3 FORUMS DUE IN 16 HOURS

Forum Instructions: a minimum of 3 posts by every student will be required for each forum.

1. Forums (6 forums x 50 pts each = 300 pts) – this is your primary “course contact” time.

· Weekly discussion topics will be posted by the instructor as a “Forum” topic.

· Each student should answer this initial question presented by the instructor to get the Forum “rolling.” Students will develop discussions on this weekly topic using material from the text, outside readings, and research about the particular subject to be discussed. You must post your first comments by Wednesday each week to allow your classmates enough time to read, think about, and then respond to your post.

· Students should build from one another’s postings to foster a “class discussion” rather than a bunch of individual “answers” to initial instructor posting. You cannot go online and read several posts and then submit your 3 required posts. This promotes full involvement of all students to all of the ideas presented in the multiple forum posts. Take your time and interact with your classmates.

· All postings should be read by each student prior to posting your two replies – students creating duplicate posts will not be considered as a separate post.

· Posts to the forum should be appropriate in length, tone, and content for these discussions. Please read the “Netiquette” document on Moodle.

· Spelling and grammar are important – since what we see in the post is our only measure of your personality and academic expertise. Please take the time to run the imbedded spell check before finalizing your posting.

· Use professional and objective language to expand on points made by other students even when taking the opposite view. Avoid first-person constructions such as “I” or “my”; use third person language to keep the discussion impersonal and objective.

· Please Note: While personal opinions are welcome, they are ONLY a starting point for a discussion. Also, just agreeing or disagreeing with a post or comment is insufficient. You must fully explain your ideas in these forums. You may also support your ideas by finding some credible source or expert that agrees with your opinion. You may use your text or class lectures or outside research for this component.

· Tips for outside sources : In order to demonstrate research depth and earn full credit for discussion contributions you should include a reference to at least one web link and/or a research article. Articles can be retrieved from the Noel Library database holdings. It is important to give a brief summary of the major points made in the reference (web site, article, etc.) rather than to simply provide a link.

· This requires some effort and shows that you have read (at least a portion of) the article. Your reference to ANY outside reading or research should have a proper source citation to include the author’s name, date, article title, and the name of the organization responsible for producing or publishing this information.

2. Forum Tips

If your instructor asks a question about your posted comment an answer is expected. If you ask a question in your Forum post, you should be the first student who attempts to answer the question.

a. Forums are the equivalent of class discussions.

b. Once you miss the deadline for a Forum there will be no way for you to “make up” this work. If you missed a face-to-face class…you would not be able to recreate the time and student involvement…so the same standard will be applied to Forums for this online course.

3. Forum Evaluation and Grading Criteria: Your instructor will grade forums using the following criteria and review.

· Postings must meet the requirement of 1-2 paragraphs to ensure that statements like "I agree" do not count. A paragraph must have at least 3 sentences.

· Forum grading will be based on the following level of instructor review:

a. Student does not post anything or posts a very short or limited statement. These contributions earn 0%-10% of total points.

b. Student recaps what others have already stated without adding any new insights. These contributions earn 21-70%

c. Student relates something from the book or another posting to the discussion. These contributions earn 71-89%.

d. Student adds meaningful content to the discussion through thoughts, web links or article references. These contributions earn 90-100% of total points.