This document contains the essential information you should know to function properly in this course.
Contact
My ACC Home page: http://www.austincc.edu/dws
Email: dws@austincc.edu
Office: Rio Grande Campus Portable Building (between Main Building and Annex)
Office Hours (unless otherwise announced in Blackboard):
7:00 - 8:00 pm Wednesday (February 15 - March 7 only)
7:00 - 9:30 pm Wednesday (March 21 - May 9)
Office Phone (during above hours): (512) 223-3248
Voice mail: To leave a voice message, dial (512) 223-1790
When the system answers, enter my voice mailbox number 23376 and press # to leave a message.
(I tend to check voice mail on an infrequent basis (once or twice a month during the semester). Use Messages in Blackboard or Email for a much faster reply.)
Campus Mailbox: Rio Grande Room 204
Intercampus Mail: Donald Skrabanek/RGC English
U.S. Mail:
Donald Skrabanek
English/Rio Grande Campus
1212 Rio Grande
Austin TX 78701
For more details, see the Contact document.
No textbook is required for this online course. All documents and course materials are available online. Be assured, though, if you do not read the course documents carefully, you will not do well in this course. The lack of a textbook does not mean the lack of reading.
How to Make a Grade
Your final grade in this course is determined by your successful completion of specified assignments and quizzes and one or more exams at the end of the semester. The term completion means I have graded and accepted your work.
- To gain credit for this course, you must satisfactorily complete core Assignments 1-7, four quizzes, and at least the C exam. All the assignments and quizzes have a specific due date.
- To begin the exam process, you must satisfactorily complete core Assignments 1-7 and four quizzes. When you have satisfactorily completed this coursework, I will issue you a C exam permit which you will use to enter an ACC Testing Center (or a pre-approved alternate facility) to write the C exam. This permit will be included in the return of your accepted Assignment 7 work.
- Beginning with Assignment 2, if you have three or more late assignment submissions, you are not eligible to progress beyond the C level.
- IMPORTANT: Any student who does not submit Assignment 5 within one week of its specified original due date will not be eligible for a final grade higher than C. This policy overrides all other late penalty guidelines.
- Any assignment submission that is more than 14 days late will not be graded, and as a result the tardy student cannot continue in the course. The tardy student should withdraw, or eventually the instructor will withdraw the tardy student.
- You may not submit Assignment 5 until you have successfully completed Assignments 1-4 and the first two quizzes, even if the delay causes your Assignment 5 submission to be late. You may not submit Assignment 5 until after you receive your graded, accepted Assignment 4 file.
- You may not submit Assignment 7 until you have successfully completed Assignments 1-6 and all four quizzes, even if the delay causes your Assignment 7 submission to be late. You may not submit Assignment 7 until after you receive your graded, accepted Assignment 6 file.
- Any required assignment revision should be submitted as soon as possible. A revision not submitted within ten days of my return of the graded assignment will be considered as missing the late submission deadline. I will not grade following assignments until preceding assignments are accepted.
- I will withdraw without notice any student who fails to meet two late submission deadlines. A late submission deadline occurs two weeks after the original due date of an assignment or, for a revision, ten days after my return of the graded assignment.
- I will also withdraw without notice any student who does not submit an acceptable revision of Assignment 5 (if required) within three weeks after the original due date of Assignment 5 (if the withdrawal deadline has not already passed).
- To begin writing the B exam, you must have satisfactorily completed Assignments 1-7, the four quizzes, and the C exam, and you must have met the late submissions requirements. You may not submit the B exam until you have submitted the C exam.
- To begin writing the A exam, you must have satisfactorily completed Assignments 1-7, the four quizzes, the C exam and B exam, and you must have met the late submissions requirements. You may not submit the A exam until your C exam has been accepted and you have submitted the B exam.
- Be aware that there are penalties for submitting work late. These penalties can prevent you from writing the B exam or A exam or from completing the course.
For more details, see the How to Make a Grade section of the Course Guidelines document.
Submitting Work
All submissions must be double-spaced.
All submissions must be saved in the Rich Text Format (rtf) or Microsoft Word (doc) format and must be properly named.
Include the required identifying information in the upper left corner of all submissions (NOT in a header).
Indent the first line of all paragraphs five spaces.
Follow assignment requirements. Meet minimum word length requirements.
Assignments have specific due dates. Late submissions face penalties.
Submit and retrieve assignments using the Submissions button in Blackboard. If you use up the two slots for an assignment in Submissions, submit your work using Blackboard Messages. Attach the file to a message.
You will also have to submit a package of printed and xeroxed documents containing the required parts of Assignment 5.
For more details, see the How to Format an Essay, How to Save and Name a File for Submission, and How to Send and Retrieve a File sections of the Course Guidelines document.
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