Educational Technology & Online

Learning 8

Syllabus

Instructor Information:

Jennifer McLaurin, M.Ed.

Email: Connexus webmail
Phone: 480-331-6467
Office Hours: Monday through Friday 8 am to 4 pm

Live Lesson for Questions or help: Fridays 10:30 am to 11 am MST(Arizona Time)

(will not have content Live Lesson classes)

Summary:

Students’ progress to more sophisticated work in this course, including the use of electronic
media and software to apply academic concepts in the creation of meaningful organizers,
projects, and presentations. Students locate, retrieve, and evaluate data in order to construct and
analyze databases. Students produce presentations on Internet safety, online predators, and
cyberbullying. At the end of the course, students become effective communicators and
collaborators as they plan, evaluate, and synthesize research emphasizing current issues with
technology.

Course Directions and Tips

● To participate in this course you must have Microsoft® Office, or software that is
equivalent, installed on your computer.
● In some lessons, activities may require assistance from your Learning Coach.
● The Quick Check assessments at the end of instruction do not contribute to your overall
grade for the course. Portfolio assessments are graded assignments and contain cumulative
academic and technology content. Rubrics are provided to assist you in completing the
portfolios.
 ● Please note that there is no specific goal for you to reach regarding typing speed; instead,
the keyboarding focus should be on improving the typing speed over a period of time. The
assessment within the Keyboarding lesson is optional, it does not contribute to your
overall grade.

Overview:

This is a year-long course (it does not end in December). Students will be completing Portfolio
Assignments, Discussion Assignments and Quick Checks. Students will need to complete all
assignments in the course. Portfolio assignments are worth 85% of the overall grade so it is very
important that you complete all the Portfolio assignments. There is help available on my
Message Boards.

Policies and Guidelines

Contact

Student contact is strongly encouraged! If you should have any questions, please contact me via
phone or webmail. I welcome all questions.

Webmails should always be written as a formal letter. This means that you should have an
appropriate subject line, greeting/header, body and closure in every email. For example:

Subject line: Ed Tech 8 Unit one, lesson three question.

Greeting/header: Hello Ms. McLaurin,

Body: I have a question regarding lesson three in unit one. I am not sure what the lesson
is asking me to do. Should I be creating a PowerPoint or a Movie?

Closure: Thank you, Student Name

Webmails should never be written in all capitals. This indicates that you are being impolite and
yelling.

In webmails, you may use emoticons. They can certainly liven up the reading and are a nice way
to express emotion. An example of an emoticon is 
Grading

Grading timeline: items will be graded within seven (7) school days

Last day of school is May 26 at 4 pm. All assignments must be completed and turned in by
this date.

Portfolios

Portfolios will have graded comments and suggestions. You can check the comments by opening
the graded copy through your grade book. Click on the score next to the assignment name (the
earned score) and open the attachment that is uploaded by the instructor or read the comments.

Failure to send in all the required information will result in a lower grade. Please read comments
if you are missing information, they can always be resent through webmail for additional points
until the last week of school.

Offline submissions: Teacher Approval required!

It is highly recommended to use the electronic dropbox to submit portfolios in Art.

The offline submission is usually reserved for emergency situations, such as internet outage.
However, in such a case, the internet connection can usually be problem-solved faster than
traditional mail. FAX copies may also be delayed; forms transfer from our main office, scanner,
and then email before arriving to the teacher.

While offline submission is utilized, it is not an ideal choice. If there are significant revisions
needed, online communication (using dropbox attachments) between teacher and student can
relay multiple revisions quickly.

Also note that offline submissions have the same deadlines as electronic submissions, so please
allow for delivery time when completing work. Offline submissions may be graded as a "0" until
the project arrives.

If you are unsure how to use the dropbox for electronic submission, please contact the teacher
immediately. Once the steps are learned, the electronic dropbox is a fantastic tool!
Honor Code
Connections Education (“Connections”), a virtual school dedicated to student achievement at the
highest level, expects academic honesty to be a core value for all its students, parents, and staff.
By making the choice to enroll in an alternative program, our students (and/or their parents or
legal guardians) have taken charge of their education and demonstrated a genuine desire to fulfill
their academic potential.

Cheating, plagiarizing, or other acts of academic dishonesty are directly counter to the principles
of academic excellence and harm most those students who engage in such activities—they cheat
themselves of the opportunity to fully develop their intellectual abilities. Our Honor Code serves
to reinforce our students’ commitment to academic excellence, and all students must sign this
Honor Code as part of the Connections enrollment process.

As a Connections student, I know that academic honesty is critical to my own success, as well as
to the mission of my School. I also understand that an Honor Code is, by its nature, limited not
only to those situations spelled out in the code, but includes the spirit of honesty and ethics
implied by the written code. I agree that I will uphold not only the letter of this code but also its
implied intent of ongoing commitment to full academic honesty.

I agree that I will …

• never submit work of any kind that is not my own, nor ever give my work to other
students to submit as their own.
• never post exam or quiz answers on the Internet or in other public places, nor use
answers from posted exams or quizzes.
• never provide a forged document or signature to the School.
• never plagiarize in written, oral, or creative work.
• be well-informed about plagiarism and not use “lack of knowledge” as a reason for
engaging in plagiarism.
• take assessments only after I have completed the lessons leading up to that test or quiz.
• never give or receive unauthorized assistance on assessments. I understand that all
assessments are “closed-book” and that my Learning Coach shall not provide assistance
in determining answers on assessments.
• adhere to all Connections Student Conduct guidelines for proper use of the Internet and
of all Connections’ equipment or materials provided to me.
• accept the consequences, including disciplinary action, of breaking this Honor Code.