Welcome! Academic Strategies Unit 1 Seminar

Instructor Information Instructor Elaine Boos, MATL AOL IM Name: ProfessorBoos

Course Overview This course will focus on many important skills that will help you to succeed in all of your Kaplan courses: Communication, time management, stress management, study skills, learning styles, reading strategies, effective writing, career planning and research and even critical thinking!

What makes YOU unique? Share something that will CHARACTERIZE you for us a bit. It can be funny or serious—the choice is yours!

Rules of the Road Please do not carry on any side conversations. We all need to be focused. “Listen" carefully and try to stay on track with the discussion. I will allow several opportunities for questions, so please hold your questions until I ask for them. It's difficult for us to concentrate if questions are being asked while I am talking.

Agenda General Course Expectations & Policies Technical Problems Methods of Communication Grading Criteria Assignment Requirements Late Policies Unit 1 Assignments Course Home Documents Unit 1 Reading, Discussion, Assignment & Seminar Using the Dropbox Final Comments

Reaching Your Destination Know what to expect Know what will be expected of you Know how to get to where you want to go

Technical Problems At any time during the term, if you experience any technical problems, contact Kaplan Tech Support at (option 2, then option 1).

Communication Tools tab (located across the top of your main course page) Instructor’s “Virtual Office" area (located in Course Home) AOL Instant Messenger “AIM” Course Announcements

Office Hours AOL Instant Messenger "AIM" OFFICE HOURS: Thursdays: 8:00 – 10:00 pm ET INSTRUCTOR’S AIM NAME: Professor Boos If you are not an AIM Member you can download the free service by visiting the following site:

General Questions & Kaplan Post your questions in the “Virtual Office" area of the course (located in the Course Home area) or contact me through Kaplan at any time. I log into the course on a daily basis (M-F) and check my Kaplan and the “Virtual Office" area before I do anything else. I log in once on the weekends as well, but please be prepared for slower response time if you contact me on Saturdays or Sundays.

Announcements I will be posting important weekly information in the Announcements area of the course. Check the Announcements area (located in Course Home) each time you log into the course.

Ongoing communication is extremely important in this course! Why do you think I believe this?

Course Components Seminars Reading Assignments Discussions Writing Assignments Quizzes Online Assessments Web Field Trips

Course Seminars Seminars for this course are optional. You do not earn points for attending, nor do you lose points for not attending. However, I would like to encourage you to attend as many LIVE sessions as possible. Many of my students tell me that the live Seminars are one of the most valuable components of the course—see what you think!!

Readings All course readings are built into the individual course units. Select the “Reading” tab to access each course reading. Make sure to use the arrows in the upper right-hand corner to scroll from one page of a reading to the next.

Quizzes - Assessments – Web Field Trips Unit 3 LASSI Inventory Unit 4 Anti-Plagiarism Quiz Unit 5 LASSI Modules Web Field Trips – You will be visiting different websites in our course Readings & Discussions

Course Writing Assignments Make sure to carefully follow all guidelines listed for each writing assignment. Use the required templates! Carefully proofread and Spell Check your written work. Quality counts!! IMPORTANT: There is a grading rubric for your course writing assignments included in the syllabus. The rubric outlines exactly what you must do in order to earn maximum points on your weekly writing assignments.

Discussion Board The Discussion Board is considered the HEART of the class and is where most of your learning will take place--it is worth 45% of your total course grade! The Discussion Board is like the classroom where we share experiences and discuss our ideas about the topics of the week. 45% = 450 points out of a total of 1000!!! WOW!

Discussion Board Requirements Make sure to meet the three-post requirement by posting a minimum of THREE substantial comments/responses in EACH discussion topic. Make sure to meet the three-day requirement by posting on a minimum of THREE different days during the time scheduled for the unit. For example, you might post on Wednesday, Friday and Monday. IMPORTANT: Each week, your response to the main discussion question must be made by Saturday evening. Plan ahead!!!

Discussion Board Requirements Continued… POST #1: Respond thoughtfully and thoroughly to the main discussion question each week (aim for approximately 100 words). Carefully address ALL items listed in the main discussion question. POSTS #2 & #3: Review and comment thoughtfully on your classmates’ postings and/or your instructor’s comments or questions. Plan to post a minimum of TWO additional comments in each weekly forum (aim for approximately 50 words each).

Quality Counts! Please make sure to carefully PROOFREAD each posting and use Spell Check. Use complete sentences, correct punctuation and capitalization. Avoid slang and abbreviations. Read each entry out loud to check for clarity and completeness. SHOW us that you are putting serious thought and effort into each posting.

My Challenge to YOU! Be willing to LEARN a few new things and maybe to think in different ways sometimes. "Listen" carefully to what is being said in our course discussions. EXPAND your thinking and your outlook.

Questions?

Late Discussion Board Policy Weekly Discussion Board posting are due Tuesday 11:59 pm ET of their assigned unit. After the unit deadline of Tuesday, 11:59 p.m. ET, only answers to the original Discussion Board questions will be considered; credit will not be given for replies to classmates' postings. All late Discussion Board work should be posted to the appropriate unit on the Discussion Board. If you post late, you must notify me by to let me know that you have added late postings; otherwise, you will not receive credit for your late work.

Late Writing Assignment Policy Up to one week (1-7 calendar days) late 20% deduction in points After one week (8-14 calendar days) late 30% deduction in points No work will be accepted more than two (2) weeks after the due date.

Extenuating Circumstances Extenuating Circumstances: If you have extenuating circumstances that prevent you from completing projects, quizzes, seminars or participating in the class, please contact your instructor to make alternative arrangements. The possibility of alternative arrangements is at the discretion of your instructor. Active communication is the key to overcoming any hurdles you may encounter during the term.

Instructor’s Grading Timetable Discussion Board grades will be updated each week no later than Saturday of the week following the unit’s completion. All course writing assignments will be graded within one week of their due date. Late submissions will be graded no later than one week following the date the student s the instructor notifying the instructor the work has been submitted. Students submitting late projects must the instructor to let the instructor know the late submission has been posted in the Dropbox.

Reminder! ALL of the information we have covered here is covered in the course syllabus and/or in the documents located in the Course Home area of the course.

Overview of Unit 1 Assignments See Course Menu on the far left of your main course screen Select the Course Home tab and review all items listed in this area (Syllabus, Academic Success, Atomic Learning, KHE Seminar Information, Virtual Office, Instructor Information). Select the Unit 1 tab and complete all assignments listed in this area: >>>>>Unit 1 Reading >>>>>Unit 1 Discussion >>>>>Unit 1 Assignment >>>>>Unit 1 Seminar

Course Section On each assignment template, you will be asked to include your course section. You will find the course section listed on the Instructor Information document. Section: ______05_______

Using the Dropbox Step I. Save your document in Word using the following format: YourName-CS113 -Unit 1- Project Step II: Select the “Dropbox” tab—located across the top of your course main page in between the “Doc Sharing” and “Webliography” tabs. Step III: Upload your file by completing all of the following: Click "Submit an Assignment". Using the drop-down box, choose the assignment. Make sure you have used the correct format for your project. Click "Add Attachments". Click "Browse..." Go to the folder on your computer that contains your projects. Click on the correct document. The file name should now appear. Click "Attach file". Wait for the file to upload. Step IV: Click "Ok". Your project has now been submitted

Seminar Transcript Enter the KHE Seminar area after this seminar ends and you should be able to access the link to a full transcript of this seminar (audio and written). This will be available all term. You may select the HISTORY button now (lower left corner) to view the full written transcript as well.

Questions?

Final Comments I want you all to know that I really do want EACH one of you to SUCCEED in this course and here at Kaplan as well. I will do everything in my power to help make this a productive and successful term for you. YOU must do your part here by working hard and making sure to COMMUNICATE with me on an ongoing basis. If you need my help, ask for it. I can’t help you if I don’t know what you need.

Instructor Contact Information AOL IM Name: ProfessorBoos