Course Syllabus

Fall 2024 | INT-1050-VO17 - Dimensions of Self & Society

Online Class

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

Faculty

Deanna Garrett-Ostermiller and Jen Garrett-Ostermiller
View Faculty Credentials
View Faculty Statement
Hiring Coordinator for this course: Jennifer Gundy

General Education Requirements

CCV 1st 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 IT Support page. https://support.ccv.edu/general/computer-recommendations/

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 2024 textbook/book details will be available on 2024-05-20. 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-VO17 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.

Methods

Each week, you'll complete activities, participate in discussions, submit assignments, read articles, watch videos (and maybe listen to a podcast episode or two), and engage in critical reflection.

As we read, watch, and listen to books, videos, and podcasts, we'll be talking with each other through text-based and video-based discussions on Canvas. In addition to sharing our reactions and questions, we'll be learning how to support our ideas with reliable sources of evidence. A good conversation is thought-provoking, may clarify understanding, and often leads to further questions. We frequently say that two brains are better than one, but - good news! - we'll have almost 2-dozen brains (up to 20 of you and 2 of us) in this class. That means we'll have up to 22 perspectives, 22 analyses, and 22 experiences from which to build meaning.

In addition to discussions, you'll be engaging in critical reflection. You know yourself better than anyone else. As a result, we'll be asking you to regularly reflect on your learning in this class. Note that we've labeled this as "critical" reflection, because we'll be asking you to do some deep thinking about your thinking, your skill growth, and your goals. Regular critical reflection, combined with evidence from your work, will be how you'll track your learning in this class. We'll provide you with guidance and weekly prompts to help you with this process of critical reflection. And we'll respond to you, encouraging and supporting you to grow in the ways that are most meaningful and important for you as a student, as a human being, and as a professional.

In addition to weekly activities, you will have three major projects to complete during the semester:

• Mid-Semester Self-Evaluation
• College & Career Plan
• Final Portfolio/Project & Cumulative Self-Evaluation

Evaluation Criteria

The grading for this class is probably a little different than what you are used to. We use a practice called ungrading. That means the focus will be 100% on learning and not on grades. You won't receive scores or grades for work you submit, but rather you'll receive feedback - what you're doing well to keep building on and what could be expanded on or improved. Studies show that students learn more when they receive feedback (versus just grades or a combination of feedback and grades).

You will also set learning goals for growth over the semester and be guided to complete critical reflection to evaluate your own learning.

Because a final letter grade has to be submitted at the end of the semester, we'll work together to consider the work you've completed, the contributions you've made to our learning community, and the progress toward learning goals that you've made over the 15 weeks. You'll propose a letter grade (with evidence to support your proposal), and we'll either agree with you (and submit that grade) or propose something different (with an explanation of why).

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

Our expectations of you:

• You will actively participate in the course - there is nothing better you can do to ensure your success.
• You will check and respond to communication (email, text, voicemail) from us. Additionally, you'll communicate with us regarding questions and your progress in the course, especially if you are struggling.
• You will take your own work seriously--your ideas matter, and you matter in our class.
• You’ll read thoughtfully, making notes about what you read so that you can engage in class discussion, activities, and homework with your best ideas.
• You will take engagement with your classmates seriously, helping them learn and grow through your insights and questions.
• You’ll make a good faith effort to learn new ways of thinking, writing, and reading: Sometimes new ideas emerge from periods of chaotic exploration. Don’t give up!
• You commit to personal and academic growth, recognizing that college is hard, but the reward that comes from hard work is worth it.

Missing & Late Work Policy

Every week, there are 2 due dates (one on Thursday at 11:59pm and one on Monday at 11:59pm). We expect that you will complete your work on time virtually all the time -- and if you don't have something in on time, you'll take quick action to catch up. You can call, text, or email us, reach out to a classmate, and/or consult Canvas if you have questions about what you've missed. Most importantly, we expect timely and clear communication from you if you will miss a due date or need support to meet a due date. When you complete your Mid-Semester and Final Portfolios & Evaluations, you will include information on your success with meeting due dates and the impact this has had on your learning.

We understand that life can sometimes get in the way of best intentions to complete work on time. In college, when this happens,it’sextremely important that you communicate with your instructor(s).If illness of any sort or another emergency affects your ability to keep up with class, let us know, and we will work with you (sometimes in consultation with your Academic Advisor) to make a plan to catch up as quickly as possible. Please don't wait to reach out. Let us know as soon as possible so we can help!

In this class, we believe that a reasonable amount of “flex” is to miss no more than 5 due dates throughout the semester, including initial posts in the class discussion (it is not possibleto extend the Monday due date for class discussions, as the class will have moved on to the next week).If you have missed 5, and need to miss another, please communicate with us – we do not want you to believe that you will automatically fail the class – rather –let’stalk andmake aplan.

To use your up-to-5 "flex extensions" for the semester, if you are going to miss a due date, please email both of usand propose an extension(as a guideline, we think that extensions ranging from 1-day to 1-week are typically reasonable andwon’tset you too far behind).

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