussion, they will not be given credit. Posts that simply summarize another person’s post are also not considered substantive, and could actually be considered plagiarism. In addition, a reply to someone’s post should not just be a critique of their post. I understand if you have one sentence that explains why you are responding to another person’s post (such as, “I like what you said about…” or, “I disagree with what you said about…”). However, the rest of your post should not just be a rephrasing of that person’s post or a critique saying how much you liked or disliked their post. You need to actually add scientific / geographical content to the discussion. If the information you wrote in the discussion forum is inaccurate or incorrect, or is poorly written (for example, using poor grammar or spelling, or not using appropriate punctuation or capitalization), or is too social in nature, you will lose some points or will not be given credit.