Course Syllabus

Fall 2025 | INT-1050-VJ01 - Dimensions of Self & Society

In Person Class

Standard courses meet in person at CCV centers, typically once each week for the duration of the semester.

Faculty

Deborah Stewart
View Faculty Credentials

Hiring Coordinator for this course: Jennifer Gundy

General Education Requirements

First Semester Seminar

Note

Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.

Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

In this interdisciplinary first-semester seminar, students make the transition to college-level academic culture. This seminar is designed to help students develop the learning skills and habits of success that will support them throughout their college experience and as they consider career pathways. Reading, writing, and discussion are central to developing an understanding of academic and societal responsibility. Students critically examine the relationship between societal values, individual beliefs, ways of knowing, and cultural worldviews.

Essential Objectives

1. Interpret, analyze, and evaluate a text and its sources.
2. Demonstrate foundational information literacy, research skills, and academic honesty necessary for academic writing.
3. Demonstrate effective written communication skills, including active engagement in asynchronous online discussion.
4. Apply effective strategies for building new knowledge and skills through reflection on learning preferences, challenges, and goals.
5. Identify possible career goals and educational pathways.
6. Examine social issues through the lens of the individual and society.
7. Examine personal assumptions and biases, and ethical impacts of decision making and participation in society.
8. Consider issues from multiple perspectives and discuss, debate, and defend ideas with clarity and reason as part of a respectful learning community.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV computer recommendations Support page.

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

*** This is a low cost ($50 or less) textbook or resource class. ***

This course uses one or more textbooks/books/simulations, along with free Open Educational Resources (OER) and/or library materials.

Fall 2025 textbook/book details will be available on 2025-05-19. On that date a link will be available below that will take you to eCampus, CCV's bookstore. The information provided there will be specific to this class. Please see this page for more information regarding the purchase of textbooks/books.

INT-1050-VJ01 Link to Textbooks for this course in eCampus.

For Open Educational Resources (OER) and/or library materials details, see the Canvas Site for this class.

The last day to use a Financial Aid Advance to purchase textbooks/books is the 3rd Tuesday of the semester. See your financial aid counselor at your academic center if you have any questions.

Artificial Intelligence(AI) Policy Statement

CCV recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI tools are widely available and becoming embedded in many online writing and creative applications.

Allowed: This course's generative AI policy acknowledges technology, including generative AI, plays a supportive role in learning and feedback. During our class, we may use AI writing tools such as ChatGPT in certain specific cases. You will be informed as to when, where, and how these tools are permitted to be used, along with guidance for attribution. Any use outside of these specific cases constitutes a violation of CCV's Academic Integrity Policy.

Additional Guidelines about the Use of Generative AI (Chat GPT and others):

• In this class, many of your assignments will be about you in some way--your lived experience, your perspective, your insights on a reading or topic.
• It is not appropriate to use Chat GPT or any other generative AI tool to draft a written response to an essay, discussion, quiz, or other assignment prompt unless it is clearly stated as an option in the activity or assignment.
• When there is an option to use Chat GPT or other generative AI tool, you must provide proper attribution (citation) for the information you use, just as you would when using any other source. If you use a paragraph, a sentence, or a key phrase, you must provide both citation and quotation marks. See more information on Citing AI in the VSCS Libraries Site:Citing AI - VSCS Libraries
• You may use spelling and grammar tools (like Grammarly) to assist with revising and editing drafts you have written.These tools do not write your response for you, but may offer you alternate spellings, words, and other editorial suggestions, leaving you as the writer the opportunity to make stylistic and other important choices. It's a good idea to save drafts of your writing so that you can demonstrate your progress over time.

Methods

Class time is structured to include a high level of engagement and collaboration. In any given week, you might participate in discussions, reading, writing, individual and group activities, presentations, quizzes, and Canvas (online) discussion and activities. Homework will be assigned each week. Student participation – in class and through outside preparation –is essential.

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Weekly Schedule

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Participation Expectations

Regular attendance is essential in college. If you attend every class and participate fully and respectfully, you will earn all the points that make up the attendance and participation portion of your final grade. If you miss classes, aren’t prepared, and/or fail to participate appropriately, you may be unable to pass the course. Partial absences (late arrivals or early departures) will also impact your standing in the course.

Missing & Late Work Policy

All assignments are due on the dates that are given in the syllabus and/or specific guidelines. This is true even when you are absent from class. If you have to miss class for whatever reason, you must make arrangements to submit your homework at the time it is due.

Late work is not accepted, except in emergency situations and with prior approval from me. In the case of an extenuating circumstance, communicate with me as soon as possible. No late work is ever accepted in the online discussion forum, since the purpose of those discussions is to interact with each other during a limited time period.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/discover-resources/students-with-disabilities/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity

Apply Now for this semester.