Evaluation and Grading
Your grade in the course will be based on:
Class Participation 25 pts
Online Participation (Moodle) 25 pts
Annotated Bibliography on a Health Policy Strategy for Eliminating Racial Health Disparities 50 pts
In-Class Participation
This is a cooperative participatory learning class. That means that your absence effects the learning of others. Consequently, missing classes significantly affects your grade.
In general, missing more than 3 classes will significantly effect your class participation grade. However, class participation means more than showing up for class. Class participation includes actively participating in class including being adequately prepared.
Attendance is required. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class hour. Students who are not seated and prepared to begin class when attendance is taken will be counted as tardy. A tardy counts as an absence.
"Excused absence" shall mean documented illness of self, documented illness of child, school-sponsored participation in competitions, or a family emergency. "Family Emergency" is limited to death or catastrophic occurrence affecting the student's immediate family or closely-extended family. Flat tires and similar automotive failures, computer problems, speeding tickets, work, interviews, court dates, etc. are per se unexcused absences.
Class Participation requires presence during the entire class period. Students should not leave the classroom once class has begun except in emergencies.
Class Participation requires attention. Students should refrain from engaging in activities that are disruptive to the class. Professional conduct requires that students refrain from eating, talking or laughing while others are speaking, passing notes, playing games, reading newspapers, or in any other manner disrupting the educational process by being rude or inattentive. Students acting in an unprofessional manner will be asked to leave the classroom and will be counted absent for that class. During small group, simulations and large group discussion all computers should be closed. When laptop use is permitted, the only permissible use is note-taking Surfing the web is by definition NOT paying attention. You may not use Blackberries, Treos, mobile phones, and other handheld devices. You must turn off such devices before coming to class. If your cell phone rings during class you will be asked to leave and the day will be count as an absence.
Class Participation requires preparation. Occasional inability to complete the assignments is understandable. Missing more than 3 problems will affect your problem grade. If you are not prepared for class by having your problem completed before class, your class participation grade will be considered unprepared.
Daily class participation grade will be evaluated based on a combination of
your self evaluation my evaluation and other student evaluations or Karma Points.
Karma Points - Class Participation
Rules
You may award up to 6 Karma Points to other students whose participation you believe was exceptional. You may not trade points or negotiate points.
You may not award points to yourself.
Only award points if you feel the person has significantly contributed to the discussion.
Award Karma points based on the quality of the participation, irrespective of the content, award points for exceptional participation even if you do not necessarily agree with the ideas presented.
Do not award points unless you believe the students participation was exceptional. However, don’t be stingy awarding points.
Criteria
Karma Points - 1 point Award Succinct, interesting, original, and well-documented argument or idea, or provide useful analysis or pertinent facts or law.
Karma Points - 2 point Award Creative and Original, and compelling contribution, argues clear points; Supported contribution with evidence, good analysis.
Karma Points - 3 point Award Exceptional contribution to the discourse, one that really open eyes and encouraged lively discussion/debate. Exemplary in all respects.
Ways to Improve Chances of Receiving Karma Points
Choose provocative positions in class or subject lines to make your postings stand out. Present your own perspectives Write and speak clearly. Construct an argument. Provide evidence, present a rationale that supports your positions, and reference the opinions of others, linking to supplementary evidence when appropriate and reading assignment Open up debate by remembering that the best response is one that gets people thinking, and that makes them want to reply. Learn from others by listening carefully and referring to appropriate comments of others in the class in your own.
Online Participation (Moodle) 25 ptsThis course has an online component.
Participation on Moodle is integral part of this class. Any questions about the course should be posted under "Student FAQ".
Your online participation will be evaluated on your participation in the discussion forum, your completion of glossary entries, and your weekly reflection.
Moodle has many ways for me to evaluate your participation. For instance, I can determine the number of primary discussion postings, the number of secondary forum postings, the postings read, etc. If a person tries to game the system, ie repeatedly viewing the same postings, I can determine that and the person will be penalized.
The guidelines for
the discussion forums, the glossaries, and the weekly reflection are below
Discussion Forums Each week there will be one or more discussion forums. For each forum, you should post one substantive, reflective comment about the reading, the video or answer the question posed. In doing your reflection, ask what are the larger policy implication for communities? States? Federal Government? What are the diversity issues involved?
The reflection should add your own thoughts and analysis to what you have read, saw or head. Do NOT merely summarize the readings or videos - I already know what the content. You don’t need to regurgitate it back. What you SHOULD do is use the readings or videos as a “jumping off” point to write on your thoughts on some point in the the reading. Discussion forum postings will be based on whether your postings tended to:
identify important points, clarify difficult concepts, and generally try to facilitate each others understanding.
A grade of (80% or better) for the discussion forum requires that you
do an initial posting of 150 - 200 words in each forum read 80% of the other postings for the forum in your group during the week of the readings and provide at least one comment/critique to at least TWO different person's inital postings. reference readings or videos where appropriate but no citations
You may of course continue the discussion as long as you feel appropriate or need to within reason.
You should also post information or news about remedies.
Glossaries Each week there will be at least one glossary to be completed. You should include terms, concepts and ideas related to health disparities.
Each week you should identify at least one term, concept or idead and define or explain it.
You should read and rate all the terms. You should rate the terms on a scale of 1 to 5.
You should provide written comment on at least one.
The definitions CANNOT be copied from the book but should be in your own words. Examples and Hypos can be included. where appropriate. As you study and gain better understanding you should feel free to up-date your postings.
Think about the past week, what is the most important thing you learned? Why? Be thoughtful. Be reflective. Be specific. How will what you learn help you be a better lawyer?
(at least 150 words - indicate the TOTAL word count at the end of the the first reflection question.)
General Guidelines (Subject to modification without notice)
Writing a post includes posting an original post and/or responding to one. Responding to a post does not count as much as posting an original one. The post must be substantial. Superficial, agree or disagree post or discounted or not counted at all. I will delete post that appear duplicate and superficial. If I notice a pattern of behavior it will affect your moodle grade You earn points for reading a post, but the number of points count as a lower percentage of the total score than if you write or respond to a post Moodle activity is always evaluated in the week of assignment. So, for example, the only Moodle activity that will count in an upcoming week will be that which occurs in that week. And, to a lesser value, in the In The News Section. except if a conversation continues to be active those conversations will be counted. Specifically, back reading old post will not count. Posting, responding, and reading posts in the In The News section always counts less than activity in the section currently assigned. Quantity counts, that is, of the students who are posting similar quality posting, the person with the most postings and who has read the most will get a higher raw score. Quality counts. that is students will be rewarded for posting thoughtful on point posting. Cutting and pasting articles do not count even if you add a short statement. Summarize the relevant content, provide a link and then discuss your reaction to the article.
Online Discussion Rubric
4 Outstanding!
3 Way to go!
2 Good job!
1- Needs Improvement.
Scope of Postings Student consistently identifies important points; clarifies difficult concepts, and frequently tried to facilitate others understanding; made significant postings about information or news about professional responsibility, particular diversity issues
Student generally identifies important points; occasionally clarifies difficult concepts, and generally tried to facilitate others understanding; made occassional post information or news about professional responsibility, particular diversity issues Student generally identifies important points; clarifies difficult concepts, and generally tried to facilitate others understanding; post information or news about professional responsibility, particular diversity issues
Student occassionaly identifies important points; clarifies difficult concepts, and generally tried to facilitate others understanding; post information or news about professional responsibility, particular diversity issues Preparedness Participant is engaged in the class discussion at least three times a week and often references the reading materials and comments of others in a specific and thoughtful way; Shows a clear understanding of the topics under discussion. Provides support from personal experience.
Participant is engaged in the class discussion at least twice a week and occasionally references the reading materials and comments of others in a specific and thoughtful way; Shows a good understanding of the topics under discussion. Provides some support from personal experience. Participant is engaged in the class discussion at least once a week, but rarely references the reading materials and comments of others in a specific and thoughtful way; Shows a basic understanding of topics under discussion. Provides little support from personal experience. Either does not engage in the class discussion OR does not reference the reading materials and comments of others in a specific and thoughtful way; Shows no understanding of topics. Provides no support from personal experience. Discussion & Brainstorming Contributes many useful ideas that demonstrate connections between the assignment and the class which required thoughtful efforts. Contributes limited ideas that demonstrate connections between the assignment and the class which demonstrated thoughtful efforts. Contributes an idea that demonstrates a connection between the assignment and the class but required little thoughtful effort. Contributes no ideas that demonstrate connections between the assignment and the class and/ or showed little or no effort in composing the thread. Respectful Communication Responded in a respectful fashion to all peers. If disagreeing with another group members' ideas, the student stated his or her disagreement or objections clearly, yet politely; Postings and replies are professional in nature and support the learning environment by being related to the thread and using positive language. Responded in a respectful fashion to most peers. Student stated any disagreements politely; Postings and replies are professional in nature and while supportive of the learning environment may occasionally be tangental to the discussion in a distractionary manner. Responded in a disrespectful way to some peers. Stated some disagreements in a politely; Postings and replies show a lack of professionalism through frequent mechanical errors, distracting the flow of conversation, or communicating in a critical manner The participant was rude or abusive to other course participants; Postings and replies show a disregard for clear communication or the need to be supportive to classmates. Organization Student's original posting is cleary understood. Student's original posting is mostly understood. Student's original posting is difficult to understand. Student's original posting does not make sense.
Annotated Bibliography on a Health Policy Strategy for Eliminating Racial Health Disparities
You should select one of the following health policy areas:
Income and Wealth Inequalities Physical and Built Environment Racial Inequalities Education Sustainable Transportation Conditions for Children Working Conditions Food Security
After selecting a health policy area, select at least one strategy that you believe must be implement. Conduct research on that strategy and write an annotated bibliography.
The bibliography must contain at least 6 sources (minimum to receive any credit).
For each policy area there must be:
one sources from non-legal interdisciplinary sources two sources law review articles. one source that address diversity issue such as race, ethnicity, gender, class, disability, religion, or sexual orientation.
News articles, articles from popular press and websites, Do NOT count toward the minimum number of sources although I do encourage you to include them and will take them into consideration with considering the grade for the annotated bibliography.
Your annotated bibliography must include relevant primary sources on laws and statutes and regulations and cases. To the extent that relevant law is not available you should note that in your introduction.
Your annotated bibliography should be organized using the following headings as appropriate:
Introduction (at least 1000 words) Bibliography (listing of citations) Annotations Federal Law Constitution Statutes Regulations Cases State Law Constitution Statutes Regulations Cases Law Review Articles and Book Chapters Interdisciplinary Articles and Book Chapters Other (News articles, popular press and website)
Your annotated bibliography should have introduction which gives an overview of the topic or issue including a summary of some of the key issues, recommendations and your personal views on the topic. Your introduction should be at least 1000 words.
For each reading, your annotation should include: citation, description, critical comment and total number of pages read. Your citation should be in bluebook format except do not use abbreviations. Each annotation should be between 200 to 300 words . It should include a synopsis of the author's primary arguments and a critique of those arguments. It should include whether the source contains a bibliography. Be aware simply paraphrasing the article is consider plagiarism and will result in a failing grade for the course. Your annotations should be your summary in your own words.
The grade earned will be based on the:
quantity of readings the relevancy of the readings to your topic the comprehensiveness of your cites (such statutes, cases, law review) the quality of your annotations
PLEASE NOTE: The final annotation will be published on this website as a resource for health disparities activist. Last Updated: 12/27/2009 You are visitor number:
