| NSM 21 - Becoming an Educated Person (Savage Earth) | ||||
| Course Syllabus | Course Schedule | Assignments | Department Home Page | Kusnick Home Page |
Course Description:
NSM 21 is a freshman seminar intended to provide students with an introduction to the nature and possible meanings of higher education, and the functions and resources of the University. This course is designed to help students develop and exercise fundamental academic success strategies and to improve their basic learning skills. The seminar will also provide students with the opportunity to interact with fellow students and the seminar leader and to build a community of academic and personal support.
Course Goals and Learning Objectives:
1.Enlarging the understanding of the ideas and values related to education, which will include:
2. Demonstration of active learning and improvement of intellectual skills:
3. Developing information competence and computer literacy
4. Demonstrating an understanding of "self" as an integrated biological, psychological and social being:
5. Acquisition of organized knowledge:
Required Text and Materials:
Format: Most of the class will be discussion, small group activities and field trips around the campus. Attendance is mandatory at all class sessions.
Required work: Your grade will be based on written assignments, an oral presentation, a midterm exam, a final exam, and participation.
Exams: There will be one midterm exam. The exam will consist of short answer questions and essays. Short answer questions typically require recall of information and can be answered in a paragraph to half a page. Essays require synthesis and application of information, often pulling information from multiple sources, making arguments and providing evidence. Essays should be one to two pages. For each exam, you will find a list of potential exam questions at the "EXAM" link on the course schedule. I will select the questions for that exam from that list, so if you prepare answers to those questions, you should do well in the course. WARNING: because you have the questions in advance, I expect very high quality answers. See below for the grading standard.
Final: The final is the same format as the exams, but about twice as long, and comprehensive. It will draw on the unused potential questions from the midterm exam, as well as a list of questions from the second half of the course.
Written assignments: There are three kinds of written assignments. Assignments are due at the beginning of class on Tuesday.
Response Papers: due most weeks. You will find your reading assignments on the Course Schedule. Each listed assignment is actually a link to a Reading Guide for that assignment. The Reading Guide will include a few short questions about the reading, and usually one longer question. Response Papers are due on Tuesday at the beginning of class, and are your ticket for participating in class discussions. If you arrive without a Response Paper in hand, I will have you sit in the back of the class and finish the reading while the discussion is going on.
Sample essays: due a couple times. To develop your ability to write a critical essay, you will be working throughout the semester on drafts of a final essay for the course. You will work on sections of the essay as we go along, then combine them to form a first draft, which you will revise and submit at the end of the semester.
Assorted Homework: due many weeks. Some of your homework will not be centered on the reading. Sometimes you will need to visit somewhere on campus; sometimes you will practice a learning strategy in your Natural Disasters course. Sometimes the homework is simply to turn in work done in class. Some homework is graded out of 10 points. Some is graded simply on a done/not done basis.
Oral presentation: This course is tied to Geology7, Natural Disasters in a Learning Community. To practice your oral presentation skills, you will give a brief presentation sometime during the semester on This Week on Earth, complete with a soundtrack. Go to the Assignments page for instructions for the presentation..
Participation: It is absolutely essential that you attend all class meetings and all meetings with your Peer Mentor. Mandy and I will both keep attendance records. In addition, you must participate in activities on campus. Use the checklist to verify your participation.
Late assignments and Rewrites: During the semester, you may rewrite and resubmit up to 5 assignments for a higher grade. Any assignment handed in late counts as one of your rewrites. I will not accept any work later than one week after the due date.
Makeup Exams: Makeups for missed exams are very difficult to arrange, and will only be available if
1. You have a Real Good Reason (illness, accident, serious family emergency, jail). I may need verification depending on the reason (i.e., kidnapped by aliens).
2. You inform me on or before the day of the exam that you have an emergency. You can always leave a message for me on my office phone, or call me at home in the evening. No call, no makeup.
Grade breakdown:
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Grading Standard: Exams
A: Answer completely addresses question. Answer completely explains answer, contains requested details, and illustrates mastery of the concept. For short answer questions, the requested information is complete and well-explained. For essays, the answer provides evidence for every argument, synthesizes information from different readings, and clearly distinguishes between the author's opinion and your opinion. Neither short answer questions nor essays must be written as expository writing; charts, annotated lists and illustrations may be appropriate as long as they completely answer the question.
B: Answer competently addresses the question. The answer may be lacking a bit of explanation or a few details. Some less important information may not be quite correct. "B" answers for short answer questions typically are missing a piece of requested information or explanation of the information. "B" quality essays are typically lacking some evidence or contain a bit of incorrect information.
C: Answer adequately addresses the question. "C' quality short answers are typically missing one piece of important information, missing a significant amount of explanation, or contain some incorrect information. "C" quality essays typically are missing significant amounts of explanation or evidence, or do not synthesize information well.
D: Answer is inadequate. "D" quality short answers typically are missing about a third of the relevant information, or lack explanation. "D" quality essays do not synthesize information, do not provide evidence for arguments, or fail to address a large portion of the question. Because essays require synthesis and application of knowledge, simply doing a "brain dump" of all the information you know about a topic will result in a "D" grade. Each essay must contain the relevant information shaped into an evidence-based response to the question to be considered adequate.
F: Answer is very inadequate. "F" quality short answers contain less than 60% of the required information, with very little explanation. They typically include significant incorrect information. "F" quality essays contain little or no evidence, little or no synthesis, and very little relevant information.