1. Schedule

1. Unlike a correspondence course in which students work on their own time, this web course has a daily schedule and assignments have strict deadlines. The Course Calendar, as the central document of the course, contains this information.
   
   
2. Since students work in groups, missing a deadline might have a negative effect on their peers’ performance. For example, if a student misses the deadline for posting feedback on a peer’s paper, the peer may not have enough time to use the feedback for revision. Consequently, the draft that this student submits for grading will probably not earn as high a grade as it could have with the peer’s help. Therefore, missing workshop deadlines has serious consequences.

2. Workload

1. This Advanced Composition class involves a great deal of reading and writing. I remind students in the Workload section of the Syllabus that both of these are time-consuming activities, so participating in the course means considerable commitment.
   
   
2. I have a link on the 401 Course Website entitled “Who Should Take This Course?” I include the following information under the bullet point “Who Should Not Take The Course:” “[Who] [h]as too many commitments this semester. Don’t take the course if you cannot afford the time it takes to prepare your assignments. Please remember that reading and writing are time- and energy-consuming activities. You will be busy this semester.”
   
   
3. In the Syllabus, I tell students how much time they are likely to spend on preparing assignments in this course compared to its face-to-face equivalent.
   
   
4. I include a paragraph in the Syllabus about Tips for a Successful Semester giving students advice on what to focus on from the very beginning.

3. Standards and Expectations

• To make students understand the course standards and expectation, It is my goal to make the course “transparent,” so that students know ahead of time what kinds of assignments they have to complete, how much time is allocated to each assignment, and how they have to complete the assignment. The Syllabus and Course Calendar are available from the course website so that students can decide before signing up for the course whether they can afford the time commitment.
  
  
• I created closed-captioned "Welcome" and an " Orientation" video clips that students can watch before the course starts and several other videos explaining assignments and giving them advice on how to prepare them.
  
  
• Diagrams and text files are posted on Blackboard to help students understand course procedures and the place and significance of each assignment meeting the course objectives.
  
  
• In addition to rubrics and questions designed to understand assessment criteria, I provide models and examples for every assignments completed by students from previous semesters.
  
  
• And last, but not least, I emphasize that students have to challenge themselves and prepare assignments in a meaningful way. I do not accept mechanical busy work that does not show me how a student’s mind works. When responding to some text or giving feedback, comments like “Thank you for sharing,” “What a great idea,” “I found your response really intriguing,” or other general statements without specific additional information, will not earn students a good grade.