UAs: To help make this large class feel more intimate and to offer extra support for students, we will be dividing the class into groups of roughly 15 students. Each group will be assigned to one of the undergraduate assistants (UAs). All of the UAs have taken this class before and know how to excel. Your UA has three main roles:

· To be your mentor (note: they are not your instructor). Go to them with questions about the course (when you can’t find an answer on the course website). Ask them for advice on how to take good notes from lecture and/or the textbook. They are not here to give you answers to questions but to help you develop the skills you need to find the answers.

· To work with you on your semester-long media diary. Although Dr. Becker is responsible for assigning grades, your UA will also read through and comment on your entries. If you have a question about a grade on an entry, do not go to your UA.  Instead, see Dr. Becker before or after lecture or in his office hours.

· To facilitate activities in our 5 small group meetings.

Back Row: Blake Boyd, Bailey Cook, Sampada Trivedi, Amanda Parel, Maddie Brown, Eric Green

Front Row: Tre King, Abigail Kemper, Monet Cavanaugh

Small Group Meetings: You will meet with your UA and a group of your peers 5 times during the semester. Each UA will be mentoring 2 groups. One of their groups will meet during lecture on Tuesdays of the weeks specified on the syllabus; their other group will meet during lecture on Thursdays during those weeks. Dr. Becker will deliver the same lecture on Tuesday and Thursday of small-group weeks. What will happen at these meetings? The goal of these meetings is to give you the chance to talk to each other about class material. Your UA will lead a discussion about your media diary entries. Every student must come to that meeting with their diaries and be prepared to talk about their entries. Attendance is required. Students who do not attend and engage in discussions will fail to earn important points toward their media diary grade. Students who miss a small group meeting can earn up to 3 of the 5 points by attending the make up session that will be held from 1:00-2:20 pm on the Sunday following that small-group week.

Turning In Diary Entries: You are required to turn in TWO copies for each diary entry: an e-copy via Canvas and a hard copy in your diary folder in small group meetings. The General Media Diary Directions page on Canvas explains all procedures and policies. Read it VERY carefully. A major take-away:

You will get a ZERO for an entry if you fail to turn in

BOTH your e-copy AND hard copy properly and on time.

Read that again and let it sink in.  We hate having to give a zero when students do most of the work on the entry but fail to complete the requirements because they don’t submit the entry properly.

Lecture Attendance Policy Options: Attending lecture and taking careful notes is vital to your success. Roughly 40% of exam questions will be from material available only in lecture. (Another 40% will come from textbook material not covered in lecture and 20% will come from material covered in both).  Lectures will also include information needed in order to complete certain diary entries.

· I want to motivate you to come to lecture, because I know that it will help you to succeed.

· I also believe strongly that college students are adults and have the right to make their own choices about attending class.

· That is why I am giving you a choice.

On the first day of class, you will decide if you want me to use Option A or Option B when I calculate your final course grade.  

· Once you select an option, your decision can not be changed for any reason.

· We will be using TopHat to take attendance in lecture.  If TopHat fails to register you as present, you must see me or an identified UA at the end of class to sign in.   

· Students who arrive to class more than 10 minutes late can be considered absent.

· If you miss a lecture, you should get notes from a fellow student. UAs are here to help you learn how to take notes effectively, but they canNOT provide you with copies of their notes.

Option A:

· You get 3 excused absences from lectures to use as you see fit for illness, religious holidays, university-sanctioned trips, emergencies, or any other personal situation. You do NOT need to email me about these absences.

· If you miss less than 3 lectures (i.e., you miss 0, 1, or 2 lectures), I will raise your final course grade by 2%.

· For EACH absence from lecture over 3, your final course grade will drop by 2%.  In other words, if you miss 6 lectures, I will lower your final course grade 6%. Note: any absence from small group meetings is NOT counted in this tally.  In other words, this policy only relates to lecture attendance.

· Note: If you select this option and face an extended illness or long-term emergency that will affect your attendance, you must email me and the Dean of Students Office immediately to document the situation and explore options.  Special consideration will not be given after the fact.

Option B

· There will be no penalty for missing lecture.

· There will be no extra credit bonus for attending lecture.

Technology Policy: The faculty in the Media & Culture Program have created the following policy in an effort to help solve the growing problem of inappropriate student use of technology during class meetings: Students may not use personal technology devices in the classroom without the permission of the instructor. Such devices include mobile email devices, smartphones, mobile phones, iPODs, iPads, laptops and similar technologies. These devices may be brought to class, but they may be taken out for student use ONLY with the instructor’s specific instruction for purposes of achieving the learning objectives of the course. Exceptions will be made in the case of students who need personal technology devices in order to learn course content due to documented disabilities (e.g.: visual or auditory disabilities).

MAC 143 Exception: Because students have told me how much easier it is for them to take detailed lecture notes with their computers, I allow students to use laptops during class. Because we will be using TopHat, you are also allowed to use your smartphone (or if needed, your laptop) for those activities. However,  you can only use those technologies to take lecture notes or for TopHat activities. If I or a UA see you using your computer or phone for any other purpose, you will be told to leave the classroom for the rest of that lecture. Enough students have reported being distracted by their peers’ inappropriate use of technology that I have come to believe that such a strong policy is warranted. If you need an exception to the stated policy for any reason, you must see me in person immediately. I reserve the right to ban all laptops if too many students use them improperly.

This is a Miami Plan foundation course and is designed with the four principles of the university’s liberal education curriculum in mind:

Thinking Critically: Given how inundated our lives are with media, we often feel as though we are already experts. Critically engaging with these media from new perspectives and with new analytical tools, however, will help you develop your critical imagination and reasoning.

Understanding Contexts: Better understanding the history, practices, and processes of our media systems will help us better grasp key forces that shape the cultural and political contexts in which we live. Conversely, we will also examine how our media systems have been shaped by specific political and cultural contexts.

Engaging with Other Learners: Although this is a large lecture class, you will have an opportunity to learn by interacting in small group sections with other students, sharing your thoughts about class material and your work on your media diaries.

Reflecting and Acting: In both class and through your assignments you will continually be asked to apply course material to your daily experiences with media. Through this process, you should become a more critical media consumer, producer, and citizen.

We take issues of plagiarism and cheating very seriously. We assume that every student will uphold the highest standards of academic honesty, and we will take every measure we can to ensure the academic integrity of this course, including careful oversight and prosecution of all cases of improper behavior.  Any suspected instances of academic dishonesty will be handled under Miami University’s Academic Integrity policy found in Part 1, Chapter 5 of the Student Handbook (http://www.miamioh.edu/_files/documents/secretary/Student_Handbook.pdf (链接到外部网站。)). Please review this policy, and note that lack of knowledge or understanding of the appropriate academic conduct is not an excuse for committing academic dishonesty.  Although I assume students understand the grossest examples of plagiarism (e.g., turning someone else’s work in as your own), it is important to understand that using sources incorrectly is also a form of plagiarism, whether intentional or not. Therefore, it is vital that you fully understand the various actions that constitute plagiarism so you can avoid all of them. If you are not certain that you understand proper source usage, please seek out help before you turn anything in. Pleading ignorance after the case will not work in this situation. By taking this class, students agree to allow their submissions to be included as source documentation in TurnItIn.com’s reference database for the limited use of plagiarism detection.

Miami University is committed to ensuring equal access to students with disabilities.  Miami’s Office of Student Disability Services (SDS) assists students with determining eligibility for services and accommodation planning.  Students who are entitled to disability-related academic adjustments, auxiliary aids, etc., must register with SDS to receive accommodations in university courses.  Please understand that formal communication from SDS must be presented prior to the coordination of accommodations for this course.  For more information, students may contact SDS at (513) 529-1541 or via email at [email protected].  To view the accessibility statement from Canvas follow this link链接到外部网站。.