COURSE
REQUIREMENTS
QUIZZES
|
Weeks
1-10: Due before Sunday
11:59pm
|
10% of
grade
|
FORUM
POSTS
|
Weeks
1-10: Due before Sunday
11:59pm
|
10%
of grade
|
| FIRST
MIDTERM EXAM |
Opens: Monday of
Week 4 at 12am
Closes: Tuesday of Week 5
at 11:59pm
|
20%
of grade
|
SECOND
MIDTERM EXAM
|
Opens:
Monday of Week 8 at 12am
Closes: Tuesday of Week 9
11:59pm
|
20%
of grade |
COMPREHENSIVE
MIDTERM
|
Opens:
Tuesday of Week 8 at 12am
Closes: Wednesday of Week
10 at 11:59pm
|
20%
of grade
|
| FINAL
EXAM |
Opens:
Thursday of Week 10 at
12am
Closes: Thursday of
Final Exam Week at
11:59pm |
20% of
grade
|
TUTOR
VISITS
|
Max 1
hr/week extra credit up
to10 hrs
|
+10%
E.C.
|
ZOOM LECTURE/DISCUSSION: In
addition to written text in Moodle, there will be a
Zoom lecture and discussion each week Mondays 2-3:50.
Make sure to listen to these each week, as they will
explain the readings in Moodle. There may be material
on the exams which is contained in these sessions but
not explicitly stated in the text.
You can watch
live or watch the recording posted later in the day.
QUIZZES: There are ten weekly quizzes based on
that week's reading and zoom sessions. Some of these
questions may appear again on the midterm exams and
final. Quizzes are due every Sunday before 11:59pm.
Late quizzes are not accepted. There will be an Extra
Credit Quiz in Week Ten. The Syllabus Quiz from the
first week will also count toward your quiz score. Out
of these twelve quizzes your lowest
two scores
are dropped.
FORUM POSTS: The purpose of the forum
assignment is to allow you the opportunity to
interpret, evaluate and apply what you have learned,
and to discuss the merits and implications of class
concepts and theories with your classmates. It
emphasizes
peer-to-peer learning in which you
learn from your fellow students. Every Monday a new
forum prompt will be posted. To receive full credit
for the forum, you must make at least
one post
of
100 to 300 words. Most weeks there will be
multiple topics from which to choose. Your post can be
made to any topic. You do
not have to post to
every topic. You just need one post to the forum for
the week before the deadline.
Avoid all titles, headers, greetings and signatures.
Moodle displays your name, the date, the topic and the
forum week; duplicating this information clutters up
the forum. When replying to another student, you can
include that student's first name in your reply. Write
in
block format with no indenting,
single-spaced with spacing between paragraphs, and
using
the default font. It is recommended that you
compose your post in
Google Docs or
Word (or similar word-processor) and check the word
count by choosing Tools --> Word Count. This will
also prevent your post being lost in case of a
connection error in Moodle. If you're pasting from
Google docs, Microsoft Word or similar programs, you
may need to
save as plain text first. After
you've posted,
make sure that your post's
formatting looks OK, that
the font size
and type matches everyone else's and that
there are
no extra spaces above or below the
text (a common problem with copying and pasting).
Your
post formatting must look exactly like the prompt.
Formatting errors will be penalized. Posts
below 100 words or above 300 words will be
penalized. See the
Student Help Desk
for help using Moodle forums.
You may reply to the prompt directly with an original
post or reply to another student. You do not need to
do both. To make an original post, click the "reply"
link in the prompt. To reply to another student, click
the reply link in that student's post. Your post must
substantially and directly address the prompt and
display a familiarity with the reading and video
lectures and discussions, i.e.
your post must be
distinguishable from someone who hasn't done any of
the reading or seen the lectures, looks at the
prompt and "gives their opinion." Avoid phrases
like "personally" or "in my personal opinion." You are
expected to give your
impersonal opinion,
backed by logical arguments.
Avoid tedious
references to lots of people having lots of
different opinions on the subject or the suggestion
that this fact alone -- if it is a fact -- shows
that "there is no (one) answer." Assume that there
is an answer, and say what you think that answer
might be.
Read the prompt carefully before answering. Be
careful about misinterpreting or misunderstanding
the question or wandering into irrelevant
biographical information or personal anecdotes unless
you're absolutely sure they apply to the subject.
Posts which do not directly address the prompt will
not receive credit. The inclusion of irrelevant
material a.k.a. "going off on tangents," will be
penalized. Before replying to another student,
make
sure that student's post is directly responsive to
the topic. If it isn't on topic, the original
poster won't receive any credit and neither will you.
"Me, too" and "Good job!" comments will not receive
credit. You need to add something original to the
discussion: a supporting example, a counter-example or
objection, an observation, an application, a request
for clarification, etc.
Your answer should include
examples or illustrations that demonstrate your
understanding of the concepts being discussed and
present arguments to support your claims.
Chains
of unsupported assertions without supporting
examples, illustrations or arguments will be
penalized. It is up to you to convince me in
the space allotted that you understand the material;
it is not up to me to pore over vaguely worded
assertions without examples or illustrations in order
to divine whether you understand the material or to
attempt to judge whether what you say could reasonably
be construed as an "argument." You need a claim (that
is, a clear
answer to the prompt) and an
argument for it. Simply explaining the point of view
of one of philosophers under discussion or various
possible takes on an issue is not sufficient.
Say
what take you think is correct
and why. If you receive no credit and tell me
what you
meant by your post was such and such,
I will tell you that then you should have written
that. Posts which are dashed off in five minutes
without serious thought and consideration with no
revision or proofreading are unlikely to receive full
credit. Please put some thought and effort into your
posts.
You will have 30 minutes to edit your post after you
have made it. Moodle will display your word count;
make sure it is over 100 but under 300 words. Make
sure the font and formatting matches other posts and
that there are no blank spaces at the bottom.
Carefully
revise and proofread your post for
typos, awkward language, conceptual vagueness and
inconsistency. Make every word count. Make sure you
are using the
right words.
Use proper
grammar. Avoid long run-on sentences and ambiguous
reference problems.
Your post should not read
like a stream of consciousness of you trying to
figure things out "on the fly." It should
not
be a series of disjointed observations. If it helps
you to write something like that first, go ahead, but
then revise it into a clear, methodical and coherent
argument. Avoid meaningless, introductory throw-away
comments or restating the question;
get straight
to the point. If you pad your post with
meaningless fluff at the beginning, you may not
receive credit for insufficient word count.
Omit needless words. Be concise.
Plagiarism, which includes but is not limited to
copying and pasting from websites, will result in a
penalty of one letter grade on the first offense (10%
of your course grade)
and an F in the course on
the second offense. If you do the readings, you
should have no trouble responding to the prompt in a
way that is sufficient for credit without looking at
any other sources. The borrowing of an opinion from a
secondary source, even if cited, is strongly
discouraged. This is not a research assignment; this
is an opportunity for you to do some philosophizing.
Don't be a second-hander.
Postings will be awarded a grade of "4" (full credit)
to "0" (no credit) and are due
before Sunday 11:59 pm
at the end of each week.
You can post as many
times as you like before the deadline. Please
note that I have the grade book set to ignore empty
grades. Therefore, if you miss the deadline for a
forum post, it won't show up in your grade until the
end of the term when I will turn that setting off. At
that time, all empty grades will turn to zeros. I have
the "ignore empty grades" setting on now to give you a
meaningful and accurate assessment of your grade "thus
far" at any point in the term,
assuming you
complete the assignments.
Late posts are not
accepted. Posting after the deadline is blocked. Set
a weekly reminder in your phone or online calendar
so you don't forget to post (while you're at
it, you might want to put in the exam dates and grade
option/drop deadline, too).
Posts of fewer than
100 words will receive no credit. If your post
is over 300 words,
edit it down.
Posts of
over 300 words will be penalized. There will be
an Extra Credit Forum in Week Ten to make up for one
missed or no-credit post (i.e. up to 4 extra points,
which you also may have lost with scores of 3, 2, or
1, as well).
Make sure to
go back and look
at feedback from the instructor to not just your
posts but those by other students before posting to
this Extra Credit Forum. You can also hedge your bets
by posting twice each week, as there is no limit to
the number of posts you can make.
EXAMS: The
exam format will be multiple choice and true/false
questions.
The final will not be
comprehensive.
Each
exam has a study guide linked in Moodle. Read the
questions and make sure you can answer each of them.
You may even want to write out the answers, which you
can consult while taking the exam. If you don't know
the answer to a particular question, search the
relevant section of the online textbook, the
Powerpoints, your notes from the Zoom sessions for the
answer. If you are still unsure or have questions
about the reading or podcasts, attend the Zoom
tutoring hours listed above. Even if you don't have
any particular questions, you are encouraged to attend
Zoom tutoring hours for help in doing your very best
on the exams and earn extra credit.
Once you take the exam, you will immediately receive
your score. If you would like to review the questions
you got wrong, visit the Philosophy Tutor's Zoom
Office Hours.
Reviewing which questions you
got wrong on the first two midterm exams will be
helpful to you when you take the Comprehensive Midterm
Exam, which will cover the same material.
The lowest of your three midterm scores is
dropped. Note that this applies only to the midterm
exams, and does not include the Final Exam.
This means that even if you get an F on the First
Midterm Exam, you can get some help with the class,
figure out where you went wrong, apply yourself, and
possibly end up with an A in the class.
You will have about a week to take the
First and Second Midterm Exams, two weeks for the
Comprehensive Midterm, and a week for the Final Exam.
Exams are taken via Moodle with a time limit of one
hour. The opening and closing times of exams are
listed in the table above, in the course outline below
and in the Weekly Outline in Moodle. Clicking on any
exam in the main course view in Moodle will also show
you the exact opening and closing dates and times as
well, along with the chapters and weeks it covers.
EXAM DEADLINE POLICY:
Since you will have at least a week to take each
midterm, you will be expected to meet the deadline,
however, you may contact the philosophy tutor before
the deadline during Zoom drop-in hours to request an
extension without penalty. Make sure to tell the tutor
the correct exam and have in mind the date to which
you would like the exam extended. If you miss the
deadline for the Final due to some unforeseen
circumstance or emergency situation, contact
the
instructor via Moodle message for options ASAP.
Since I have the grade book set to ignore empty
grades, if you miss an exam, just like a missed forum
post, you won't see the effect on your grade until
near the end of the term when I turn that setting off.
If you got an 80% on the First Midterm but that's the
only exam you take, the grade book might tell you that
you have a 80% for your midterms, but your grade would
actually be 40% (the average of an 80% and a zero with
the other zero being treated as your lowest grade and
dropped). Again,
Moodle will tell you your grade based
on the assignments completed so far. Anything
you don't complete will be converted to a zero near
the end of the term.
Make sure to complete all of the exams by the
deadlines!
GRADING:
There is no curve. At the end of the term, the class
will be graded on the following absolute scale, with
course totals rounded up to the
nearest whole number:
| A+ 97% -100% |
A 93% - 96%
|
A- 90% - 92% |
| B+ 87% - 89% |
B 83%
- 86% |
B- 80% - 82% |
| C+ 77% - 79% |
C 73% - 76% |
C- 70% - 72% |
| D+ 67% - 69% |
D 63% - 66% |
D- 60% - 62% |
| |
F 0% - 59% |
|