Course Syllabus

Instructor Contact

Kate Gougoutas

• I am available Monday through Saturday via the Canvas Inbox.
• Or if you are having difficulty logging into Canvas I can be reached at anne.gougoutas@mail.ccsf.edu 
• I will respond within 24-48 hours of your message.
• I will hold online office hours 15 minutes before and after our Zoom meetings

Building Community

My goals for this course are to work together to build a community of trust, partnership, and mutual support.  Think of our class as a place where we can share our strengths, acknowledge our challenges, work hard and have fun while learning.

The heart of the online portion of most online classes are the discussion forum. Each week you and your classmates will analyze and discuss the issues that come up in the material. Discussions are designed to encourage contact between you and your classmates and provide a means for you to help each other as you work together toward common goals. I will be an active participant in the discussions, reading all your posts and responding to several students each week to further discussion and clarify comments.

Instructor Announcements 

The instructor will post announcements on the “Instructor Announcements” page in Canvas throughout the semester. Canvas notifies students according to their preferred Notification Preferences as soon as the instructor creates an Announcement. 

Q&A Forum

• A “Q&A Forum” is located in Module 0. This forum is for you to ask for assistance from your classmates or the instructor.

A high school history survey of the eras between the Civil War and the Eve of the Great Depression. Fulfills Social Science Core high school credits. Complies with Historical Thinking Standards from National Center for History and Common Core Standards. Because the course is online, attendance is counted through both online Zoom meetings and online activity.  

Official Course Outline of Record

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Employ historical thinking skills such as the ability to evaluate evidence about the past from a variety of sources.
2. Identify and discuss the key intellectual, cultural, social, economic and political factors in the United States History from the mid 1860s to the late 1920s.
3. Discuss, explain and analyze key similarities and differences in the experiences of different groups in the United States from the mid 1860s to the late 1920s (e.g. gender, ethnicity, indigenous, immigrant groups, women, and class).

Class Meetings

Synchronous Zoom meetings take place Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 AM to 10 AM in our Zoom virtual classroom.

Open Educational Resource Textbook

OpenStax U.S. History

Canvas

Students will use the Canvas Learning Management system [for assignment instructions, submitting assignments, viewing classmates' work, sharing resources, and viewing grades].  I can help with the course material and with some Canvas issues. But, if you need help uploading an assignment or with the mechanics of Canvas, Canvas help is the number to call.

For 24/7 help with Canvas call: 1-844-592-2198.

Required Software

• Adobe Reader (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
• Update your browser (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Important Dates

• Day Class Begins: Tuesday, August 18, 2020
• Day Class Ends: Thursday, December 17, 2020

• Weekly Due Dates

  There are two standard due dates each week.

  1. Initial assignments such as note-taking and the first discussion post are due as early as possible in the week, no later than Thursday at 11:59 pm.
  2. Discussion reply posts, online quizzes and written, document based assessments are due at the close of the week, before Sunday at 11:59 pm.

  To help you complete the course successfully, I ask that you strive to meet deadlines, especially in our discussion posts. If life events interrupt your work in this class, I will work with you! Please contact me as soon as possible so I can help you catch up and provide as much support as possible.

  If you recognize a due date might be a problem, advocate for your success by following these steps:

  1. Identify the problem
  2. Contact me to propose a solution
  3. Let’s negotiate

  Life happens...good communication is key to working out reasonable solutions or accommodations.

Attendance/Drop Policy

Good time management skills are especially important in remote instruction because your independent online activities, as well as online Zoom meetings, count as attendance. Our online meetings happen on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 AM to 10 aM. Your independent online work can take place any time that works for you, provided that you meet the two weekly due dates (see “Important Due Dates” below).  You should plan to commit at least 3 hours per week to your Canvas activities outside of our online meetings.

Posting to our weekly discussions and responding to classmates' posts constitutes the greatest portion of your online "attendance" requirement.  Weekly discussion forums on Canvas are the heart of the online portion of our course.  They are designed to encourage contact between you and your classmates and provide a means for you to help each other as you work together toward common goals. In addition, I use them to tailor my weekly lectures to your experiences and needs.

In order to stay enrolled, students must remain active in both zoom meetings and with online Canvas lessons.  If I don't hear from you at all (no posts to the weekly discussion, absent for online meetings, and no direct communication with me) for two consecutive weeks, I will assume you needed to drop the class.

Students will receive a courtesy email when they have become deficient in one module in order to get caught up. 

Late Policy

I know you are most likely juggling work and family in addition to your education, so I want to be as supportive as possible.  

Because of this, with the exception of Discussion posts, I will accept late work without taking away any points. I do appreciate some short communication letting me know when you hope to turn it in. Work that is turned in on time will be graded within a week.  Work that is turned in late will be corrected at my discretion, although usually within two weeks. 

Late initial discussion posts will be deducted 10%. If you miss points for one or two discussions it will not affect your grade very much, but if you miss more than that it will lower your grade. 

Realize that late work adds to your workload and mine, so please try to stay ahead of the due dates. When you are late for one assignment and need to catch up, giving you less time to complete the next assignment, this can have a “snowball effect”. Sometimes there's no help for it; you must prioritize something else over this class, but I do suggest that you consider whether the snowball effect will actually make things more difficult in the long run.

Modules

The course is structured around modules, which are units of learning chunked into Content Pages, Activities and Assessments.  Some modules are one week and some are two weeks.

Methods of Evaluation

Content Pages will have embedded, interactive comprehension challenges that will be marked for participation.  More formal graded assignments are Discussions, Video Activities (Edpuzzle), and Document Inquiries.  Document inquiries ask you to answer Guided Questions on primary sources and then complete a Written Assessment. All of these assignments should be completed after reading the textbook assignments in the content modules. 

Grading Policy

Visit the “Grades” in Canvas to keep track of your grades. I post grades and comments in the online Canvas gradebook.

 How do I view my grades, teacher comments, and an assignment rubric as a student?

Grades will be assigned as follows: 

An “F” grade indicates that a student attended, participated and completed the course but failed to master the course curriculum.

A “W” grade indicates that the student was absent from both weekly on-site meetings and online Canvas lessons  (no posts to the weekly discussion, absent for face to face, and no direct communication with the teacher) for two consecutive weeks or more.

Students with physical, visual, communication or learning disabilities that require special assistance to participate in this course should contact the Office of Programs and Services for Students with Disabilities – commonly known as DSPS.  The DSPS office at Mission Campus is located in Room 174. Their phone number is 415-920-6038.  Please let me know how I can support you.  All information is confidential.  Please see the DSPS website for more information and alternate locations.

Students who register in CCSF classes are required to abide by the CCSF Student Code of Conduct.  Violation of the code is basis for referral to the Student Conduct Coordinator or dismissal from class or from the College. See the Office of Student Affairs.

Collaborating on or copying of tests, essays or homework in whole or in part will be considered an act of academic dishonesty and result in a grade of 0 for that test or assignment. I encourage students to share information and ideas, but not their work.  You may struggle to express your ideas in writing, but trust that your teacher understands the difficulty and that your writing will improve little by little if you continue to practice. If you plagiarize, which means copying other people’s words or drawings without giving them credit, including downloading something from the internet, even if you pay for it, you are denying yourself the opportunity to improve and to develop your own style of writing.

See these links on plagiarism:

Encourage Academic Integrity and Prevent Plagiarism

Citing Information Sources

Student Expectations 

You will succeed in this course if you meet the following expectations:

• Complete the assigned activities. Please let me know as soon as you can concerning difficulties that you may have in getting assignments in on time. 
• Complete the discussion posts and replies within the given window of time. Our discussions are much more vibrant when we all participate!
• Arrive on time - for our online meetings, please log in 5 minutes early to account for technical difficulties.  Habitual tardiness will result in lost participation points and will negatively affect your grade.  Please talk to me if you have a valid reason why you must be late or leave early from our Zoom meetings. 
•  Practice respect - Be kind and respectful and always use language that supports others, both in our online discussions and in our Zoom meetings. 
• Think critically about the weekly topics. Is something surprising? Is it new to you? How does it contrast with what you know about XYZ or how does it compare to ABC? 

Instructor Expectations

Here is what you can expect of me:

• I will respond to your email or message within 24 hours during the week, unless I inform you otherwise.
• I will treat you and your ideas with respect.
• I will grade your Course Journal and Discussion posts and replies most often within 48 hours. (If you have posted late work, it may take longer.) Grades on the final project and final exam will be done within a week.
• You will see your grades in the Canvas Gradebook.
• I will work hard to make this a great class.