Spring 2008Course SyllabusFYS 110.02“Life is a journey. You’ll need a map.”Tuesday 4:00-5:20PMClassroom: WA 216Instructor: Sandra SchultzOffice: BW 231Office Hours: TBATelephone: (517)796-8582 (Eng. Dept.)E-Mail: [email protected] Text: Coping with College: A Guide for Academic Success by Alice HamachekCourse Materials: 1. Pencils/pens. 2. Notebook to take notes in class. 3. One two-pocket folder. 4. Access to a computer with word-processing capabilities and a printer.“If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.”Thomas EdisonCourse Description:This first year experience course equips you for transitions in education and life. You will be actively involved in learning and integrating practical applications to promote success. You will develop a learning portfolio and an educational plan while enhancing critical thinking and study strategies.Course Goals and Objectives:The Jackson community College Board of Trustees has determined that all JCC graduates shoulddevelop or enhance certain essential skills while enrolled in the college. The Associate Degree Outcomes (ADOs) addressed in this class are to be announced.Course Organization: LifeMaps explores four major journeys that we live:- Inner journey. A main journey is one of learning more about yourself, your strengths, andyour learning styles. This journey includes gaining confidence in yourself as you becomepart of the college community. - Learning journey. This journey includes active learning, effective and efficient study strategies, effective test-taking, and time management.- College Journey. We will explore the journey of college, using resources, and understanding the processes.- Life Journey. All of these journeys are involved in forming the career path you choose. This course will help with your career choice and with developing an education plan toward that goal.Course Assignments:- Journal Topics. Keep these entries together in one of your two folders as a way to discover more about how to learn and how you learn.- Activities. A variety of activities will be assigned during the twelve week class.- Participation. This is an active course. Your participation is essential in helping us all learn together.- Portfolio. You will assemble a portfolio that contains information about your career goals, education plan, learning style, strengths as a learner, and effective and time management strategies.- Quizzes. To ensure that you do the reading, there will be a short quiz following each of the reading assignments.Course Grading:- 20% Journal Topics- 20% Activities- 20% Participation- 10% Quizzes- 30% Portfolio 100% in total2Percentage Conversions are as follows:- 92 – 100 4.0 (A)- 85 – 91 3.5 (B+)- 80 – 84 3.0 (B)- 75 – 79 2.5 (C+)- 70 – 74 2.0 (C)- 65 – 69 1.5 (D+)- 60 – 64 1.0 (D)- Below 59 0.0Course Guidelines:- In a perfect world, no one would ever miss class, however, I do understand that illnesses and situations arise which require students to be absent. For this reason, I will excuse one absence resulting from either illness or another emergency. Any absences after the first, without a doctor’s note, will be reflected in your grade. If you must be absent from class more than three times, I suggest that you drop the course. You should not schedule appointments or vacations during class time, however, if you have plans that conflict with the class schedule please let me know as soon as possible in writing.- Please make every effort to get to class on time. Repeated tardiness will be reflected inyour grade.- Please hold on to any and all assignments until the end of this course. It is also a good idea to make photocopies of any hand-written assignments and keep backup copies of any digital work. Save the syllabus for each of your classes.- You are to respect one another’s ideas, listen when others are talking, and respect the differences between people. Otherwise, you will be asked to leave.- Please turn off your cell phones and pagers before class (unless you have a serious reason for having them on; i.e. medical emergency in the family, etc.)- If you need to leave the room to use the facilities, by all means do so. If you want a pop or a bag of chips, take care of that before or after class.- If you have questions or comments for me, by all means let me know! I’m available during office hours, by appointment, via e-mail or by phone. I will do everything within reason to ensure your success in this course.The moment you eliminate the impossible from your thinking, everything becomes possible.3Course Schedule(This schedule may change over the course of the twelve weeks.)Week Date Notes Topics Assignments Resources andInvited Speakers1 May 13 WelcomeWeekDrop and AddClassesSyllabusJournaling,PortfolioEffective StudyPolicy of theWeek: Drop andAdd/WithdrawJCC Cat. pg. 16,Handbook p. 24Get TextReadChapters 1and 12Journal:Pg. 12,Qs. 2 & 3How Can IHelp You?JCC Web Site:Students-CurrentStudents=>Dropping& Withdrawing2 May 20 Last Day toDrop Classes:TBADemands ofCollege/NoteTakingPolicy of theWeek: StudentLife, JCC Cat.pg. 23,Handbook pg. 38ReadChapters 2and 3Journal:Pg. 28,Qs. 2 & 4 Campus TourStudentServices=>CurrentCatalog3 May 27 ProfessorsMotivationJCC WebResourcesPolicy of theWeek: Particip.JCC Cat. pg. 14,Handbook pg. 23ReadChapters 4and 7PortfolioDue NextWeekTech ExplorationJCC Web Site:Student Services=>Student Life4 June 3ScholarshipApplications& FAFSAGoal SettingDeadlinesFinancial AidReadChapters 5and 17GoalsActivitySpeaker fromFinancial AidJCC Web Site:Student4Policy of theWeek: FinancialAid RegulationsJCC Cat. pg. 9,Handbook pg. 15Services=>FinancialAid5 June 10 TimeManagementTest TakingPolicies of theWeek: Grades,GPA, Passing,Repeats,Incompletes JCCCat. pg. 13,Handbook pg. 22ReadChapters 6and 8Journal: Pg. 46,Qs. 2 & 5TimeOrganiz.Activity JCC Web Site:StudentServices=>GradingSystem (in“Registration”Section6 June 17 ProcrastinationGettingOrganizedInfo. of theWeek: AdvisingJCC Cat. pg. 18,Handbook pg. 32ReadChapters 14and 18Journal:Pg. 51,Qs. 1 & 37 June 24 Study StrategiesLearning StylesInfo. of theWeek: AssociateDegree,Certification,Skill Set OptionsJCC Cat. pg. 23ReadChapter 10Journal:Pg. 109,Qs. 1 & 4LearningStylesActivityPortfolioDue NextWeek JCC Web Site:StudentServices=>Currentcatalog=>DegreeOptions8 July 1