Chabot College
Distance Education Course Proposal Form
2007-2008
  
Course Title & Number:   Critical Reading & Composition - English 1A (Online)

Faculty Name:  Richard Cartwright

Course Delivery Method:
x   Online (all instruction is online; campus orientations/assessments may be included)
⁫  Hybrid online (instruction occurs both online and on campus)
⁫  Telecourse
⁫  Other (please describe)

First Semester To Be Offered:  To Be Determined

1. 	Need/Justification 

As a transferable course, the demand for English 1A is pronounced.  Offering it online gives additional opportunities to students who have real-life time constraints as to when it is possible to attend class.  Further, the online environment provides some students an enhanced opportunity to communicate their ideas to the rest of the class.  Such students include those who don’t participate as much or as easily due to shyness or learning disabilities.  In general, however, most students can benefit from having days rather than minutes to formulate responses to questions.  Since the overall goal of this course is to increase critical thinking skills, writing skills, as well as reading skills, giving students the opportunity to refine their answers to questions based on readings would be a boon.

2.	Course Content Delivery 

The online English 1A is a 3 semester unit course and its equivalent on-ground version would consist of approximately 54 hours of on-ground instruction.  This online version will include two two-hour on-campus meetings. The remainder of instruction will take place online using the Blackboard CMS.  The first on campus will be an Orientation during which an Intake Essay will be administered.  This serves two purposes, getting a “live” writing sample and also a baseline for each student’s writing skills.  The second class meeting will be a Final Exam meeting. The final exam also serves as a second “live” writing sample.  

While this is being proposed as an online course with two class meetings, additional class meetings, beyond these two, can be scheduled.  Several additional class meetings throughout the semester could serve as additional points of contact for students and teacher.  Students seem to respond well to these meetings, and even look forward to them as times to meet their online peers face to face.  They also serve as valuable opportunities to have discussions about course readings and such.  Students are also always full of questions about what’s coming up in the course.  

In addition to required readings, assignments, multiple paper drafts and peer reviews, each student will be expected to spend at least three hours per week on the following 

•	Group work (intermittent and varied as regards time involved)
•	Threaded discussions (2 hours minimum each week) - Each week there will be one to two discussion forums to participate in (depending on overall workload for the week in question).  Each student is required to post a 250-word initial post to each forum, using at least one quotation for support from the readings.  Each student is also required to post at least two substantive responses to his or her peers in each forum.
•	Online lectures (30 minutes minimum each week) – These will be used to supplement or clarify content found in the readings.  
•	Guided online field trips to various websites that pertain directly to the readings and discussions for a given week  (30 minutes minimum each week) – These will consist of websites or online resources used to supplement or clarify content found in the readings.
  
This does not reflect time spent preparing for class each week.  Students will also be responsible for readings, written assignments, quizzes, etc.  These assignments will be the equivalent of the standard out of class work that on ground students do. 

3. 	Nature and Frequency of Instructor-Student Interactions

Except for the two on-ground class meetings, this English 1A course will be predominantly asynchronous, though the instructor and students could potentially use Blackboard’s chat feature for synchronous communication if the need arises.  Also, holding on-ground office hours for those students that “just want to drop in” would be an option.  

In general, the instructor will be active in the course on a daily basis, and will login at least five days per week, if not more.  This includes answering student email.  Student email will be responded to within 24 hours, unless otherwise stated.   Discussion forums will be monitored on a daily basis, for the most part, and instructor feedback/interaction in the discussion forums will take place most days of the week, if not more.  While there isn’t a set number for instructor responses in the discussion forums, a conservative number would be somewhere between twenty and thirty responses for each week.  

Some students need more instructor interaction in the discussion forums than others, but it’s still important to provide feedback to all students a number of times throughout the semester, even if it’s just acknowledging a job well done.  Generally, though, students will be asked questions that prompt them to dig a bit deeper into what they’re saying or that ask for clarification on something they’ve said.  

In such cases where a student is at risk of being dropped or failing, the instructor will contact that student advising him or her of the grade situation and offering help.  At-risk students are those who repeatedly neglect posting in the discussions, as this is the primary means of tracking attendance.  An absence is when a student doesn’t post substantively in a given week.  Poor performance, outside of the discussion threads, includes repeatedly doing poorly on assignments, quizzes and tests and will be responded to accordingly with substantive instructor feedback.  

Threaded discussions are the most effective use of the online teaching environment.  This is because students and instructors are able to hold conversations, and discuss reading driven topics.  Students will have the opportunity to develop ideas with their peers and with the overall guidance of the instructor.  This is similar to the on-ground equivalent and serves much the same purpose, which is the building of a learning community and honing critical thinking skills.  

Students will read online lectures each week.  These are an important point of contact between student and teacher.  These lectures are designed to not only to supplement reading materials, but they are also a direct communication from the instructor to the student.  The instructor can react, in these lectures, to what’s happened in the previous week or weeks as far as class discussion is concerned.  The instructor can also re-enforce or clarify important concepts that may not have been thoroughly explored in the previous week.

Weekly welcome announcements will be posted.  These will, typically, refer somewhat to the previous week.  They will also have a bulleted list of important assignments and their due dates for the week in question.  A note of welcome will be right at the top of the announcement.  The tone of this message is important, as it’s the first thing students will see when they login to the course each time.  The tone will be welcoming, friendly, and encouraging.  This is done to help mitigate some of the loneliness that online students can feel.  The announcement will also be sent in email form each week, just to “remind” students who may have forgotten to login that there’s still a course there that they should login to.

Weekly online quizzes and tests can also provide immediate feedback to the student.  On a carefully crafted reading quiz or test, students can know immediately how well they have comprehended the reading for a given week or unit.  

Lastly, students will receive periodic course progress reports from the instructor, via in-class mail.  These reports serve two purposes.  They apprise a student of his or her overall grade to date, and they also serve as a means of opening up a dialog with the student.

4.	Nature and Frequency of Student-Student Interactions

Students are instructed and cautioned to follow the rules of “Netiquette” in all interactions with other students.  Feelings are easily hurt online, and following a few simple guidelines can make the difference between a smooth course and a disaster.

Quality student to student interaction is a necessary component of a good online class.  This helps students avoid feeling isolated and keeps morale up.  The other benefit is it helps keep them motivated.  

Student to student interaction happens in the three following areas, not including messaging or emails, as those are entirely up to the students themselves.  The three instructor directed areas are:

•	Peer Reviews.  Students will participate in at least two peer reviews throughout the semester.   Peer Reviews occur in the Discussion Forums.  So, students are exposed to a variety of other student writing and other student ideas.  
•	Group Work.  This will happen in one of two places, possibly both.  The “Groups” feature of Blackboard is robust and allows students to privately work together on group projects in a variety of ways.  The other option is the regular course Discussion Forums.  It’s sometimes interesting to have group discussion forums that are readable by the whole class.  Group assignments will generally follow up closely related individual assignments.  So, they are first exposed to a concept, then they do an individual assignment on it and, finally, they work together on a related group assignment.  The “group effect” can strengthen comprehension of important concepts. 
•	Discussion Forums.  The bread and butter of student to student interaction are the Discussion Forums.  Students will participate in one or two graded and directed discussions each week.  These will generally be based on the reading assignment for a given week, though not exclusively.  The knowledge, that these discussion posts are viewable by other students for the duration of a class, can be a big motivator for students to try a bit harder than they otherwise might do.  Each week there will be one to two discussion forums to participate in (depending on overall workload for the week in question).  Each student is required to post a 250-word initial post to each forum, using at least one quotation for support from the readings.  Each student is also required to post at least two substantive responses to his or her peers in each forum.

5. 	Assignments & Methods of Evaluation

Students will be given weekly online quizzes to verify that they understand key concepts in the readings, and also to help the instructor gauge where adjustments in the course may be needed.  Such quizzes will include multiple-choice, fill in the blank and short essay questions.  The midterm will be administered online while the final exam will take place at the final class meeting and must be done in-person.  The final exam will consist of an in-class essay and short answer identifications.

Four papers, one of them a research paper, will be assigned throughout the course.  All drafts will be turned in using Blackboard’s Assignment feature. The instructor (and sometimes other students) will provide feedback on student papers using a word-processing program such as MS-Word, and will come in the form of comments or suggestions in different font colors (Track Changes) and then be returned to students through the online course Gradebook.  Critical thinking receives a heavy emphasis when evaluating papers, and is central to the following set of paper grading criteria:

•	(Clarity) Is there a clear unifying thesis that fully addresses the topic in question?  Is there a clear conclusion?  Does the paper make sense?
•	(Organization) Does each paragraph reflect the unifying thesis?  Does each point belong to the paragraph it is in?
•	(Support) Do paragraphs sufficiently support the thesis?  Is there adequate evidence for each point?  Is each point analyzed sufficiently?  Does student interact with text critically?
•	(Presentation) Is the paper typed (believe it or not, some online students will try to turn in hand-written drafts when their computers blow up on them)?  Does it follow MLA guidelines for citation?  Does it have a title?

Students will also be expected to display comprehension of course content in threaded discussions.  Threaded discussions are ground-zero for this class, whether it be student to student or instructor to student.  Students will also respond to the posts of others in addition to posting their own.  This is key in the development of an online learning community.  Discussions will be graded on the following set of criteria:

•	(Clarity) Does the student answer the prompt or prompts for the discussion?
•	(Support) Does the student backup each point sufficiently with evidence from the readings or other course related materials?  

Course grades will be determined on the following breakdown:

60% - Papers (Paper #1=10%, Paper #2=10%, Paper #3=15%, Paper #4=25%)
15% - Discussion
10% - Midterm
15% - Assignments/Quizzes

6.	Technology

In order to login to Blackboard, students should have an internet connection and a computer capable of running both a word processing program, preferably MS-Word 97 or higher, and a web-browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox, preferably the most recent versions of whichever browser it is that each student chooses to use.  Students using Windows Vista will need to use Firefox, since I.E. does not work properly with Vista when it comes to Blackboard.

Students who have difficulty logging on can fill out the online help form and also seek help from the instructor.

At this time, there are no plans to use any special multimedia, beyond the occasional graphic.  Flash, podcasts, etc. can provide wonderful enhancement to an online class, but they also have some all too real ADA compliance considerations attached to them.  This is not to dismiss them entirely, but it is to say that they should be used with caution.  

7.	Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

Every reasonable effort will be made to accommodate students with disabilities.  As not all disabilities are immediately visible, the syllabus will contain a section requesting that students who need accommodation to contact the instructor and, if applicable, to provide DSRC paperwork.  In the online education environment, it is vital for the instructor to be proactive with this issue because it’s much harder to see what obstacles students are facing than it is it is in the on-ground environment.

8.	Input from Colleagues and Administrators

As you develop your proposal and build your course, please consult with your colleagues and do some background research, including the following:
x  Meet with Instructional Designer for initial consultation and Blackboard training.   
     Date(s) completed:  Previously done for English 4 approval process
x  Review of similar courses elsewhere.  Are similar courses offered at other colleges?    
     If so, note the college(s).  Los Medanos College & University of Phoenix
⁫  Meet with your Division Dean and subdivision colleagues to secure preliminary  
     support for offering this course via Distance Education.  Date completed:
⁫  Consult with other faculty experienced in DE.  With whom did you consult?  
     Michael Langdon and Pam Shen.  Date completed:  March/April 2008
x  Review your completed plan with your subdivision colleagues.  Attach a separate page 
     listing attendees, meeting date, and a summary of the recommendations or 
     reservations of your division/subdivision.

9.	Submit your proposal (electronic version via email and hard copy via campus mail
             to the chair of the DE Committee)

Faculty signature:  _______________________________     Date:   _______________

Division Dean signature:  __________________________    Date:  ________________

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