Chabot College
Online Course Proposal Form
Fall 2012

Course Title & Number:  Anthro 3: Social/Cultural Anthropology

Faculty Name:	        Lakhbir Singh

Course Delivery Method:Hybrid online (instruction occurs both online and on campus)

First Semester To Be Offered:  Summer/Fall 2012

1.		Preliminary Input from Colleagues and Administrators

	Had beneficial meetings with faculty, like Ramona Silver, Rani Nijjar, Rick Moniz, AldrianEstepa, and Donald Plondke, etc.

2.	       Develop Proposal And Consult With Colleagues:

a.	Consult with other faculty experienced in DE. With whom did you consult?

Supplement# 1, is attached, herewith.

b.	Review your completedproposal with your subdivision colleagues.

Supplement # 2, is attached, herewith.

3.	Student Benefits

•	How will this course meet student needs?  Are there learning opportunities made possible in an online or hybrid online course that might not be available in a traditional course?  
•	If this course has previously been offered at Chabot using this delivery method, what have you learned from prior instructors that will influence your instruction in this course?

Anthropology familiarizes the students to the erudition of humans as cultural beings. The course will trace the broad range of topics on the basis of cultural diversities. Anthro 3 (Social/Cultural Anthropology) fulfills Chabot’s Social and Behavioral Science requirement and CSU; UC; CSU/GE Area D1 and the IGETC; Area 4A for AA/AS.

The need for additional Anthro 3 (Social/Cultural Anthropology) course in Online format is based on, at least, following main issues:

First, students who attend community colleges often have to work to earn their lively hood and thus need a flexible schedule to maneuver both a job and their study.  Second, a mother can take the course online, and as well take care of her children without any outside help. This Online course will meet their requirements for transfer to universities and yet still provide care for their children. Third, there are always some students whom the traditional class room setting uncomfortable for their needs because of one reason or the other. The online course instruction may offer them a different interface that would alleviate their stress. And finally, offering an Anthro 3 (Social/Cultural Anthropology) course in an Online format will definitely allow for a greater use of resources that would otherwise not be available in a traditional classroom setting.
On the basis of the other courses already imparted the student success is very high in Hybrid Format.

4.	Course Content Delivery
•	What percentage of the course will be on-campus, if any?  What percentage of the course will consist of online lecture, video, podcasts, email, supplemental websites, CD-ROM, etc.?  

•	Will any portion of your course be synchronous, requiring students to be online at the same time?  If so, describe those activities, and how you will provide flexibility for students who may be unable to participate at any given time.

The total number of contact hours in the course should approximate the equivalent number of hours required in an on-campus setting. For example, a 3 -unit course, typically, meets on campus for 54 contact hours of instruction, assessment, discussion, and group activities etc. In the Carnegie unit system, students are expected to invest two hours ‘outside of class’ for every hour in Social/Cultural Anthropology class on reading, studying, preparing assignments, and other homework.

Anthro 3: (Social/Cultural Anthropology) is a 3 unit lecture class focusing on anthropological perspectives on human cultural evolution and introducing the student to theory and method in Social/Cultural Anthropology. This course will be offered through PowerPoint presentation, quizzes and assignments (equivalent to 27 lecture hours) accessed by students online through Blackboard. The students will discuss, using Blackboard Discussion tool, topic drawn from the text. Besides, the student will meet, face to face, with the instructor, on the campus for 27 lecture hours to complete a total of 54 hours of teaching instructions.

5.	Nature and Frequency of Instructor-Student Interactions

•	How and how frequently will you interact with your students?  This should include interactions with the entire class, providing feedback on assignments, and interventions when students are at-risk of dropping or failing due to poor performance or participation.
•	For each type of interaction, describe why you believe it will be effective for this particular course. 

Discussion Boards: 
Student interaction will be facilitated through a weekly discussion question posted by instructor on Blackboard.

Project Collaboration/Sharing

The students will interact with each other in the following methods:

a.	Cooperative learning assignments on the discussion board.
b.	Group exercises that require problem solving and brainstorming.
c.	Peer review of essays.
d.	Whole Class discussions where students can post threads with discussion questions and off peer responses.
e.	Students will be given certain assignments and projects as part of the course requirement, which will be encouraged to share through the Discussion Board experience, problems and solutions they encounter in their project observation, research and write up.
f.	Quick responses to texts and short writing prompts on the Discussion board.
g.	Blogs with required peer comments.
For more in-depth or personal sharing of responses and peer editing smaller groups of about four or more will be more appropriate. It is, generally, recommended keeping small groups together for an extended amount of time to give learners a chance to develop good learning relationship. Additionally, it is important to note that online learning is intensely learner centered. Thus an online course, especially, a course in Anthropology, requires that the instructor be sure to create an online learning environment that encourages students to interact with each other.
I will try to provide extra time and opportunity to the students who are at- risk of dropping or failing due to poor performance or participation. I will try to make extra appointments with them and try to resolve their concern, may be economic, social, family and academic, etc.

6.	Nature and Frequency of Student-Student Interactions
Describe opportunities in your course for student to student interaction.  This may include discussions, group projects, peer review of assignments, and other approaches.  Consider how students interact in this course when taught on campus; how can you build this type of learning community online?

             The students will interact with each other in the following methods:

a.	Cooperative learning assignments on the discussion board
b.	Group exercises that require problem solving and brainstorming.
c.	Peer review of essays.
d.	Whole class discussions where students can post threads with discussion questions and offer peer responses.
e.	Quick responses to texts and short writing prompts on the discussion board.
f.	Blogs with required peer comments.

7. 	Assessment of Student Learning

•	How will you assess learning in this course?  Given the nature of online courses, how does your assessment plan ensure a level of academic integrity with which you’re comfortable?  

•	Describe how your assessment plan is consistent with your stated goals in the student benefits and student-student interactions sections of your proposal.  How will you provide feedback to students?

Authentic assessment in an online learning requires that the instructor develop methods of assessment that measure how students evolve as learners through the course. Therefore it is important to require different types of assessments that targets different kinds of learning. Also, these assessments must directly address the course texts and relate to the overall learning outcome of the course.

The final grade of the students is determined on the basis of 500 points, possible, distributed across a variety of deliberations as follow:
Midterm 1:									100 points
Midterm 2:									100 points
Final Exam:									150 points
Research Paper/PowerPoint Presentation/Field Exercise/Poster 
Presentation:    								50 points
Assignments/Quizzes/Attendance/ Interaction with the 
Class/Participationin the Discussion Board:					100 points						
Total                                                                                                                500 points

8.	Technology
•	Describe any special software or multimedia tools you plan to utilize in your course (Articulate, Camtasia, Captivate, Flash, Podcasts, Videocasts, etc.).  This is helpful to determine technology support needs.

The instructor is working with Ramona Silver, Lisa Ulibarri, MintaWinsor,Rick Moniz, Donald Plondke, Rani Nijjar, and others, to develop a user-friendly, accessible and engaging Social/Cultural Anthropology (Anthro3) course site on Blackboard.

9.	Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

•	Is any required video close-captioned?  Is any required audio accompanied by a transcript?  If you plan to use any multimedia (video, podcasts, specialized software), is that accessible to your students in terms of both software availability at home and on campus and accessible for students with disabilities?   Have you provided alt-tags for your key images used in your course?  Please meet with the DSRC if you need help in ensuring accessibility for your students.

Just as acoincidence, I had the privilege to teach the Lab. class in theSummer of 2010, to a student who was speaking and hearing and visually impaired. The DSRC helped me in arranging different interpreters. I also arranged different material and tests for her. I am glad that my student, her interpreters and the DSRC staff were,unambiguously,satisfied.
Again, I will endeavor to work with my colleagues, the DSRC staff and the disabled students to achieve the modalities best suited to individual student needs. As the time will demand, I will continue to do as I receive feedback on accommodation issues and shape my Hybrid Online instructions.

I may generate some short podcasts and vodcasts to explain certain concepts to my students. If I do so I will make sure that they are close-captioned and I will also provide a written, word for word, transcripts of the podcasts and the vodcasts. 

10.	Submit your proposal (electronic version via email and hard copy via campus mail)
to the chair of the Committee on Online Learning.

Faculty Signature:  _______________________________     Date:   _______________

Division Dean Signature:  __________________________    Date:  _______________

Online/Hybrid Proposal Form Addendum:                                Committee On Online Learning/Chabot College

What are Actual Contact Hours?
The total number of contact hours in your course should approximate the equivalent number of hours required in an on-campus setting.  For example, a 3-unit course typically meets on campus for 54 contact hours of instruction, assessment, discussion, and group activities, (Note: Instructional Hours are 50 minutes long).  In the Carnegie unit system, students are also expected to invest two hours “outside of class” for every hour in class on reading, studying, preparing assignments, and other homework; these additional hours are not considered to be “contact hours”. Thus, you will need to account for the actual contact hours in your proposal.

In accounting for contact hours an instructor needs to consider how each hour will be dispersed throughout each week of his/her online or hybrid course. In addition, students should be expected to spend two preparatory hours “outside of class” per every contact hour. 

The following chart illustrates some sample activities for an online class.  These are suggestions and each instructor would use whichever activities, best suited to the type of course and discipline being offered:

Contact Hour or “In-class” Activities	
Read lectures/ content	
Participate in Discussion Board Forums	
Assessments – quizzes, tests, surveys	
Presentations From the Instructor	
View multimedia content	
Group Problem Solving	
Transformative Learning Activities in class: Responding to other learners in regard to certain questions that challenge a learner’s perspective on key issues in the course materials.	
Reading another Student’s Blog	
Posting feedback, Reading student posts, and Peer Reviewing other Student’s papers on the discussion board or group forum.	
Group Projects that include multiple posts to each group member within their designated group forum space.	
“In class” reading of short texts, scenarios or quick discussion questions.	
Reading another student’s presentation. (This would be the equivalent of listening and viewing a student presentation in a face-to-face class.)	
Constructivist Assignments that target real-life applications for class discussion on the Discussion Board.	

Therefore, in preparing the online or hybrid proposal an instructor will need to explain how each instructional hour will be implemented throughout each week of his/her online or hybrid course.  This can be done using percentages or actual hourly increments.  For example an instructor may determine that 25 percent of his/her course will offer lectures and presentations, (13.5 contact hours), while another 25 percent of the contact hours will be used in constructivist assignments or asynchronistic discussion and peer responses, (13.5 contact hours).  These are the same kinds of methods of instructional contact that are often used in a face-to-face class.

However, there are certain learning activities that may not meet the criteria of actual “contact hours”.
This chart reflects instructional, preparatory “outside of class” activities that in some cases would not necessarily be considered actual contact hours.  

Preparatory or “Outside of Class” Activities	
Read Textbooks	
Research	
Preparing assignments	
Viewing an internet site for one’s own research purposes.	
Individual Reflective Writing	
Journaling	
Writing /Composing a Blog	
Analyzing another student’s ideas individually.	
Using a WIKI for posting ideas to other class members in preparation for a Group Project.	
Outside reading of additional texts pertaining to the course subject matter as homework preparation.	
Preparing an individual class presentation.	
Reviewing class notes.	

In summary, “contact hours” are usually those segments of instructional time where the student is actively engaged in learning activities and would reflect the same type of instruction implemented in a traditional face-to-face classroom.  Therefore, instructors are encouraged to offer a clear breakdown of “contact hours” in the section of the proposal entitled, “Course Content Delivery”.

Appendix 2

I was in contactwith my colleague, MireilleGiovanola, Professor of Anthropology, with respect to review the completed proposal for Hybrid Course in Anthro 3 (Social/Cultural Anthropology). She gave me valuable suggestions and advices, which I have incorporated in the final proposal. I am glad that I am able to do so.