Grading Scale
A 94% - 100% B- 80% - 82% D+ 67% - 69%
A- 90% - 92% C+ 77% - 79% D 63% - 66%
B+ 87% - 89% C 73% - 76% D- 60% - 62%
B 83% - 86% C- 70% - 72% F 59% and below
Grading
Because I want your focus to be on learning and not on how skilled you are or aren’t at earning high grades, most assignments will be graded based on whether or not you completed the assignment as instructed as opposed to a traditional point system. For most assignments, you will earn a “Complete” or “Incomplete” on them. Assignments have clear expectations for what you need to do to earn a “Complete”. If I have missed something, or it’s not as clear as I think it is, please let me know so I can clarify. The Movie Analysis and all quizzes have points attached to them; this decision was made for grading purposes for various reasons. If you want to know more about this decision, please ask.
If you earn an Incomplete on an assignment or you lose points on the module quizzes, you will have 7 days from the time your assignment was graded to revise your assignment and turn it in for a Complete. You can do this as many times as you want/need to. The closer it is to the end of the semester, the less time you will have to revise Incomplete assignments. At that time, it will be especially important for you to pay close attention to following directions for assignments.
There are 4 assignment categories used to calculate your grades: General Assignments, Family & Community Engagement Project and Presentation, Module Quizzes, and Movie Analysis. Each of these categories is worth 25% of your final grade.
Because I have to give you a letter grade at both mid-term and the end of the semester, at mid-term and the end of the semester, I will average the number of complete assignments you have for the General Assignment and Family and Community Engagement Project assignment categories and then average each category in order to calculate your grade. The other two assignment categories will be automatically calculated by Canvas.
Some assignments are designed to support your learning process and others are designed to demonstrate your understanding of the content curriculum. Earning a specific grade means you have a certain level of participation in and understanding of the course content. Because of this, if you have an Incomplete for the following assignments, your final grade will be dropped by ⅓ of a letter grade (ie from an A to an A-) for each assignment you have an Incomplete for. These assignments are: Family and Community Engagement Presentation, Family and Community Engagement Project Reflection, Confirmation and Log of Hours, and Family and Community Engagement Project Final Checklist.. In order to earn a C or better for the class, you MUST earn at least 70% for the Family & Community Engagement Project Category and a Complete for at least one Application of Content Assignment.
An example of how I will be calculating grades is if you have completed: 89% of general assignments, 90% of Family & Community Engagement Project assignments, 85% for the Module Quizzes, and 92% for the Movie Analysis, your final grade will be a B+ (89+90+85+92/4=89). If you had the same numbers but did not have a “Complete” for the Project Reflection Paper, your grade will be dropped to a B. If you had the same numbers but had an “Incomplete” for all 3 Application of Content assignments, your final grade would be a C-.
I will be calculating grades at Mid-term and the end of the semester. If you would like to know your grade at any other time, you are welcome to calculate it on your own. I am happy to walk you through it if you schedule an appointment with me to do so.
Course Requirements and Assignments
1 DISCLAIMER: Please know I want to be a support to you and because I am operating
within a system, I am limited in what I can and can’t do to support you. If you are in need of accommodations, please reach out to the Disability Resource Center on campus who can help you access short-term and long-term accommodations. If you have a complaint about any professor or course on campus, please take the following steps:
- Talk to the professor
- If you feel like you can’t talk to the professor, please go to the chair of the department, contact information for this person can be found on the department’s website.
- Other resources include:
- Dean of the college where the course is housed
- Provost’s office
- Dean of Students
- Regardless of the steps you take, leaving feedback in your end of semester course evaluations is important. These are anonymous; instructors do not have access to them until after grades are posted.
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2. Please pay attention to Canvas Announcements as this instructor uses Canvas
Announcements to communicate with students about important information. You
will be accountable for information provided through announcements. You may find it helpful to turn on your notifications for Canvas Announcements.
3. Emotional Safety - Due to the emotionally and psychologically vulnerable content that
will be discussed throughout this course, it is essential that all participants contribute to an environment of emotional safety. In the event of a student participating in emotionally unsafe comments/behavior, the instructor will provide feedback which will serve as a warning. At that time, the student will be invited to converse with the instructor about what made their comments/behavior emotionally unsafe. If the behavior is repeated, students will be referred to campus services.
The use of derogatory language/terms when referring to people (individuals and groups) is an emotionally unsafe behavior - even if there is nobody the term references represented in the room. I will follow the same procedures for the use of derogatory language as I will for any other emotionally unsafe behavior. If you are unsure about whether or not a term is derogatory, avoiding slang terms and practicing the use of professional and politically correct language is a safe way to avoid inadvertent use of derogatory language.
If you find you are emotionally overwhelmed by content in this or any other course, the University Counseling and Psychological Services Center (CAPS) is a resource available to you. The phone number for CAPS is: 435.865.8621.
4. As a student in this course, you are responsible for the content presented in this
course and for your own learning. If you need help, please ask. If you have questions about the material that you are interested in or curious about that is not addressed in the course, please ask. If you have questions about expectations for an assignment, please ask. If you do not understand a concept being taught/discussed, please ask. The instructor is a resource to you; however, if you do not communicate that you need help, the instructor cannot help you.
5. All assignments are due at midnight on the due date unless otherwise noted and should be
turned in via Canvas. The instructor will not accept assignments turned in any other way. Please do not rely on modules for assignments. In this course, modules contain class lessons. Assignments and their due dates can be found under the Assignment tab in Canvas as well as in the course schedule in the syllabus.
6. Assignments may be turned in early. You may turn in up to 3 assignments up to 3 days
late without questions or penalty. Any late work beyond this will only be accepted if you have formal accommodations in place through the
Disability Resource Center. This applies to all assignments that will receive a grade. Please do not rely on Canvas to remind you of when assignments are due; please be proactive and know when assignments are due. All assignments for the semester are already entered into Canvas.
7. All documentation must be done in APA 7th Edition format. When required to use
outside sources, students are expected to use credible sources; wikipedia is not allowed for use as a reference in this course. OWL at Purdue is a great resource! If you are going to pursue your education in the social sciences (including education) field, you may find it useful to purchase an APA manual.
8. It is expected that all work you turn in is created and developed by you. If you use AI,
the expectation for this course is that you use it as a resource and not a robot. You must properly cite it if you use it. If it is discovered that you are using AI without properly citing it or you use AI to generate work that you turn in as your own,
SUU Policy 6.33 for Academic Integrity will be followed.
9. All papers must be typed in either Arial or Times New Roman with a 12 point font, 1
inch margins and double spaced.
10. Grammar and following instructions matters! Your grade will be affected by these
things. Please pay attention to page requirements - both minimums and limitations. Once the page limit is reached, I will stop reading and any information included after that point will not be considered in your grade. While your grade will be impacted according to assignment rubrics for incorrect grammar and poor writing mechanics, because of the amount of time it takes to do so, I will not be editing your papers as I grade them.
11. Syllabus Quiz (25 points) - This will count as your commenced attendance assignment. If
you want full points for this assignment, it needs to be done by the date in Canvas. You will have the option to complete it until the commenced attendance date. If you do not complete this by then, you will be at risk of being dropped from the course. Please review the syllabus prior to taking the quiz. It is open note. Please see Canvas for the due date.
12. Introduction Video: In order to make this online class as personal as
possible, please record an introduction of yourself that you will upload to a discussion board. Then, respond to at least 3 of your peers’ videos. Instructions on how to do this are included in the assignment shell. Please see Canvas for the due date.
13. Module Quizzes & Discussion Boards - There are several Padlet discussion boards
throughout this course that are intended to be a place to engage in the content with your peers and for the exchange of ideas which is a critical component of the learning process. Specific instructions for each discussion are included in Canvas. You will not be graded on your participation with individual discussion boards; instead, you will be asked to take a screenshot of your posts within the Padlet boards that you will then upload to the module quiz. Each post you make is worth 5 points which are all or nothing. In order to receive full credit, it must be clear to the grader that you have put some thought and effort into what you write. The points for each module quiz will vary. Missing one or two posts won’t affect your grade much; missing several will. Participating in all Padlet discussions and completing the quizzes is a good way to buffer your grade. Due dates for module quizzes are listed in Canvas as well as the Syllabus Course Schedule.
14. Pre and Post Course Reflection Papers. Specific instructions for these
assignments can be found in the Canvas assignment shells. Please see Canvas for the due
date.
15. Application of Content. My goal for this class in general is to prepare
you for professional work and to be able to use the information we are learning in class. These assignments are in lieu of tests/quizzes. Three times throughout the semester, you will submit a plan for applying the content from the course to whatever career path you are considering at the time the assignment is due. The only requirements for this assignment are to:
- Incorporate both assigned reading and online learning content/activities
- Specify a minimum of 3 takeaways from the course content
- Specifically address contextual factors
- Explain how your completion of this assignment helps you plan to implement course content in the future
Please refer to the assignment shells for what content is to be applied in each assignment. For this assignment, you might write an essay explaining your thought processes, create a work of art expressing yourself, write a lesson plan, prepare a presentation for peers, or design a bulletin board for your professional space. If the required content is not obvious (such as in a work of art), you will need to submit a brief explanation so that the grader can assess whether or not you included the required components. Your assignment will be marked as Incomplete if it is not clear to the grader that you incorporated all required content (listed above) including both assigned reading and class lessons/activities.
This is important: There is no right or wrong way to complete the assignment as long as you include the 4 required components. It is the expectation of the professor that you practice autonomy with this assignment; it’s great real-world experience! Please see Canvas for the due dates.
16. Freedom Writers, Invictus or Dangerous Minds. Invictus (PG-13 for language and some
violence). No later than Week 6, please watch Freedom Writers if at all possible. While I know it is not a perfect film and there are valid reasons to criticize it, it is a beautiful example of family and community engagement. My preference is that you watch Freedom Writers as it illustrates many concepts we discuss in class. Invictus is also a good option; just not as great as Freedom Writers. You may be able to find a copy of one of these films at your local library. The SUU library has Freedom Writers. To find a place to stream these movies, google “Where can I stream ____”. The sources vary from month to month. If you cannot access Freedom Writers or Invictus, you can also watch Dangerous Minds for this assignment. Dangerous Minds is an okay but not great example of Family and Community Engagement. Please see Canvas for the due dates of correlating assignments.
17. Movie Analysis. This assignment is in lieu of a final exam. It is worth 25% of your
overall grade. Please review the grading rubric and the instructions in the assignment shell prior to completing it.
For this assignment, you will watch 3 consecutive episodes of a fictional or based on a true story TV show OR movie in which a significant portion of the content takes place in an academic setting; documentaries won’t work for this assignment. As you watch the movie or episodes, please view it through the triple lens of being: a) trauma informed, b) human development informed; and c) culturally competent. Then, write a 3 - 5 page paper about your observations in which you are specific about the application of content from class. The specific criteria you should be addressing can be found in the assignment shell. While it is possible to complete this assignment in 3 pages, you will need to be very articulate and thorough in order to do so and receive full credit. A list of possible movies is included in the assignment shell within Canvas; you are not limited to the movies/TV shows on this list.
Please attend the writing center or have 2 peers review your paper for grammatical and structural correctness. For full credit, you must submit proof of this in whatever way you would like. Please see Canvas for the due date.
18 Family and Community Engagement Project. For this assignment, you will work
with a community partner of your choosing and complete a family and community engagement project of your choosing with approval from the instructor. The purpose of this assignment is to practice family and community engagement not to provide community service; therefore, your project focus needs to be on family and community engagement not just on providing community service/accruing volunteer hours.
For full credit, you will be required to contribute 10 hours of hands-on time with the organization. Please review the Family and Community Engagement Project Expectations page in Canvas for details about the expectations for this project. . While it is strongly preferred that you work as a group of up to 5, for a variety of reasons, you may choose to work individually. You will get much more out of this assignment if you work in a group; this is not always possible with online courses. Each student is expected to log 10 hours. For example, if you are working in a group of 4, the total amount of hands on hours should be 40; these hours can overlap meaning if Joshua and Jacob both log 4 hours of hands on time completed at the same time, they both get to count 4 hours of hands on time. There are portions of the project due throughout the semester, so please pay attention to due dates listed in both the syllabus and Canvas.
19. Family and Community Engagement Project Reflection. For this assignment, you will
tell me about your learning process for the project. The focus should be on what you learned and how it is relevant to the course. Detailed instructions are included in the assignment shell in Canvas. Please see Canvas for the due date..
20. Presentation of Family and Community Engagement Project. For this assignment, you
and/or your group will make a
video recording of your presentation of your Family and Community Engagement Project and post it to a Padlet discussion board in Canvas. There is not a minimum length of time for your presentation; please do not go over 20 minutes. I am looking for quality vs quantity meaning the content of your presentation is more important than the length.
If your presentation is not recorded, you will earn an “Incomplete” grade. There are a variety of options for recording a virtual meeting. If you and/or your group needs help with this portion, please ask either the instructor or the SUU Canvas Help Desk (435.865.8555 or
canvas@suu.edu). Only one person per group needs to post the presentation on the Padlet board; however, the presentation needs to include all names of students working on the project. If you share photos within your presentation, please make sure you follow the rules of informed consent and take measures to protect confidentiality before sharing photos with the class. In general, please take measures to protect the privacy of individuals you interact with. Please see Canvas for the due date.