Session 7

I will have two discussion requirements within the course unit that I will deliver. The first of these is an introductory discussion designed to get the students to share a little bit of information on their backgrounds and prior knowledge as it pertains to this course. There are no real guidelines for this initial discussion other than to introduce oneself and provide some background on your experience as it relates to the course subject matter. My objectives for this discussion are as follows:

· Help students identify with one another and recognize the various levels of experience.

· Allow students to gain some background information on one another and share their motives for taking the course.

· Build a sense of community amongst the students.

This discussion activity will need to be completed within the first week of class and will be factored into the participation portion of the overall grade which is 35%. Each week has one discussion activity worth a total of 15 points. These all include level I and level II responses. Level II responses will be expected to be posted within 3 days of the level I response. Therefore the level I responses will need to be posted within the first 4 days of the first week of class and the level II responses should be submitted within 3 days thereafter or by the end of the first week of class.

The second discussion requirement is designed for students to critique one another’s work submitted for that particular lesson. Here the students will critique their own work to initiate the level II responses where their peers will assume the roles of critics. For this discussion the students must:

Level I response

· List the original source of their audio sample and explain why they selected it.

· Describe the biggest challenges that they faced during the lesson and explain how they overcame them.

· Describe how they feel about their composition and explain what they would do differently if they were to do the lesson a second time.

Level II response

· Analyze one student’s composition and discuss its strengths and weaknesses. Be sure to assess if the sampled audio suits the preexisting composition. Provide constructive feedback.

The learning objectives for this discussion are as follows:

· Students will learn to process constructive criticism and use it as motivation for self-improvement.

· Students will establish a support system amongst themselves and learn to utilize one another for their expertise.

· Students will learn how to provide useful feedback and engage in rich conversations while practicing proper netiquette.

The level I response will hold a requirement of 200-500 words and will be due within four days of the week following the assignment due date. The level II response will also have a requirement of 200-500 words and will be due 3 days after the level I due date. This is a much more formal discussion in which I expect the following from my students:

· Students must provide positive feedback and give encouraging recommendations for improvement.

· Students must use proper spelling and grammar.

· Students must practice proper netiquette and provide tactful criticism.

Below is the rubric that I’ve selected. It's the best model that I've seen and is a perfect fit for my course (Look familiar?)

Criteria	Outstanding (3 points)	Proficient (2 points)	Basic (1 point)	Below Expectations (0 point)
Critical Thinking (Level 1 & II responses)	Accurately interprets all statements, questions, etc.	Accurately interprets some statements, questions, etc;	Misinterprets statements, questions, etc.	Offers biased interpretations of statements, questions, etc.
	Presents the most important strengths and good points, and provides clear suggestions for improvement with references.	Presents important strengths and good points, and provides suggestions for improvement with references.	Presents strengths and good points, and provides suggestions for improvement without references.	Fail to present strengths or/and good points.
Organization	Information and ideas are presented in a logical sequence that flows naturally and is engaging to the audience.	Information and ideas are presented in a logical sequence that is followed by the reader with little or no difficulty.	Information and ideas are presented in an order that the audience can follow with minimum difficulty.	Information and ideas are poorly sequenced (the author jumps around). The audience has difficulty following the thread of thought.
Connections	There are clear connections to previous or current course materials. Sources of the connections are presented clearly.	There are connections to previous or current course materials. Sources of the connections are presented.	There are some connections to previous or current course materials. Sources of the connections are missing.	There is no connection to previous or current course materials.
Timeliness and logistics	All required postings are posted before the deadlines, and the author follows all instructions correctly, e.g. creating a thread name.	The majority of the required postings are posted before the deadlines, and the author follows most instructions correctly, e.g. creating a thread name.	Only some required postings are posted before the deadlines, and the author fails to follow many of the instructions.	Required postings are not posted before the deadlines.
Mechanics	There is no misspelled word or grammatical error in the postings.	There are few misspellings and/or grammatical errors; the readability of the work is minimally interrupted by errors.	There are some misspellings and/or systematic grammatical errors, and the errors distract from the work.	There are many misspellings and/or systematic grammatical errors, and the readability of the work is seriously hampered by errors.