Important Points About Our Course Professor Stephen “Steve” Lettic slettic@highline.edu

Greetings Everyone! Welcome to CJ 228, Introduction to Forensic Psychology Please review my greeting to all of you, the course announcements, the Instructor Expectations document, and the course syllabus if you have not done so already. Next, Let’s review some important points about our course

Communication Is ESSENTIAL This involves discussion boards, web field trips, and quizzes, as well as emailing me with any questions, concerns, problems or issues that may arise throughout the entire term. Please let me know ahead of time if you experience any difficulties, or have other extenuating circumstances.

Course Announcements I use the course room to post announcements Also, check your settings in canvas to enable the information to be forwarded to you in one of several electronic formats.

Time Commitments This is not a self-paced class.  You should plan on spending about 5-6 hours or more per week on this class. A key to success in taking on-line classes is to keep up with the assignments.  You are all busy people, the best advice that I can provide to you is to make every effort to stay current in your course work.

Academic Weeks Our academic weeks are from Monday to Sunday. Generally, all assignments will be due on Sunday. Please see the course due dates in the syllabus (unit weeks) for further clarification of due dates. Just as a reminder, the course room “locks” on Sunday evening at 11:55 PM PST Following that time no other submissions will be accepted for that particular unit.

Participation Students are expected to participate in the course room on two (2) days during the unit week Waiting until the last day of the unit week (Sunday) is not in keeping with this practice and violates this agreement Students that post on the last day of the unit week will not receive special consideration for problems that occur Please keep in-mind: Fully 99% of all student course room issues occur when using the course room on the last day of the unit week.

Required Textbook Students are required to have purchased their textbook prior to the start of the class session. It is a student responsibility to ensure that they meet this requirement.

Assignment submission All course work in the CJ 228 course must be submitted via the Canvas course room. Students must work to insure that their assignment are submitted via this medium and in a timely fashion. Engaging in an online course requires the student to work within these parameters.

Office Hours For office hours, I will use the Google Chat instant message system. My scheduled office hours occur on Saturdays between the hours of 5:00-7:00 pm PST. If you are not a Google Chat member, you can download the free service at: Google Chat My Google chat address is smettic

Emails You can also email me at slettic@highline.edu. I will get back to you within a 24-48 hour period. I check my email each morning. Email represents the best way to reach me. If you ask a question that is answered in the course syllabus or Instructor Expectations document, my response may be as brief as “syllabus” or Instructor Expectations. Please do not take offense. My goal in providing the brief statement is that the issue is addressed in these documents.

Returning Your Work to You I will grade all papers, projects, and other required submissions throughout the course within seven days of their original submission. That is, if you turn your paper in on the 7th of the month, you will get it back no later than the 14th of the month. If you do not receive your work within this allotted time frame, please email me.

Accessing the Available Tools Access the tools available to you, such as the Library, Career Services, and other college services. The online library represents a very useful resource.

Discussion Boards Discussion boards require 3 postings to present the opportunity for full points An original student response 2 peer responses Attendance (postings) on two separate days during the unit week Postings should represent more than mere opinions Application of assigned reading materials should be presented in APA style

Discussion Board Responses Student responses to the posted discussion board question should: Be 150-200 words in length (minimum) Include information (support) from the required readings APA style 6th should be included

Discussion Board Peer Responses Peer responses are comments to other student’s postings on the discussion board Should be contain 100 words at least Represent more than mere acknowledgement (“Good posting Jeff. I liked that!”) Do not require APA style

Instructor Questions and Proper Salutations All questions posed by the instructor must be addressed by students. All correspondences need to include a proper salutation (see syllabus under Communications) If you fail to address the question, points will be deducted from your point total for that week

APA Format and Guidelines Learn the American Psychological Association (APA) writing style, and use it to cite any outside references within your postings, papers and projects throughout the term. There is information regarding APA style 6th under Course Procedural Documents You WILL be graded in this class for improper APA citations and references

Spelling and Grammatical Errors For all papers and projects to be submitted, I will deduct points from any paper that has spelling and/or grammatical errors. As college level students, you are expected to have the fundamentals of both spelling and grammar. Your employer would expect no less from you, and as your instructor, please provide me the same courtesy you would to them.

Late Assignment Policies Late assignments are adjusted to a 60% maximum scale. You have a full six days to complete each unit and those turned in on the 7th day or later are considered late. Unit assignments are due on Sundays at 11:55 pm PST. Please make note in the syllabus of the week five deadline. Once the midterm has past, I cannot accept work that was due prior to the midterm week ending (papers, projects, missed seminar assignments). I will not consider any past due assignment for credit that is more than 5 days late. If you have extenuating circumstances and would like to turn work in late without penalty, you must contact me in writing prior to the due date. There is a statute of limitations to any course assignment or grade mark received. Please see the course syllabus.

Grading As an instructor I do not support the notion of “grade inflation.” The grade the you earn will represent a direct reflection of the time and effort that you invest in this course. Regarding grades: University policy states that: “A ‘C’ grade indicates that a student has made substantial progress toward meeting the objectives of the course and has fulfilled the requirements of the course. The grades above ‘C’ are used for those students who have demonstrated some degree of superiority. The highest grade, ‘A’ is reserved for those students who have excelled in every phase of the course. The ‘B’ grade is for students whose work is superior but does not warrant special distinctiveness of the ‘A’. The ‘D’ is a grade for those students who have made progress toward meeting the objectives of the course but have fulfilled the requirements in only a substandard manner. The ‘F’ is reserved for those students who have failed to meet or have accomplished so few of the requirements of the course that they are not entitled to credit.”

Technical Problems You are responsible for having contingency plans for computer problems--one suggestion is to be familiar with local community resources e.g., computer access through the public library, local University, and/or Community College; another suggestion is to ask friends or relatives in advance if you can use their equipment in an emergency.

Late Assignment Policies My rule regarding late work is as follows: The decision to pursue post secondary education is a voluntary one. Life happens in real time and attempting to complete college credit will require that you to manage work, family and personal time. I RARELY grant extensions to the established timelines for course work submissions. The criteria that I use in considering requests for extensions is that there must be an emergency (as opposed to an inconvenience) that was unanticipated and significantly impacted your ability to complete the required work.

Conclusions Ask questions when you do not understand something. I am here to assist you in your educational and professional goals. Remember, online work requires a self directed, pro-active approach to course work. Enjoy the Term! Let’s work hard together!