Weekly instructor-initiated discussions

The weekly instructor led discussions are intended to engage you in the material covered in the course as an individual student and this requires that you actively participate, provide dialogue, and demonstrate that you have learned from the course material by applying your understanding to the topic.

Instructor-initiated discussion format:

• A weekly discussion will be posted in the weeks discussion folder and titled by the student’s name.
• Students can only reply to the post from Dr Hollier under their own name (they cannot post anything under another student’s name).
• Dr Hollier will post a topic for the student on the Sunday before the week.
• The student will write a summary on that topic. The student may also post any questions they have about any content from that week after their summary.
• Students must make their reply between 0:01 (12:01am) Monday and 23:59 (11:59pm) Wednesday.
• Students must include the heading of “Summary” before their summary to the topic given to them by Dr Hollier.
• Students must include the heading of “Questions” before any questions they wish to ask Dr Hollier about any content from that week.
• Dr Hollier will ask the student a question about either their summary or a general question about the topic they were given.
• The student will answer the question from Dr Hollier. The student may also post any questions they have about any content from that week after their summary.
• Students must make their reply between 0:01 (12:01am) Friday and 23:59 (11:59pm) Sunday.
• Students must include the heading of “Summary” before their summary to the topic given to them by Dr Hollier.
• Students must include the heading of “Questions” before any questions they wish to ask Dr Hollier about any content from that week.

Grading for instructor-initiated discussions:

• The table below lists reasons for obtaining a specific score. Only a single reason from a box is needed to earn you that score.
• Only the first response for your summary post and/or answer post is graded. Postings after errors have been identified are not accepted.
• If you make any post on another student’s discussion thread then you will receive a grade of zero for your week’s discussion.

	5 points	2 points	0 points
Summary of topic (first post)	(i) Summary was posted between 0:01 (12:01am) Monday and 23:59 (11:59pm) Wednesday, summarized the assigned topic, and was entered as a reply to the topic posted by Dr Hollier	(i) Summary was posted between 0:01 (12:01am) Monday and 23:59 (11:59pm) Wednesday, summarized the assigned topic, and was entered by creating a new discussion thread / topic. (ii) Posting a summary that is partially related to the topic you were assigned.	(i) Summary was posted after Wednesday at 11:59pm. (ii) Posting a summary that is not related to the topic you were assigned. (iii) Reposting a second time during the correct time frame. (iv) Not making a first post.
Answer to question (second post)	(i) The response to the question must be made between 0:01 (12:01am) Friday and 23:59 (11:59pm) Sunday, correctly answered the question(s) asked, and was entered as a reply to the topic posted by Dr Hollier.	(i) The response to the question must be made between 0:01 (12:01am) Friday and 23:59 (11:59pm) Sunday and posting information that does not answer the question asked by Dr Hollier but is related to the topic. (ii) The response to the question must be made between 0:01 (12:01am) Friday and 23:59 (11:59pm) Sunday and posting an answer(s) that only partially answers the question(s) asked.	(i) Posting outside the time frame (0:01 (12:01am) Friday and 23:59 (11:59pm) Sunday). (ii) Posting information unrelated to the question(s). (iii) Reposting a second time during the correct time frame. (iv) Posting an answer that is factually wrong to the question that was asked. (v) Not answering the questions and/or not making a second post.

Notes for instructor-initiated discussions:

• Posting sections early or late will result in a grade of zero.
• Instructor-initiated discussions are not extendable.
• Do not plagiarize your summary from somewhere (see cheating and plagiarism section in this syllabus).
• Making a detailed first post (that is not AI generated or copy/pasted from the internet) will mean you get an easier question. Making a brief, non-detailed, and/or copy/pasted first post will mean you get a harder question. Everyone does the same amount of work between the first and second posts per week.
• AI is not allowed to be used anywhere in this course (see section in syllabus for that). I am grading you for your knowledge and understanding, not an AI’s knowledge and understanding.
• Registering late for classes does not change the requirement for the first week’s instructor-initiated discussion posting.  Registering late for a class is a student decision and is never recommended.
• Instructor-initiated discussions represent one aspect of meeting Regular & Substantive Interactions with online students as required by the Federal government.
• The Federal government requires any institute receiving Federal money in the form of financial aid for students to meet specific standards for online classes. Failure to meet these standards can result in fines, forced repayment of financial aid money over a given time period, and/or loss of Federal funding.
• One requirement is that the instructor specifically interacts with each student on a regular basis and in a format that is focused on the course content.
• The generally accepted interpretation of this is:
• The instructor initiates the interaction with the student, not that the instructor only interacts with a student when a student contacts them.
• It occurs on a weekly basis, throughout the week, not just on a single day.
• The interaction is back and forth between the instructor and student. Not the instructor telling the student something and that being the entire interaction.
• The interaction is primarily focused on the course content that was covered during the time frame of the weekly interaction.
• The student can ask questions about the course and/or content during the interaction.
• The interaction is consistent regarding the time frames each week and the format of the interaction.
• The interaction is frequent (occurs every week classes are occurring). Interactions would occur every week when classes are conducted, meaning from the official start of classes to the end of classes, the interaction would occur. When classes are not scheduled, such as Spring break or Thanksgiving week, there would be no interaction.
• The regular interaction cannot be made up if a student misses that week. Students are expected to engage in online courses every week classes are officially in session. Students should suffer grade penalties for each week they fail to engage in the class.
• The potential loss of financial aid for all students University wide by failing to meet Federal requirements is why Dr Hollier cannot extend these assignments, must grade early/late posts with a zero, and why this assignment category has all its specific rules and requirements listed in this section of the syllabus.