Syllabus

In this class we look at the invisible forces that control our emotions, purchases, prejudices, ideas, and exposure to the digital story that is our life. We will critically explore how social media and various disruptive technologies and movements have affected our society, our economy, and our personal lives. In order to do this, this course relies heavily on non-traditional sources of course information such as: YouTube videos, Buzzfeed articles, Podcasts, Twitter posts, Memes, and various websites. It is my goal, that when you successfully complete this course, you won’t just be a background character in this digital fairytale called life, but a disruptive, innovative, and aware engager in your digital happy ever after.

Global Awareness: Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of the interrelatedness of local, global, international, and intercultural issues, trends, and systems.

• Identify culturally specific forms of various technologies and media and their origins.
• Compare and contrast the evolution of similar styles of media and technological interaction in varied nations.
• Value differences to disruptive technology/media contribution to relationship, communication and thought development .
• Analyze global impacts of disruptive media and technology; particularly its affects on employment patterns, global elections, social perceptions/misconceptions.

Global Perspective: Students will be able to develop a multi-perspective analysis of local, global, international, and intercultural problems.

• Discuss the cultural/age-related/social implications that shaped the business of uberization.
• Analyze and describe how the global distributions of technology and information affected perceptions and the efficacy of ideas, products, and movements.

Global Engagement—Students will be able to demonstrate a willingness to engage in local, global, international, and intercultural problem solving..

• Students will engage in an in-class debate of physical/social/educational issues facing families, schools, and general perceptions of disruptive technology and media.
• Students will reflect on the relationship between their own exploration of social media and uberization and consequent impacts. 
• Analyze the psychosocial and economical impacts of play on local, national, global populations and themselves personally.

Global Learning Graduation Honors

FIU’s Excellence in Global Learning Graduation Medallion is awarded to students who complete at least four global learning courses, participate in a variety of global co-curricular activities, and complete a capstone consisting of one of the following: a substantial original research project and presentation on a global topic; extensive foreign language study; long-term study abroad; or, a globally-focused internship. The Peace Corps Prep certification is conferred upon students who complete at least four global learning courses, extensive language study, and a global problem-solving project. For more information, visit goglobal.fiu.edu. 

Registration in this course implies an acceptance of and compliance with the Honors College policies for students and the FIU Code of Academic Integrity.

Honors Citizenship Requirements
Beginning in Fall 2014, Honors College students are required to accumulate at least 20 citizenship points each academic year (Fall and Spring) by attending Honors College activities. Students attending only one semester (Fall or Spring) are required to accumulate 10 citizenship points. 

Student Portfolios
The Honors College will be using a portfolio method to assess students’ learning outcomes. The portfolio allows for maximum flexibility in gauging student learning. Students decide (with instructor consultation) what “artifacts” or assignments to include for consideration in their portfolios to demonstrate successful achievement of each of five key student learning outcomes over the 4-year Honors experience.

HonorsEducation in the ARTS (HEARTS)
The HEARTS program is designed to give Honors College students opportunities to “explore and appreciate different artistic and cultural traditions and modes of artistic expression. HEARTS will also serve as a clearinghouse (and curatorial framework) for our students to experience the arts on campus and in the community by providing them with information about cultural activities and access to performances with free or discounted tickets.

Honors College Academic Misconduct Statement
In The Honors College, the term “honor” refers both to academic accomplishment and character. Students in Honors should therefore adhere to and be held to the highest standards of personal academic accountability. Academic dishonesty in any form, including plagiarism, is antithetical to the very definition of being an Honors student at FIU. Consequently, an Honors College student found responsible for academic misconduct will be dismissed from the College.

Procedures and Penalties
An Honors faculty member may bring charges of academic misconduct against an Honors student if the faculty member suspects plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct.  The faculty member will decide whether to pursue informal resolution, file formal resolution charges, or take no further action, and will follow the procedures outlined in the Honors College website, and the Academic Misconduct Procedures.

Please refer to the following documents for additional information:

• FIU Code of Academic Integrity  
• FIU Honors College Plagiarism Policy  

Religious Observances
Every effort will be made, where feasible and practical, to accommodate students whose religious practices coincide with class requirements or scheduling. Please make sure to notify your instructor at the beginning of the semester of which dates you will be absent or any anticipated problems with completing course work.

Please review the FIU's Policies webpage. The policies webpage contains essential information regarding guidelines relevant to all courses at FIU, as well as additional information about acceptable netiquette for online courses.

The FIU Department of Emergency Management guides the university's all hazard preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation needs, by coordinating information and resources to protect our students, faculty, staff and visitors, and restoring operations as soon as possible following a disaster.

Some of the valuable safety resources you'll find on our website are:

• Information on FIU Criminal Threats to guide faculty, staff, and students who may be caught in an active shooting, bomb threat, or suspicious packages situation.
  • The FIU Police Department recommends downloading the app called “Stop the Bleed”, which provides instructions on how to efficiently stop excessive bleeding when someone has been shot or has an open wound.
• The FIU Safety Equipment Map to identify all exits in your classrooms as well as all FIU safety equipment on-campus.
  • Make note of the nearest Automated External Defibrillators (AED), Evacuation Chairs and Emergency Call boxes to your classroom. 
• Information on the FIU Emergency Alert System and sign up for FIU Alerts.
• Information on how to prepare and deal with different types of emergencies.

By taking a Fully-online course your computer literacy skills will grow. Some of the skills that you need at the beginning of the course include:

• Working knowledge of how to use word processing software and web browsers.
• Good email and document management skills.
• Navigating online gaming applications
• Operating a webcam device and uploading a video onto your computer

Technical course requirements include:

• A reliable Internet connection.
• Regular access to a laptop or desktop computer with an updated operating system and web browser.
• An active FIU email account that is checked daily (or forwarded to an email that is checked daily).
• Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etx)
• Anti-virus software.
• A Netflix account 
• A smartphone or tablet

This course utilizes the following tools. Select the corresponding links below in order to access each tool's Privacy Policy:

• ApprenNet/Practice
• Canvas
• Doodle
• Facebook
• Fakebook
• Imgflip
• Instagram
• Netflix
• Notebowl
• Piktochart
• Pinterest
• PlayPosit
• Snapchat
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Zoom

Please visit our System and Technical Requirements webpage for additional information.

The Disability Resource Center collaborates with students, faculty, staff, and community members to create diverse learning environments that are usable, equitable, inclusive and sustainable. The DRC provides FIU students with disabilities the necessary support to successfully complete their education and participate in activities available to all students. If you have a diagnosed disability and plan to utilize academic accommodations, please contact the Center at 305-348-3532 or visit them at the Graham Center GC 190.

Please visit our ADA Compliance webpage for information about accessibility involving the tools used in this course.

For additional assistance please contact FIU's Disability Resource Center.

Florida International University is a community dedicated to generating and imparting knowledge through excellent teaching and research, the rigorous and respectful exchange of ideas and community service. All students should respect the right of others to have an equitable opportunity to learn and honestly to demonstrate the quality of their learning. Therefore, all students are expected to adhere to a standard of academic conduct, which demonstrates respect for themselves, their fellow students, and the educational mission of the University. All students are deemed by the University to understand that if they are found responsible for academic misconduct, they will be subject to the Academic Misconduct procedures and sanctions, as outlined in the Student Handbook.

Academic Misconduct includes: Cheating – The unauthorized use of books, notes, aids, electronic sources; or assistance from another person with respect to examinations, course assignments, field service reports, class recitations; or the unauthorized possession of examination papers or course materials, whether originally authorized or not. Plagiarism – The use and appropriation of another’s work without any indication of the source and the representation of such work as the student’s own. Any student who fails to give credit for ideas, expressions or materials taken from another source, including internet sources, is responsible for plagiarism.

Learn more about the academic integrity policies and procedures as well as student resources that can help you prepare for a successful semester.

Students must be enrolled in the Honors College and have advisor approval to take upper-level courses.

This is an online course, which means most (if not all) of the course work will be conducted online. Expectations for performance in an online course are the same for a traditional course. In fact, online courses require a degree of self-motivation, self-discipline, and technology skills which can make these courses more demanding for some students.

Students are expected to:

• Review the how to get started information located in the course content
• Introduce yourself to the class during the first week by posting a self introduction in the appropriate discussion forum
• Take the practice quiz to ensure that your computer is compatible with Canvas
• Interact online with instructor/s and peers
• Review and follow the course calendar
• Log-in to the course 5 times per week
• Respond to discussions, blogs and journal postings within 4 days
• Respond to messages within 1 day
• Submit assignments by the corresponding deadline
• Participate in class activities

The instructor will:

• Log-in to the course 14 times per week
• Respond to discussion boards, blogs and journal postings within 7 days
• Respond to Emails within 12 hours
• Grade assignments within 7 days of the assignment deadline

Communication in this course will take place via Email.

Visit our Writing Resources webpage for more information on professional writing and technical communication skills.

This semester our class will utilize the Notebowl tool in order to complete all discussion assignments. This includes the:

• Introduce Yourself Video Blog
• Meme Image Blog
• Infographic Image Blog 
• Music Blog
• Not Creepy Social Media Stalking assignment
• second part of the instagram assignment
• Fakebook assignment
• second part of the SnapChat assignment
• Pinterest Assignment

This tool allows students to participate in open forum discussions and engage in a similar fashion to Facebook with classmates and the professor.  

All discussions will require that students submit their video for peer review by Thursday @ 11:55pm of the week the discussion is assigned and all peer-reviews must be completed by the following Monday @ 11:55pm for students to receive full credit.

Keep in mind; responses such as ‘I agree’ or ‘yea…what he said’ will result in zero points of credit. You can earn your grade and exemplary participation will earn higher scores. Read the rubric below for more information. Each discussion requires an individual (1) post as well as four (4) feedback and rubric forms.

All videos discussions in Notebowl require students to insert video urls from YouTube. Thus, students will be required to upload discussion video responses to YouTube and then insert video links into the NoteBowl discussion. Students are advised to upload their videos as unlisted. Do not upload your videos as private, the professor and your classmates will not be able to view your video.

Keep in mind that your discussion forum postings will likely be seen by other members of the course. Care should be taken when determining what to post.

Scores will be provided within a week after the due date

This course has 4 assignments requiring students to upload a video of themselves in a Notebowl discussion. Within week 1 module you will find information on how to upload a video to YouTube. Students will upload their videos to their personal YouTube channel and then into the assignment's particular blog by the due date noted in the weekly calendar portion of this syllabus.

For this semester all videos will be uploaded into a Notebowl discussion.  Videos will be uploaded into each video discussion using YouTube, thus for this semester, all videos (made for coursework) must be uploaded into your own YouTube channel first with the privacy setting of Unlisted (this prevents anyone outside of the course from viewing your video).  Your student email works in conjunction with YouTube, if you have any questions on how to create a YouTube channel using your fiu email, contact student support and review the instructions below.  Instructions on how to upload a video to YouTube are located below.  After a video is uploaded into your YouTube channel, you can copy the "url" link under the share tab of your video and input that link into the discussion text area. Be sure to give your video a unique title so that you will easily find it. All videos must have the privacy setting set to Unlisted and not Private, Private videos will not display resulting with no credit earned for your assignment.

Uploading a Video to YouTube Instructions 

Discussions and participation are required, just as if you were in a face to face class. Online does not mean silent or student guided. This semester, all course discussions will be hosted through the ApprenNet video discussion tool.  Students will be required to reply to all discussion questions by uploading a 2-minute to 3-minute video to the ApprenNet tool.  After this is completed, students will then be required to review 4 randomly assigned classmates’ discussion videos. 

Discussion participation will be evaluated based on:

• the number of classmates videos students review (minimum is 4) and
• the feedback students share through comments and grading rubrics. 

After students have completed these two steps, ApprenNet will allow students access to the professors response to the discussion question.  

All discussions will require that students submit their video for peer review by Thursday @ 11:55pm of the week the discussion is assigned and all peer-reviews must be completed by the following Monday @ 11:55pm for students to receive full credit.

Scores will be provided within a week after the due date.

For any additional questions about the ApprenNet video discussion tool please visit the ApprenNet's Knowledge Base website or submit a ticket to the ApprenNet’s help desk.  The help desk is available for live chats from Monday through Friday from 9am – 5pm.

Keep in mind; responses such as ‘I agree’ or ‘yea…what he said’ will result in zero points of credit. You can earn your grade and exemplary participation will earn higher scores. Read the rubric below for more information. Each discussion requires an individual (1) post as well as four (4) feedback and rubric forms.

Students must take and pass the Syllabus Exam with 100% in order to gain access to course content.

In order to mitigate any issues with your computer and online assessments, it is very important that you take the "Practice Quiz" from each computer you will be using to take your graded quizzes and exams. It is your responsibility to make sure your computer meets the minimum hardware requirements.

Assessments in this course are not compatible with mobile devices and should not be taken through a mobile phone or a tablet. If you need further assistance please contact FIU Online Support Services.

Assessment Expectations:

• There will be 4 Module Assessments this semester
• Assessments will be made available on the Monday of the week they are assigned at 12:01am and will close on the following week on Monday at 11:55pm. 
• Each Assessment will consist of 20 (multiple choice, true/false, matching, multiple answer, or short response) questions. Students will have 35 minutes to complete each assessment.
• ​Students will be able to review module assessment results after the due date has passed.
  • Results will include: students responses, the correct answer, and question feedback.

Assessments will be graded immediately with student submission and answers hidden until after the assessment due date

There will be multiple social media assignment throughout the semester. Students will be required to setup accounts for these activities for the purpose of completing course assignments.

These accounts include:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• Snapchat
• Twitter

Students are not required to use their personal accounts or associate their name or image with these accounts. All that is required is that students have access to these accounts to upload and engage with content and that the professor is given appropriate information about each account to relate student submissions with corresponding assignments. If you have any additional questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to the professor at malendy@fiu.edu.

For this semester, students will be required to participate in an Instagram assignment.  You must submit at least one picture or Instagram video throughout the semester and tag these pictures/videos to the FIU Honors Department’s Instagram page @fiuhonors.  Each picture/video must be accompanied by a short comment and the hashtag #dgtlfairytale. Students are encouraged to interact with the content posted by their classmates and others on the fiuhonors Instagram page.  

In order to receive credit for this assignment you must:

• Post at least 1 picture/video by the assignment due date
• Tag the FIU Honors Department’s Instagram page @fiuhonors 
• Tag professor Alendy's Instragram @noturavrgmike
• Accompany each picture/video with the hashtag #dgtlfairytale
• Accompany each picture/video with a short comment (<140 characters) about the picture and your purpose for posting it.
• Attach a screenshot of your post to this discussion and include your comment from your post

Students are not required to post the first submission on Thursday, all activities on this assignment are due on Monday night @ 11:55pm.

Scores will be provided within a week after the assignment due date.

Feel free to Review wiki How's "How to Use Instagram webpage."

In order to use Instagram, you will need a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet.  Instagram cannot be accessed on a desktop. Students are expected to post responsibly, adhere to copyright laws, and post images that are deemed respectful in accordance with University guidelines. 

A Journal reflection will be due twice throughout the semester, which will only be seen by you and the professor. These reflections will only be graded for completion, not for content. This will provide an opportunity for students to interact privately with the professor in regards to the course content. Feel free to share your personal views on the content and how it affects your life. Journals should be a short paragraph, but must be turned in on time to receive full credit. Altogether, the journal entries will be worth 10% of your overall grade.

​Scores will be provided within a week after the assignment due date.

Students will have 5 opportunities to submit assignments for extra credit. After each module assessment, students can submit 10 test questions about specific module content and a suggested assignment for that same module. Extra credit assignments will be turned into a specific Extra Credit blog.  

Assignments can be submitted up to 3 days after its due date for a minimum 50% grade reduction.  Assessments cannot be taken after the due date unless the exception was previously granted by the professor.

Zoom is an online meeting room where you can interact with your professor and fellow students by sharing screens, sharing files, chatting, broadcasting live audio, and taking part in other interactive online activities. We will be utilizing this tool to conduct online office hours.

Reference Zoom Help Center (Tutorials & Help) to learn about the tool, how to access your meeting rooms and recordings.