Reading
Randall,
R.S. (2003). American Constitutional Development:
The Rights of Persons (Volume Two). Addison
Wesley Longman. ISBN 0-801-32021-6
Assignments
Online
Journals: (30% of your final grade)
Some
of you have been in my classes before and have been
asked to submit journals. We are going to try something
different in this class. Journals in this class will
be posted online and all students are expected to
review the journals of all students. You do not need
to follow any particular format (as opposed to past
classes). The journals should include a minimum of
two submission per week. At the end of the course
your journal should document your thoughts about
civil liberties as we move through readings and other
course experiences. Journals should refer to readings
(in text and elsewhere), internet content, events
in the news, and the journals of others in the class.
These
journals can be very informal. The grading criteria
will include frequency of posts, evidence that the
student is doing the reading and thinking about the
material, and evidence of a progression of thought
regarding the issues raised in this class. Grading
will not be completed until the end of the class
so that the entire journal can be reviewed.
We
will be using an advertiser supported service for
these journals. This free service provides the features
we need for the class, although we have to put up
with advertisements. We are using something called "web
logs" or "blogs" for our journals.
Click the "Journals" link
above for instructions. The Journals page will eventually
include links to the online journal of each student
in the class.
Essay
Exams: (50%)
Four
essay exams will be completed during the class. Exam
questions will be sent to each student at the beginning
of the week in which the essay is due. Essays should
have sufficient breadth and depth to indicate more
than a passing awareness of the issues raised in
the questions. Grading will be determined based on
the thoroughness of response and the ability to properly
apply knowledge gained through reading the text.
Essays should be "term paper quality." Pay
attention to spelling, sentence and paragraph structure,
organization, and citations. Your papers should
use APA
style, which is described in the Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association
(5th edition, 2001).
Questions
typically contain multiple parts. This is not done
to make questions more difficult. Multiple parts
are recommended to provide guidance that will lead
to a high quality answer. Remember to address each
section but do not assume that the ideas raised in
each section are the only issues to be addressed
in your response.
Completed
essays should be e-mailed to mentor@nmsu.edu.
Although I have several e-mail addresses, this is
the only one you should use for this class. My computer
can only read certain formats. Fortunately, these
are popular formats and you should be able to submit
assignments without any problems. If you are using
Microsoft Word, just save as word and send. If you
are using any other program please save as .rtf before
sending. Don't put anything after the dot - let the
computer take care of this. For example, "exam1.joe" will
not open on my computer. Use "exam1_joe" instead
and let the computer add the .doc or .rtf after your
file name. Send papers as attachments. Use the body
of the message to tell me what you are sending so
I will know that you are sending an intended attachment
rather than a virus or other malicious attachment.
Web
Sites: (20%)
Each
student should select a topic (from a list determined
by the class) for his or her final project. The final
project should include a one or two page introduction
or summary followed by an annotated list of internet
links that will lead to further information on the
topic. The list of links should be carefully edited
to include high quality pages that are educational,
well organized, and expected to remain on the internet
for an extended period. Click
here for an example of a final project. Review
the readings or click here for
more ideas about topics.
Your
projects will be published, with full acknowledgement
of your efforts, at justicepolicy.com. This site,
which is currently under development, will include
links to justice related issues. With you permission,
your sites will be included in a section devoted
to civil liberties policy. When completing this assignment
you are expected to comply with essay exam expectations
regarding scope, depth, plagiarism, cites, writing
quality, and organization.
Final
web sites are due on or before the end of the
day August 1. Late submissions will not be accepted. I
am happy to review outlines, rough drafts, or
any other preliminary work. More information
about this assignment will be provided in the "Web
Pages" section of this course outline.
Participation
(up to 10 points may be deducted):
Your
experience, and the learning experience of your classmates
and instructor, are greatly enhanced as the result
of active participation. You are likely to have strong
opinions about a number of the topics we will discuss.
Let us hear what you think by posting comments in
the bulletin board/discussion area. This course will
be better if you talk more and I talk less. I prefer
not to dominate the online discussion so each of
you will need to remain active throughout the semester.
You all have interesting ideas and viewpoints and
we learn more by sharing and trying to understand
various views.
Discussion
occurs in two places. This class is using online
journals, also known as "web logs" or "blogs." Students
post thoughts in their journals,
which are available for all students to read. You
are encouraged to read
all journals and include references to these journals
as you write your own submissions. This class also
includes an online
message board. The message board is not
intended to include lengthy discussions. However,
short comments indicate your level of participation
in class.
In
addition to discussions, participation is evident
in efforts to keep up with course work and submit
assignments on schedule. In short, don't "disappear" for
extended periods. This is not a traditional course
with opportunities for classroom discussion. This
is not an independent study course either. You are
expected to remain involved in the class throughout
the semester. If this course met in a traditional
classroom we would notice that some students are
absent and do not work, through their active participation,
to improve the learning environment for all class
participants. Other students would attend class on
a regular basis, but sit there like "a bump
on a log." An online course is different. Our
discussions are "asynchronous." In other
words, your comments to the class may not be read
for several hours after the comment is made. Those
who read your comments have the opportunity to think
about what was said. Although the time difference
changes the nature of a discussion, discussion still
takes place. The participants were present even though
they were together at a certain time and place.
Notice
that the score for this item is a negative. As graduate
students, a certain level of participation is assumed.
That level of participation is expected and not included
in the grade. Those that fail to reach that level
will lose points.
Course
Policies
Deadlines
Deadlines
are not suggestions. All written material will
rapidly lose points in the days following the due
date. Zero points will be awarded for missed assignments.
Withdrawing
from class
Class
withdrawal is your responsibility. If you disappear,
we will wonder where you are. However, we will not
drop you from the class. Withdrawals should follow
University procedure. The student is responsible
for obtaining all necessary signatures on drop slips.
ADA
If
you have or believe you have a disability, you may
wish to self-identify. You can do so by providing
documentation to the Office for Services for Students
with Disabilities, located at Garcia Annex (646-6840). Appropriate
accommodations may then be provided for you.
If
you have a condition which may affect your ability
to exit safely from the premises in an emergency
or which may cause an emergency during class, you
are encouraged to discuss this in confidence with
the instructor and/or the director of Disabled Student
Programs. If you have general questions about
the Americans With Disabilities ACT (ADA), call 646-3333.
Academic
Misconduct
A
very high price can be paid when you are caught cheating.
Too high to risk. All written material must
be your own composition. Appropriate credit must
be given for sources used in developing your ideas
and arguments. Provide appropriate citations. It
is easy to see when large sections of text have been
lifted from other Web pages. This is quite easy
to verify as well.
It
is not appropriate to submit work that was originally
completed for another course.
Please
refer to the Student Code of Conduct in the NMSU
Student Catalog. Students should pay particular attention
to the following section on academic misconduct taken
from page 19 of the 1999-2000 Undergraduate Catalog. "Any
student found guilty of academic misconduct shall
be subject to disciplinary action. Academic misconduct
includes, but is not limited to, the following actions:
1.
cheating or knowingly assisting another student in
committing an act of cheating or other forms of academic
dishonesty;
2.
plagiarism, which includes, but is not necessarily
limited to, submitting examinations, themes, reports,
drawing, laboratory notes, undocumented quotation,
computer processed materials, or other materials
as one’s own work when such work has been prepared
by another person or copied from another person;
3.
unauthorized possession of examinations, reserve
library materials or laboratory materials;
4.
unauthorized changing of grades on an examination,
in an instructor’s grade book, or on a grade report;
or unauthorized access to computer records;
5.
nondisclosure or misrepresentation in filling out
applications or other university records in, or for,
academic departments or colleges".
NOTE:
The penalties for engaging in any of these acts of
academic misconduct will be determined on a case-by-case
basis, but will follow general university guidelines
as to severity.
Classroom
Climate
Classroom
climate is not solely the Professor's responsibility.
We encourage each of you to engage in conversation
on any issue. The University is a place for free
speech, limited through individual choice. These
choices may be altered with awareness of the real
or potential reaction of others. However, you should
not be intimidated into keeping quiet. We do not
condone racist, sexist, homophobic, or other hateful
speech. You are all adults, capable of understanding
generally accepted rules of conduct and modifying
your behavior in an effort to comply with these social
or legal expectations. You are responsible for your
behavior.
Final
Grades
Dr.
Mentor does not post or discuss final grades
after the conclusion of the course. If
grades are made available online, be advised
that if there is any error the grade you receive
from the registrar is your official grade. Grade
changes will be made only in cases of data or
computation error. Please do not ask, beg, or
otherwise attempt to change a properly computed
grade.
Course
Outline
This
course outline is intended to define much of what
will happen throughout this course. Changes are possible.
Any changes will be clearly presented to the class
and will often include class discussion. Changes
will apply to all students enrolled in this course,
without regard to whether they were involved in the
discussion.
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