Instructions on How to Use this Course |
Getting Started
Trouble shooting technical problems
Finding Course Materials
Getting Involved in Discussions
Taking Tests
Writing Essays
Turning in Essays
Finding Out Your Grade and Comments on Essays
The first thing that you must do in this class is read the syllabus and this set of instructions thoroughly. Once you have read these over the next thing you must do is take a quiz on the syllabus and these instructions. Access to all of the materials in this course depends upon passing the syllabus quiz (passing is missing no more than 1 question). You will be able to take as much time as you need and you will be able to retake the syllabus quiz as many times as you need to get all the questions right. Once you have successfully completed the syllabus quiz you will see new links to all the other course materials and activities appear on the home page. Taking the syllabus quiz also gives you a chance to get familiar with the WebCT on-line test taking process. The score on the syllabus test is not part of your final grade.
There are several types of technical problems that you may have with this course, and there are several places you can turn for assistance. KYVU maintains a 24 hour, 7 day a week technial help line. Call Toll Free 1-866-606-1725 for immediate technical help 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also get help on the internet. For tech assistance online at any time, please visit the 24/7 Online Tech Help Desk. This online tech support Website allows you to receive help online - which means you don't have to disconnect from the Internet to make a phone call. This site provides technical FAQs, as well as a searchable database of technical issues and resolutions. This 24 hour help line can deal with problems you have in logging on to KYVU and they can help you with technical problems you encounter in the course itself.
If you are in the course, and you are not sure how to use something, you can also use the built in "help" feature of WebCT. Look for the word "help" at the top of the page and click on that link. A new screen will pop up with information about the part of the course where you are currently located. This is a good thing to check if you are not certain how to post things to discussion, or take tests, or send e-mail, or upload assignments (essays).
One common technical problem that occurs for many students concerns "pop up protection." If you have AOL, EarthLink, or any other form of pop up protection program you may find that it does not want to let you take tests, because the tests use pop ups that have programs embedded within them, and your "pop up protection" will read the test as a hostile attack on your machine. It will be necessary for you to disable your pop up protection or to specify that the WebCT website is "safe". If you do not know how to do this you will need to contact your OWN internet service provider's technical support for instructions. (Every internet supplier is different and they are constantly changing their protective software).
This is because important messages are posted on the home page, that you do not want to miss. At the top of the home page are text messages, and depending upon the size of your computer screen you may have to scroll down a little bit to see the links to course materials and activities. After you have taken the syllabus quiz, below the text you will see a link labeled "Part 1," (links to Part 2, 3 and 4 will appear later), a link labeled "Discussions," one labeled "Mail," later you will see one labeled "My Grades," and one labeled "Chat."
To begin the course materials click on Part 1. This will take you to the "Part 1" page. Here you will find text with the same information about due dates for tests and assignments that is found in the syllabus, and some general information about how to proceed. Below the text is another set of links with small pictures and words. These are the links are to: Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 3, Lesson 4, and Lesson 5. There are also links to the examination for Part 1 -- two links, one for the essay portion of the first exam, and one for the mulitple choice portion of the first exam. The links will be visible to you and you can look at and begin the essay portion of the exam at any time. The multiple choice test link will be visible but you will not be able to actually take the test until the dates listed in the syllabus and on the Part 1 page.
Later in the course, the link to Part 2 will appear on the homepage and you will be able to go to the "Part 2" page, and find links to Lessons 6 through 10.
Each lesson has a lecture to read, a set of learning objectives, and a reading assignment from the Macionis textbook and the Macionis and Benokraitis reader. The lecture provides material that is different from or in addition to the material in the textbook. There are some times links found in the lecture to additional material -- diagrams, tables and charts -- that are important information. The "learning objectives" will tell you what it is that you will be tested upon at the end of Part 1. Learning objectives refer to material from the lecture, the textbook and the reader. The reading assignments found in the lesson tell you what chapters and pages from the textbook and what articles from the reader you are suppose to read for each lesson. In a small number of lessons, there are readings that are on the internet instead of in your textbook. When that is the case the reading assignments will provide links to those readings.
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Participating in discussion is an important part of the learning process in an on-line class. It is also an important part of the grade in the class. One hundred points, about one-fifth of the total points, come from participation in discussion.
You should make it a regular practice to check the discussion area, read what has been posted and make your own comments or ask your own questions. To earn 100 points, you need to make 20 postings to the discussion (each posting of more than 50 words earns 5 points). Students are not required to post for every lesson; students are not required to post every week; students are not even required to post in every part of the class. It is the total number of posts, regardless of when they are posted that matter.
The point of the discussion board is to think about questions from the learning objectives. This is something that students need to do BEFORE they take the test and BEFORE they write their essays. Often the professor will post important explanations in response to questions or misunderstandings. The discussion boards will CLOSE from one to two days BEFORE the due date for essays in each part of the class. So you need to go to the discussion area early in each part of the class, and at least read the postings regularly even if you don't always post each time. Don't wait until the last minute to post.
To participate in discussions click on the "thumbtack" icon labeled "discussions" on the home page. This takes you to the discussion area. In the discussion area you will see a list of topics. At the top is "announcements" -- this is where the instructor will leave important messages. Students cannot respond directly to announcements.
You will also see a topic called "introductions." For the first 2 weeks of the class students will be able to introduce themselves to each other in this area. Students will receive 5 points credit for only 1 posting in the "introductions" area, although you are welcome to make more than one, to respond to other students.
The third topic you will see is the "I have a problem/question" topic. This is an area to ask questions about the course that are not personal in nature -- for example to ask a question about how to do something, or what something means. If you have a question about a grade or something more personal click on "Mail" on the home page and send the instructor an e-mail. No points are given for anything posted in the "I have a problem/question" topic area. If the discussion area for a part of the course has closed do NOT post in the "I have a problem/question" area, because you will not receive credit. If you accidently post there while discussion is still active the instructor will move your post the the appropriate discussion area and you will receive points.
Below these the above topic areas, you will see topics divided by the Parts of the course, there will be one topic for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. Under these topics the instructor will post questions about the course materials. You are not required to answer the instructors questions if you do not find them of interest. You can ask your own questions (and get points) about the course readings, or you can answer questions (and get points) or make comments about postings made by other students (and get points). Any one can start a discussion or respond to posting. Please review the rules for discussions in the syllabus about language and courtesy.
When you click on a discussion topic from the list, you will then see a list of specific messages, from the instructor and from other students. You can modify how you see the discussions, to suit your personal preferences. You can select to see "all" the discussion messages, or only the "unread" discussion messages. (You can change this any time you want). You can choose to see the message "threaded" (meaning that all messages that are related together will be displayed together, or you can choose to see messages "unthreaded" which will display messages in the order that they were received regardless of subject.
To post your own new message, there is a button towards the top of the page that says "compose message." To reply to a message, open the message (by clicking on it), and find the "reply" button. If you want to include all or part of the previous message in your answer use the button that says "quote."
Discussion messages are not graded for sentence structure, grammar and punctuation, but don't get too sloppy or people will not be able to understand what you meant to say. Discussion points are posted four times during the course. At the end of part 1, points for part 1 and introductions will be posted. At the end of part 2, points for part 2, will be posted. At the end of part 3, points for part 3 will be posted. At the end of part 4, points for part 4 will be posted. Except for part 4, it may be as much as a week after the end of each part before the points are posted.
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At the end of each Part of the course there is an examination. Each examination has two parts. One part is the essay portion which is open book and open note. More information on the essays in found in the next section. The other portion of the examination is an on-line multiple choice test that is closed book and closed note. Each test will be made available to students during an availability "window" of several days. You can take the test any time during that availability "window" or period. You may take the test from any computer that you wish and you do not need a proctor. Detailed instructions for taking the test will appear when you click on a test.
Several important things to keep in mind. Each test has 50 questions. People who are well prepared take about 40 to 45 minutes to take a 50 question test. The test software gives you two hours to take the test once you have started. You need to plan your test taking with this information in mind. If the end of the testing window is Saturday at 11:55 PM, never start your test less than two hours before this time. The computer program will shut off access to the test at 11:55 PM Eastern time, regardless or whether or not you are finished. Also remember, that power interruptions (especially during thunderstorm season), and Internet Service interruptions often occur. If you should have an interruption that is more than 2 hours, you will need to contact the instructor to have the test reset for you to take again. The instructor may decide not to rest the test if she discovers that the student waited until the last minute to take it. (WebCT makes a record of the exact time of all test taking attempts). There will be a make up period at the very end of the class for tests 1, 2, and 3. If you missed the test due to weather, technical problems, illness, work or family obligations, you will be able to take it at that time. Keep in mind however, that this is the same time that you have to take Test 4, and complete the final essays, so it is not a good idea to put off tests if it is not absolutely necessary.
You need to remember to save each question as you go along. And when you get to the end of the test, it is essential that you click on the "finish" button at the very bottom. You will then see a dialog box that asks you if you wish to submit the test for grading . You must click YES, for the test score to be totalled and added to your record. You will also see immediately a button called "view results" that you can click on for feedback. You will be able to see whether your answer was correct or incorrect, and if there are any comments from the instructor.
Information on the content of essays in found in the syllabus under Essay Criteria. The primary purpose of essay examinations in this class is to do two things -- 1) to assess your ability to read the course assignments, make sense of them and explain them in your own words, and 2) to help you develop your writing skills through evaluation and feedback on organization, sentence structure, grammar, punctuation and spelling. It is therefore very important that the writing in your essay be your own writing, using only limited quotations, [never using other people's words without quotations-which is plagiarism] and at the same time that you make explicit reference (in your own words as often as possible) to ideas, information, and data from the textbook providing appropriate referemces pr citations to the source of that information. The instructor does not care what specific reference format students use. Some of the common ones are APA, MLA and Chicago. You can use any format that you prefer. The key thing is to include the name of the person or organization that is responsible for writing the words (or developing the ideas or creating the statistics) that you have borrowed, the title of the article, book, or webpage, and the location in page number (articles and books) or URL (for internet).
It is NOT appropriate in this class for you to use the internet (or to the library) to research find what other people have to say about the readings in this class, even if you provide references. Don't do it. The instructor does NOT want to know what some expert says about C. Wright Mills and the sociological imagination, she wants to know what YOU think about C. Wright Mills. Moreover, it is plagiarism if you borrow what other people have to say without quoting and providing references. That is cheating and will be punished. The first offense is an automatic loss of at least 1/2 the points, and if the essay has little to do with the question (which often happens when people cheat) even more points will be lost. If there is a second offense, it is an automatic zero for that assignment. A third offense and its a zero for the entire class. When the instructor discovers plagiarism on the second, third or fourth essay exam, she will go back and check all your previous essays for plagiarism. If plagiarism is discovered on any previous exam 1/2 of those earlier points will be removed retroactively. My apologies to the vast majority of students who are honest and careful with their use of quotations and references for going on so much about plagiarism. Unfortunately this is a problem that is increasing, and it is taking more and more of instructors valuable time to document and deal with plagiarism.
The instructor has no preferences for paper format, you may single space or double space, use any font that you wish, and any margins that you wish. The easiest thing to read is a single spaced essay with 1" margins, in 12 point font. However, since the instructor can easily change your formatting at any time this is not a requirement. It is recommended (although not required) that you put your name some where in the paper, at beginning or at the end.
In order for your essays to be read and graded by the instructor they must be in one of the following file formats: Word (.doc), Rich Text (.rtf), or Plain Text (.txt). Your instructor can NOT read Works or Word Perfect. The first two times that you turn in an essay in the incorrect format the instructor will give you the opportunity to fix it and turn it in again even after the deadline. After two chances you must remember to put it in the correct format yourself, or risk getting a zero on the essay.
This does not mean that you have to go out and buy new software if you use
Works or Word Perfect. However, you must take some extra steps when you are
finished with your essays to make sure that they are in the correct format.
When using Works or Word Perfect after your essay
document is completely finished and has been saved for the final time, do the
following:
1. Go to the "file" menu at the top of your word processor, and click
on it
2. Find the "save as.." command and click on it. A dialog box will
open.
3. In the dialog box look to the bottom of the box (usually on the left, but
not always), for the box labeled "file type."
4. Click on the small down arrow to the right of the "file type" box,
and scroll down the list until you find either "rich text file" or
"plain text" or "ASCII" or "text" and select any
one of those types of files.
5. After selecting the file type, click on the "save" button usually
in the lower right hand corner.
Your file is now saved as either rich text or plain text and can be submitted using the instructions below.
You may put both of your essays in one file, or you may use two files. Please note, however, that if you use two files you must be very careful to upload both files BEFORE submitting them. See instructions below.
To turn in your completed Essays, first go to the Part 1 page (later in the course you would go to the Part 2, 3, or 4 page). On the Part 1 page you will see a link with a picture of an "in-box" and the words "Turn in Essays Here." Click on this link. You will now see a page which is labeled "Assignments," and you will see a list that shows "Part 1 Exam, Essay Portion," "Part 2 Exam, Essay Portion," "Part 3 Exam, Essay Portion" and so forth. You cannot make a mistake about which thing to click on because only the correct one will be available and will have a small image of a pencil next to it.
Click on the open Essay exam link -- the one with the pencil. You will now see a page that shows you detailed instructions for submitting your essay. Some of those instructions are the same as you will see here. As indicated in the section above, you must write on two essays for each essay exam and it is completely up to you whether or not you submitt your two essays in one file or two files. However, putting both in one file is easier, and involves fewer steps (see below)
1. Click on the gray "Upload File" button. You may have to scroll
down a little bit to see it.
2. Now you will see a screen where there it says "filename" next to
an empty box, and a gray button that says "browse" next to it.
3. Use the "Browse" button to open a dialog box that will show all
the files on your home computer, and use that dialog box to locate the file
or files that you want to upload. Highlight the file you want to upload (you
can only do one at a time), and click on the "Open" button at the
bottom right corner of the dialog box.
4. The dialog box will disappear and the file information will appear in the
"filename box" on the class page.
5. Now click on the "Upload file" button beneath the filename.
6. You will now return to the previous screen where in the section that says
"Submitt Assignment" you will see "Status: Not submitted"
and under "Student files" a blue box that shows the file that you
have just uploaded.
7. VERY IMPORTANT -- BEFORE you
submit your file, you must upload any additional files. So
if you have two files (one for each essay) you must click the upload files button
again at this point, to upload the second file.
8. Click on the "upload file button" again. On the page that appears,
click on "browse" to find obtain the dialog box showing files on your
computer.
9. Find your second file, an click "Open" in the dialog box. The file
name will appear in the box. Click "Upload."
10. Now you will see a blue box with two files listed in it.
11. Only after you have uploaded all the files that you want to upload,
then you must click to place a check mark in the box (or boses) to the left
of your file(s), and then click on the gray button that says "submitt assignment."
If you forgot to submit both files before you hit "submit assignment" do not panic. You e-mail me the second file. You may also use e-mail IF you have a serious technical problem with getting your essays uploaded. This is not a way to get around the due date. You must ask permission before turning in late items. Using e-mail is not the best method (assignments get lost this way, they do not get lost when submitted through the drop box), it is always better to upload and submit both files through the drop box.
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How do you know if the instructor "got" your essay? Well, the first thing is do not e-mail the instructor to ask "did you get my essay?" If you submitted your essays properly the instructor automatically "gets" your essay. The way to check on your essay is click on the "Turn in Essays Here" link from any of the Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 or Part 4 pages or from the link in the navigation column to the left of each page. Look for the essay that you believe you've submitted. Under the name of each essay assignment, is the dates of "Availability", below that is the "grade", and below that is a line that says "status." It is the "status" line that you want to look at. The line next to the word status should say "submitted." Once it is graded it will say "graded."
To see the comments made by the instructor on your essay, when it is graded, click on the word "graded" and it will take you to a screen that will have the comments. These comments are important, especially on Part 1 and Part 2 Essay exams. The instructor will try to give detailed information that will help you know what you did right and what you need to improve in those comments.
What do you do if next to the word status it says something other than "submitted" or "graded" and you thought you had turned in your essay? What you do depends on whether or not the deadline for submitting the essay is in the future or in the past. If the deadline is in the future (in otherwords one could still turn in essays). Then you need to click on the link next to "status." In the next screen you need to check and see if you have actually uploaded files. If you can see a blue box with the names of files in it, then you have successfully uploaded them, but what you have NOT yet "submitted" them. You need to click your mouse in the boxes next to the files you want to submit, and then click on the button that says "submit." If the deadline is in the past (in other words it is too late to turn in essays), next to the word status it will say "unavailable" and there is no link. In that circumstance then you will need to contact the instructor and ask permission to submit your essays late by e-mail. Use the e-mail program within the class to contact the instructor and to send late essays. (Click on the mail box icon on the home page).
Keep in mind that the professor has lots of essays to read from more than 50 on-line students, as well as having other classes to teach on campus (all with essays and exams). It may be as much as two weeks before all the essays are graded, so just wait. If, however, more than 4 weeks has passed, and you have checked (as instructed above) to be sure that you have a "submitted" link, then you should e-mail the instructor to see if there is some technical problem.
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