Evaluation

Discussion Forums	20%
Contemporary Issue (Podcast) Reflection	10%
Essay Assignment 1	15%
Essay Assignment 2	20%
Final Take-Home Exam	35%

Group Discussions 20%

Participating in a discussion group brings depth to an online course. Just as smaller tutorial sessions help students work through questions and ideas in a traditional classroom, online discussion groups offer students a place to review and challenge the course material in a less formal context than a research paper or final exam question. While I expect your questions and comments to be careful, professional, and relevant, as I would in any tutorial, you can use this space to test out ideas, receive feedback, or simply to clarify your own understanding.

Beginning the first week of class, you will be separated into groups of 12-15 students. Everyone is expected to contribute to your discussion group. Each week, every student will post one question or comment and respond to another student’s question or comment (so at the very least there will be 12-15 separate initial questions or comments in each group every week). This is the bare minimum expected, but I encourage you to post more frequently, as this will only increase the value of these conversations. Your grade, however, is made up of more than the quantity of your posts, but also the quality (see below). Each week I will monitor both the number of posts you submit and consider the content of these posts, and I will provide regular feedback to you in the form of my own responses. These discussion group posts account for 25% of your final grade.

What makes a quality post? Whether you are posing a question or commenting on someone else’s post, your aim should be to show me (and your colleagues) that:

• you’ve done the required reading
• you’ve made an attempt to understanding and contextualize the material
• you’re engaged with some of the course’s larger themes and questions

I encourage you to take notes while doing the course reading, keeping in mind some possible questions that you can bring to your group. Your questions and comments can interrogate a particular detail in your reading or connect the material with something you’ve learned elsewhere (e.g., another course, news, literature).

One final note:You are expected to treat this online community as you would a traditional classroom. Please use the utmost respect in your dealings with you colleagues in the class. Anything other than respectful discussion will not be tolerated. Also, this is not a forum to compare personal religious beliefs. This forum is an extension of our academic study of world religions and I ask that we focus our efforts to this end. While the material we cover might raise some questions of a more personal nature, this is not the best place for such a discussion. I encourage you to contact me if you have concerns about this policy, and I hope that you will enjoy learning about the diverse traditions around the world.

Essay Assignments 35%

In this course you will submit two essay assignments. In these assignments you are responsible for showing me that

1. you have understood the course material and readings,
2. you are able to synthesize that material into a focused response to the question
3. you can communicate your ideas clearly.

This means that I expect you not only to understand the content of the course material, but that you also make an effort to consider some of the larger themes of the course and present your answers in a clear, well-edited document. For these essay assignments you will be given one question to answer and a few specific sources to consider (usually an article or book chapter). Alongside the regular course material, you will use these sources as the foundation of your response. You are encouraged, though not required, to use additional sources that you find yourself.

Assignment Requirements

• submitted by the deadline
• 5-6 pages
• double-spaced
• 12-point font; regular margins
• title page with name, student number, and course details
• complete bibliography (in addition to notes or footnotes within the text of your essay-see below)

You are expected to consistently note your sources throughout your essay. To this end you may use either the MLA style guidelines or the Chicago Manual of Style to document your sources. Please see Guide to Documenting your Sources on the course website.

Late penalty

Your assignments are due on the prescribed due dates. If you choose to submit your assignment late there will be a late penalty. Assignments submitted more than five days late will receive an automatic zero. If you must submit an assignment late because of a medical emergency, late marks will not be deducted. You must, however, submit documentation from a doctor or hospital. There will be no exceptions.