BETTINA FABOS, PH.D.

10 pts

C. Two Individual Projects

1. Online News Media Analysis

2. Interactive Multimedia Journalism Project: Blog, News story, Interactive audio slideshow, Video, Interactive Map, Data Visualization.

RECOMMENDED MATERIALS: Portable External Hard Drive, 250GB + Western Digital Passport  (about $60) SimpleTech Portable SimpleDrive (about $83) at Walmart or Best Buy.

D. Two Exams: One midterm and one final on the core concepts of the class. The exams include essay and production skills.

10 pts: midterm

10 pts: final

E. Participation:  Students are expected to come to every class and actively contribute to class discussions.

LATE ASSIGNMENTS
Please save work and be responsible for all saved work. Discussion grades not posted before 9 am will not be counted. Assignments handed in past the due date will not be counted.  Simply put, any project not completed in the time allotted won’t be counted.

ATTENDANCE
The responsibility for attending classes rests with the student. As the citizens of Iowa have every right to assume, students at UNI are expected to attend class. This idea is neither novel nor unreasonable. Students should realize that an hour missed cannot be relived, that work can seldom be made up 100%, and that made-up work seldom equals the original experience in class.

DISCUSSION BOARD GRADING GUIDELINES   

Your discussion board entries will be graded throughout the semester (0, 1, 2, and 3 to stand in for a no -entry, check minus, check and check plus).  What follows is a list of expectations for discussion board entries, which you should use as a guide as you participate.   

• Diligence. You are expected to contribute to every discussion question assigned. You will be given a “0” if you do not participate. 
• Following  instructions. You are expected to answer each question in full. Please pay attention to the instructions given.
• Quality. You must significantly add to the discussion.  Quality is rated as follows: 
• Engaging in a synthesis of the readings/viewing material
• Reflecting on what people wrote before and after you
• Posing derivative questions (it’s okay to say you don’t understand something…that will help your peers think about what should be clarified)
• Steering class members towards links and other resources
• Drawing upon engaging personal experiences

It is absolutely critical that you engage in a discussion OF THE READINGS, and not just simply answer the question (without addressing the readings). Also, it's critical that you're a leader and not a follower. If you constantly say, "like so-and-so said, I think that...." you're a follower. Try to ADD to the discussion, say something different. And guess what, humor helps loosen everyone up!

Grading is as follows: (0, 1, 2, and 3 is the equivalent to 0, check-, check, check+)
On the grading form this is indicated as:
0: no entry
1: Does not meet expectations/needs improvement
2: Meets expectations
3: Excellent

Unless there are extreme extenuating circumstances, you will not be able to make up discussion entries past their due date.

ATTENDANCE POLICY 

As noted in the UNI Catalog, “Students are expected to attend class, and the responsibility for attending class rests with the student. Students are expected to learn and observe the attendance rules established by each instructor for each course. Instructors will help students to make up work whenever the student has to be absent for good cause; this matter lies between the instructor and student. Whenever possible, a student should notify the instructor in advance of circumstances which prevent class attendance.” (http://www.uni.edu/catalog/acadreg.shtml#attendance)

Attendance will be recorded for this course, and all unexcused absences will figure into the final grade.  Attendance will also factor in the Participation part of the students’ grade.

ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT  

Plagiarism, cheating, improperly sourced work, and other academic misconduct will not be tolerated.  The UNI Catalog is clear on this: “Students at the University of Northern Iowa are required to observe the commonly-accepted standards of academic honesty and integrity. Except in those instances in which group work is specifically authorized by the instructor of the class, no work which is not solely the student's is to be submitted to a professor in the form of an examination paper, a term paper, class project, research project, or thesis project. Cheating of any kind on examinations and/or plagiarism of papers or projects is strictly prohibited. Also unacceptable are the purchase of papers from commercial sources, using a single paper to meet the requirement of more than one class (except in instances authorized and considered appropriate by the professors of the two classes), and submission of a term paper or project completed by any individual other than the student submitting the work. Students are cautioned that plagiarism is defined as the process of stealing or passing off as one's own the ideas or words of another, or presenting as one's own an idea or product which is derived from an existing source.” See the UNI Catalog for full details.