Distance Education – On-line ENGLISH 101 COURSE SYLLABUS

 

Course                        English Composition 101          3-0-3

 

Course Instructor:     Abbey Wexler              215.751.8527              Awexler@ccp.edu

 

Course Required Materials

  • The Pocket Wadsworth Handbook By, Kirszner and Mandell Third Edition
  • House on Mango Street By, Sandra Cisneros
  • A computer with Internet Browsing Capabilities and Microsoft Word (version 97 or higher) (http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm)

 

Course Content:
First of a two-part sequence in English composition. This course requires the writing of academic essays which develop significant ideas in a sequence of well-organized paragraphs with a minimum of errors. Students are expected to use a variety of rhetorical patterns and respond in writing to assigned reading. Prerequisite: "Pass" grade in 098 or satisfactory score on the composition placement test.

 

Course Requirements:

4 Major Essays (approx 3 pages) (two drafts per essay)

9 short Essays (approximately 2 pages)

2 Newspaper article summaries/personal responses

Comprehension/critical thinking questions and summaries on Mango Street novel

11 ungraded quizzes/practice sheets on writing tricks

Midterm Exam

Final Exam

Forum Responses

 

Major Essays:

  • Career choices and workforce needs
  • Argumentative Essay
  • Critical Thinking and Reflective Response to Mango Street novel
  • Creative Essay

Course Schedule -Please see course schedule posted under the TIMELINE for each session's activities.

 

 

Are you ready for a distance education course? Take the online self-assessment now at http://inet.ccp.cc.pa.us/vpacaff/divess/ccpde/index.html . All students who register for this class must take this self-assessment. To access it, click on the link above and then click on the words "Take this online self-assessment and find out."

 

Technical Prerequisites

The following are necessities when taking this course:

  • Microsoft Word (Word 97 or higher) is required. Microsoft WORKS is not acceptable. You will be asked to submit your papers to me in Microsoft Word via the WebStudy classroom.
  • An understanding of how to navigate through your web-browser, which should include the ability to "cut and paste" material from one online document to another.
  • An understanding of how to download files to your hard-drive (the majority of these are Word files). You are expected to be able to follow the instructions for the WebStudy tutorial that is currently online. Take this tutorial now, prior to working on the course assignments. You can do self-training in WebStudy online by logging in as a guest from our gateway page at http://hcs.whyy.org/ccp where you will find an introductory "course" as well as documentation and instructions that you can download. Follow the instructions at that link to see what WebStudy is like. Completing this sample course tutorial now will help you with navigating the English course later on.

 

Technical Assistance

You can get assistance from online help from the WebStudy gateway page via online manuals. The gateway page also gives WebStudy email and phone numbers. Link to it at http://ccp.whyy.org . Click on "Need help?". For WebStudy specific problems or malfunctions, contact WebStudy support (support@webstudy.com ). Also, WebStudy has a phone number (877-444-4WEB or 877-444-4932) for your questions about the server or access to it.

For questions about registration and software, contact our school liaison, Mark Saks, at msaks@ccp.cc.pa.us .

Questions about course content can be directed to me through the mail feature within WebStudy.

Grading Procedures:

Grades will be based on classroom participation in the online forums, all formal writing assignments, a midterm examination and a final examination. Participation in Forums is mandatory and serves as a large part of your grade. Students who do well on their papers, midterm and their midterm and final examinations will not pass this course if they have not participated in the Forums.

 

Attendance

This is an online course; therefore attendance is different than in a traditional class.

I will be posting the course's assignments in weekly. Each assignment will have a due date that is extremely important to meet. Your grade will be adversely affected if you do not meet these due dates.

 

All students are required to participate in a class Forum. The Forum is also where I will respond to general questions you might have or where I will address the class as a whole. You will be asked to reply to questions or prompts left by me, and you will respond to the comments of fellow class members. Participation in Forums is mandatory and serves as a large part of your grade. Students who have done well on their papers will see their overall grade suffer if they do not meet the course requirement of posting comments to the Forums.

 

Qualifications for Passing English 101

Students should be able to:

  • Write correctly, with minimum serious grammatical or mechanical errors.
  • Use a variety of sentence patterns, indicating a generally mature style.
  • Command a vocabulary adequate to convey meaning accurately. Vocabulary should be appropriate to the level of discourse.
  • Organize and develop a non-trivial idea in several well-structured paragraphs. Student should be able to support abstract or general ideas with appropriate specific and concrete details.
  • Read an essay, article or piece of writing and be able to form a generalization about it. Students should be able to develop a thesis based on the generalization, including support from both the original source and the students' own experiences.

 

The goal in this class is to make you a better, more mature and insightful writer. It is my hope that by the end of this class you will be able to clearly express exactly what you want and mean to say in precisely the way you want and mean to say it. Many times students know what they want to say, but have trouble figuring out how to get it on the paper in a way that really reflects their thinking. Here is where you will build the skills to make that leap.

 

Plagiarism:

Students must do their own work. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Plagiarism will be addressed in more detail in session 4.

 

Center on Disability:

If you are registered with the Center on Disability, please notify me within the first week of class, so that I may find out what special accommodations are to be requested.

 

Here's to great semester! I know you have the ability to succeed in this class. You are an individual with your own very special background, history and pathway that led you here. I will learn from you, if you will learn from me, and together we will succeed. Deal?