Preliminary Syllabus and Coursepack
Final Syllabus will be posted January 11th
Introduction to the Social and Cultural
Foundations of American Education
ECI 301: Spring 2007
Instructor: Dr. Dwight W. Allen
- dwallen@odu.edu
- (757)683-5151
- ED 153
TAs: Emily Sipes and Peter Baker
- (757)683-4998
- ED 153
Course Website:
http://www.odu.edu/educ/dwallen/eci301new/eci301c.htm
Course Email Addresses:
- on campus – eci301@odu.edu
- online – eci301online@odu.edu
Blackboard:
- https://www.blackboard.odu.edu/
Mailing Address for ECI Office
Educational Curriculum and Instruction (ECI) Department
Darden College of Education, Old Dominion University, Room 151-153
Norfolk, VA 23529-0161
Tel: (757) 683-4998
Fax: (757) 683-5862
Mailing Address for Carol McIntyre or Leigh Butler in the TES Office
Teacher Education Service Office
Darden College of Education, Old Dominion University, Room 152
Norfolk, VA 23529-0161
Tel: (757) 683-3348
Fax: (757) 683-4872
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Foreword
I am sure that by now you have all noticed that this Syllabus/Coursepack is
extremely long! Don’t worry… it’s this long because we include many course materials
in this document in order to make it easier for you to find the various documents
necessary for the different parts of ECI 301. That’s why we call it a
Syllabus/Coursepack. While it may seem cumbersome right now, it will prove to be very
helpful to you throughout this semester. Because of this, I want to encourage you all to
read this entire Syllabus/Coursepack. Chances are pretty good that, if you find yourself
wondering about some part of the course, the answers you need are in this very
document. While the TAs for this course are always willing and able to answer any
questions you may have, finding answers on your own will make the semester easier for
everyone. Thanks for taking the time to read this Syllabus/Coursepack thoroughly, and
get ready for a great semester!
- Dwight Allen
Old Dominion University Honor Pledge
By attending Old Dominion University, you have accepted the responsibility of abiding
by the following code. This is an institutional policy, and was approved by the Board of
Visitors.
“I pledge to support the honor system of Old Dominion University. I will refrain from any
form of academic dishonesty or deception, such as cheating or plagiarism. I am aware
that as a member of the academic community, it is my responsibility to turn in all
suspected violators of the honor system. I will report to Honor Council hearings if
summoned.”
Special Needs Provisions
In compliance with PL94-142 and more recent federal legislation affirming the rights of
disabled individuals, provisions will be made for students with special needs on an
individual basis. The student must have been identified as "special needs" by the
university and appropriate letter(s) must be provided to the course instructor. Provisions
will be made based upon written guidelines from the university Special Needs Students
Resource Office. All students are expected to fulfill all course requirements.
Required Textbook
The only book you will be required to purchase this semester is 100 Billion Dollar
Challenge by Dr. Allen and Bill Cosby. It is for sale at the bookstore and costs less than
$15.00. The ISBN is 0-75955-000-x for any of you who’d like to purchase the book
online.
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Contact Information
Position Name Phone Fax Email Address Specialties
Instructor Dwight (757) (757) dwallen@odu.edu ECI
Allen 683- 683-5862 301Teaching
5151 & Advising
Teaching Peter (757) (757) Eci301@odu.edu ECI 301
Assistants Baker, 683- 683-5862 (oncampus class only) assignments
Emily 4998 and general
Sipes Eci301online@odu.edu questions
(online class only)
TES Carol (757) (757) cmcintyr@odu.edu TES
Observation McIntyre 683- 683-4872 Observation
placement 3348 Placement
specialist
TES Leigh (757) (757) lbutler@odu.edu TES Praxis I
Director Butler 683- 683-4872 advising
3348
OCCS (757) occshelp@odu.edu ODU email
683- account and
3192 Blackboard
problems
Course Patrick poshea@odu.edu
Consultant O’Shea
If you’re ever in doubt about who to contact regarding a particular problem, don’t
hesitate to contact the TAs first. They can either answer your question or refer you to
the proper person.
Please remember that email is the primary mode of communication for this class,
so it’s really important to remember the following things:
1. Make sure to send your emails to the proper email address.
Online section of ECI 301 eci301online@odu.edu
Campus (TR 8:00 AM) eci301@odu.edu.
2. Make sure to send all your emails from your ODU email address – not
your pop-mail address, (gmail, yahoo, hotmail, etc.)
3. Make sure to reply to all emails by using the “Reply with History”
function. This sends all earlier emails attached to the email thread and
allows us to know what we had talked about in the earlier emails to which
you are replying.
4. Always make the subject of your email clear in the email’s subject line. For
instance, if your email asks about the Teaching Philosophy Assignment,
your subject line should read, “Question about Teaching Philosophy.”
This will make it easy for us to deal with your emails.
The TAs will respond to your emails as quickly as is possible. This usually means that
your emails will be answered the day you send them or the next day. Emails will not be
answered over the weekends or during holidays.
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General Guidelines
1. If your name changes at any time throughout the semester, PLEASE send us an
email stating that your name has changed, including your previous name and
your new name. This will help us cut down on lots of confusion.
2. Please use your University Identification Number (UIN) for all tests. It is against
university policy to use your Social Security Number. You must include your UIN
on all scantron forms so please bring your ID card with you to the tests if you do
not have it memorized.
Grading Policies
This is the grading scale used in ECI 301 for every assignment.
A 93-100
A- 92
B+ 90-91
B 85-89
B- 84
C+ 82-83
C 75-81
C- 74
D+ 72-73
D 68-71
D- 67
F 0-66
Since there are about 200 students enrolled in ECI 301 each semester, it is sometimes
very difficult to get assignments graded quickly. On line classes may have longer
delays because of transit time getting hard copies to the ECI office.
At the end of the semester it is sometimes difficult for all of the final grades to be
submitted due to the arrival of the hard copy final exams from the distance learning
sites. Please be sure that you will receive a grade for this class. Do not email the TA’s
unless there is a discrepancy between the posted grade on Leo Online and the grade
on Blackboard.
Attendance Policy
Since all course materials are available on Dr. Allen’s website and Blackboard,
members of the on campus class are not required to attend lectures. Even still,
students who come to the lectures will have the opportunity to ask questions and
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interact with Dr. Allen. These students will also get face-to-face reminders of due dates
and other information.
Key for Schedule:
“R” = reading number for the week; for example, end R4, begin R5 means that
you should finish up Reading 4 on this date and start Reading 5
“L”= Lecture number for the day (for online students, these lectures can be found
on Dr. Allen’s website listed on the first page of this document)
Support Session= class meeting session that is for support. This means we will
be going over assignments, fielding questions, giving examples, etc.
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Course Schedule
Week Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
#1 Intro Intro
Jan.
7-13
#2 Begin ODU Support Support Teaching
Jan. R1 CLOSED Session Session Philosophy
14-20 Assignment
Due
#3 Finish L#1 Support ONLINE
Jan. R1; Session MEETING
21-27 Begin 7pm at
R2 Distance
learning
site
#4 Finish L#2 Support
Jan. R2 Session
28- Begin
Feb.3 R3
#5 Finish L#3 Quiz 1 Support Wikibooks
Feb. R3 Starts Session Writing
4-10 Begin R1, R2, Assignment
R4 R3, Due
#6 Finish L#4 L#5
Feb. R4 Quiz 1
11-17 Begin Due
R5
#7 Finish L#6 L#7 First
Feb. R5 Editing
18-24 Begin Assignment
R6 Due
#8 Finish L#8 Quiz 2 L#9
Feb. R6 Starts
25- Begin R4, R5, R6
Mar. R7
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#9 Spring Spring Spring Spring Spring Spring Spring
Mar. Break Break Break Break Break Break Break
4-10
#10 Finish L#10 Midterm Midterm
Mar. R7 Exam On- Exam
11-17 Begin Quiz 2 campus Online
R8 Due
Last day to Go to site
withdraw from
classes
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#11 Finish L#11 L#12
Mar. R8
18- Begin
24 R9
#12 Finish L#13 Quiz 3 L#14 Response
Mar. R9 Starts Essay Due
25- Begin R7, R8,
31 R10 R9
#13 Finish L#15 L#16
Apr. R10
1-7 Begin Quiz 3
R11 Due
#14 Finish L#17 L#18 Second
Apr. R11 Editing
8-14 Begin Assignment
R12 Due
#15 Finish Quiz 4 Starts L#19 Quiz 4 Online
Apr. R12; R10,R11, Due Final
15- R12 Exam
21 Last day to L#20 7pm
submit
Observation Go to
and Praxis site
#16 Review NO On-
Apr. CLASSES campus
22- Final
28 Exam
8:30am
#17 Graduation
Apr.
29-
May
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Quiz Number / Readings Lectures Due Date
Exam Title Included Included
Quiz # 1 R1-3 1-3 February 5
Quiz # 2 R4-6 4-9 February 26
Midterm R1-6 1-10 March 15/16
Quiz # 3 R7-9 11-13 March 26
Quiz # 4 R10-12 14-19 April 16
Final R7-12 11-20 April 26 / 27
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Assignments and Point Allocations
1. Praxis I – This is a requirement to pass the class.
0 points
2. Observation – This is a requirement to pass the class.
0 points
3. Writing Assignment
400 points
4. Editing (1-2 major and 0-2 minor)
300 points (100 each major; 50 each minor; 100 editing reflections paper)
5. Rating (2 points per rating) **More than 75 ratings = extra credit (2 points each)
150 points
6. Quizzes (4 – 100 points each)
400 points
7. Midterm
250 points
8. Final
250 points
9. Response Essay
100 points
10. Teaching Philosophy
50 points
11. Surveys or alternative assignment (one per quiz)
100 points (1 through 3 = 20 points each; 4 = 40 points)
Total – 2000
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Extra Credit Opportunities
Additional Major Edits- 20 points each
Follow the assignment description under the “Editing” assignment. These extra
credit points will be awarded for additional major edits. No minor edits will be
accepted. You may turn in up to five additional edits. Due before the final exam.
Additional Response Essay- 20 points
Follow the assignment description under the “Response Essay” assignment.
These extra credit points will be awarded for an additional essay responding to
another student’s Wiki article. You may only turn in one additional essay for extra
credit. Due before the final exam.
Pre-course Survey- 20 points
All students who participate in the pre-course survey in a timely manner will
receive these points.
Midterm Exam Survey- 20 points
Final Exam Survey- 20 points\
Extra Credit Ratings- more than 75 ratings- 2 points each (no “repeats” counted)
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Reading Explanation and Assignments
All readings can be found in our WikiBook text online at
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Social_and_Cultural_Foundations_of_American_Edu
cation
The reading assignments for the semester are broken up into “readings”. Each reading
will have a set of text UIN’s (unique identifying number) that correspond with the chapter
/ topic / version in our WikiBooks text.
All students will read the same text for Reading 1, Reading 2 and Reading 3. This
reading list is located in Blackboard under “Course Information”. Questions from these
three readings will show up on Quiz One.
Every time you read an article, be sure to rate it using your ODU UIN. You will receive
credit for every article you rate. For more information please see the rating section of
the syllabus.
For readings 4-12, we will assign each student to a reading group. Each group will be
assigned a unique list of UIN’s from our WikiBook to read for each reading. It is
important for each of you to do your assigned reading and rating each week. At the end
of the week, we will look at the ratings and place the highest rated article for each topic
into our “official textbook”. These documents will be located under “official textbook” in
Blackboard.
ONLY the official textbook articles will be on quizzes and exams. Therefore, it is
important for every student to look at the articles in the official textbook and read those
you have not yet read.
All students have been assigned the same amount of reading. It is important for each
student to keep up with the reading schedule and to do the ratings for the articles. The
ratings will be monitored throughout the semester. If we feel all students are not doing
the ratings, penalties will be enacted to make sure all students are participating.
During week four we will post the group assignment list for all students. This list will
assign each student to a reading group. We will also post the reading list for each
group. Please be sure to look at both documents in Course Information when the time
comes.
The 100 Billion Dollar Challenge book should be read before the final exam. This
content will only appear as a few questions on the final exam only.
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Assignment Requirements and Explanations
1. Praxis I:
The website for the Praxis I is: www.ets.org
The Praxis I test is a REQUIREMENT to PASS this class. We must receive your
paperwork for the Praxis by April 15th. If we do not have your paperwork by this
date, you will receive an Incomplete for the class until we receive and are able to
process your paperwork.
If you do not take the test you will not receive a grade at the end of the semester. The
Praxis I is an entrance test (very similar to the SAT / ACT tests). You do not have to
pass the test to receive credit. You only have to be formally scheduled to take the test.
Waiver of Fees
ETS has a waiver program available for those with great financial need. If you have a
need, this form should be submitted within the first two weeks of the semester to assure
time for processing and for you to make other arrangements if the waiver is not granted.
The waiver form will be located in Blackboard under “course information”. This form
should be mailed to the address on the bottom of the form.
Signing up for the test
When you sign up for the test, make sure you register for the PPST: writing, reading
and mathematics. The test code varies depending on the format of your test (paper or
computer-based). You must take all three parts to receive credit for this requirement.
For the paper-based test, the codes are as follows:
Writing # 20720
Reading # 10710
Mathematics # 10730
For the computer-based test, the codes are as follows:
Writing # 5720
Reading # 5710
Mathematics # 5730
If you do not have a waiver for the Praxis I, you must register for the test during the
semester and send us a copy of your registration or entrance ticket. You may sign
up for a test date after the semester ends.
If you have previously taken the Praxis I test, please send us a copy of your results
by U.S. mail and we will give you credit for this requirement.
If you have SAT or ACT scores that meet the following requirements, you may be
waived from taking the Praxis I test. Please send us a copy of your scores by U.S.
mail.
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ACT Scores in place of Praxis I: The Virginia Department of Education is pleased to
announce that on September 22, 2004, the Board of Education approved the use of the
ACT as a substitute test for Praxis I (Reading, Writing, and Mathematics) required for
initial licensure. The Board of Education approved the following scores on the ACT:
ACT Taken Prior to April 1, 1995 -- a composite score of 21 with the ACT mathematics
score no less than 21 and an ACT English Plus Reading score no less than 37. ACT
Taken After April 1, 1995 -- a composite score of 24 with the ACT mathematics score
no less than 22 and an ACT English Plus Reading score no less than 46. Individuals
who request to use ACT or SAT scores for Praxis I must provide a copy of their official
report of scores. The Division of Teacher Education and Licensure also will accept the
ACT or SAT scores listed on an official student transcript from an accredited college or
university (including the registrar’s signature and institution raised seal).
SAT scores in place of PRAXIS I scores:
The Virginia Board of Education has approved an SAT score substitution for Praxis I. A
score of 1100 on the SAT, taken after April 1, 1995, with at least a 530 on the verbal
and a 530 on the mathematics tests OR a score of 1000 on the SAT, taken prior to April
1, 1995, with at least a 450 on the verbal and a 510 on the mathematics tests may be
used as a substitute for Praxis I. Individuals who request to use SAT® scores for Praxis
I must provide a copy of their official report of scores. The Division of Teacher
Education and Licensure also will accept SAT® listed on an official student transcript
from an accredited college or university (including the registrar’s signature and
institution raised seal).
To complete this requirement you must send us a copy of your Praxis I results,
Praxis I entrance ticket, or ACT / SAT qualifying scores. Any one of these three
will satisfy this requirement. All documents must be RECEIVED by April 15th in
order to complete this course. Send these documents to the following address:
Educational Curriculum and Instruction (ECI) Department
Darden College of Education, Old Dominion University, Room 151-153
Norfolk, VA 23529-0161
Tel: (757) 683-4998
Fax: (757) 683-5862
2. Observation
The observation is a REQUIREMENT to PASS this class. We must receive your
paperwork for the Observation by April 15th. If we do not have your paperwork by
this date, you will receive an Incomplete for the class until we receive and are
able to process your paperwork.
This requirement is a 30-hour observation in an accredited school coordinated through
the Teacher Education Services office at ODU. While many of you may know teachers
with whom you would like to work, the observation requirement must be coordinated
through the TES office for credit.
The sooner you apply for observation placement, the sooner you will be placed in a
classroom and can begin. It is STRONGLY recommended that you complete your
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observation placement request by the second week of class (January 20). Placement in
an area school can take several weeks.
All students should request their observation placement by going to
http://education.odu.edu/tes/ and clicking on the link for observation under placement
request.
All observations will be coordinated through the Teacher Education Services (TES)
office. Placement may take three to four weeks or more depending on when you apply
for placement. After you are placed, you will be instructed to contact the school by
phone. If you are having trouble contacting your school, please go to the school and
make arrangements in person for your first visit.
If you are in the PK-6 program, you will need to apply for two 15-hour placements (one
in K-3 and one in 4-6). For all other programs, a single 30-hour placement will be
arranged. Please make sure to request placement in a school district that is
convenient for you; otherwise the observation experience will be a much less
convenient task. Also, please make sure that you indicate accurately your current
program of study, (i.e., PK-6, 6-12, PK-3, music, P.E. etc.), in order to ensure that
the observation in this class will meet the requirements of your specific program.
If you are a teacher, teaching on a provisional license in an accredited school and are
seeking endorsement in the same field that you teach, your observation requirement
can be waived. You must submit a letter signed by your school’s principal stating that
you are currently teaching under a provisional license in order to get your observation
requirement waived. The waiver letter should be sent to ECI 301 teaching assistants by
U.S. mail. This letter must be received by April 15th.
Every student must submit a Time Log Record Sheet and an Observation Evaluation
form as proof of your observation experience. Your cooperating teacher should sign the
log sheet every time you visit the classroom. The evaluation sheet sheet should be
given to your cooperating teacher on the last day of your visit. It should be filled out by
the teacher and given back to you. If you have more than one observation placement,
you will need to have both teachers fill out an evaluation sheet. If you are working with a
new teacher every visit or are moving to new classrooms throughout the day, only one
evaluation sheet needs to be turned in. Be advised that the same evaluation sheet is
used for the observation and practicum requirements. Some of the criteria on the
evaluation sheet DOES NOT APPLY TO YOUR OBSERVATION. Just have the teacher
fill in N / A (does not apply) for these criteria.
Unless you are waived from this assignment, completing the Observation will
require you to complete the 30-hour required observation and submit the two
required forms documenting the observation. The links to these forms are below,
and they are also located on Blackboard under Course Documents. All
documents must be RECEIVED by April 15th in order to complete this course.
You must submit two copies of these forms – one set mailed to the ECI 301 TAs
at the following address:
Educational Curriculum and Instruction (ECI) Department
13
Darden College of Education, Old Dominion University, Room 151-153
Norfolk, VA 23529-0161
…and one set of forms mailed to the TES Office at the following address:
Teacher Education Service Office
Darden College of Education, Old Dominion University, Room 152
Norfolk, VA 23529-0161
Observation Evaluation –
http://education.odu.edu/tes/pdf/2006_June_Foundations_Observation_Eval.pdf
Time Log Record Sheet –
http://education.odu.edu/tes/pdf/TIMELOGOBSERVATIONPRACTICUM.pdf
3. WikiBooks Article (Writing Assignment):
Link to textbook:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Social_and_Cultural_Foundations_of_American_Education
This semester you will be participating in the second iteration of an exciting, new
curriculum development process. You will be, as a class, creating your own course
textbook! Before you get too concerned, let me clarify. Each of you will not be writing
an entire textbook; rather, each of you will be writing a short essay that will be combined
to make up the bulk of our course reading.
During the first week of class, you should go to WikiBooks (www.wikibooks.org), create
a WikiBooks account (this is free and requires no more than a username, a password
and an email account), find the forum where our textbook will be written, and select and
sign up for a topic you’d like to write on. A tutorial to guide you through this process can
be found on Blackboard under Tutorials
The requirements for your article are as follows:
1. Title and your name at the top of your article
2. 1000-1500 words (This includes ONLY the body of your essay.)
3. At least five resources (with internal citations)
two must be scholarly resources
two can be popular resources
one can be either a scholarly or popular source
4. A sidebar of your choice (for example sidebars, see articles from 1st
edition of course text.)
5. Five (5) multiple-choice, application questions with answers.
6. One essay question with an example response (about 200-300 words).
When planning your article, try to identify between 2 and 5 main points you’d like to get
across to your reader. Organize your article so it is reader friendly. Formatting with a
table of contents, a clear title, author, and paragraph headings are good ways to easily
format your article.
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Grades for this assignment will be determined by the ratings submitted by your peers.
In other words, your classmates will grade your articles. If you have any questions or
concerns about the grade generated by these means, feel free to contact us, and Dr.
Allen will personally review your article to determine if a different grade should be
awarded.
Grades will be posted for articles the week after they are harvested (after the reading
they are included in has ended and the official textbook for that reading has been
posted). At this time grades will be posted on blackboard. If your article is not in the
reading for that particular week, it will not be given a grade. Please do not email us for
your grade. We will have them posted in a timely manner.
Then, at the end of the semester, we will go back and look at all of the ratings. If the
rating has changed for your article we will give you the better grade.
4. Editing:
All editing should add to the content or professional look of the article. You should never
take any content or information away from the article.
One of the greatest strengths of the WikiBooks method is that it allows each user to edit
and improve the contributions of every other user. As such, we will be requiring each of
you to complete several substantive edits during the course of the semester. You will
be required to complete either one large (major) edit or two smaller (minor) edits during
the first half of the semester (readings 1-6). You will also be required to complete either
one large (major) edit or two smaller (minor) edits during the second half of the
semester (readings 7-12). All required edits must be made to your peers’ articles.
No edits to your own article will count toward the editing requirement.
A major edit can be any of the following:
Adding 1 source to an article, discussing source’s contribution within article (at
least 150 words) and adding three application questions to the article;
Adding 1 source to an article, discussing source’s contribution within article (at
least 150 words) and completely reformatting the article;
Adding two sources to an article and discussing sources’ contributions within
article (at least 300 words);
Finally, you may design an edit of your own that does not fit any of the above
criteria but which you feel is equally valuable and propose it to us via email.
A minor edit can be any of the following:
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Adding 1 source to an article and discussing source’s contribution within article
(at least 150 words);
Adding at least 3 application questions to an article;
Completely reformatting an article;
Finally, you may design an edit of your own that does not fit any of the above
criteria but which you feel is equally valuable and propose it to us via email.
Of the edits you are required to submit, one must be a major edit. For the other
required edit, you may either complete a major edit or two minor edits. It is important to
note that minor edits are worth half as much as major edits. As such, you must
complete two minor edits to substitute one major edit.
There are two steps necessary for the completion of these editing assignments. First,
follow WikiBooks editing procedures, and edit the article in our course textbook. (Don’t
forget to save your edit!!) Next, use the article’s “history” function to display all the
edits that have been made to the article you just edited. Once here, select the newest
version of the article and the one just below it on the list, and click “Compare selected
versions.” This will display the article before and after your edits had been completed.
Copy this page, and paste it into a blank Word (or WordPerfect) document. You should
then save the document and submit it using BB’s Submit Papers function. The
assignments will be named “Required Edit” in BB.
Finally, near the end of the course, you will be required to complete a reflection paper
on the editing process. This paper should be between 1 and 3 pages in length and
should be submitted via BB’s Submit Papers function. This assignment will be named
“Editing Reflection Paper.” In this paper, you may discuss any combination of the
following topics:
What made you choose the articles you chose to edit?
How did you prepare (research, etc.) for making edits and why?
How helpful do you think your edits were and why?
What is your opinion of WikiBooks’ editing feature and why?
How do you feel about editing your peers’ work and why?
How do you feel about your own work being edited by your peers and why?
Any other reflections on your editing process.
5. Rating:
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Each of your WikiBooks articles will have a small link at the bottom that says “Rate This”
in the middle of four bright blue arrows. When a reader clicks on this link, she/he will be
linked to a new window asking them to type in their University Identification Number
(UIN) and rate the article on a scale of 1 to 5.
These ratings will be very important this semester. First, the ratings submitted by
your peers will determine your grade for the WikiBooks writing assignment. In other
words, your peers will grade your work. Second, your ratings will determine which
article written on each topic is selected to become part of the “Official Textbook.” The
Official Textbook will be the material that you are responsible for reading for exams and
quizzes. The articles selected for the official textbook will be the only ones from which
we will draw quiz and exam questions.
All ratings for a reading are due the last day of the reading (usually on Sunday).
Because of these important reasons, it is very important that you rate each article you
read. Please remember to always include your UIN when you rate an article so that
we can keep track of how many ratings you submit throughout the semester. It is
important to note that you may not rate your own article more than once. Likewise,
please don’t rate your peers’ articles too many times. If you rate an article once and it is
subsequently edited, you may rate it again, but if you rate the same version of the same
article more than once, these “extra” ratings will not count toward your grade for
this task.
There is no way for you to check to see what articles you have rated. Therefore, it is
important for you to keep track of this information in some other way. I would
recommend printing a list of the readings and putting a check mark next to those you
have already rated.
6. Quizzes
You will take an online quiz four times throughout the semester. All quizzes will be
generated by an online quizzing system called Perception. You will find all these
quizzes on Blackboard under “Quizzes”. Since the quizzes are generated randomly, the
quiz you take will likely be different from the quiz that each of your classmates will take.
You will have thirty minutes from when you open the quiz on Blackboard to complete
and submit the quiz and receive a grade. After thirty minutes, Blackboard will not allow
you to submit your quiz for credit.
You will notice that after you submit a quiz, your grade will be generated by Blackboard
within a few seconds and that the quiz system will let you know which questions you
answered correctly and which questions you missed.
We strongly suggest that you print your completed quizzes, both as a backup and
as an excellent study tool for the final exam.
The LAST grade you earn is your final grade, NOT the best out of 10 tries.
NOTE 1: The quizzes are open-book and open-notes, but time limit is 30 minutes.
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NOTE 2: If you fail to submit a quiz by the due date, please contact your TAs as
soon as possible to arrange a make-up for partial credit.
How to Take Quizzes Step by Step
The following steps will help you find your password for the quizzes and will lead you to
where you will take the quizzes.
1. Log on to Blackboard
2. Click on our class--ECI 301
3. In the menu, click on the link to Quizzes. All the quizzes to which you have
access will be displayed.
4. You will be able to take the Recorded Quiz up to ten times, but you may take as
few attempts as you like. The last Recorded Quiz you take will be your grade for
that quiz – not the highest grade you earn.
5. You will notice that there is a timer at the top left corner of the quiz. You will have
30 minutes to take the quiz before the page times out. If the page times out you
will receive no grade.
6. After answering all of questions, print your quiz if you would like to use it as a
study tool.
7. Then, submit your quiz.
8. Within approximately 30 seconds you should receive your grade and a
breakdown of which questions you answered correctly and incorrectly.
9. PRINT YOUR FINAL QUIZ. If something happens and grades are lost in
cyberspace you will want proof of your grade. This is the only record you will
have of your grade if it is lost.
QUIZ GRADING:
Quizzes are 20% of your grade in this class!! They are important, so take some time to
study for them by studying the lectures and reading the official text. There IS a
deadline after which you cannot take the quizzes. Take them earlier to avoid
technical glitches. Here are the deadlines for the quizzes:
Quiz Schedule
Quiz Name Quiz Due Date
ECI 301 Recorded Quiz 1 February 13
ECI 301 Recorded Quiz 2 March 13
ECI 301 Recorded Quiz 3 April 3
ECI 301 Recorded Quiz 4 April 24
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7. Midterm Exam:
This exam will be a standard assessment made up of fifty multiple-choice questions.
Some of these questions will be based on the material covered in the lectures. The
other questions will come from the official textbook made up of the highest rated
WikiBooks articles written by your peers.
The material covered on the Midterm will not be covered again on the Final. Because
of this, the Midterm is worth just as much as the Final and should be taken as seriously.
There may be additional survey questions attached to this exam, and you may answer
these questions for extra credit.
You will need to know your UIN for the midterm and final exams. Please make sure you
bring your ID card with you if you do not have your UIN memorized.
8. Final Exam:
This exam will be exactly like the Midterm, except the Final will cover material from the
second half of the course. As mentioned above, it is not cumulative.
There may be additional survey questions attached to this exam, and you may answer
these questions for extra credit.
You will need to know your UIN for the midterm and final exams. Please make sure you
bring your ID card with you if you do not have your UIN memorized.
9. Teaching Philosophy
In this paper, you should discuss the ways in which you will administer your classroom
when you become a professional teacher. You may discuss issues of classroom
management, assessment, and any other issues important to your own classroom.
Please justify your opinions and philosophies.
Requirements for this paper are as follows:
1. 1-2 pages in length
2. submitted in Blackboard via the Submit Papers function
10. Response Essay
You will be required to respond to one of your peers’ essay questions (about 200-300
words), found in their article in the class WikiBook. You will post your response in our
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WikiBook below the essay question. In addition, you should copy your Response Essay
from WikiBooks into a Word document and submit it via Blackboard’s Submit Papers
function.
11. Surveys:
As part of the course requirements, we will be asking you to answer a series of survey
questions after each of the four quizzes you’ll take throughout the semester. These
surveys will be relatively short and very easy. Your answers to survey questions will not
be graded, but merely checked for completion.
The data we collect from your surveys will be used for two major purposes. First, we
will be using the information you provide to change the class for the better during the
course of the semester and in future semesters. Second, as the WikiBooks process in
which you’ll be engaged during this semester is still experimental, your data will help us
learn what parts about the process you like and dislike.
It is necessary to inform you that the data you provide in these surveys and all other
surveys offered in this course will in no way affect your grade in this course. Also, your
name will never be used in any publications citing these surveys. Finally, you may
refuse to participate in any of the surveys; if you do so, we will design alternative
assignments allowing you to earn equal points.
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Support Materials
1. Tutorials
There are a number of tutorials located in Blackboard under “Tutorials”. These short
programs will help you set up and format your Wikibooks article. Please use the tutorials
as they are a valuable resource for you and save us time answering questions.
However, if you have watched the tutorials and still need help with an issue that is not
addressed in any of the tutorials, feel free to contact us by telephone or email.
2. Writing Tutorial Services
This is the WTS website link: http://al.odu.edu/wts/
The goal of our Wikibooks project is to produce a high quality textbook written by
students for students. You should keep in mind throughout the entire writing and
rating process that you are writing information that is interesting and informative for new
teachers (like yourself) and you are ratings other students article based on this same
focus.
Please use this service located in BAL room 311. Call for an appointment. Make sure to
bring a hard copy of your work to your tutoring session.
3. On Line Section Meeting Dates – Teletechnet Centers
All four class meetings will be held at 7:00 pm Eastern time.
On the following dates, please go to your distance learning sites for class meetings:
-- January 12, 2007
-- January 26, 2007
On the following dates, please go to your distance learning sites for exams:
-- March 16, 2007 (Midterm)
-- April 20, 2007 (Final)
ONLINE STUDENTS: If for some reason you are not able to make it to your Teletechnet
site for the midterm or final exam, please contact the TA’s as soon as possible to set up
a day and time for rescheduling. You may not reschedule to take the exam after the
exam date- the rescheduled day must be BEFORE the scheduled exam date.
4. Directions for Signing up for a Wikibooks Article Topic
Every student must write an article to contribute to our class textbook. Below are the
directions for signing up for a topic. This process is very easy but you must follow the
directions! If you sign up in the wrong place IT DOES NOT COUNT! Another student
can still sign up for your desired topic.
To find our book by navigating through the website:
1. Go to the website: www.wikibooks.org
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2. Click on “English”
3. Scroll down to SOCIAL SCIENCES
4. Click on “Education”
5. Scroll down to OTHER BOOKS
6. Click on “Social and Cultural Foundation of American Education”
Here is the link to our book:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Social_and_Cultural_Foundations_of_American_Education
To create a free WikiBooks account:
1. Go to the website: www.wikibooks.org
2. Click on “English.”
3. Click on “Log in / Create an account” in the top right hand corner.
4. Click on “create an account” in the Log In box.
5. Follow the directions to create an account.
6. Now you have a username and password.
7. Every time you visit Wikibooks, MAKE SURE YOU LOG IN.
To sign up for a topic in our book (this is what you will write your essay on):
1. Go to our book:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Social_and_Cultural_Foundations_of_American_Edu
cation
2. Click on “Second Edition”
3. Browse the chapters and look at the topics available. Please note that topic titles
that are in bold type are already completed. Therefore, these bolded topics are
not available.
4. When you find a topic which interests you, check to see if another student has
signed up for the topic by clicking on the “talk page” link in the yellow box at the
top of the chapter page. This “talk page” will show you all of the student sign ups.
5. If your topic is not open, keep browsing for another topic.
6. If your topic is open, write down the number of your topic (for example, 5.3.3).
Then click on the “Edit this page” tab at the top of the page. DO NOT CLICK ON
THE TOPIC LINK. If you click on the topic link you will sign up in the wrong
place and your sign up will not count!
7. When you click “edit this page” a text box will appear. SCROLL down to find the
number for your topic. At the end of the code for the topic title you want, simply
type four spaces and then four tildes (~~~~). This tilde key is at the top left of
your keyboard under the escape key. Press shift and this key to make the tildes.
If you are logged in, typing four tildes will make your username appear once
you’ve saved the page.
This is an example of the code for a topic:
[[Social and Cultural Foundations of American Education/Second Edition/5.5.2|5.5.2
Student-teacher ratios and class size]]
This is an example of a proper sign up in the textbox:
[[Social and Cultural Foundations of American Education/Second Edition/5.5.2|5.5.2
Student-teacher ratios and class size]]~~~~
8. When you have made your four tildes after the topic you want to write on, scroll
down to the bottom of the page and click “Save This Page”.
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9. This will put you back on the chapter sign up page. You should see your
username and the time you signed up next to your desired topic.
10. If you do not see your name next to the topic, you have signed up incorrectly.
Please be advised that there are visual tutorials located in blackboard for your
benefit. Please use them! We are available for help if necessary.
If you believe you have messed something up in our WikiBook PLEASE CONTACT
US IMMEDIATELY!!!
Please do not sign up on the “Module” page or the article page. We check the sign
ups in our book often. We will move or remove your name from the incorrect sign up
place. Follow the directions or watch the tutorial after you sign up to make sure you
signed up in the correct place. We try to move the incorrect sign ups to the correct
place but sometimes the article is already taken by another student. We try our best
to contact each student whose sign up we move asap. However, if you are in doubt
about signing up correctly, please contact us and we can take a look for you.
You want to sign up on the page that says “discussion”, “talk” or “sign up sheet.
The rating code at the bottom of every article page is very important. If you mess up
the code please contact us asap. DO NOT try to fix it. Each rating code is unique
and connects the article to the ratings given for that article. If you mess up the rating
and do not contact us the article will NOT be given a grade because it will not have
any ratings. We can see who edited the rating code and will contact this person
immediately.
5. Submitting Assignments using Blackboard
During this class, you will submit almost every assignment via Blackboard. To submit
an assignment this way, go to our BB page and click “Submit Papers” from the menu at
the left-hand side of the page. Once here, you’ll see a list of assignments. Click the link
to the assignment you will submit. Once this assignment’s window opens, scroll down
to the field named “Attach Local File” and click Browse. Locate and double-click on the
file you want to submit. This should make the file name appear in the “Attach Local
File” field. Once the file is attached, just click “Submit” to finish. If you’d like to make
sure you’ve submitted the assignment successfully, follow directions below.
6. Checking Grades in Blackboard
Checking grades and making sure you submitted assignments with Blackboard is easy.
From our class’ Blackboard page, simply click “My Grades.” Once you’re here, you’ll
see all the assignments you’ve submitted for ECI 301. If a grade appears under an
assignment’s name, that’s the grade you earned for that assignment. If a red
exclamation point (!) appears under an assignment’s name, that means that you have
successfully submitted that assignment, but it has not yet been graded. If an equals
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sign (=) appears under an assignment’s name, it means that you have not yet
successfully submitted that assignment. In addition, at the bottom of the grade book
page, there is a key that will explain the symbols you’ll find there.
We understand that both of the above processes may be new to you, so if
you’re in doubt or have any problem, just contact the ECI 301 Support Staff.
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