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Class Rules

Students in this online course must be self-motivated and willing to work with each other. It is easy to procrastinate given that the class is held on-line; however, this is a course designed around the act of writing. It is participatory! Successfully completing each assignment will mean working carefully through all the steps of that assignment and being prepared to discuss your work in the Class Forum as well as sending questions about assignments to the class discussion list.

It is important for you to remember that all assignments must be completed to earn a final grade. If all assignments are not submitted, you will receive an incomplete at the end of the semester.

Before the semester begins:

 Please send me a current email address and include your name and the name of this class in the email.

 Students are required to be subscribed to the class email-based list (ewrite). All questions about course material should be emailed to the list, so that all students enrolled may benefit from the answers. Direction are available on the class communication page.

 Students must register for the Class Forum. Follow the directions in the email sent to you by my site, Digital Culture. There will be 5 discussion questions posted throughout the semester in the Class Forum.

During the semester:

 Course Material is spread evenly over a 17-week period. This is not self-paced course. There are weekly assignments and due dates. Please keep in touch with me! If you have problems or questions, please contact me about them. I am always available for phone calls during my office hours and will be happy to set up an appointment at another time if your schedule does not fit with those hours. You may also send email.

 It is an integral part of this course that students interact with each other as well as the instructor. There is as much communication between all of us in working together in this online class as there is in a face to face class.

 This course requires that you be prepared to do all your work at your computer. All components of your assignments will be turned in as electronic text or web pages. Most students find they need to work at least 9 hours per week to successful in this course.

 This semester you will be creating the basis of your portfolio, where you may showcase your work. Each assignment is a series of steps leading to the finished project. All of these steps are part of the project and all steps must be complete to earn a grade on each project. You will be required to hand in all the work, all the steps, involved in its creation. All components must be present for the project to receive a grade. This is explained more thoroughly on the Course Grading Policies page.

 Assignments requiring extensive correction of grammar, spelling, punctuation, and usage will be returned ungraded for editing. You will then need to make an appointment with me or contact Western's Online Writing Center to learn how to recognize and repair these errors.

 If you are a person with disabilities and require auxiliary aids, services, or other accommodations, please see me and/or Kristina Puent (608-785-9875) within ten days of the beginning of the semester, in order to discuss your needs.

 Since the final drop date varies from course to course, it is the student's responsibility to identify the drop date for each class for which the student is enrolled. Students can access this information by logging on to My Western and viewing their class schedule. When looking at the class schedule click on the calendar icon under the course number. The last day to withdraw from a class is listed as the "Drop with Penalty" date.