Course Syllabus CMST& 101 (14707) – Introduction to Communication Summer 2023- HYBRID INSTRUCTOR: Rachel Stuart Phone: 509/432-6140 OFFICE: 18-204 EMAIL: rstuart@highline.edu MW MEETINGS: 9:35AM-11:00AM in 14-103 OFFICE HOURS: M 11:00-12:30 in 18-204 And by appointment Link to Office Hours Zoom Room Links to an external site. REQUIRED MATERIALS Consistent Internet access from home or school for Canvas learning management system. Highline e-mail account. A Note for All of My Students You belong here. So do your classmates. You belong here if you are quant, qual, crit, or undecided. You belong here if schools and society have crapped on you and your community. You belong here if you had great teachers and positive experiences of schooling. You belong here if you are Sikh, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Secular Humanist, Pagan. You belong here, ESPECIALLY, if you are still figuring out what and who you are. You belong here if you are documented, DACAmented, or undocumented. You belong here if you are a person of color, or “white,” or perceived to be white, or mixed, or perceived to be a bunch of things that you aren’t. You belong here if you are disabled, differently-abled, or neurotypical and able-bodied. You belong here if you identify as gender non-conforming or LGBTQIA, or if you’re still learning what some of those letters mean. You belong here if you grew up speaking like an NBC news broadcaster, or your abuelita’s language, or if you style-shift from one kind of English to another or code-switch from English to another language of heart and home and back again. You belong here if your mom was a professor, or if you were the first one in your family to graduate from high school. Whatever your body type, appearance, talents, abilities, identities, histories, or backgrounds, you belong here if you are here to learn how to make schools more humane, inclusive, respectful, rigorous, and just. MY COMMITMENT TO YOU As the instructor for this course I commit to helping you learn the course information through a combination of online class lectures and videos, textbook reading, interactive activities, films, and graded assignments. I want all of you to be successful and will do my part to be available outside of class to answer questions and promote further understanding of the course material. If you have any questions I encourage you to contact me during my office hours, or make an appointment if my office hours do not work with your schedule. I check my email often and attempt to respond to all inquiries within 24 hours, Monday through Friday. However, as we all do, I have a life outside of class and sometimes it is impossible to respond immediately. If you email me after 8 PM I will not respond to you until the following day. Please do not email me at midnight the day before an assignment is due and expect to have your questions answered. Instead, look ahead and ask your questions early enough so I can respond. I have found that many times the information you are looking for can be found here in the syllabus, in the assignments descriptions, or in our course space in Canvas. Please check these areas first and email me with questions if you need supplemental information second. During the quarter, I have a “preservation of sanity” period each week where I step away from work. From Friday at 5pm until Sunday at 11:30am, I will not be checking or answering emails, grading, or doing essentially anything related to school. I tell you this to allow you enough time to plan accordingly each week. While I might be grading and working on school stuff on Sunday, I will not necessarily be answering emails until Monday morning. If you have questions about any assignments, class, lecture, the readings, etc. please make sure you make sure that you allow yourself enough time to get the answer you seek. I will grade your assignments promptly and fairly. You can expect to have a grade returned to you within two weeks of submitting an assignment. I will critique you based on the criteria clearly laid out for each assignment and give you critiques to help improve future performance. Any further grade inquires can be discussed with me, in person, either in my office hours or through an appointment. COURSE GOALS This course explores fundamental elements, characteristics, and processes of human communication in dyads and small groups (to include personal and professional relationships). Students will analyze and practice effective interaction strategies within intrapersonal, interpersonal, multicultural, small group, and social media contexts. Basic oral communication abilities will be integrated throughout the course with emphasis on confident and competent dyadic and group discussions, and introductory presentation skills. COURSE OBJECTIVES Identify and articulate the communication process and its application in diverse face-to-face and mediated human communication contexts. Explore key communication skills that occur in human communication, and explain how those skills influence various personal and professional situations. Distinguish how communication strategies differ in certain relationships and groups (face-to-face and mediated), and demonstrate effective interactions within intercultural and multifaceted dyads and groups. Develop foundational ability to effectively communicate within a dyad or small group, or orally present to a larger audience. Compile an online or hard copy portfolio that accurately reflects emerging communication competencies. CLASS MATERIALS WARNING This class is “R” rated. The material that we will be viewing, reading, listening to, and discussing may contain adult language, sexual situations, violence, or material that may be deemed offensive by some audiences. Your continued enrollment in this course, following the reading of this syllabus, indicates that you are aware of this material and have chosen to stay in this class. This does not mean that it is okay to be crude and vulgar for no apparent reason. Please ask me if you have any questions or concerns. COURSE REQUIREMENTS Code of Conduct: Learning should be done in a safe place. It is of paramount importance that ALL people feel safe and welcome in my classroom. Language and behavior that marginalizes people on the basis of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion or any other aspect of identity will not be tolerated. We will be discussing controversial issues in this class and at times we will all feel uncomfortable, but we will approach these issues in a professional and respectful manner. I will not tolerate any form of marginalizing language. In addition to normal judicial mechanisms, the use of marginalizing language in class will impact your grade. If at any time you feel that the classroom has become a less safe space for you, for whatever reason, please contact me immediately. Late Work: Papers and assignments are due in class on the due date. Late papers and assignments will be penalized 10% of the possible points for each day they are late. Late work will be accepted without penalty only if authorized by the instructor before the due date (only a serious and compelling reason will do). Seriously, I really want you to practice proactive communication in this class. This means that I am incredibly flexible with due dates if you contact me beforehand to explain why you can't turn the assignment in on time and make a game plan to turn it in within a reasonable time frame. This does not apply to in-class writing assignments which will not be accepted outside of class. A note on serious and compelling reasons: Please note that serious and compelling reasons can and do encompass your mental health and well being. Asking for flexibility on a few assignments to attend to your mental health or to a personal/family matter is so much more important to me than you making yourself unhealthy to try to make a deadline for this class. This does not mean that I do not enforce deadlines. Again, if you proactively communicate with me and create a game plan to stay on track in the class, I will work with you. If you turn in assignments late with no serious and compelling reason and/or without prior communication with me, then it will result in a daily point deduction. Grade appeals: I will not discuss grades and/or test items on the day a paper, assignment or test is returned. You are welcome to appeal the grade during the week following the return of the grade - no later. Appeals must be in writing and submitted during the week following the return of your work - no later. What's with that time frame, you ask? That first 24 hours is the "cooling off period." Often, students are upset when they receive a grade lower than they were anticipating. During this time, emotions tend to run high, and that can impact our ability to communicate effectively. By waiting 24 hours, this will give you enough time to process your initial emotional response, and be able to approach the issue logically. You have a week to appeal because I do not want numerous grade appeals at the end of the quarter when students realize they may not be doing as well as they anticipated. Incompletes: An “incomplete” is a grade on your transcript that is converted to a decimal grade when you finish all of your work for the course. It is intended for students who are successfully passing the course until the very end, when they encounter a major emergency, such as a car accident or hospital stay. It is not intended for students who have failed to turn in most of the work over the course of the quarter. Students requesting an incomplete must have satisfactorily finished at least 80 percent of the course work and have an approved and documented reason for not completing the course. Incompletes must be completed in a certain time frame; if the work is not completed within that time, the incomplete converts to the grade the student earns without having done that work. Withdrawal from a course: Students who have not officially withdrawn from the class by the final withdraw deadline will receive a grade based on the work they have completed to that date, even if they have stopped attending class. Be aware that if you stop coming to class and do not officially withdraw, you are likely to earn a 0.0 in the class, which will remain permanently on your transcript. Hey, you made it this far through the syllabus! That's awesome! I appreciate you going through this and understanding how this course is run. What do you call a typo on a gravestone? A grave mistake!i If you email me with your favorite (clean) joke, I will award you five extra credit points! Thanks again for reading through this! Student Responsibilities for Classroom Behavior: Student rights and responsibilities are outlined in the “Student Rights and Responsibilities Code WAC 1321-120,” a booklet available in Student Services. The document prohibits disorderly or bothersome conduct which interferes with the rights of others or which obstructs or disrupts teaching. Further, the instructor is responsible for classroom conduct and is authorized to take such steps as are necessary when a student’s behavior interrupts normal classroom procedures. Student Complaint Procedure: In the case of a complaint about an instructor or class, students are encouraged to speak with their instructor first, and if the matter is not resolved, students should then contact the division chair. Cultural Diversity Policy: Highline College actively promotes and supports a learning and work environment which ensures social justice, mutual respect, understanding, civility, and non-violence. Highline College is committed to the elimination of discrimination based on biological sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, race, ethnic background, national origin, class, economic status, age, military and veteran status, disability, language, culture, and religious beliefs. Religious Conscience Absences: Under RCW 28B.10.039, college students are permitted two days of excused absences per year for reasons of faith or conscience. While students are responsible for completion of coursework and their learning, students may not be penalized for absences authorized under this policy. Each absence taken under this policy must be taken as a whole class time, i.e. the time may not be divided into minutes and taken piecemeal. TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS & SKILLS To succeed in a hybrid course, you MUST have: Access to the Internet, preferably via computer and broadband internet access (cable modem, DSL, or other high-speech service; An activated Highline email account; checked regularly (or forwarded to another email account which is checked regularly, or text alerts; A modern web browser; the most recent release (or two prior releases) of Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Internet Explorer. Note that Canvas does not work well on Internet Explorer; Up-to-date Flash and Java plug-ins; Access to a recording device such as the one on your cell phone or laptop; and Permissions/ability to install additional plug-ins or class software as needed. To succeed in an online class, you should have the ability to: Navigate the internet, including downloading and reading files from web sites; Download and install software or plug-ins such as Adobe Reader or Flash’ Use email, including attaching and downloading documents/files from emails; Save files in commonly used word processing formats (.doc, .docx, .rtf); Copy and paste text and other items on a computer; Save and retrieve documents and files on your computer; and Use your phone or other device to record and upload files. ACADEMIC HONESTY Seriously, please don't cheat. Students are expected to maintain a high standard of honesty in their academic work. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to: cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, collusion, or academic misconduct. Acts of cheating may include submitting work for credit that is not the student’s own, copying examination answers from fellow students or other sources or assisting other students in acts of these kinds. Plagiarism, the presentation of another person's writing or ideas as one’s own, can take a number of forms - failing to cite sources, copying source texts or online sources without quotation, or inadequately paraphrasing or synthesizing source materials. 
Instances of academic dishonesty will be dealt with on an individual case-by-case basis. This may include making a report to the Office of Student Conduct after speaking with you about the situation. Students who have more than one report of alleged academic dishonesty during their time at Highline College may be required to meet with a Conduct Officer for a student conduct hearing and have sanctions imposed. It is both your right and responsibility to be familiar with the document entitled the Student Conduct Code WAC 1321-125 (full URL: http://tinyurl.com/HighlineSCC). LEARNING ASSISTANCE Writing Center: Peer Writing Consultants, successful students who receive training and certification, are available to help you understand assignments, brainstorm for ideas, and learn to develop, focus, organize, and edit your writing. Stop by or call to make an appointment. Consider making weekly visits to boost success in your writing. Location: Building 25 Voice: (206) 592-4364 To email the Writing Center, contact: writingcenter@highline.edu To visit the Writing Center web site: http://writingcenter.highline.edu/ Library: Highline College library is open 7 days a week. Explore the library online resources or stop by for research assistance with a librarian, find research materials and get course reserve items. Reference Desk Location: Building 25, 2nd Floor East Voice: (206) 592-3232 To email the reference librarians, contact: refhelp@highline.edu To visit the Library web site: http://library.highline.edu/ Technical support: For problems or questions about Canvas, click "Help" in the top right corner of your Canvas screen. For technical support on all other topics, such as