Course Syllabus

Fall 2025 | INT-1050-VO05 - Dimensions of Self & Society

Online Class

Online courses take place 100% online via Canvas, without required in-person or Zoom meetings.

Faculty

Tracey Forest
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.

Fall 2025 textbook 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-VO05 Link to Textbooks for this course in eCampus.

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.

Methods

Hello Dimensions Student!

As we begin our dive into Self and Society, I want to be clear with you on how you be ‘assessed’ or ‘graded’ or ‘evaluated’ this semester.There are certain skills and required knowledge that ALL sections of Dimensions are required to cover, regardless of instructor.These are called Essential Objectives and are found on your Course Description (under Syllabus button).

In my class, we will meet the essential objectives through a variety of methods, including your weekly postings and discussion forums, projects, quizzes and participation.For all of the below methods, there will be clear grading Rubrics so you can see how you were evaluated.

Here is a look at how the above methods will match the Essential Objectives:

1. Interpret, analyze, and evaluate a text and its sources.Weekly Canvas posts related to readings, video viewings, podcast and related internet research, also Hartness Library tutorials on evaluating sources

2. Demonstrate foundational information literacy, research skills, and academic honesty necessary for academic writing. Hartness Library Tutorials and Quizzes, Basic internet Research for Canvas Posts, Library research and writing for Projects, 2, 3 and 4

3. Demonstrate effective oral and written communication skills in both online and classroom settings. Three of the four projects are PRESENTED to the class. You will both post slides and for the final presentation, and you'll submit a video of you presenting. Also, you will be required to submit a written portion (an accompanying paper) for each presentation.Also, you will be required to submit a written portion (an accompanying paper) for each presentation.

4. Apply effective strategies for building new knowledge and skills through reflection on learning preferences, challenges, and goals.You will learn about yourself as a student, a learner and a team participant through: Multiple intelligences test and discussion/response, Learning Styles Inventory, Myers-Briggs personality test and responses

5. Identify possible career goals and educational pathways. FOCUS (CCV’s online Career Assessment tool) activitiesCAREER PATHWAYS PROJECT, Meyers-Briggs Activities

6. Examine social issues through the lens of the individual and society. ISHMAEL and POWER OF ONE, related posts and discussions

7. Examine personal assumptions and biases, and ethical impacts of decision making and participation in society.Readings, viewings, discussions, writings on Inequality and Implicit Bias; Socratic process

8. Consider issues from multiple perspectives and discuss, debate, and defend ideas with clarity and reason.Socratic Dialogue process through The Allegory of the Cave and Ishmael; Canvas posts and discussion forums will guide you to discuss, debate and defend your ideas and discuss with other students different perspectives; Multiple perspectives on social issues, such as Climate Change and food sovereignty will lead to the final project.

Evaluation Criteria

Here is the breakdown for my class:

GRADE BREAKDOWN and WEIGHTS

Group	Weight
Canvas Posts/Homework	25%
Personal Legend--Project #1	15%
Allegory of the Cave--Project #2	15%
Ishmael -- Project #3	20%
Final Project -- Project #4	20%
Career Pathways Project	5%
Total	100%

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

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

In an online class, it is essential that you actively participate every week in our discussion forums. It's one of the only ways we can create community and connection and share ideas. It is EXPECTED that you will not only make an initial post, but that you will also ALWAYS respond to at least TWO OTHER STUDENTS' posts in a thoughtful way.

Also, to fully participate each week is to submit every assignment, every week.

Missing & Late Work Policy

• Late assignments can be submitted up to one week past the deadline. You will lose 10% each day that an assignment is late. After a week, it will no longer be accepted for credit.
• Late work is not accepted in the discussion forum. Interacting with classmates is an essential part of online discussions and cannot be made up after the fact.
• Extensions will be granted only in extenuating circumstances. If a lengthy medical problem or other emergent personal issue will result in missing weekly discussions and/or assignments, please contact your instructor as soon as possible.
• Students who know that they will not have course access for any given week should make arrangements with their instructor to complete assignments and participation requirements prior to the absence.

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.