OFFICE: Library East (LIBE) 148 (hallway suite number: 125)
TELEPHONE: office/voice mail: (562) 985-5854 fax: (562) 985-7135
E-MAIL: jvancamp@csulb.edu
OFFICE HOURS: Wednesday: 10:00 a.m.- 12:00 noon and by appointment
VIRTUAL OFFICE HOURS: By appointment (Beachboard Chat Room)

University General Education requirements for IC (Interdisciplinary) courses include "substantial writing" throughout the semester, with the first writing assignment no later than the fifth week of the semester. The course requirements and syllabus are designed to meet these University requirements.

Beachboard (aka Blackboard or CourseInfo) is required for this course. You must obtain a CSULB e-mail address and be registered for the course to use Beachboard. http://beachboard.csulb.edu/

Virtual Classroom: We will meet in person on Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m. in our classroom. Instead of an in-person meeting on Mondays, we will have "virtual classroom" activities in which you can participate from Wednesday night through Tuesday at noon, using Beachboard.

The semester grade will be based on one short essay paper; two open-book essay exams (midterm and final); five on-line quizes; in-class attendance; a final project consisting of a Web page, and several on-line technology assignments, for a total of up to 100 points.

SHORT PAPER  Due: Wednesday, September 28 at classtime (12 points) (+ 4 extra credit points for revision)

You will write a 5 page essay (1000 words) analyzing a short reading. The assignment will be posted on Beachboard September 21. Turn in the word-processing file to the Beachboard Dropbox by 12:30 p.m. on September 28 and bring 5 hard-copy print-outs to class 9/28.  These will be used in a discussion group at that class to critique each other's papers. Revised papers based on the critiques are due no later than Tuesday, 10/4 at noon in the Beachboard Dropbox, for up to 4 bonus points for improvement. In order to be eligible for the 4 bonus points, you MUST attend class and participate in a discussion group on September 28. Your revised paper MUST indicate (with bold-faced or red type) your changes.

MID-TERM ESSAY EXAM Wednesday, October 19 -- (12 points)

The exam will be an open-book essay exam on substantive course materials to date. You will be asked to analyze one brief reading using principles developed to that point in the readings and class. As many graduate, professional, and law schools now allow students to take in-class exams on laptops, you may take it on a laptop in our classroom for practice, if your laptop can create a PC disk or you have wireless web capability and can send it to the Dropbox from our classroom.

FINAL ESSAY EXAM Wednesday, December 14: 12:30-2:30 p.m. (12 points)

The "virtual exam" will be an open-book essay exam on Unit III. You will be asked to analyze one brief reading using principles developed in the readings and class. You must be logged into the Internet from any computer (campus lab, home, office). Exam available on Beachboard at 12:30 and due in Beachboard Dropbox at 2:30.

ON-LINE QUIZZES (20 points)

You will take five open-book one-hour quizzes on Beachboard over the course plagiarism policy and selected readings. Please see the syllabus for the deadlines.  Quizes become available on Wednesdays immediately after class, with a deadline the following Tuesday at 12 noon.  You will immediately know your score.  Correct answers and class results will be posted late Tuesday after the quiz has closed.

FINAL PROJECT Written plan (4 points); web page (12 points)

For your final course project, you will select a public policy issue of interest to you that raises philosophical and legal questions. Appropropriate issues might include stem cell research, capital punishment, euthanasia, torture, terrorism and civil liberties, etc. (Topics we study in the course are not allowable.) You will be required to identify source materials from the public World Wide Web (using WWW search engines). Your written proposal for your topic and preliminary sources is due in the Dropbox Tuesday, November 8. Your Web page from this material will be due on-line ("published to the Web") by Tuesday, November 29 at 12 noon, and must include at least 1000 words of your own analysis and discussion of the issue, plus at least six hyperlinks to relevant material on the public Web (not the CSULB electronic resources). Complete step-by-step instructions for web-authoring are available on-line and optional in-person training will be available in our classroom Monday, November 21.

Grading: 12 point assignments and exams
 

Grade	Points	Grade	Points	Grade	Points	Grade	Points
A+	12	B+	9	C+	6	D+	3
A	11	B	8	C	5	D	2
A-	10	B-	7	C-	4	D-	1

Make-up exams and late papers will be permitted only for serious illness and mandatory University policies. A physicians' note will be required for illness. If you will need to take a make-up exam or submit a late paper, you must leave a message on voice mail (985-5854) no later than 12 noon the day of the exam or paper deadline. Your message must include a telephone number where I can reach you later that day and the next day to schedule the make-up exam.

TECHNOLOGY ASSIGNMENTS: In addition to the requirements above, you will complete several on-line assignments for your "virtual classroom" work to familiarize yourself with various elements of technology you are likely to encounter in post-baccalaureate studies and your career. Please see the Reading Schedule for exact assignments and deadline.

E-MAIL INTRODUCTIONS: Deadline: September 6-noon (2 points): Send e-mail to the entire class introducing yourself, major career goals, using the Beachboard Class e-mail list to the entire class under "Communication."

ON-LINE DISCUSSION GROUP: Deadline: September 20-noon (2 points): Participate in a threaded on-line discussion group on the readings on Mill and American Booksellers. To receive the maximum points, you should respond substantively and thoughtfully to all of the readings for that week, as well as to the other students in the group, and you should log on at least twice to respond to student comments about your first contribution.

BRIEFING A CASE: Deadline: October 25-noon (4 points): Prepare a legal outline/brief of Lawrence v. Texas (2003) and submit the word-processed document to the Beachboard Dropbox. Use the outline format in "How to Read a Court Decision" on the class site on Beachboard.

LEXIS RESEARCH: Deadline: November 1-noon (4 points): Use Lexis-Law Reviews on the CSULB Electronic Databases to find one law review article on the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas. Send complete citation and two-sentence abstract to instructor by e-mail.

WEB PAGE CRITIQUE: Deadline: Decenber 6-noon (2 points): Write a brief constructive critique of two student web pages form the class which have not been discussed in the in-person class; send by 'select users' e-mail on Beachboard to the Web page author and the instructor.

REGULAR ATTENDANCE: (10 points)

To encourage regular attendance at in-person classes, additional points will be available for the course grade total. Attendance will be taken 10 times at in-person classes. You will receive 1 point for each class you attend. Excused absences will be awarded according to the same make-up policies for exams and papers (see above). Attendance may be taken in several ways, e.g., by sign-in lists at any time during the class or by having students write a question from the day's material on a piece of paper.

TOTAL WEEKLY COMMITMENT OF TIME TO THIS COURSE: Ordinarily, in a college-level course, for each one hour of class, students should spend two hours of time in preparation. For a "traditional" 3-unit course, students should expect to spend, on average, each week, three hours in the lectures, and six hours in reading, studying, and writing, for a total of nine hours. For this experimental course using extensive on-line materials, you should also expect to spend a total of nine hours each week, although much of it will be in active participation in on-line reading and discussion.

FINAL LETTER GRADES for the course will be assigned as follows:
 

Course Grade	Points
A	84-102
B	72-83
C	51-71
D	29-50

Up to 102 points are available (see "maximum" in chart below). The cut-offs for final letter grades were calculated based on the following "hypothetical" students. But the final grade will be strictly a matter of the total points accumulated, however you accumulate them. (I.e., you do not need to "match" the distribution of the hypothetical student -- all that matters for the final course grade is the point total you accumulate this semester.)

Credit/No Credit students must take both exams and must accumulate sufficient points for a "C" for the course total (51).

Cheating and Plagiarism: The CSULB Policy on Cheating and Plagiarism will be followed strictly. (See Fall 2005 Schedule of Classes, pp. 51-52.) Students who have any questions or uncertainty whatsoever about this policy are responsible for meeting individually with the instructor to discuss the policy. Students found to be cheating on any exam, quiz, or other course element will be FAILED for the COURSE and may be reported to the Office of Judicial Affairs for possible probation, suspension, or expulsion.

DEADLINE FOR COURSE WITHDRAWAL: Last day to drop the course and not have a "W" appear on permanent record: Monday, September 12.

NOTE: Drops after September 12 require the signature of the instructor and department chair; there will be a "W" on the transcript

DEADLINE FOR CREDIT/NO CREDIT OPTION: Last day to change grade status to Credit/no credit; last day to add courses: Monday, September 19

DEADLINE TO DROP WITHOUT SIGNATURE OF COLLEGE DEAN: Friday, November 18

Last updated: August 12, 2005