Course Syllabus

Fall 2025 | INT-1050-VO27 - Dimensions of Self & Society

Online Class

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

Faculty

Dana Maddock
View Faculty Credentials
View Faculty Statement
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. ***

INT-1050-VO27 Link to Textbooks/Resources Information 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.

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.

Prohibited: The use of generative AI is not allowed in this course, with the exception of spellcheck, grammar check and similar tools. This course rests in the value of students engaging in the learning process without relying on AI-generated content. Students will develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills independently, owning their learning journey from start to finish. If you use these tools, your actions would be considered academically dishonest and a violation of CCV's Academic Integrity Policy.

Methods

This is an online asynchronous course. Primary teaching methods will include:

• Video Lesson
• Library Research
• Instructor Feedback
• Discussion Forums
• Reading Assignments

Evaluation Criteria

Students will be evaluated utilizing the following methods:

Discussion Forums: Discussion Forums are a vital and required component of this course. This is the place where students learn and practice skills while building community with their classmates. It is expected that students will engage with each week's topics and skills-building activities as well as connect positively to their peers and the instructor. Students who regularly participte in discussions perform better on the major weight-bearing assignments associated with that unit. Discussion Forum rubrics are provided with each topic.

Journal Assignments: Journals are scaffolding assignments that enable students to practice the skills needed to pass each of the major assignments. Students who complete these assignments not only receive a higher grade in the class, they also perform better on the major weight-bearing assignments associated with that unit. Journal rubrics are provided with each topic.

Working, Learning, & Living Project: This project invites students to explore their interests, discover some of their qualities and skills, and engage in some fun and focused thinking about their future.

Beyond the Single Story Project: In her "Danger of the Single Story" lecture, Chimamanda Adiche argues that single stories flatten our experiences. Moreover, they foster incomplete truths and "rob people of their dignity" because they present a singular view or perspective of a person, group of people, place, or even a complex topic. This project invites students to think reflectively about "single social/political stories," deconstruct them, and then build more "complete" narratives/truths.

Extended Reading Project: This assignment invites students to synthesize the readings they have completed this semester. A final analysis paper is required.

Bias Research Project: This project invites students to examine the nature of personal biases and historical societal racist ideologies.

Seeing Things Whole Final Project: This assignment invites students to review, explore, connect, and depict key themes and concepts studied in this class. Students will imagine that a publisher has just hired them to design a new cover for a Dimensions textbook. Students will design and/or explain their proposed book cover, taking care to explain how the design depicts or represents key course concepts and re their experience in the course.

Library Orientation Activities

Career Exploration Activities

Short Quizzes

Grade Breakdown

The total points possible for the semester = 5000

Assignments (52%)

• Discussion Forums & Participation = 1300 pts., or 26%
• Journals = 1300 pts., or 26%

Quizzes=(8%) =400 pts.

Projects (40%)

• Bias Research Project = 250 pts., or 5%
• Beyond the Single Story Project = 250 pts., or 5%
• Working, Learning, and Living Project = 500 pts., or 10%
• Extended Reading Project = 500 pts., or 10%
• Seeing Things Whole Final Project = 500 pts., or 10%

CCV Letter Grades (including percentage breakdowns) are outlined on this page:Evaluation System Policy Link

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

Attendance Policy

Please review the CCV attendance policy here:Attendance Policy,Links to an external site.As indicated on that page, attendance and participation in classes are essential of 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.

For an asynchronous course, a student attended for the week if that 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.Missing more than 20% of the course due to absences may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.

Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean that a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require them to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class.

Participation Policy

Class participation in this course occurs in the discussion forums. Your discussion forum grade counts for 30% of your total grade in the course.

Each week’s discussion forum is worth 100 points, made up of two components:

• thecontent grade, based on the quality of the posts that you make, as outlined in the rubric for each discussion prompt.
• participation deductions,based on the number of late, incomplete, or missing posts.

Participation deductions of 10 points eachare triggered:

• if your initial post is made after 11:59 pm on Thursday or for any reply made after 11:59 pm Sunday. Late replies will receive no feedback. (And you do not have to respond to any questions posed by a late reply.)
• for any missingreply.
• if your post does not meet the word count specified in the rubric for each discussion prompt.

No credit of any kind will be given if you do not make any initial postas directed by the rubric for that week’s discussion forum.

In other words, if you earned an 85 on your content but replied only twice instead of three times, your score will drop to 75 for that week’s discussion.

PARTICIPATION IS IMPORTANT!

Missing posts lose content pointsandparticipation points. If need be, post before the week even starts.

The discussion forum for the week closes on Sunday at 11:59 pm.Any initial post made after the forum closes will automatically score zero points.

Participation deductions cannot be reversed.If you believe you will not be able to fulfill your participation requirements at any time, contact me through Canvas as soon as possible before the due date in question.

Missing & Late Work Policy

Late Work Policy for Assignments Other than Discussion Forums:

Things sometimes happen during the semester which cause us to be unable to turn in work by the due date.

This semester, other than your final project, you are allowed to turn in ONE late assignment up to one week late without penalty. You do not need to provide a reason for the delay; in fact, you do not even have to have a reason! But remember—if you have already used your late-assignment option and then something else comes up that prevents you from turning in work on time, your work will be subject to a 5% penalty off of the total possible score for every day that it is late. This penalty will be taken off of the total possible scorebeforethe assignment is graded.

In other words, if your assignment would have scored an 87 out of 100 but is 2 days late, it will score a 77 out of 100.

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.