Communication 1-oh-1

Course Policies

Kasch Communication Courses

Course Policies Kasch Communication Courses

 

1.  Please to do not read the textbook like  you watch television i.e. by letting it wash over you not cognizant of the fact if any learning is taking place.  Do not expect all the content you will be tested over to be covered in class.  You must read.   If you are "not a test taker" or a "visual learner" than you will have to invest more time, energy, and effort in reading and mastering the content of the course.

2. 1-OH-1 is a core course in the Department of Communication. You must earn a grade  of "C" in order to complete degree requirements. If you do not earn a "C" in 1-0h-1 you will need to retake the course until you do achieve a "C."

3. This is a course where you may not be able to memorize the night before an exam and  hope you can get by on the exams through recognition, recall or intelligent guessing.  Obviously, intelligent guessing can be a useful, necessary, and efficient study strategy for some courses, but it may not be your best bet in 1-OH-1.  There is a difference between having read something and actually knowing something. 

4.  In order to prepare effectively for examinations an effective strategy is to:

a) read the chapter;

b) write out accurate answers to the objectives which will be provided prior to each exam

c) form a study group and compare your answers to other members of your team.

d) memorize the answers;

e) met in your  study group, meet in your group and test one another orally.

5. In order to succeed in 1-OH-1 you may need to change the way you think. Thinking  you can do well on a 1-OH-1 exam by eliminating two multiple choice answers as obviously wrong, than pick the right answer by guessing at the one that "sounds best" may be risky business.   It high school, just showing up for an exam might work, in college best to do some studying.

6.WORDS OF WISDOM

"There is no expedient to which a person will not resort to avoid the real labor of  thinking."   Unknown


7. Class time will be spent in 4 ways: 1) me telling you what I think; 2) you telling me what  you know and understand (and what you don't know and don't understand); 3) watching  mediated instruction which supplements and complements course content; and during some semester and during some semesters  4)listening to team presentations.

8. If you have an emergency that prevents you from taking an exam at the scheduled time, I should be notified as soon as possible. Emergencies in 1-OH-1 will be rather narrowly defined to include only acts of God which prohibit one from being in one's seat on exam  day. Oversleeping, having to leave campus early because of an anticipated flight attendants strike, the brakes going out on one's car, pulling a groin muscle helping one's girlfriend move furniture, having to be the emergency room all night to comfort a  friend and so forth will be considered events under human control and will NOT be acceptable justification for missing an exam, individual public presentation, or a small group project team presentation.

9. Should you decide that you are unable to take an exam for "health reasons" YOU  MUST SECURE EVIDENCE FROM A PHYSICIAN OR FROM AN  APPROPRIATE UNIVERSITY OFFICIAL that documents your unhealthy state. No  make-up exam can be granted unless such documentation is presented.  Do not come to class if you have the Swine flu.  Go home if you can, stay down if you can not.  Having the flu can be serious, do not treat it lightly, take care of yourself.

10. A final deadline for written work is just that--a final deadline. In the real world you will no doubt encounter personal stressors (relationship crises, health problems, divorce, problems with your children, death of loved ones, competing demands on your time (e.g. leisure; volunteer work) and so forth) which will conflict with your responsibilities at  work. School is a good time to begin to learn how to balance these competing demands,   rather than making excuses for failure to meet one's responsibilities. I prefer not to be put in the position of having to evaluate your excuses. My job is to evaluate your work,  not your excuses. When you leave town to see a concert with a group of people the night before an exam or paper deadline, ask yourself, "What might happen if everyone except me wants to stay over, sleep in, "blow off" their morning classes, and come back  in the afternoon??? COMPETENT COMMUNICATORS ANTICIPATE.

11. Be Careful. Do not make the mistake which one student did when she brought in  written reports of her laboratory results as documentation of her illness. Evidently it did not occur to her that, after having been kept alive on dialysis for 13 years and having a kidney transplant in 1988, I am  relatively proficient at reading blood chemistry profiles. Her claim that she had mononucleosis was not substantiated by the evidence she brought which showed that her hemoglobin, hematocrit, and white blood cell count were all within normal ranges.

12. Participation and attendance will count. I strongly suggest that you attend all discussions. You are responsible for all lecture material, handouts, announcements, .(in short--for everything) that happens during class periods. It is probably possible to attend  infrequently and still pass this course, but as a sign on the graduate student offices at   the University of Illinois used to say "hope for luck, but don't count on it." As former President  Richard Nixon once said "let us halt the denial of individual accountability for individual action," and as the T-shirt I sent to my friend Katie who was having her first child at the age 38  said "actions have consequences" Or as Yoda once remarked:

13. Be sure to print lots of hard copies of your working drafts and to back up your files often. I can  not accept "my computer/printer/disk" broke down as valid excuses for  late work. In the event that I was to lose your paper or sinister forces were to cause  it harm while it was in my possession, you will be required to produce another copy of  your work.

14.  Rarely is there extra credit in my courses.  Occasionally, extra credit can be earned from attending
annual Robinson lecture.  One semester I suggested that completing a trivia contest, or line dancing
a Temptations song was worth "psychi-extra credit bonus points."  Psychi-extra credit bonus points" are not real bonus points, just things we might do from time to time for fun.

15 Part of my philosophy of education is that students and instructors can learn from each other. Although at times painful, education need not take place in straight rows.  However, an informal classroom atmosphere should not be confused with a lowering of  standards. In any partnership parties have both rights and responsibilities. One of your responsibilities is to meet my standards, rather then expecting me to lower my  standards. Of course one of my responsibilities is to try and set reasonable expectations and fair standards.

16. You may be required to participate in a project team and complete a number of projects   which require meeting outside of class to fulfill the demands of the assignment.   One  wayward soul claimed that he didn't think it was fair that groups were required to meet  outside of class since the course catalog did not specify this would be a requirement of  the course. Well, I haven't got the University Catalog changed but I have added this  section to the course policies.   If you are going to be a communication major, get used to group projects.

17. Your grade in Communication 1-OH-1 may, in part, be determined by your work in  a study group, both the quality of your semester project or presentation, as well as   by how your team members evaluate your contribution to the project over the course of  the semester. Your contribution to your study group may be evaluated at several points  during the course of the semester.  "When you let your team down, you let yourself down."

18. In creating and administering course policies my primary ethic is fairness. In order to maintain this ethic I will tend to see any special requests as a threat to the  "fairness" standard and will be unable to grant them. Please do not request extra credit opportunities, extra points on exams, an alternative exam schedule, or any other special treatment or "special dispensations" that I am unable to give to you without  also giving to EVERY CLASS MEMBER.  For example, one semester a  Communication 1-OH-1  project team came to me two days before their semester   project was due claiming that they needed another week to complete the project.  If  I had given them extra time other 1-OH-1 students who met their responsibilities might perceive this as a violation of the "fairness ethic."

19  The department  does not permit faculty in the Department of Communication to discuss" grades" via electronic mail.  If you wish to discuss your current progress in the course, you should email me to set up some "facetime. As a rule,. I will not respond to email which discusses individual grading, grading policies, exam performance, and so forth.

20. It is the policy of Bradley and this instructor to make every reasonable effort to allow members of our diverse university community to observe their religious without academic penalty. However, it your responsibility to provide me with advance written notice of the dates of any major religious holidays on which you will be absent (the earlier notice the better please). Students who proactively visit with their professors before a situation becomes a problem tend to avoid problems and do better in class. I am always available before and after class.

21 This university and this instructor are committed to providing an equitable learning environment for every student. I will readily adjust for those students with special needs. If you have special needs in the classroom, please provide a letter from Learning Assistance confirming and describing your special needs at the start of the semester. You may have Learning Assistance contact me directly. This information will be kept in confidence.

22  In my classroom, there will be no vibrating or beeping cell phones,  no "stealth texting (pocket or purse) no laptops open, no ordering from a menu, no leaving in the middle of the class for bathroom breaks, no hushed conversations while other people are talking. My classroom is not a hotel lobby; it's not a restaurant; and it's not a computer lab. Here in my classroom, you're a grownup, an adult, a person who can be trusted to understand there are important things worth caring about in this world. We can have fun but we also know that becoming a responsible and engaged learner and citizen is our serious business.

23  There was a time when I needed only one course policy.  "If you do anything to jeopardize your own  learning, or the learning of your classmates, I will manage the situation using my best professional judgment."  Those were the days. )