Evaluation and Grading

 

Your grade in the course will be based on: 

Class Attendance and Participation (30%)

Moodle Participation (20%) 50 pts

Class Problems (30%) 30 pts

Assessing Health Care Reform (Discussion and Paper) 20 pts Extra credit 4 pts.

No Final Exam.  

 

 

 

Class Participation

  This is a cooperative participatory learning class. That means that your absence effects the learning of others. Consequently, missing classes ANY  affects your grade. 

In general, missing more than 3 classes will significantly affect your class participation grade.  Class participation includes actively participating in class including being adequately prepared. Your grade for class participation will be based on attendance and your good faith participation in the group process. 

           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 2 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 as follows: 

Holistic Rubric for Scoring  Class Participation

Student is thoroughly prepared, contributed readily to the conversation but didn't dominate it; made thoughtful contributions that significantly advance the conversation; showed interest in and respect for other views; participated actively in small groups, either took notes or reported for the small group;  raised diversity issues related to the topic at hand.

Participation was exceptional.  A few comments during class does not constitute exceptional participation.  

90 Student is prepared and makes thoughtful comments when called on; contributes occasionally without prompting; shows interest in and respect for others views; participates actively in small groups; while the students contributions are less well developed, they nevertheless advance the conversation; raised diversity issues related to the topic at hand. 

Participation was very good and above average.

 

85 Student is prepared, but does not voluntarily contribute to discussions and gives only minimal answers when called on; nevertheless student show interest in the discussion, listens attentively and participates actively in small groups.

Participation was average.

 

80 Student is prepared but participates in a problematic way; students may talk too much, make rambling poor tangential contributions, continually interrupt with digressive questions; or did not talk at all during small group and large group.

Participation was below average.

 

65 Student attended class but was not prepared. Student is considered not prepared for class if they do not have two copies of the answer to the assigned problems.

Students participate in a problematic way, bluff their way when unprepared, not acknowledging cues of annoyance from professor or students. or did not talk at all during small group and large group. 

45 Student did not attend class or if student attended is disruptive, hostile, overtly rude, or obviously inattentive.

 

0 

Class Problems

During most classes we will work on problems, in fact the primary focus of the class will be on problems. You should work out an individual answer to the assigned problems and be prepared to fully participate in the class.  You should read and think about the unassigned problems since we will be working on many of them in class.  Your class participation grade will be effected about how well you participate on both assigned problems and  unassigned problems for the class.

Formatting Convention: 

typed single spaced 1 inch margins (right, Left, and bottom) .5 in margin Top 12 pt. Times Roman Use Word, rft  for electronic submission.

You should post your answer to Moodle by the time required. In general, assignments are due the day before class.  Only the problem posted on Moodle will be graded.  Not all assigned problems will be graded. There will be at  least 3 graded problems. Other assigned problems will be assessed on a good faith basis.  Graded Problems will count for 70% of the problem grade. Other assigned problems will count for 30% of the problem grade.  

Graded Problems are due 5:00 pm the day before and should be posted in Moodle DROP-BOX 

 

YOU SHOULD BRING TWO COPIES of YOUR PROBLEM to CLASS. One copy will be turned in during class. At the top of the page in the right hand-corner place your name on the first line and on the second line place the problem number and name. Problem answers  will be collected during class. No problems answer will be accepted late (That is after class). No exceptions! The problems turned in at class is "evidence" of your preparation for class.  The second copy is for you to use in your small group discussion. You are not prepared for class if you don't have a copy of your problem for your use during class.

For each problem you should prepare your own answers BEFORE CLASS.   Your problem answer should reflect a good faith attempt to answer the question. In structuring your answer to the extent possible use the following guidelines:  

State a Conclusion to the Question(s) presented Identify relevant laws and other principles; Discuss the resolution of the problem including the legal, social or other issues; applying laws and other principles appropriately; Use supporting information; Making  reasonable arguments and conclusions that are reasonable. Restate the Conclusion

 

Problem Grading Rubric

The process of putting thoughts on paper proved to be a meaningful learning experience.

Problems demonstrate not only that you are reading the material but are able to use it in a problem solving.

Problems allow you to articulate ideas and arguments.

Problems provide a mechanism to explore ideas that are not necessarily covered in class.

Problems develop complex insights and theories, and allow you to speculate about the future. Most significantly, Graded Problems allow you to engaged in the process of experiencing the harmony or dissonance between the perspectives described in the readings and your own.

Problems, should explore the underlying value implications of the reading and relate it to your own personal experience and observations.

You may want explore the point at which a value important to you is violated; to challenge the desirability of consequences of a position taken in the reading; to make analogies to other things that you have learned; or to explore the priorities being set by some aspect of the reading or videos. 

 

95 Outstanding response with superior supporting examples or evidence, unusual insights, creative and original analysis, reasoning, and explanation. superior mastery of content. goes well beyond the minimum required for the assignment. all information is factually correct, Position is clearly stated and consistently maintained. References to most of the issue(s) are clearly stated. Clearly states appropriate law which supports the position; Structure of work is clearly developed. Tone is consistent and enhances persuasiveness.  Excellent conclusion/integration

85 Good solid response that uses excellent supporting examples, excellent reasoning and explanations. goes beyond the minimum required by the assignment. Most information is factually correct, good discussion of detail, Position is clearly stated and consistently maintained. Clear references to most of the issue(s) are stated. Clearly states appropriate law which supports the position; Structure of work is clearly developed . Tone is consistent and enhances persuasiveness good conclusion/integration 

75  good solid response that meets minimum required by the assignment, reasoning and explanations are adequate, Most information is factually correct, adequate discussion of detail,  Position is clearly stated and consistently maintained. References to the some of the issue (s)  are stated but some key issue (s) are missing. Clearly states appropriate law in some instance, but also mistates the law in other instances; Structure developed reasonably well, but lacks clarity; Tone enhances persuasiveness, but there are inconsistencies., adequate conclusion/ integration 

65 Response is accurate but cursory, and does not meet the minimum requred for completeness, some inaccuracies or reasoning flaws, response is too general, lacks specific evidence. Position is stated, but is not maintained consistently throughout work.  A few of the key issues are stated but many are missing.  Mostly mistates the law applicable to the problem; Some attempt to structure the argument has been made, but the structure is poorly developed. Tones does not contribute to persuasiveness.

55 Response doesn't effectively address the question, response fails to support assertions with examples, major flaws in reasoning, explanations are unclear, displays inadequate understanding of content/ Statement of position cannot be determined.  Most of the key issues are missing. There is a total lack of structure; Tone is inappropriate to purpose.  0 No Problem Complete

 

 Moodle Participation

  This course has an electronic blog. Participation on Moodle is integral part of this class. 

Any questions about the course should be posted under administration. 

Your Moodle grade will be based on whether your postings tended to

 identify important points, clarify difficult concepts, and  generally try to facilitate each others understanding.

You are expected to post one comment/question about the class.  The question should NOT be factual based. That is, it should not be asking for answer that can be answered with a fact or  a clear statement of law but should instead be a question that will stimulate discussion about different perspective, values and assumptions and uncertainty about the what the law should be.   The  comment should be brief on the  (about 50 words or less) and note any confusing points and questions. 

After class you should respond  to at least one other persons comment/reading.

You should also post information or news about health care and health care.

Participation includes these postings. 

However, more points will be given for responding to posting, particularly answering questions.

 

General Guidelines (Subject to modification without notice)

Writing a post includes posting an original post and/or responding to one.  Responding to a post counts as much as posting an original one. The post must be substantial. Superficial, agree or disagree post or discounted or not counted at all. 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..  

 

 

 Annotated Bibliography

You should select two of the following health policy areas:

Social Inclusion Income and Wealth Inequalities Physical and Built Environment Racial Inequalities Education Sustainable Transportation Conditions for Children Health Care Disparities

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 10 sources (minimum to receive any credit) for each Health Policy area.   For each policy area there must be two sources from non-legal interdisciplinary sources and two must be law review articles. 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.   At least,  one annotation for each health policy area must address a diversity issue such as race, ethnicity, gender, class,  disability, religion, or sexual orientation.

Your annotated bibliography should include relevant primary sources on laws and statutes and regulations.

Your annotated bibliography should be organized using the following headings:

Introduction Health Policy One Federal Law Constitution Statutes Regulations State Law Constitution Statutes Regulations Law Review Articles and Book Chapters Interdisciplinary Articles and Book Chapters Other (News articles, popular press and website) Health Policy Two (same as One)

Your annotated bibliography should have a cover sheet that includes:

Introduction: number of words Citations organized as above

Your annotated bibliography should have introduction which gives an overview of the topic or issue including a summary of some of the key issues and your personal views on the topics. Your introduction should be at least 700 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. Each annotation should be no more than approximately 350 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

 

The final annotation will be published on this website