POL 101 (9-WEEK ONLINE COURSE)

American Political Institutions

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Overview

There is no on-campus or online orientation associated with this course. There is a general online orientation offered through Cerritos College that you may want to take if this is your first online course. You will find the general online orientation at www.cerritos.edu/de/. If you are already familiar with online education courses at Cerritos College, then you are ready to get started in this course by thoroughly reading the syllabus. Everything you need to know about getting started and what to expect throughout the term can be found in the syllabus (see below).

Syllabus

• Contact Information

• Course Description

• Course Goals

• Required and Recommended Course Materials

• Assignments and Grading

• Assignments Schedule

• Navigating Mypoliscilab

Contact Information

• Bryan Reece, Professor of Political Science

• Office: Social Science Building, Room 14

• Phone: (562) 860-2451 x2755

• E-mail: breece@cerritos.edu

• Office Hours (see semester schedule on Reece home page)

Course Description

In the course of this semester we will contrast democratic ideals with American politics, discussing the extent to which the U.S. is realizing or not realizing these ideals.  In carrying out this task, we will analyze the American public, five major American political institutions (the mass media, political parties, interest groups, elections, and public opinion polling), the three American governing institutions (the executive, legislative and judicial branches).

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Course Goals

I have structured this course with some specific instructional goals in mind. Through this course, it is my hope that students gain:

• an understanding of American democratic ideals.

• an understanding of the major documents, institutions, actors, policies and issues in American politics at the federal, state and local levels.

• an understanding of the public policy making process in the US.

• skills and knowledge necessary for analyzing American politics according to the ideals of American democracy.

• skills necessary for critical thinking.

• skills that improve their abilities to apply technology to the learning process.

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Required Course Materials 

The text you will be using for this course is Government in America (12th edition) by George Edwards, Martin Wattenberg and Robert Lineberry.

You are also required to purchase access to Mypoliscilab 2.0 (MPSL) for this course. MPSL is the online portal associated with the text and holds additional content that is required throughout the term.

You may purchase used copies of the text; however, you must purchase a unique (new) Mypoliscilab booklet for the course. I recommend that you look for a shrink-wrapped package in the bookstore. A shrink-wrapped package includes the book and the Mypoliscilab booklet in one unit.

Students are required to have access to a computer with an Internet connection and multimedia capabilities. You must be able to go online with the computer and watch or listen to streaming media files. A significant amount of work in this class will be done online. You may use the campus computers available to students in various computing labs (e.g., Computer Assisted Instruction Lab) or any other computer (work computer, home computer, etc.). If you plan to use campus computers, you will need to purchase headphones in order to hear audio and video files.

Students must also have an email account to complete this course. If you do not already have an account, you can get a free email account through online services such as Hotmail and Yahoo (see www.hotmail.com or www.yahoo.com).

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Assignments and Grading

Readings

There are 18 chapters you must complete for this course. Each chapter consists of reading materials, online exercises and multimedia materials. Once you have purchased the required text and corresponding Mypoliscilab booklet, you will have all the materials you need to complete this course.

Chapter Exams

After each chapter, you will be required to take the online chapter exam. These exams are open-book. Each exam is equally weighted.

Debates and Roundtable Quizzes

There are several streaming debates and roundtable discussions at Mypoliscilab. You will be required to watch/listen to a couple of these each week. After you have listened to each, you will be required to complete the corresponding online quiz. The quizzes are multiple choice and will be administered as open-book quizzes.

Weekly News Review

You will be required to follow the news on a weekly basis. To do this you must read the six (6) articles that are summarized each week in Mypoliscilab and take the corresponding quiz. The news summaries and corresponding quizzes are offered online through Mypoliscilab. The quizzes are multiple choice and are administered as open-book.

Online Activities

There are about 100 activities offered at Mypoliscilab (several per chapter). In each chapter you will find "simulations," "visual literacy" exercises, interactive "timelines" and "comparative" activities. These are all known as online activities and are designed to help students master the chapter content. You are required to complete approximately one activity per chapter. You get to pick the one that is most compelling to you. After you have completed the exercise, you must take the corresponding online quiz. The activities quizzes are open-book.

Discussion Forum

Each week you are required to post at least two comments in the course discussion forum. I will be posting discussion questions on a regular basis. You can reply to my discussion questions directly or reply to other student comments. Your discussion participation will be worth a total of 100 points. You will be graded on the frequency and quality of your submissions. For full credit, you must post two comments per week that are thoughtful and grammatically correct. For full credit, each post should be 3-4 sentences.

Essay

You will be required to submit two essays for the class. Details are provided at the essay assignment area online. The essay is due toward the end of the semester.

Weighting of Exams and Assignments

• Chapter Exams = 30% of Final Grade

• Roundtable Quizzes = 10% of Final Grade

• Debate Quizzes = 10% of Final Grade

• News Quizzes = 15% of Final Grade

• Online Activities Quizzes = 10% of Final Grade

• Discussion Forum Participation = 10% of Final Grade

• Essay = 15% of Final Grade

Grading Scale

• A = at least 90% of points possible

• B = at least 80% of points possible

• C = at least 70% of points possible

• D = at least 60% of points possible

• F = less than 60% of points possible

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Assignments Schedule

For this schedule, we will consider the first day of the week to be Monday and the last day of the week to be Sunday. Assignments required during any given week are to be completed and submitted by midnight on Sunday of that week. For example, all assignments required for the first week are due by midnight on Sunday of the first week.

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Navigating Mypoliscilab

The Mypoliscilab booklet comes with comprehensive registration and navigation instructions. To register for this course you need to use the Course ID # of reece87115. All other information regarding navigation can be found in the Student Starter Kit that comes with Mypoliscilab. The starter kit will tell you how to find and use all online resources. Look specifically for information related to:

• Chapter Quizzes

• Roundtables and Debates

• The Weekly News Review and Quizzes

• Chapter Activities

• The Course Discussion Forum

• Course Assignments

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