Course Policies


 

Course Philosophy

 

If this course succeeds, it will be unlike any course you've ever taken. That is because we will do our best to live & practice the principles of social media, which are quite different than those of traditional education. For example:

 

Traditional Education   Social Media
top-down   distributed
behind (fire)walls   open
competitive   collaborative
teacher = authority, "fountain" of knowledge   teacher = facilitator, guide
students = passive   students = active

 

I see my role as facilitating the learning and research process, as a guide, community organizer, and coach. I expect you to teach me and each other at least as much as I will teach you.

 

We will try to make decisions together in this course. I urge you to take charge of your mind, your learning, your future. Be involved. Contribute. Express your opinion. Disagree with me. Do it nicely, politely, and constructively, but be active.

 

Principles

 

This course philosophy works if we all abide by the following principles:

 

  1. we are honest with each other; we don't try to cheat, game, take advantage of others (students or teacher)
  2. we are nice, constructive, polite
  3. we make an honest effort to learn, to create knowledge together, and to share it among members of the class and beyond

 

There is one sure way of ruining the course experience for everybody else, and even possibly failing the course: violating principle 1 above.

 

Dishonesty, under any form (plagiarism, lying about attendance, deadlines, etc.) will not be tolerated. It will lead to being reported to the Dean of Students, failing the assignment, possibly failing the course.

 

We can deal with any problem, and we can help each other, as long as we are honest.

 

Attendance

 

You are expected to attend all classes. If you have to miss a class, please let me know as soon as possible, and make arrangements to get a hold of class material (I can record class for you).

 

If you have a fever, have had a bad flu and are barely recovering, or feel like you are coming down with the flu, please stay home. We can arrange for you to attend class remotely, just let me know as soon as possible.

 

Emergencies

 

I strongly adivse you to sign up for the Purdue SMS emergency notification system, if you haven't done so already. Also, please browse the Purdue emergency preparedness website and watch the video mentioned in this pdf file.

 

In the event of a major campus emergency, course requirements, deadlines and grading percentages are subject to changes that may be necessitated by a revised semester calendar or other circumstances beyond the instructor’s control. Here are ways to get information about changes in this course. 

Course web page: http://tech621.ning.com/

Instructor’s email: mihaela @ purdue...

 

Instructor’s phone: 67709