Coordinating Technology in an Educational Setting is delivered entirely online. All students are expected to communicate with other students and the Dr. Z via the course web site and e-mail. To fully participate in this course you must have regular, consistent access to the Web. For this class, you are required to use the UNI eLearning account. There will be weekly Adobe Connect online meetings (typically Sunday evening from 7:30 - 9:00) where students and Dr. Z will have an opportunity to make contact.
This is not an independent study course. Communication among all class members is an essential part of this course. Therefore, you are expected to participate through consistent, substantive, and timely contributions to online discussion as described and required in the course modules.
Communication
Communication in this course will be primarily through the eLearning course site. I expect you to access our class's eLearning site at least three times per module. One expectation is that you participate in Discussions as required and full participation requires reading all messages posted in those discussions and posting messages of your own on a regular basis between the beginning and end of every module.
You will be working in groups throughout the semester. You will be expected to be an active partner in your group. Learning is a social process and you will benefit as much or more than the others by working together. Challenge each other. Strive to push yourself out of your comfort zone to a experience new ideas.
As you probably know, communicating through digital messaging is different than communicating face-to-face. Posting messages is more like writing letters to each other than it is like talking. The expectation is for everyone to use Standard English (paying attention to grammar and spelling) when writing their messages. Politeness is important, too. I expect everyone to treat each other with respect in all communications. You will find that there is seldom one right answer so please be open minded as you consider others postings and their relationship to or impact on your own ideas. It is important to bear in mind that we are all here seeking knowledge and self-growth; and I would hope that we can all try to help each other with our goals.
E-mail
Another important method of communication for this course is eLearning mail. When you send an eLearning mail message, please be sure to include a salutation and a signature. For example, an e-mail message to me should begin with "Hi Dr. Zeitz" or "Dear Dr. Z" and it should end with your full name.
Telephone
Since communicating via eLearning messages and e-mail is different than speaking voice-to-voice, there may be times when you find it easier to call me to chat for a bit. I am very happy to talk on my office phone. You can reach me toll free at 800-772-1746. Just tell them you wish to speak to me. In the evening, you can Skype with me at leighzeitz
Office Hours
I would love to be able to meet you in person, but I live in Cedar Falls and you may not. If you need a face-to-face meeting, we can schedule an alternative appointment via phone, Skype or Second Life.
Time Spent Working in the Course
You are expected to check the course eLearning site regularly (a minimum of three times each week, on three different days). A traditional semester-long, 3-credit course requires meeting as a class for two hours each week (reading and preparation of assignments are generally expected to take another 6 hours weekly); therefore students in this course are expected to spend approximately 9 hours each week interacting with course materials, assignments and other students through the course Blackboard site, wiki, blog or other social media. You may spend a good deal of time researching, writing and refining your written material.
The Course Modules
The course itself is comprised of 8 Modules. Modules generally run from Tuesday to Monday (14 days later.) Most of the modules run for 2 weeks. Some of these modules may have slightly different lengths due to calendar events like holidays and Spring Break.
The requirements for each module are described in the Seminar Module folder found on the Course Content page in BB9. Additional information may be found in the module's RWLD. Students tend to want to have assignments due on Monday night so that they can work on them over the weekend. Your assignments are generally due by 10:00 PM on the last Monday of the module.
Each module is generally comprised of a set of readings, assignments, and sometimes a discussion topic. You are expected to complete all activities for a module during the module's scheduled time. Students tend to want to have assignments due on Monday so that they can work on them over the weekend, so your assignments are generally due on the last Monday of each module.
Course Discussions
Everyone is required to participate in the discussions within the beginning and end dates of the module steps to which the discussion is related (each discussion has several steps with each one having a specific due date). You may post messages earlier if you wish, but you still have to post messages between the beginning and end dates of the module step due dates to receive full credit for participation. Any messages posted after the module has ended will not count for participation credit (though you are welcome to continue posting messages in any discussion at any time). Discussions are active (in other words, you have to participate in the Module 2 discussion during Module 2). The expectation is that you will post messages on at least three different days between the beginning and end of every the module. I do expect you to participate in each module's discussions in order to receive full credit for the discussion and the class participation. In other words, you cannot be "absent" from any module's discussion to receive full credit.
Submitting Assignments
All assignments (unless otherwise noted) will be submitted through a dropbox. In some cases you will be asked to submit a document and in other cases you will be asked to submit the URL for the location of your assignment. This format will allow all feedback to be available in the dropbox submission section.
Writing Format
Unless otherwise noted, all written assignments (assignments that are submitted as Word documents) are to be formatted in APA style. Please refer to the, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition (published by the American Psychological Association). The manual is easy to obtain (most book stores carry copies). There are also many resources online, just search for APA format (or whatever you are looking for like "citations" and you will find them. APA format is the one most often used in education. You are responsible for becoming familiar with and using this format for all written assignments. See the Seminar RWLD to find some of these resources.
In all written assignments, you are expected to used standard English at all times. This refers to grammar, syntax, and spelling. BTW, AFAIC texting shorthand is not acceptable in a formal paper. Try it & it won't R8 well w/ur prof. DETI. *
Academic Integrity
The following is adapted from UNI'S Academic Ethics. These discipline policies regard academic integrity:
On Academic Integrity
Students at the University of Northern Iowa are required to observe the commonly-accepted standards of academic honesty and integrity. Except in those instances in which group work is specifically authorized by the instructor of the class, no work which is not solely the student's is to be submitted to a professor in the form of an examination paper, a term paper, class project, research project, or thesis project.
Cheating of any kind on examinations and/or plagiarism of papers or projects is strictly prohibited. Also unacceptable are the purchase of papers from commercial sources, using a single paper to meet the requirement of more than one class (except in instances authorized and considered appropriate by the professors of the two classes), and submission of a term paper or project completed by any individual other than the student submitting the work. Students are cautioned that plagiarism is defined as the process of stealing or passing off as one's own the ideas or words of another, or presenting as one's own an idea or product which is derived from an existing source.
For more information, please see http://www.uni.edu/policies/301
In Case a Problem Arises with the Network
As with any technology, eLearning and other Internet-based teaching tools have the potential for technical problems. We like to think this technology will be available to you all semester. To prepare for course downtime or a performance issue that makes the system speed unusable, I encourage you to:
If the network experiences a break in service I will do my best to send an emergency message to everyone (assuming the entire regional network does not go down -- if the regional network goes down for more than 24 hours I suspect course work will be the least of our worries!).
A break in service of 24 hours should not cause too much of an interruption to the course. If a break in service persists beyond 30 hours I will determine whether modifications to the course need to be made to keep all of us on schedule and on-task.
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