Course Syllabus

Kathy Pounders

KATHLEEN.POUNDERS@UCDENVER.EDU Office: Plaza 102B Office Hours: by appointment only

Contacting Kathy my email address is: kathleen.pounders@ucdenver.edu

I will check my e-mail several times everyday, but I don't guarantee what time of day I will be checking it. This means I will return your e-mail message sometime within 24 hours of receiving it. I will be out of town a few weekends this semester, but I will give you advance notice if I will be unable to access e-mail during these times.

You need to use your UCD e-mail address (we are all required to do this). Please sign your e-mail with your full name. The fastest way for you to send me an e-mail is to use the e-mail function within our course (found at the top of the screen). Just click on the Email button at the top of the screen, highlight my name, click "add" and type your e-mail. If you don't use our course email function to send me an email, I won't automatically know which course you are in. Therefore, please use our course name and section as the subject/title of the e-mail. I am teaching 5 UCD courses this semester (4 of them online), so I won't automatically know which course you are in ( to which you are referring) just by looking at your name.

Virtual Office Hours Many times when you ask a question in class, that question applies to other students as well. Think of a time in the classroom and a student asked a question that you also wanted to ask but just hadn't done so yet. This exchange benefits the entire class. Under Course Home (found on the menu to the left) there is a section titled Virtual Office Hours This is where you can submit course questions. (This also prevents me from having to answer the same question several times via individual e-mail). Unless your question is entirely personal to your own individual situation, please submit your questions in the Virtual Office Hours. I will check that section every weekday, and at least on the weekend and post my answers to your questions. Everyone should periodically check the "Virtual Office Hours" to view the dialogue.

Course Description/Objective

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University of Colorado Denver

Communication Dept. (Campus Location--Plaza 102)

Comm. Dept. Home Page CMMU 1011 Section OL1 Fundamentals of Communication

Spring Semester 2011

Course Prerequisites: none

Catalogue Description of Course: Studies communication theory and application. Topics include communication models, interpersonal communication and the concept of self, nonverbal communication, message preparation and analysis, and decision making. Three credit hours.

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This course is meant to introduce you to several elements of communication. This is a communication survey course. In other words, we will be able to look at (survey) many aspects of communication, but we will not be going in-depth on any of them. There are positives and negatives to this type of course. The positive is that you will have information on many aspects of communication that will help you in your personal, academic and professional lives. The negative is that at times you will want more information on a topic, but we will be moving onto the next topic. At the end of each unit I will try to provide information on how/where to continue your investigation of that topic. You will leave this course with valuable information on how to more effectively communicate in order to form healthy relationships.

I hope to provide examples of how the communication concepts fit in our everyday lives. I hope to engage you in discussion of these communication concepts and to create an open atmosphere that will encourage you to share your own examples how these concepts and theories impact our lives and relationships. The reaction papers, discussions, and exams are all geared toward helping you achieve the learning objectives for this course.

Learning Outcomes: At the end of this semester, the average student in this course should be able to:

1. recognize and define communication theoretical terminology 2. be able to apply theoretical concepts to his/her own life in order to

analyze past communication decisions, and make more informed and more effective future communication decisions

Communication as a Field

One of the aspects of this course that I love is that every semester several students become fascinated enough with Communication as a field that they decide to major or minor in Communication. Communication is a very highly marketable degree. All of the current business literature shows that the business world is seeking Communication graduates. Please feel free to talk with me about career possibilities afforded a Communication graduate. If you are on campus I have a poster in my office covered with career possibilities for the Communication graduate. Whether you are interested in majoring or minoring in Communication, the chances are high that you will decide to take another Communication course. I encourage you to visit the Communication Department's Home Page to see all that the Communication Department can offer you.

Portfolio: Some of you may have the opportunity to take the Department's Capstone Course before you complete a degree. In the Capstone Course you will be asked to put together a communication portfolio--a compilation of the major projects completed in your communication courses. Major projects are things such as literature reviews, position papers, communication journals, major speeches, etc. The possibility that you may one day take our Capstone Course means that you should keep the major projects completed in your communication courses. Even if you have no intention of taking the Capstone Course, a communication portfolio is a valuable asset to have once you graduate and begin looking for a career. (The Reaction Papers you will write in this course come under the heading of "Communication Journal").

Textbook(s)

Communication Mosaics, 6th Edition, by Julia Woods

(Make sure you have the 6th edition--there were significant changes from prior editions)

Course Policies and Procedures

Participation: Even in the classroom this is a discussion-oriented course, so your participation in the Threaded Discussions will be key to understanding and applying the concepts covered (as well as to your final grade). Your participation in the Threaded Discussions constitute attendance in the course. You are taking a communication course. It is essential to communicate to evidence learning of concepts. This means regular participation throughout the week. If that is not possible for you, you might reconsider this course at this time.

Our course weeks start at 12:01AM on Monday and end at midnight on Sunday. Assignments (including participation in the threaded discussions) are due by midnight (Mountain Standard Time) on Sunday of the week they are assigned. Late assignments are not accepted--plan your time wisely. Assignments are not accepted via e-mail. Assignments must be submitted via the drop-box system within this course. Exams and Threaded Discussions are locked at midnight on Sunday of the week they are assigned, so they are never accepted late. I can't emphasize enough the need for time-management within this course. Late papers exams and discussions receive a grade of zero. Papers are not accepted via e-mail.

Tip: If you encounter problems submitting a paper, you must contact the Help Desk immediately (CU Online Help Desk 303315-3700 or toll free 1-877-823-3644 or e-mail them at conlinehelp@ucdenver.edu ). The CU Online Help Desk is available 7AM - 7PM Mon-Fri. (ECollege Help Desk is 1-877-740-2214) The ECollege Help Desk is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week . Do not wait one or two days and then tell me you had trouble submitting your paper--this is not an acceptable excuse. Do not wait until 11:55 to submit a paper and then find out you have some technical problem (or that the clock on your computer is different than the clock in the course)--give yourself time to adjust.

CLAS Incomplete Policy: The faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences passed the following policy relating to the awarding of incomplete grades. This CLAS policy is consistent with the UC Denver campus policy.

Incomplete grades (IW or IF) are not granted for low academic performance. To be eligible for an Incomplete grade, students must:

1. successfully complete a minimum of 75% of the course 2. have special circumstances beyond their control that preclude them from

attending class and completing graded assignments 1. Verification of special circumstances is required

3. make arrangements to complete the missing assignments with the

original instructor

Completion of a CLAS Course Completion Agreement is strongly suggested. Incompletes cannot be awarded that stipulate:

1. a student may repeat the entire course 2. repeat or replace existing grades 3. allow the student an indeterminate period of time to complete the course 4. allow the student to repeat the course with a different instructor

The CLAS Course Completion Agreement is available from the CLAS Advising Office, NC2024

Communication Dept. Incomplete Policy: Incomplete grades are not given to students simply because they are receiving lower grades than they would like. To be eligible for an incomplete grade, students must have completed 75% of the course assignments with passing grades and have special circumstances outside of their control that preclude completion of the course. The incomplete grade that will be given if the above conditions are met is an IF, which means that if the student does not complete the work for the course within 12 months, the grade reverts to an F.

CLAS Academic Dates & Deadlines: Students are responsible for keeping track of all academic dates and deadlines. Please refer to the fall Academic Calendar (listed under "Course Home" on the menu to the left).

Academic Honesty: Plagiarism and cheating will not be tolerated and will lead to failure on that assignment/exam, possible failure in the class, and possible dismissal from the University. Plagiarism is the use of another's words or ideas without crediting that person. You are responsible for being attentive to or observant of campus policies about academic honesty as stated in the University's Student Conduct Code

Special Accomodations

Disability Accommodations:

The faculty at the University of Colorado system has both a legal and moral obligation to provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities. To be eligible for accommodations, students must be registered with the UCD Office of Disability Resources and Services (DRS), located in the North Classroom 2514, Phone: 303 556-3450 TTY/TDD number 303 556-4766. The DRS staff has experience to assist faculty in determining reasonable accommodations and to coordinate these accommodations. If a student is given accommodations, they must be followed. If a student chooses not to accept the accommodations set forth by the DRS they must complete all assignments and do all course work in the same manner as all other students. No exceptions or alternate forms of evaluation can be used except those mandated by the DRS. Faculty cannot arbitrarily decide to give a student extra time, extra assistance or other forms of aid unless it is formally mandated by the DRS. If you need such accommodations, it is imperative that you contact the DRS by the end of the 2nd week of the semester.

Religious Holiday Accommodations: Faculty in the University of Colorado Denver system have both a legal and moral obligation to provide reasonable accommodations to students who must be absent from classes because of religious holidays. Faculty are expected to develop course-consistent accomodations for students who miss class or graded assignments in order to observe religious holidays. Faculty are encouraged to (1) avoid examinations during major religious holidays and (2) ask students to privately identify all course conflicts at the beginning of the semester. Notice needs to be given by the end of the second week of the semester.

Speaking Language Language that demeans or slurs any racial, cultural, religious, gender, or age group in any way will not be tolerated.

Communication Department Mission Statement: “The mission of

the Department of Communication is threefold. First, the Department

aims to create a learning environment in which students develop the skills, knowledge, and abilities necessary to use communication to

create a more civil and humane world. Second, the Department

strives to create scholarship of the highest intellectual merit and to

contribute scholarly and creative works that further the study, teaching, and practice of communication. Third, the Department

aspires to provide excellent service to our college, university,

profession, and community.”

Threaded Discussions You are expected to regularly participate in the threaded discussions.

The threaded discussions take the place of in-class discussions. The

threaded discussions account for your attendance in our virtual

classroom, just as your physical presence on campus accounts for your attendance in an on-campus class. There are 12 scheduled

graded discussions (the Introductions in Week One are not

graded). You may participate in all twelve, but you are required to

participate in at least 10 of the discussions. There are no

scheduled discussions on exam weeks.

You can earn up to 15 points for participation in ten of the discussions

(this means the total discussion points for the semester is 150

points). Most students find the discussions so interesting they

participate in all 12 of them, but at least you have some leeway. If you participate in all 12 discussions, the grades for the 11th and 12th

discussion will be used to replace any earlier/lower discussion grades.

Remember to be polite and civilized in your postings. You might want

to remind yourself of some online discussion rules on the netiquette web site.

Please be sure to use a unique Subject line. If more than one

student uses the same subject line it is very hard when I am in the grading screen for the discussions. So please be sure to

look at the Subject Lines already chosen and make yours

unique.

The following rubric explains how the points for participation in the

threaded discussion will be given. I will only provide feedback on

your discussion grades for the first graded discussion (Week Two)--

after that you must check the rubric yourself, and provide specific examples as to how your discussion participation earned a higher

grade.

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Minimal 0 - 9 Points

Does not post thoughtful initial comments that week

Does not respond to participant's initial comments, or responds to participant's comments in ways that:

o Do not advance the online discussion in a focused

way

o Do not reflect the participant's thoughts in a specific way

Posts mainly on Sunday

Does not refer to text or lecture

Does not use "spell check"

Competent 10 - 12 Points

Posts at least 1 initial comment that week

Responds to at least 1 participant's initial posting that week

in ways that:

o Partially advance the online discussion in a focused

way

o Partially reflect the participant's thoughts in a specific

way

Posts toward the end of the week

Refers to text or lecture in some way

Does not use a unique Subject Line

Sometimes uses "spell check"

Above Average 13 - 15 Points

Posts at least 1 thoughtful, discussion-provoking initial

comment that week

Responds to at least 2 fellow student's initial postings in ways that

o advance the discussion in a focused way

o reflects the participant's thoughts in a specific way

Provides thoughtful reflective specific references to lecture

or text Posts early enough in the week that others have time to

respond

Always uses "spell check"

Extra Credit 2 Points

In addition to all of the criteria in the "Above Average" category; provides additional web-sites to enhance the

discussion and take it to a new level (remember that we need

to be able to just click on the website to open it in order to

receive credit for the website). Do not duplicate references. For example--the first person to use a particular Wikipedia

website is the person that receives credit for that reference.

All others who refer to the Wikipedia article will not receive

credit for the referral.

Tip: Reading the chapter and lecture at the beginning of the week

generates thought starters for the discussions.

Tip: Saying things like "yea, I agree" or "great post" are minimal responses and do not constitute advancing the discussion in a

focused or specific way.

Tip: An initial post is the student's initial response to the discussion

question(s) I have posed that week. Answering another participant's

reply to your own posting does not constitute "responding to a participant's initial posting."

Notice that postings made mainly on Sunday receive a lower grade, as

fellow students don't have much time to respond. Postings made

mostly on Sunday generally don't move the discussion along. Plan on logging into the discussion thread at least once earlier in the week.

Don't forget that the discussion thread is locked at midnight

on Sunday of each week.

IMPORTANT: The discussions are geared to begin at 12:01AM on Monday of the corresponding week and end at midnight Sunday of

that week. Please do not enter the discussions before or after

that time frame. Do not post in the discussions early, do not

post in the discussions after they have ended. It is too confusing

to have more than one discussion running at the same time.

Reaction Papers In place of a research paper, you will write 4 reaction papers in which

you will record and analyze aspects of intrapersonal and interpersonal communication as they apply in your life. These are personal

reflections on the subjects discussed in text, lecture, and threaded

discussion. Students routinely report that these reaction papers were

their favorite college papers. These papers have specific questions

and are not meant to be free-form journals. The key to receiving a

good grade on these papers is to use specific examples, and to bold

the related words from text or lecture. You will be asked to analyze

how some of the communication concepts apply to your life (situations and conversations). In papers 2 & 3 you need to use

recent situations and conversations (no more than 2 years old). If

the paper requires analyzation of conversations with other people--the

other people need to be adults. Please do not use conversations with children.

These are personal papers, and will only be read by me. The reaction

papers need to be word documents, double-spaced, size 12 font,

and they need to be deposited in the corresponding drop-box for that assignment by midnight (Mountain Standard Time) on Sunday

of the corresponding week. Late papers are not accepted. (Look at

the tip below on submission of papers. It is your responsibility to

ensure that your paper was submitted properly). Papers are not accepted via e-mail. I usually grade and return the papers within a

two week period after the due date.

All papers must be saved as a word document. I cannot open wps,

odt, zip files, etc. If in doubt, an rtf (Rich Text Format) is a universal

way to save a file and is compatible with most systems. If I cannot open your paper, I cannot grade it; therefore, your paper will

receive a zero.

Grading Rubric for Reaction Papers:

Excellent 36-40 points

Follows all formatting requirements (bolding, spacing, sections, etc.)

Meets or exceeds page requirements

Does not contain spelling or grammar errors

Completely answers what is asked for that paper's content

Does not contain historical/general setup or summary

Utilizes analytical thought

Provides specific examples to back up statements

Above Average 32-35 points

Missing some of the above elements

Average 28-31

Missing several of above elements

Does not completely answer what is asked for that paper's content

Below Average 24-27 points

Missing quite a few of the above elements

Mostly misses what is asked for that paper's content

Failing 0-23 points

Misses completely what is asked for that paper's content

Only completes 1/2 of the assignment

Does not submit paper correctly

Tip: The requirements for the reaction papers are available for view

right now, so you might look ahead to see what the papers will entail.

Tip: I do not want general definitional/historical set-up of the

communication concepts in these papers. You and I both know the

definition of the requested communication concepts. You should just

get right to the specific analysis and examples of how these concepts have or do relate to your specific life.

Tip: After you submit your paper to the dropbox, check to see that

the icon of a paper appears next to "attachments" If the icon is not there--your paper was not submitted correctly and you need to

do it again. It is your responsibility to make sure the icon is there.

Tip: When you receive your graded paper back, in order to see all of

my comments, click on the plus (+) sign next to "comments" to read all of the feedback on your paper.

Tip: Be a specific as you can in giving examples to back up your

statements in order to receive the best grade for your paper.

Exams There are three exams (Weeks 6, 12 & 17). The exams will cover both

text and lecture and occasionally discussion. The exams will utilize all

types of questions (multiple choice, T/F, essay, etc.) There are

specific study guides to help you organize your material for the exams (you will find them on the corresponding exam weeks). Always be

prepared to give definitions and examples for exam terms. The exams

are timed. Once you enter an exam you must complete it (you can't

open it and finish it later). The exam is not accessible after 11:00pm on the Sunday of the week in which it is scheduled. You will have 1

hour and 45 minutes for each exam (after that time period the

exam will be locked).

Tip: The study guides are available for view from the beginning of the

course, so look at them now to see what will be covered in the exams.

Tip: Research shows that students who re-write definitions and

examples in their own words after looking at the study guide do better on exams.

Tip: If you have a technical problem while taking the exams you

need to contact the Help Desk immediately. Do not wait until you

can contact me to tell me about the problem--I cannot help you with technical problems. The help desk is available 24 hours a

day, 7 days a week. If you do not attempt to contact the help

desk, your exam results will stand, regardless of the technical

problems.

Tip: I have a Practice Exam available for you in Week 5. This is

extra credit. It will give you a chance to not only practice how to take

an exam online, but it will give you a feel for the type of questions I

ask in exams. Unlike the regular exams, you will be able to enter this exam as many times as possible in order to obtain a perfect score.

Grading Policies There is a total of 620 points for this class. The points are broken down as follows:

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Assignment Points

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Total Points

10 Discussions (15 points each) 150

4 Reaction Papers (40 points each) 160

Scavenger Hunt 10

3 Exams (100 points each) 300

Total 620

I chose this balance to have just about equal weight between standard evidence of learning of theory (exams), and evidence of ability to apply theory to real life (discussions and papers).

Simply completing all of the assignments in this course is not sufficient to earn an "A" or "B."

The following grading standards apply to all courses taught in the Communication Department:

"A" is for finishing all course assignments exhibiting exceptionally excellent work; clearly better than "very good" and reflecting special research, theory, application, creativity, and excellent attention to detail. Excellent exam scores.

"B" is for finishing all course assignments exhibiting a very good job on each of them, or doing a good job on some of them and an exceptionally good job on a few of them reflecting initiative and creativity with good attention to detail. Good exam scores.

"C" is for completing all course assignments (perhaps missing 1 or 2) without

special distinction in terms of initiative, creativity or attention to detail. Fair exam scores.

"D" or "F" is for poor performance and generally means that the student has not completed several assignments and/or has not met the basic requirements of the assignments. Very poor (or failing) exam scores.

Webliography The Webliography (located at the upper right of the course screen) is a list of websites related to various subjects we will be discussing in the course. I recommend you check out some of the websites for additional information on subjects of particular interest to you. From time to time I will direct you to a specific website in the Webliography either in discussion or lecture. Also, from time to time I will ask you to add a website that you have recommended in the weekly discussions.

Tip: To find related websites more quickly, use the "organize by category" option when you enter the Webliography