The
World Affairs Council of Wilmington |
Understanding |
Course Policies |
|
POSC/COMM444-011 & 080 |
|
Updated 2/4/02 |
Speaker
calendar The primary focus of this
course is the experiences students have with our series of
guest speakers. The speakers have been chosen for the
diversity of their foreign policy expertise - in government
(both U.S. and foreign) and media. Seminars with the guest
speakers, and their public lectures, form the backbone of
this course. Attendance at these events is mandatory. You
should take these as opportunities to ask questions and
engage in lively dialog. Please do not take a seat in
this course if this requirement is a problem for you.
The course calendar
is available on this web site. Your interaction with
guest speakers in this course should be smart, professional
and enthusiastic. Putting it bluntly: guests such as the
ones we will meet have many opportunities to visit many
other universities. To encourage them to offer their
expertise to students like you, they should have a lively,
intelligent and - yes - fun experience at Delaware. That is
largely up to you. Don't "hang back." Be prepared with
questions that interest you and your peers. It's OK to ask
"elementary" questions and to challenge a speaker's views;
it's not OK to ask no questions or engage in
no discussion. Take advantage of these opportunities. Milk
our guest speakers for all they're worth. In weeks when there is no
guest speaker, classes will consist primarily of lectures,
discussion and video and multimedia presentations. At these
classes, as well as at the guest speaker seminars and
lectures, questions and discussion from students are very
much encouraged. Discussions will draw from class
presentations, reading assignments, videos, and class
assignments. Just as in the
communication field, independent, analytical and critical
thinking is highly valued. So your contribution to class
discussion will be reflected in your final grade. You'll be expected to
attend class; it's hard to imagine how learning can take
place - especially learning about the documentaries we will
see - without your attendance
and active participation. If this prospect does not appeal
to you, please free your seat for another student. Unexcused
absences
may result in the automatic lowering of your grade. To make the class dinners
with guest speakers more interesting, informal and to
encourage maxium student-speaker conversation, we are
limiting the number of people at each dinner to 16.
Approximately 10-12 students will attend each dinner; a
rotation system will be established early in the semester to
assure all students have ample opportunity to converse with
our guests. Dinner
assignments will be posted
here once they are
established during the first weeks of class. Regardless of whether you
participate in any given dinner, all students are
required to participate in the reception
following the class seminar, and all students are
required to participate in the evening
lectures. How much you gain
from this class will depend in large measure on how well you
prime yourself for the foreign policy topics we will discuss
with our speakers. Readings are chosen not only to impart
information, but also to help you broaden and deepen your
understanding of our class discussions, and to help you
develop insight into the issues we cover in this course.
Specific readings may not be discussed explicitly in class,
but to participate effectively in class and to write the
best papers, you will find it critical to complete the
readings. Required readings
will include all or parts of papers and articles, most of
which are available electronically on the "Readings"
page of this web site. This course draws
heavily on current issues in the news media. You are
required to keep up with contemporary news by reading The
New York Times, and by watching television news
broadcasts. Students may subscribe to the Times at
discount rates. Students will also want to remain familiar
with international news coverage on National Public Radio,
PBS (WHYY-TV-12) or one of the domestic networks (ABC, CBS,
CNN, NBC). Don't rely on essentially local news media such
as the News Journal or local TV newscasts for international
affairs news. You will find links to a variety of other
international affairs publications in the "Readings"
page of this web site. Perhaps the single
most important skill in international affairs is thoughtful,
insightful, analytical, concise, quality writing. Therefore,
such writing is highly valued in this course. Your grade
will be very heavily influenced by the quality and the
content of your writing. You should avoid
unnecessary verbiage, rhetoric or embellishment. To help
keep your writing to-the-point, I will not read beyond the
page limit. Six brief writing
assignments will be required during the semester, based on
guest speaker topics, class discussion and readings. Due
dates will be announced in class and are included in the
syllabus,
which may be periodically updated on the class web site. It
is your responsibility to remain up to date with the
syllabus on the web. Use the web-based syllabus as your
primary course information resource. There will be no final
exam or final paper. Assignments
submitted after their due date will receive
automatically-reduced grades. The University of Delaware
is committed to developing student computer
literacy. Students are
required to communicate with the instructor by email (my
email address is on this web site). Students are
encouraged to investigate internet sites as sources, and
should critically evaluate them for content, reliability and
timeliness. Assignments may be
submitted
electronically (see below). Most readings used
in this course are found on the course Internet site. Please
familiarize yourself with using this site. To read some of
these electronic documents, you may need to install the
Adobe Acrobat Reader program on your computer; it's a free,
easy-to-install download, available here. Writing, thinking and
class participation (as well as mere attendance) are
critical elements of this class. Please remember that (just
as in the real-world) timeliness counts; late assignments
will automatically lose credit. There will be six papers in
this class. Your grades will be based on these
elements: Note: Students missing
three or more classes or more than one guest speaker event
will automatically experience a grade
reduction. Please recall the
admonition at the top of this page about interaction with
guest speakers in this course: you should be smart,
professional and enthusiastic. At guest speaker seminars,
receptions, dinners and public lectures, please dress
appropriately (no need to overdo it, but please don't come
looking like you just rolled out of bed). You are expected to
observe and uphold the University's
code of academic integrity
and the rules against plagiarism.
Plagiarism is a major, career-killing offense in the
communication industry. Violations in this course are not
treated lightly and will be referred to University
authorities in accordance with established
university regulations. Your written work should
have a professional appearance. Even your most creative work
will suffer from poor writing, spelling and formatting. Papers must be
typewritten (does anyone use a typewriter any more?) or
computer printed and double-spaced. Handwritten documents
will not be accepted. On the first
page, include your name, the course name and number, the
date, the assignment title and any title you choose for your
work. On all
subsequent pages, include your name and page
number. Staple your
pages; paper clips don't withstand your book bags or my
collection piles.
Electronic submission of assignments - You may, if
you wish, submit your assignments electronically,
subject to the same deadlines noted on the syllabus. Send
them as email attachments. I will confirm receipt of your
electronic submissions; do not assume I have received your
material until you receive my acknowlegement. Use your
spell-checker, but don't expect it to flag correctly-spelled
words used incorrectly. For that, you
must... Proofread your own
work. Proofread
your own work. Proofread
your own work!
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Syllabus
Readings
Dinner
assignments
Policies
Grading
Contact
Begleiter
Comments
(anonymous)
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arrangements
TopReading
TopCurrent
Events
TopWriting
TopComputer
Assignments:
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and Integrity
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