Instructor: Diane Putnam

Office: 1059 (Writing Center)

Phone: 479-6184, Fax: 477-5251
Cabrillo email : diputnam@cabrillo.edu
Teaching Assistants: Eden White & Kathryn George: 479-6319

 

 

Course Description & Learning Outcomes:

Welcome to English 155CJ, an English lab designed to develop your note-taking and writing skills for Criminal Justice careers.  Your instructor and teaching assistants will be checking your work and answering your questions via Blackboard email and class discussion. By the end of the semester, students will be able to:

1. Assess patterns within student writing and apply strategies in planning and drafting timed and revised report writing.
2. Construct accurate reports from clear and detailed note-taking.

Class Format & Assignments:

• There are NO TEXTBOOKS for this class. All course materials are located within the WebCT/Blackboard class website.
• All assignments are organized into Learning Modules; each module includes a lesson, a note-taking assignment, and a report. Some modules also include an assessment, or quiz.
• All assignments must be word-processed, including reports, notes and charts.
• All assignments are due by midnight on the date they are due. Late assignments will lose a point for every day that they are late. The final assessment may not be late.

The Writing Center (in the LRC above the library, 470-6319) and the Watsonville ILC (room 4410, 477-5515) are staffed with people who can help you work on problems with your writing. As an online Cabrillo student, you have access to the Online Writing Lab where you can submit your drafts for feedback from the Writing Tutors (turnaround is 48 hours).

Tools on Blackboard:

Calendar: All due dates are here for learning modules, holidays, and major registration dates. Click on each scenario in the calendar and be directed to the corresponding learning module, due every three weeks. Students are invited to work ahead in the class, but they may not fall behind.

Learning Modules: This is the "meat" of the course, where you'll find all the lessons, assignments and assessments. There are five Learning Modules in all, and each Learning Module is based around a crime-related scenario. For each scenario, you'll watch a short video clip, take notes, and write up a short police report submitted as an attached "Assignment" in Blackboard.

Learning modules also contain writing lessons, from basic report format to grammar and language choices, that will enhance your report-writing skills. Each Learning Module is worth 20 points, for a total of 100 points possible in the class.

Assessments: These are exercises to accompany the lessons in some of your learning modules; they are scored and included in your final grade. The assessments are roughly 15 questions each and cover the material covered in the lessons--mostly related to grammar & punctuation. Some assessment questions are fill-in-the blank style, some are multiple choice, some require you to rewrite sentences (these last questions will not be scored automatically).

You make take each assessment just once, but your time is unlimited. This means that once you begin, you can continue for as long as you need to complete it. The one thing you can't do is to quit in the middle, submit, and then pick up again where you left off at a later time. If you do that, the program will only score the first questions you answered.

Discussions: This is a general class space for discussing questions about the class.

Announcements: From time-to-time, one of these will pop up when you open Blackboard, to alert you of occasional system "down" time and changes, new materials, deadlines, etc. Please note that Cabrillo College-related announcements appear on your Blackboard homepage, and we also may have English 155CJ announcements that you can access when you log into our class from that homepage.

Mail: All students have Blackboard email for communicating questions with the instructor, teaching assistants, and other students.

Syllabus: You're reading it now! Course policies and information.

Web Links: Useful links designed to help you organize and proofread your reports.

My Grades: This is where you can check your points on various assignments. A running total of your class points appears on this page. Ignore "Midterm" as there is none for this class.

My Progress: Displays your activity in discussion groups, assessments, and your participation in the class in general.

Notes: Just a place for you to save your own notes for the class.

Grades: English 155CJ is a Credit/No Credit Lab. To pass the class, students must complete every stage of all required assignments, and the final report for each assignment will be assessed by lab assistants (tutors) and the instructor according to the report-writing rubric. There are five learning modules, each worth 20 possible points; students must have at least 70 points at the end of the term to pass the class.

Calendar

The class calendar, including all due dates, may be accessed at any time from your WebCT homepage.

Your work is due by midnight every third Monday unless Monday is a holiday (then your assignment is due by the end of Tuesday).

Students may work ahead, but you may not fall behind; if you are inactive for more than two weeks, your teacher may assume you wish to be dropped from the course.

Writing Center & Watsonville ILC Contact Information

Writing Center Phone: 831.479-6319, Fax 831.477.5251

Writing Center Director (Diane Putnam): 479-6184, diputnam@cabrillo.edu

Writing Center Hours (Aptos Campus) Monday through Thursday: 8 AM to 9 PM; Friday 8 AM to 3 PM

Writing Center Website: http://www.cabrillo.cc.ca.us/divisions/english/writcenter/

Watsonville Integrated Learning Center Phone: 831.477-5155

Watsonville ILC Coordinator (Tera Martin): 831.477-5152

Watsonville ILC Hours: Monday through Thursday 9 AM to 8 PM; Friday 9 AM to 4 PM.

Watsonville ILC Website: http://www.cabrillo.cc.ca.us/affiliate/watsonville/

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Last updated 19-aug-08