Syllabus

Schedule

Course Schedule at a Glance

This is only a tentative schedule and is meant to give you a bird’s eye view. The activities and assignments may change at the discretion of the instructor.

Student Resources

Policies

Discussion Threads:

Discussions are a required and very valuable part of this course.  Think of discussions as you would in a regular course…with everyone participating, listening carefully and sharing their good ideas. Graduate students typically have wonderful ideas and insights to share with each other.  When posted, comments will be available for others  to read. Only those people in the course have access to your discussion comments.

Each week students are required to:

• Post a response to a question or problem presented in the threaded discussion prompt. This posting must be completed by the end of the day on Sunday.
• Include at least one in-text citation and reference in APA format in your initial posting.
• Make substantive comments on the postings of at least two other students. Be sure to read and understand the definition of “substantive” that follows.

A typical substantive post includes: 

• Adequate length to communicate new learning or information to the other learners in your class Integrates theory, research, and/or professional experience 
• Specific examples and/or substantiating evidence 

Discussion Thread Roles:

Each person in the course will be both a participant and a discussion leader/co-facilitator. Each person will be assigned to work with another to co-facilitate a discussion group of about 8 students.  There are five required “graded” discussions.  I will facilitate the first discussion.  The other four discussions will have assigned co-facilitators.  

You will need to follow the following guidelines to have the greatest benefit from online discussions.  Point values will also be assigned based upon the extent to which these guidelines are followed. 

Guidelines for Discussion Participants (not Discussion Leaders/co-facilitators).

1. Post a minimum of three responses that are separated significantly by the time of posting.  One posting must be before the midpoint and one after the midpoint (Wednesday evening.)  This will assure that you are reading and responding to a continued discussion rather then checking it out quickly and making two comments. Your grade will be based on the content of your responses, and your adherence to the guidelines.
2. Share your ideas and respond in a thoughtful manner to your peers.  A ‘thoughtful manner’ means that you go into considerable detail explaining why you agree or disagree with another person’s comment.  This lets them know that they are “heard”. Merely saying “I agree with you, Tom.” is not  responding thoughtfully. 

Guidelines for Discussion Leaders/Co-Facilitators

Along with your EDU 615 colleagues, you and a peer will lead one of the four discussions within your group.   Contact your Co-facilitator (I will assign them during Week 1) and get some ideas about leading the discussion as a team. Leading a discussion requires that you pose questions and respond to the other participants in the discussion to make the discussion more meaningful and rich. 

Some of the comments that you make may be supportive, such as saying:  “Mary, I really liked the idea you suggested when you said ………….”    Other comments should engage participants so that they talk with each other:  “Sally, as you can see with Tom’s comment above, he seems to have a different perspective than what you have suggested.  Would you please add a bit more to clarify this point?”  Finally, a very important role of the leader is to make connections between the discussion and information/ideas from your readings.   While wide ranging discussions are fun and interesting, your role is to weave in some comments or questions that relate to course ideas.

Learning Activities
All students have the opportunity to do extremely well in this course. I will provide you with guidance and support. However, you have responsibilities in that assignments are expected to be completed in a timely manner with appropriate detail, thought and reflection fitting of a graduate level student. Please make sure you review the rubrics that will be used in scoring your assignments.

It is understood that students are responsible, busy professionals. If for any reason you are unable to complete an assignment in the assigned way or by the due date, please take a minute to communicate your needs. Adjustments and modifications can be made on a personal basis and this will NOT impact your grade if it’s done in a respectful time frame and responsible manner; however, please know that the Education Department’s Graduate Curriculum Committee has passed a policy of not allowing for incompletes.

Late Submission Policy
All assignments are due by Tuesday at 11:59pm EST (Modules run Wednesday 8am-Tuesday 11:59 pm. If you are experiencing difficulty and believe you require an extension for health, family, or personal issues, you must notify the instructor by Monday. Late submissions will lose 50% of total value and will not be accepted after two (2) days past due date.

Written assignments
Your ability to accurately apply concepts from your readings, organization, and mechanics is significant. Click on this link to see the scoring rubric Written Assignment Rubric. Please note that you must save all documents you will be submitting in Microsoft Word or rich text in order for them to transmit successfully. Submit all written work in APA style. See the Resources Tab for a link to APA guidelines. Be certain to put your name on your papers even though they are submitted electronically.

Job-Related Outcomes
Motivational theory improves student performance, correlates with the Response to Intervention behavioral model, and parallels the Differentiated Instruction approach.

Effective classroom management strategies improves student engagement, participation, and academic achievement through the Responsive Classroom Model.

School safety and the appropriate use of technology, i.e., prevention of Cyber-bullying, encouragement of Digital Citizenship, Web 2.0 tools, etc., provides a strong 21st century foundation for teaching and learning. This module also supports Teacher Leadership roles within schools.

Research analysis and application of the Case Study creates Individualized Learning approaches to students experiencing motivational issues.