Guidelines for Appropriate Conference Participation and Assignment 3

Asynchronous online forum in each unit

 Each unit of the course includes an asynchronous online forum in which students discuss the unit content with one another and the course instructors. Your instructor evaluates your submissions to the unit conferences and your participation in the conferences affects your grade. As well as contribution to the unit conference forums there is a conference participation component of Assignment 3. Specifically you are asked to:

o Post 1-2 comments in response to classmates’ presentations in the Assignment 3 Gallery.

o Respond to classmates’ comments regarding your submission to the Assignment 3 Gallery.

General Guidelines for Appropriate Conference Participation

The following are general guidelines for your participation in the course forums:

o Select the appropriate conference in which to post your comments (see below).

o Contribute original thoughts or ideas to the conferences.

o Bring up new and related perceptions regarding issues discussed.

o Cite relevant sources to validate points made.

o Be open to divergent points of view

o Be respectful of the perceptions of others.

o Integrate material from previous units to formulate ideas and generate dialogue.

o Present responses that follow the rules of grammar and spelling.

Conference Participation Criteria

Conference participation is evaluated on the basis of the quality, quantity and timeliness of the comments that you post into the forums. Quality, quantity and timeliness must contribute to the substantive discussion of the unit content. Class participation is an essential component of this course. To score full marks on class participation, you are asked to post meaningful comments related to each unit and to participate in the participation element of assignment 3 as described above. Comments most highly evaluated are those relevant to the topic and presented in a way that expands our understanding. You may accomplish this by challenging a statement (in a humanizing way!); by posing thought-evoking questions; providing examples of a concept being discussed; or by providing additional references or resources that will assist classmates in deepening their understanding of a concept under discussion. Participation that has a positive tone and is shared in a supportive and respectful way is most desired. Refer to the Participation Marking Guide for additional direction information.

Conference Structure

Several different conferences have been created in the course for different purposes:

o Introduction conference is intended as a welcome to the course. It is a forum in which class members can introduce themselves to one another.

o Unit conferences are intended for discussion of unit content.

o Coffee House conference is a place where students can chat with one another about common interests, in an asynchronous format, that is open to all members of the class.

o Other conferences may be created by the instructor for specific purposes, for example the Assignment 3 Gallery.

It is most effective to write and save your comments in a word processing program and then copy and paste them into the conferences, rather than writing them directly into the conference forums.

Confidentiality in Conferences

The expectation is that students should feel free to actively engage in discussions and that the information will be kept in confidence, but in the event of receiving a request for access, the access is subject to the limited and specific exceptions as set out in the Alberta Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. At the conclusion of the course, the information will be retained for a period of one year.