Communication 2zero7 Course Policies Fall 2002

Online Courses in the Department of Communication

COURSE POLICIES
AND THINGS YOU SHOULD BE THINKING ABOUT WHEN ENROLLED IN 
A KASCH COMMUNICATION COURSE

Department Policies

POLICY REGARDING E-MAIL COMMUNICATION ABOUT GRADES:
As a matter of the Department of Communication policy to protect student privacy and in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, questions and concerns regarding grades must be presented in person or in a written letter.  Instructors will not respond to questions and concerns communicated through e-mail or telephone calls regarding grades.

POLICY REGARDING STUDENT ABSENCE DUE TO AN ILLNESS:
When missing classes and related assignments due to an illness, it is the student's responsibility to provide a document issued by a medical authority to verify the student's absence due to illness, unless the Office of the Associate Provost for Student Affairs informs an instructor of the basis for the student's absence.  Instructors will not call the Health Center or any other source to verify the student's reason for absence.

Instructor/Course Policies

1. At times wewill employ the Socratic method of instruction     whcih means that: a)you must come to class have learned something prior to class and     be prepared to share with us what you have learned (e.g."fill the room with your intelligence"); b) your will be required not merely read the material before you come to    class, but rather make a serious effort to learn the material. I would prepare for a  class    discussion as thought you were preparing for a quiz.

2. 2zero7 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 2zero7 you will unable to meet degree requirements and for those of you in your final semester     at Bradley you would be unable to meet requirements for graduation.

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 fourOne7.

4. In order to succeed in 2zero7 you may need to change the way you think. Thinking  you can do well on a 2zero7 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. Multiple choice questions can be written at three general levels- recognition, recall, and understanding. In fourOne7 it would be a risky proposition to  assume that you could skim the reading the night before an exam and than be able "to  recognize" correct answers on the exam.  2zero7  often demands more than recognition, it requires understanding. If you have not read the material carefully, it is quite likely that all your multiple choices will SOUND GOOD. That is, the wrong  answers (the "detractors") may sound just as good as the best answer. Your job is to select the best answer, not the best sounding answer.

5. "It just business, it's not personal." It would be unfortunate if you were not able to  graduate this semester because you did not earn a "C" or better in 2zero7.   Hopefully, no one will put me in this position. Many of you will assume management  positions and will one day have to fire someone that you personally like, ii will make you      very uncomfortable, but the situation will leave you no alternative. This is the same position I am in when a student does not earn an grade of C or better in a core course.  Come To My Office ToRead "The Legend Of Thomas Wells. Maintaining the  "fairness ethic" is "not personal, it's just business." As Jim Bavarra, a former student      once remarked, "Kasch is the kind of guy you can go out and have a beer with, than ya earn a "D" in his class, and ya can still be friends..go figure."

6. There may be a semester group project during your 2zero7 experience. If you don't  carry your weight in your study group, the group has the right to determine whether each individual member will receive the same number of points on the final group  presentation and paper, and also the small group communication "goon squad" will pay you a visit (Not A Pretty Thought). Seriously, a 2zero7 small group project team can   vote by unanimous decision to terminate one of its team members if a particular team  member does not pull hise or her weight. This person would be given the option of doing the same project  2zero7 teams are doing, only doing the project as an individual, or dropping the course.

7. This course will be reading-oriented rather than project-oriented. In order to do well in the class it is suggested that one not read the required readings like one watches  television. In other words,read for understanding. We will be dealing with words and ideas, not images. This course is less about how to make a living and more about how to make a life.

WORDS OF WISDOM

"There is no expedient to which a person will not resort to avoid the real labor of  thinking." Some guy named Sir Joshua Reynolds

Charlie Brown:    "Here's Something To Think About. Life Is Like A Ten-Speed 
                               Bicycle. Most Of Us Have Gears We Never Use."
Snoppy:                "He's wrong, that isn't something to think about."

8. 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; 4) using class      time to work on your individual and group presentations..

9. 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 this 2zero7 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 my car, pulling a groin muscle helping my 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.

10. 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. This is the only way the "ethic of fairness" can be maintained. "It's not personal, it's just business." If   the severity of your illness requires you to miss a fourOne7 exam or presentation than  you are obviously in need of medical attention.   

11. 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.

12. 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, 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.

13. 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 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:

"Beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to  join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, your grade point average; consume your chances of graduating it will."

14. 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. In the "age of the smart machine" this should not be an unreasonable  requirement.

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 study group 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.

17. Your grade in Communication 2zero7 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 will be evaluated at several points  during the course of the semester.

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 2zero7  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 2zero7 students who met their responsibilities might perceive this as a violation of the "fairness ethic." Thus, although I am not a "rules person" by nature, I will be relentless (like Katherine Turner in Body Heat) in adhering  to the "fairness ethic."

The PointGuards

Topic :  Leadership in the Film "Hoosiers"