Grading
Because I want your focus to be on learning and not on how skilled you are or aren’t at earning high grades, there are very few points associated with assignments in this course. Instead, 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.
If you earn an “Incomplete” on an assignment, you will have 7 days from the time your assignment was graded to redo 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 redo “Incomplete” assignments. At that time, it will be especially important for you to pay close attention to following directions for assignments.
Because I have to give you a letter grade for a final grade, at mid-term and the end of the semester, I will average the number of “Complete” assignments you have for each assignment category and then average each category in order to calculate your grade. Assignment categories are: General Assignments, Group Presentation and Reading Summaries.
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” on the following assignments, your final grade will be dropped by ⅓ of aletter grade for each assignment you have an “Incomplete” for. These assignments are: Burnout Prevention Plan, Values & Biases Paper, Group Presentation, Case Study Analysis, & Self Assessment of Course Objectives. Additionally, your final grade will be dropped by 1/3 full letter grade if you do not “Complete” at least one Challenge Activity assignment.
An example of how I will be calculating grades is if you have completed: 87% of general assignments, 90% of Group Presentation assignments and 94% of Reading Summaries, your final grade will be an A- (87+90+94/3=90). If you had the same numbers but did not have a “Complete” for the Case Study Analysis, your grade will be dropped to a B+.
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
Course Requirements and Assignments (See Canvas for Grading Rubrics)
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.
2. 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. 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.
3. 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 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.
4. All assignments are due at midnight on the due date unless otherwise noted.
5. 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 or support through the Office of Student Outreach and Support. 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.
6. All documentation must be done in APA 7th Edition format. For this course, abstracts,
cover pages and headings are not necessary. You will not be docked for using these. 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! Please do not rely on any automatic reference/citation formatting tools/engines as these often produce incorrect citations/references. If you are going to pursue your education in the social sciences field, you may find it useful to purchase an APA manual. If it is discovered that you used a false source, generated by AI or any other source, this will be considered academic dishonesty and SUU Policy 6.33 will be followed.
7. 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.
8. All papers must be typed in either Arial or Times New Roman with a 12 point font, 1
inch margins, and double spaced.
9. Grammar and following instructions matters! Your grade will be affected by these
things. Please take care to be sure your assignments are properly formatted (ie spelling, punctuation, paragraph/sentence structure and complete sentences) and that you follow instructions listed in the syllabus. While you will be docked points 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.
10. Attendance - Being in class matters and your attendance will significantly impact your
grade. You are allowed 3 absences without any impact to your overall grade. This is the equivalent of 1 week of class. After the first 3 absences, each unexcused absence will drop your final grade by 1%. You are responsible for providing/facilitating documentation for school excused absences. If you have attendance related accommodations through the DRC, your absences must be communicated to the professor through the DRC in order for them to be excused. Absences will not be excused for reasons such as you were experiencing a migraine (unless you have formal accommodations), woke up feeling unwell, were scheduled to work, or made plans to be out of town. Please use your 3 free absences wisely. If you have extenuating circumstances that arise such as emergency surgery, a long term illness, or a death in the family, please be aware you may be eligible for temporary accommodations through the Office of Student Support.
11. Burnout Prevention Plan - For this assignment, you will identify and discuss a minimum
of 5 warning signs of burnout focusing on how you know you are approaching burnout. Identify the 2 that will be the most problematic for you and explain why they will be problematic. Create a personalized, detailed burnout prevention plan that includes identifying and avoiding risk factors (when possible) and utilizing protective factors and self-care. Be specific. In order to receive a “Complete” for this assignment, it must be clear to the professor that your plan applies to your life. You may format this in whatever way you want and makes sense to you. You must use at least 2 outside sources, one of which should be an academic source. Please include a reference page for this assignment. There is no minimum page number; please keep it under 5 pages. Please see Canvas for the due date.
12. Values & Bias Paper - For this assignment, you will be exploring your personal values
and biases. Then, you will write a 4-6 page paper about your personal values and biases. Please refer to the assignment shell in Canvas for additional details about this paper. Please see Canvas for the due date.
13. Code of Ethics Summary - For this assignment, you will find a code of ethics relevant to
your professional goals and write a summary about what stood out to you about it. In the summary, please address what the guiding principles are, what is included to protect both clients and professionals and what is important to remember as you move forward in this field. If you have either been accepted into or intend to apply for the BSW program at SUU, please use the NASW Code of Ethics for this assignment. Please see Canvas for the due date.
14. Ethics in the News - For this assignment, you will find an article or news story of some
kind highlighting an ethical issue, related to social work or family services, in the news. Then, write a brief summary (½ - 1 page) that summarizes the ethical issue/dilemma and how it does or could relate to social work/family services, and present it in class. Please be clear about how your article/story relates to family services and present at least 2 questions about your article/story to the class for in class discussion. When you are ready to present it in class, please email the professor; students will be invited to present in the order they emailed the professor. You may work individually or with a partner for this assignment. If you worked with a partner, when you present to class, both partners need to participate equally. Additionally, In the summary, please include the title and source of your article following APA formatting. While the due date in Canvas is listed as December 5, this is for the professor’s organizational purposes only. If you wait until the last week of the semester to try and complete it, you will most likely not be able to do so. Additional details can be found in Canvas.
15. Reading Summaries - For each week that reading is assigned, you will submit a summary
of what you learned from the reading and how you are synthesizing it with the modules
and outside content and/or experiences. Check Canvas for due dates.
16. Critical Thinking Activities - Throughout the semester, please choose any 3 activities to
attend/participate in that challenge your comfort level. After each activity, please spend
some time reflecting on how this particular activity was uncomfortable and then write a 1-2 page reflection about how participating in this activity helped you challenge your biases and increase your critical thinking skills. Some things you might consider as you are reflecting are (but not limited to): why was the activity uncomfortable, what biases do you hold that made this activity challenging, how does participating in this activity increase your ability to challenge your biases and improve your critical thinking skills, For each reflection you submit (a total of 3), please include at least 1 paragraph about how participating in the uncomfortable activity helped you to move towards ethical practice. Please identify at least one specific concept from the course to include in your summary. Please submit some kind of evidence (photo, certificate, ticket, etc…) of your participation in this activity, even if the instructor of the course saw you at the activity.
PLEASE NOTE: While the due date for this assignment is listed as December 5 in Canvas, if you wait until the last week of December to think about them, you will probably not be able to complete all 3 of the assignments.
17. Case Study Analysis - This assignment will be completed in towards the end of the
semester. The date will be announced in class at least 2 weeks prior to the activity which will take a full week of class time. It is very important that you are in class the week we complete this activity. If you are unable to be in class, you will need to communicate with the instructor about an alternate assignment that you will be expected to propose. Alternate assignments will be expected to be equivalent to this assignment. Exceptions will be made on a case by case basis. Please see Canvas for the due date.
18. Group Presentation - For this assignment, you will work in groups of up to
5, choose 1 ethical concept discussed in class (any topic listed in the syllabus), research and explore how your chosen topic could and/or is complicated across at least 2 diverse cultures, and implications for professional practice based on these complications. Each group will present their findings/information to the class. Each group needs to utilize at least 5 sources, 2 of which must be academic sources (textbooks, academic journal, etc…) in some way in your presentation. You may choose to take a strict research approach, combine research with personal interviews of individuals from diverse populations, or take an entirely different approach. Please remember 1 or 2 individuals from a diverse population does not represent the entire population. As long as you include sources as previously outlined, there is no limit and/or expectation for how the information is presented as long as it is done with empathy and critical thinking. The only written work to be handed in will be an outline (Due October 13), reference page and evaluation of your group members which are due before class on the day you present. While everyone needs to turn in an evaluation of your group members, it is only necessary for one group member to turn in the outline and reference page; please be sure all the names of individuals within the group are included with the outline/reference page that is turned in for the group. Presentations will be done in class the last 2 weeks of class. Written work is due before class on the day you present (outline is due by October 13). Your presentation should be between 15 and 20 minutes long. Please refer to the grading rubric in Canvas.
If you are uninvited from participating with your group due to your insufficient contribution, you will receive an "Incomplete" for the Group Project Peer Evaluation and Group Participation assignments in the Group Presentation assignment category. If this is the reason for receiving an "Incomplete" for those assignments, you will be unable to redo them for a "Complete".
19. Self-Assessment of Course Objectives - In lieu of a final exam, please write a paper that
is 4 pages maximum and about your understanding of the course objectives as stated in the course syllabus. More instruction and detail about this assignment will be available in Canvas the last week of the semester. This assignment will be due the Tuesday of finals week. Due to the deadline I have to submit grades, this may not be turned in late for a “Complete”.