learning activity
You will be completing learning activities in this course. You are expected to follow the instructions provided by the instructor. You will be told when you are required to post to the main learning activities and when responses to classmates are due. Typically, responses to the main learning activities are due by Thursday at 11:59 p.m. EST and follow up responses to classmates are due on Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Your instructor may provide you with different days or times of the week. If you do not post the initial response by the due date, you may be subject to a penalty. Providing responses after Sunday is unacceptable since learning activities require a discussion and once a week ends, you will not be engaged in a discussion but merely posting a response.
If you are a student who has difficulty working during the week, then you will want to prepare the learning activities in advance. Working ahead requires you to manage your time to meet the requirements of the course. Please do not post into the learning activities until a week begins but create your responses in Word and post as soon as the week begins or on Sunday afternoon/evening.
Note the participation grading rubric below.
The first element of the grading rubric requires students to thoroughly answer the learning activities provided. You are expected to answer all parts of the learning activities and what you present must be supported with the course readings and research (if applicable) that you perform. When you support your ideas, reasoning or conclusion, you will also need to cite the source document. Supporting ideas may require you to use facts from a scenario but you are always required you to tie the writing back to the concepts learned in the course. Supporting ideas provides you an opportunity to provide a well-reasoned argument or to take an ideas and show what is in the literature that supports that idea. You are not just citing words or throwing in direct quotes from the readings but learning how to engage in a discussion that extends or deepened the discussion. One or two in-text citations for one learning activity probably will be insufficient. The goal is to demonstrate your understanding of the course readings so be prepared to demonstrate a prolific use of the course readings, which means that more than one author or article is used. There is no shortage of readings for each theme provided and the expectation is that all readings or videos are read or viewed, and used throughout the course. Personal experience is fine but be sure to relate to the course readings, which again requires an in-text citation.
Responses to your classmates also requires use of the course readings and is graded using the second element of the grading rubric. If an agree statement is provided, the grade for that post is a zero. Make the responses substantive and reflective of what you have learned from the readings. This requirements falls under the third element of the grading rubric. Responses to the faculty are not counted toward the grade but are expected when asked a question by the instructor. Note that when given instructions to respond to “at least: two classmates per learning activity” (an example of what you might see), two responses represents a C grade for Frequency on the participation grading rubric. To earn a higher score, you will need to provide additional responses.
Element Four: Writing is a competency in The Undergraduate School. You are also expected to demonstrate good writing skills so make sure that what is presented is well written and in complete sentences. A classmates or the instructor should be able to read the response and know to what learning activity is being addressed.
The last element of the grading rubric has been discussed above but note the requirement to always cite and reference source material. You may not use books other than those offered in the course. You should also provide the page or paragraph number of the eBook, article or resource.
Note: Students are expected to paraphrase as the learning activities are good practice for completing the major assignments in the course. It is also a good practice to write in the third person. Doing so provides objectivity and a better response.
Below is the Online Grading Rubric. If you are taking a hybrid class, you will have a face-to-face component to the participation grade but also the elements on the rubric below.
You may find the grading rubrics under each week's discussion
Participation Grading Rubric
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Quality: Initial Posting to LA's |
1.05 points Answers the learning activities completely and correctly and uses a wide array of the course material demonstrating a through understanding of the concepts and ideas presented in the content. (0.882 - 1.05) |
0.798 points Answers the learning activities and attempts to uses the course material but needs to use more course material to demonstrate an understanding of the concepts and ideas presented in the content. (0.714 - 0.881) |
0.567 points Responses do not address the learning activities or addresses only part of the learning activities; show minimal evidence of reading or use of the course material in the responses or depends heavily on opinion rather than rely on the concepts and ideas presented in the content. (0.42 - 0.713) |
0 points Responds to only one learning activity or fails to respond to the learning activities. (0 - 0.41) |
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Quality: Follow-up Postings |
1.05 points Responds to classmate's post extending the discussion by adding to the discussion rather than repeating what has been already stated. New ideas are presented and through use of the course material or required research is used in every response. This can be evidence by bringing in at least two resources in a response. (0.882 - 1.05) |
0.798 points Responds to classmate's post extending the discussion by attempting to add to the discussion rather than repeating what has been already stated; occasionally uses course material but needs development of ideas and use of concepts; may use one resource from the classroom or repeats information from initial posting.
(0.714 - 0.881) |
0.567 points Responses to classmate's post do not extend the discussion but posts are more I agree statements restating what has already been stated; evaluates the quality of a post adding no substantial comments; little evidence of course material use or may heavily depend on opinion; or may respond to fewer than required number of classmates but has one good response. (0.42 - 0.713) |
0 points Follow up responses to classmates add no value or there are no posts to classmates. (0 - 0.41) |
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Quality: Support |
0.45 points Consistently uses sources that brings validity and richness to the presented perspective, claim, conclusion, choice or argument. Accurately presents paraphrased material. Does not rely on opinion based statements. (0.378 - 0.45) |
0.342 points Selected sources brings some validity and richness to the presented perspective, claim, conclusion, choice or argument but occasionally presents inconcise paraphrasing or selected sources fails to support reasoning, argument or conclusions. (0.306 - 0.377) |
0.243 points Imprecise or inaccurate usage of selected sources, use of direct quotes rather than paraphrasing or support is based on opinion resulting in minimal or no validity to the presented perspective, claim, conclusion, choice or argument. (0.18 - 0.305) |
0 points Fails to support perspective, claim, conclusion, choice or argument or provides statement without explaining the 'why or how.' (0 - 0.179) |
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Quantity: Frequency |
0.15 points Responds to two or more classmates above the minimum requirement. (0.126 - 0.15) |
0.114 points Responds to one more classmate than the minimum requirement. (0.102 - 0.125) |
0.081 points Responds to classmates the minimum number of times. (0.06 - 0.101) |
0 points Participates less than required. (0 - 0.059) |
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Presentation and Writing |
0.15 points Contributes to discussion with clear and concise comments that are style appropriate, rich in vocabulary and free of grammatical & spelling errors. (0.126 - 0.15) |
0.114 points Contributes to discussion with understandable comments but style and vocabulary are at times inconsistent or imprecise, and/or has minor writing errors. (0.102 - 0.125) |
0.081 points Contributes to discussion with errors in clarity, style, vocabulary selection, and/or many writing errors or appears to be texting (capitalization, grammar, abbreviations are used) without properly conforming to proper English. (0.06 - 0.101) |
0 points Little to no evidence of proofreading or attempt at applying conventional writing mechanics, style or vocabulary. (0 - 0.059) |
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APA Usage |
0.15 points In-text citations are used when source material is used. Reference list matches in-text citations, no errors are present.
(0.126 - 0.15) |
0.114 points Attempts in-text citations and reference list but errors in formatting exist; paraphrasing is not accurate or in-text citations are not used frequently enough. (0.102 - 0.125) |
0.081 points In-text citations seldom used. A reference list exist but there are no matching in-text citations or vice versa. (0.06 - 0.101)
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0 points No evidence of APA used. (0 - 0.059) |