Action Assignment Personal Profile

Communication 399

Required Work & Expectations

Required Work

1. All learners enrolled for three hours credit will complete all Online Conferences by the due
date (Due Dates are on the Course Calendar)

http://www.kaschassociates/com/399web/399home.htm

Click on Daily Course Schedule

There is a lot of information and resources designed to help you complete the Online Conference
which is NOT posted on the Blackboard Discussion Forum.

2. All learners will post at least FIVE response to the posts of other class member and or to the
posts of the instructor. The following criteria will be used to evaluate posts to the discussion
forum

Expectations for Discussion Participation

“What we need is tips, tips of any kind.”

We collaborate and construct knowledge together to achieve the course objectives primarily through Threaded Discussions (TD) based on selected readings and keyed into the course’s line of inquiry. Here are some tips for making these discussions highly interactive, intellectually stimulating, and, ultimately, critically engaging:

1, Post in a timely fashion. Read and post every day over the two day period a particular Online Conference is being discussed.

2. In order to get the forums from getting unanavigable, every post in the forum in posted as a reply rather than a new threat. Don’t just agree, however; go ahead and extend, elaborate, give examples, draw comparisons, make connection to your own lived experiences.

3. For each posting—including a Reply— write a new Subject Line which captures the gist of what you want to say. You may also want to make your Subject Lines catchy or humorous, although you don’t have to.

4. Indicate paragraphing by skipping a line between ideas. Avoid excessively large “chunks” of text online for the sake of readability. At the same time, don’t break up your text willy-nilly. Your paragraphing should reflect breaks in ideas or represents sub- points.

5. Don’t be afraid to disagree and to challenge each other, but always be civil. Don’t insult others or dismiss their views. When you realize that you heartily disagree, a good strategy is to be an active listener: that is, summarize what you “hear” others saying— without being sarcastic.

6. Use emoticons (little smiley faces and versions thereof) if you think your remarks will be taken the wrong way—that is, in a hurtful, dismissive, or insulting way.

Online Discussion Criteria for Evaluation

Full credit for online discussion is 20 points; additional (bonus) points may be awarded to individuals who are especially active and/or articulate in online discussion.

The following three criteria are often use to evaluate the contributions to online discussion.

• encourages further interaction by challenging, offering, or requesting further elaboration

• offers thoughtful and substantive analysis of the issue and/or other posts

• identifies the main issue and subsidiary, embedded, or implicit aspects of the issue

• identifies not only the basic issue, but recognizes the nuances of the issue

• identifies and explains one’s own position and/or choices to the problem, drawing from experience and information not available from assigned sources

• tends to espouse personal opinions and does not demonstrate a willingness to

• addresses a single source or view of the argument and fails to clarify the established or presented position relative to one’s own

• fails to establish other critical distinctions among perspectives and positions

3. Identifies and assesses the quality of supporting data/evidence and provides additional data/evidence related to the issues

• examines the evidence and its source; questions its accuracy, precision relevance, completeness

• recognizes cause and effect and addresses existing or potential consequences o implications that may logically follow

• surfaces value judgments embedded in assertions and supporting data/evidence

• merely repeats information provided, taking it as truth, or denies evidence without adequate justification

• confuses associations and correlations with cause and effect or make other

logical fallacies; fails to surface value judgments embedded in assertions an supporting data/evidence

	Discussion Board Rubric
	5 Points	2-4 Points	0-1 Points	Points
Engagement 5 Points Possible	Proactively contributes to the discussion forums by offering ideas and asking appropriate questions	Frequently contributes to the discussion forums by offering ideas and asking appropriate questions	Rarely contributes to the discussion forums
Replies 5 Points Possible	Consistently demonstrates interest; incorporates or builds off of the ideas of others.	Frequently demonstrates interest; incorporates or builds off of the ideas of others	Shows little interest; replies to classmates' ideas with minimal response
Expression 5 Points Possible	Expresses opinions and ideas in a clear and concise manner with obvious connection to topic	Opinions and ideas are stately clearly with occasional lack of connection to topic	Does not express opinions or ideas clearly; no connection to topic
Conduct 5 Points Possible	Consistently contributes to the positive atmosphere in the discussion forum by demonstrating tolerance, respect and patience for differing points of view.	Usually contributes to the positive atmosphere in the discussion forums by demonstrating tolerance, respect and patience for differing points of view.	Does not demonstrate tolerance, respect and patience for differing points of view.
Total (20 possible)

1 point:	Post is only one or two sentences long and does not clearly provide new content to the thread; and/or, no clear response to, or interaction with, previous posts (it is unclear whether poster has read any previous messages in the thread); and/or, significant grammatical errors in the post.
2-3 points:	Post is two to three sentences long, is well-thought-out, and provides some new content to the thread; and/or, clear response to, or interaction with, one previous post (it is clear that poster has read at least one other post in the thread); and/or, few grammatical errors in the post.
4-5 points:	Post is at least a paragraph long, is very well thought out, and has very few (if any) grammatical errors; and/or, post provides significant new content to the thread (or starts a new thread with significant content); and/or, provides a clear response to, or interaction with, more than one previous post in the thread (it is clear that poster has been following several other posts in the thread).