Course Title: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT – Summer III

Course Prefix & Number: GOVT 2305

Section Number: 331

Semester: Summer 2020

Semester Credit Hours: 3

Lecture Hours: 3

Room #: Online

Course Description (NCTC Catalog): 

Origin and development of the U.S. Constitution, structure and powers of the national government including the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, federalism, political participation, the national election process, public policy, civil liberties and civil rights. 48 lecture hours.

Course Prerequisite(s): None

Required Materials:

We the People (ebook with Connect Plus Access Card) by Thomas E. Patterson, McGraw Hill, 12th edition, ISBN: 9781260200607

** Students can order a full color loose leaf book for an additional cost directly from McGraw Hill when registering Connect Access**

Name of Instructor:

Aubri E. Thurmond

Campus/Office Location:

n/a in Summer

Virtual Office Hours:

Wednesdays 9:00am – 10:15am

E-mail Address:

athurmond@nctc.edu

At the successful completion of this course the student will be able to:

Explain the origin and development of constitutional democracy in the United States.

Demonstrate knowledge of the federal system.

Describe separation of powers and checks and balances in both theory and practice.

Demonstrate knowledge of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government.

Evaluate the role of public opinion, interest groups, and political parties.

Analyze the election process.

Describe the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

Analyze issues and policies in U.S. politics.

Research and compose an essay assignment/argument using proper grammar/English and basic computer skills.

# of Graded Course Elements

Graded Course Elements

Percentage or Point Values

17

CONNECT – Learnsmart Chapter Concept Mastery

255

14

Reading Quizzes

280

1

Supreme Court Case Analysis

100

2

Discussion Boards

100

10

CONNECT - Homework Assignments

100

3

Exams

300

Total = 1135

Grading Policy & Procedures

Students accumulating between 1135 and 1022 points will receive an                               A

Students accumulating between 1021 and 908 points will receive a                       B

Students accumulating between 907 and 795 points will receive a                          C

Students accumulating between 794  and 681 points will receive a                         D

Students accumulating or fewer than 680 points will receive an                                                F

1. Late Policy: No assignments will be accepted late. No Canvas or Connect assignment will be re-opened.  I will not re-open any assignments for any student for any reason.  You must complete the assignments by the due dates stated in the course schedule. All assignments must be completed on time and will receive the grade of 0 if they are not completed by the due date. 

2. Attendance:  Because this course is facilitated online, I will not formally take attendance.  However, students who are not consistently logging-in to Canvas and are not completing assignments, will be reported to the registrar as “not attending.

3. Email:  I encourage you to contact me via the Canvas Inbox to get extra help on an assignment, to clarify materials covered in the lectures or readings, to discuss comments on work, or to discuss the course generally.  Please contact me using the Canvas Inbox. I will do my best to respond within 24 hours during the week and within 48 hour over the weekend.

4. Course Agreement Statement: You are required to read the syllabus and understand all assignments, due dates, requirements, course expectations, and the course grading system.  After reading the syllabus you must complete the “Agreement Statement” found on Canvas.  Professor Thurmond will not accept future course work from any student who has not submitted the course agreement statement.  If you do not understand the syllabus, assignments, due dates, requirements, course expectations, course grading system – and are, consequently, unable to sign the statement – you must contact Prof. Thurmond immediately.  If you do not understand any aspect of the course requirements, etc. Prof. Thurmond will be happy to explain them to you.  Failure to sign the agreement statement, within the allotted time, will result in severe academic penalty.

5. Statement Regarding Lecture Material: Students may not, under any circumstances, release or make public the lecture materials provided in this course. Lecture materials are the LEGAL academic property of the instructor. Students who share, post, or make public the lecture materials in any way will face serious institutional consequences. Before you begin any work in the course, you must complete the Statement Regarding Lecture Material to demonstrate your understanding of and agreement to this policy. 

6. A Note on Canvas Assignments:

It is imperative that you complete Canvas assignments during the time allotted in the syllabus.  In other words, you must complete a Unit 1 assignment during the time allotted for Unit 1 assignments.   Failure to take a quiz, or complete an assignment, at the appropriate time will result in a 0.  COMPUTER PROBLEMS, POWER FAILURES, etc. will not be considered viable excuses for not completing a Canvas assignment.  Plan to complete your assignments at the earliest possible moment so that, should technical problems arise, you will have time to make other arrangements (come to a campus computer, etc.) to complete the assignment.  What Should I do if I Encounter Technical Problems with a Canvas Assignment?  Should you encounter any difficulty in accessing a Canvas assignment do the following things:

a. Contact Prof. Thurmond via the Canvas Inbox (or email, if Canvas is unavailable)

AND

b. Contact the Technology Service Desk (ph. 940-498-6288, etx. 6288) 

Assignments

This course is divided into 3 units.  Each unit is organized into 5 learning modules, corresponding to weeks in the semester. Each unit will only be available during the time specified in the course schedule. Because this is an online course, students can work through each unit at their own pace.  There are 3 due dates, one per unit – June 28, July 19, and August 9. All unit assignments must be completed before the end of that unit.  The course schedule attached to this syllabus is only a suggestion for managing your time. However, I strongly suggest students follow the provided course schedule.  This will help you stay on track.

1. Course Policy and Syllabus Quiz: You are required to read the syllabus and understand all assignments, due dates, requirements, course expectations, and the course grading system.  After reading the syllabus you must complete the Course Policy and Syllabus Quiz found on Canvas. The quiz covers material found in the course syllabus and will be available until June 17th.  If you do not understand the syllabus, assignments, due dates, requirements, course expectations, course grading system – and are, consequently, unable to complete the Quiz – you must contact Professor Thurmond immediately.  If you do not understand any aspect of the course requirements, etc. Professor Thurmond will be happy to explain them to you.  Students who complete the Course Policy and Syllabus Quiz will receive 1 extra credit point for each question they answer correctly (up to 10 points).

2. Exams: There will be three exams in this course (100 points each).  Exams will assess your comprehension of all materials discussed in lectures and printed in the assigned readings. Students will get 1 attempt and will have 60 minutes to complete each exam. Failure to take an exam will result in a 0.  

3. Readings:  You are required to do all reading listed in the course schedule.  Quizzes – worth 20 points each –  will be administered to assess your comprehension of the assigned reading.  Each reading quiz has ten questions, worth two points each. You will have 15 minutes to complete each quiz and are allowed 2 attempts. Careful reading is essential to success in college government courses.

4. Supreme Court Case Analysis:  Students will complete a research paper examining a U.S. Supreme Court case.  Students will select a case from the list provided and answer the following questions in a formal essay: What are the facts/circumstances of the case? How did the lower courts decide? What were the arguments of both sides? What reasoning did the court use to come to a decision? What is the significance of the court’s decision? Your essay must be at least 3 full pages in length.  It must be doubled-spaced with 1-inch margins and you must use 12-point font. The essay will be submitted both in class and through Turnitin.  Please see syllabus for due dates.  Further instructions are available on Canvas. 

Assignments

5. Connect – Learnsmart: Students are required to have access to Connect – the McGraw Hill online learning tool for our textbook, We the People. Students are required to complete a content mastery activity (called Learnsmart) for all 17 chapters of our textbook.  They are organized into 3 units. These activities are completion grades. However, they are also adaptive which means they continue to ask questions until you are consistently answering them correctly.  You will spend less time working on the LearnSmarts if you read the chapter before you begin.  

6. Homework: Students are required to complete ten homework assignments, worth 10 points each. All homework assignments are Connect assignments. See course schedule for due dates.

7. Discussion Boards:  You are required to write two discussion board posts examining the topics covered in the lectures and your reading assignments.  A series of questions will be provided to guide your discussion.  Your post must be thoughtful and demonstrate that you are critically thinking about topics covered in the course, and they must be at least 10 sentences. You must include specific examples from the corresponding reading[s], textbook, and/or lecture material. After writing submitting your post, you must respond to the posts of two classmates.  Always be respectful in your responses to others; disrespectful and derogatory language will not be tolerated. 

The Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) provides support services for students with disabilities, students enrolled in technical areas of study, and students who are classified as special populations (i.e. single parents). 

Support services for students with disabilities might include appropriate and reasonable accommodations, or they may be in the form of personal counseling, academic counseling, career counseling, etc.  Furthermore, OSD Counselors work with students to encourage self-advocacy and promote empowerment. The Counselors also provides resource information, disability-related information, and adaptive technology for students who qualify. 

For support, please contact the counselors at (940) 498-6207 or (940) 668-4321.  Alternatively, students may stop by Room 170 in Corinth or Room 110 in Gainesville.

Regular and punctualattendance is expected of all students in all classes for which they have registered.  Absence does not relieve the student of the responsibility for making up required work.  Dropping a course is the student's responsibility, but you MAYbe dropped for excessive absence.  See Attendance Regulations in the North Central Texas College Catalog

Scholastic dishonesty shall include, but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, academic falsification, intellectual property dishonesty, academic dishonesty facilitation and collusion.  Faculty members may document and bring charges against a student who is engaged in or is suspected to be engaged in academic dishonesty.  See Student Handbook, “Student Rights & Responsibilities: Student Conduct ([FLB(LOCAL)]”.  

Academic Dishonesty will not be tolerated in this course.  You are not to give any person (which includes parents, spouses, friends, etc) access to your Canvas account at any time during the semester.  If you do, you are putting the integrity of the course work completed in question.  Do not ask someone to email me on your behalf in Canvas.  If you have an emergency and cannot contact me yourself, it is best to have an alternative person contact me via my NCTC email address:athurmond@nctc.edu.  Again, do not give anyone access to your Canvas account.  Academic dishonesty in ANY form will NOT be tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to, using incorrect citations; not citing paraphrased material; using unauthorized sources; working together when not permitted; falsifying assignments; and turning in or copying the work of someone else.  Students who engage in academic dishonesty on any course material (exams, assignment, post tests) will immediately fail the course and academic dishonesty papers will be filed with the Dean and VP of Instruction.

QUESTIONS, CONCERNS, or COMPLAINTS