Course Syllabus

Overview

The following syllabus contains much of the basic information about the course: who your instructor is, what the course is about, what assignments you will be expected to submit, when they are due, and so forth. Note that assignment due dates may change and some content may be added along the way, as necessary.  Due dates, if changed, will be moved to a later date and never to an earlier date. Any changes I make are designed to make your life easier and better, not harder. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to raise them with me. :-) 

 

About Your Instructor

Hi all, my name is Dr. Glenn Keyser and I have been teaching in the English department here at Solano College since 2005. I went to UC Santa Cruz as an undergraduate and received my PhD in English from U.C. Davis in 2003. I'm married, have two children, and one cat. If I'm not teaching writing and reading I'm probably out hiking at Pt. Reyes National Seashore or down in the Santa Cruz mountains. I have a variety of other interests, however, including art, architecture, urban design, old books, and astronomy. I like to go to thrift stores and find valuable old books. I even once found a book printed in 1632 in a local thrift store!  I can't draw to save my life. 

 

Instructor Contact Information 

• Email Address: canvas conversations/inbox tool preferred, but also gkeyser@solano.edu

• Text Number: 707-980-2861 (text me anytime!)

• Office Hours: 12-12:30 pm every Monday and Wednesday, in our classroom (room 702) 

Basic Course Information

The following is the basic technical information you need to know about the course:   

Course Description

The following is the course description from the official Solano Course Catalog: 

"This college-level course will help you to develop your critical reading, thinking and writing skills—skills that are essential for future success! Students read essays and articles dealing with multi-cultural issues and current events, and write effective thesis driven essays which synthesize these readings. Students will produce at least 5,000 words of formal, final draft writing that draws upon the assigned readings as well as articles that students have researched on their own.  Students will also read, analyze and write about one book-length work." 

It is important to clarify that while the focus of the course is on college-level reading, thinking, and writing skills, it is also essential that you master the basics of format, research, and sentence-level work as well, and so some time will be devoted to these subjects as well. However, English 1 is not focused on grammar or sentence-level errors, so if you feel (or I determine) that you are having trouble in these areas, we should get together via ZOOM or by phone or at office hours to discuss the matter and come up with an personalized "action plan." I'm happy to help! 

 

Course Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) 

According to the official Solano College course description, a student should be able to have mastered the following skills upon completion of this course: 

Course Content Outline

To achieve these objectives, you will be required to do the following: 

• Read approximately 50 - 100 pages per week, including both course readings and online instructional material. 

• Write a variety of essays, include argumentative and synthesis essays. 

• Engage in a variety of hands-on activities

• Engage with the class in a variety of interactive activities, including course discussions. 

• Engage in the writing process, including revision and peer review. 

In order to do all of this in only 16 weeks, you will likely need to spend a total of about 10-12 hours per week. Please manage your time accordingly, and make sure that you don't take too many units this semester! Please see me and/or make an appointment with a counselor if you wish to discuss time management in more detail. 

1. The three major unit essays major unit essay assignments will, combined, make up 50% of your final grade. Each of these assignments includes a detailed prompt, either a suggested or a mandatory outline, and a rubric. Both the prompt and the rubric need to be followed carefully if you want a solid or exemplary grade. Typically I will give you both marginal and rubric comments in addition to an "overall" or "end" comment, and all three are designed to allow you to revise for a higher grade if you desire. Please contact me about this for more details. Please make sure that you know how to access all three of these on Canvas, which can be difficult. For instance, often students trying to access marginal comments through a hand-held device have trouble seeing marginal comments. 
2. Hands-on activities and discussions account for an additional 20% of your grade. Typically a short rubric or at least clearly grading criteria will be included with these assignments as well, detailing why points will be deducted. In general, however, submissions that that meet the minimum word counts for the assignment and that follow directions will receive full credit, even if there are some 'mistakes.' For that reason, it is particularly important that you remember to look at my feedback on hands-on activities: just because you got full credit does NOT mean you got everything right! 
3. The midterm, which will include both a multiple-choice section and a reflective essay prompt. 
4. The final exam, which will also include a multiple-choice section and an essay. The first will be done online as a multiple-choice test and will be graded automatically as soon as you finish.  Combined, the final and midterm make up 20% of your final grade. 
5. Finally, most modules include graded multiple-choice quizzes at the end and, combined, these quizzes account for the final 10% of your grade. Unlike the midterm and the final, however, there will be no extra credit to help you boost your score on these exams, although I will allow multiple attempts on some quizzes (such as the first one!). 

 

Academic Honesty / Plagiarism Notes   

Academic honesty is a serious problem. To understand why, we need to review two definitions of plagiarism: 

• "the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own." 

• "Failure to properly cite / identify someone else's work or ideas so that they may appear as original when they are not." 

While the first form is usually overt and deliberate, the second, which may be done unconsciously and unknowingly, is just as much of a problem. If you commit plagiarism, according to either definition, you will not learn the material that you need to learn to pass the class, you will not get the practice that you need to master the skills the class is teaching, and you will not get to experience the pride and satisfaction of knowing that you have done your best.  Think of it this way: imagine paying to go on vacation with your family, and then sending someone you don't know to go on that vacation with them in your stead. Where is the fun or satisfaction in that? Using Artificial Intelligence or other tools to generate essays for this course is the equivalent of doing just that. 

So, please, bottom line: don't plagiarize your papers. For your own sake, if for know one else's.

And, remember, if you plagiarize, you are denying yourself the chance of getting real feedback on your work. For if you give me "doctored" work, I won't be able to tell what issues you need to work on to improve your reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. I would MUCH rather have a poor paper that is really YOU, then a paper that is slick and sophisticated, but was written by someone else. 

And, finally, remember that if I detect plagiarism in your work there are real world consequences beyond our classroom. These usually include an "F" on the assignment that was plagiarized and, in many cases, referral to administrative authorities for more series sanctions. Please see this link for detailed look at the form I may need to fill out if you commit plagiarism: 

• Student Code of Conduct Complaint Form

 I recommend that if you are tempted to plagiarize, you come work with me one-one-one instead. My experience is that usually I can get you on the right path with just a 15 minute meeting. Now, that's worth it, isn't it? :-) 

 

"Turn it In" Policy

"Turn it In" is plagiarism detection software and it is built into our canvas shell. While I will not require the use of this software for homework assignments, you will need to run your three major essays (both rough and final drafts) through this software, which will generate a report letting you and me both know if there are any suspect passages in your work. This software is NOT fool-proof and requires expert interpretation and analysis in order to understand properly. For this reason, if you get a report indicating more than 10% plagiarism in your draft, please make an appointment to come see me so we can discuss. I will also reach out to you if I see this.  

 

Artificial Intelligence Policy

Plagiarism is getting more sophisticated, and our definition of plagiarism now has to expand to include the unauthorized use of artificial intelligence to help you generate your papers.  The World Economic Forum defines generative AI this way: 

“A series of algorithms that generate new outputs based on the data they have been trained on. Unlike traditional AI systems that are designed to recognize patterns and make predictions, generative AI creates new content in the form of images, text, audio, and more.”

The bottom line is that in addition to "turn it in," I may use AI detection tools to screen student work in this class. Please discuss any questions or concerns you may have about these tools with me.  

Note that there are situations and contexts within this course where you may be permitted to use generative AI tools. In these cases, specific guidelines will be provided in the assignment details. If you are unsure if the tool or website you are using is a generative AI tool or if it is permitted on a specific assignment, please contact the instructor for further clarification before submitting your work. MOST importantly, however, is that when you use AI I require you  to identify your specific use of it me in the "assignment comments" box as part of your official submission. The more details you can give me, the better. Did you use it for brainstorming? What did you use? Did you use it to generate actual sentences that you used in the assignment? The whole thing or just in parts? More detail is better and, remember, that if I do not specifically allow for a particular use of AI in an assignment, that is a form of plagiarism and all of the usual consequences apply if I detect this use. 

Finally, keep in mind that MOST AI generated prose is not very good, anyway. AI, at least in 2024, tends to be overly general and doesn't sound like student work. So using it often leads to a low grade, even if I don't specifically detect it as AI. Keep this in mind as you work through the assignments in this course. 

Late Work Policy

I will accept late work, but there will be a late work penalty. This amounts to 10% of the grade for every day the work is late. For instance, if you turn in an assignment worth 20 points but you do so three days late, you will be penalized 30% of the grade, and will therefore only receive 14 points on the assignment if it is otherwise an excellent submission. 

Note: I will waive this penalty under extraordinary circumstances, but this will require documentation. Be aware that because fo the late work policy, you will not be able to get a passing grade on work that is more than 4 days late. However, also be aware that getting partial credit is ALWAYS better than getting no credit. 

 

Attendance, Log-in, and Participation Policy

It is expected that you will participate regularly and thoughtfully in the course, both coming to class regularly and logging on to the canvas shell on average average 5-6 times a week at least and for a minimum of about 10-12 hours per week. You are expected to turn in assessments regularly, and If you miss several classes in a row, I will contact you. If you continue to miss, I might conclude that you are no longer interested in taking the course and may drop you. So if you find yourself in that situation, please make sure to stay in regular contact with me via text or email so I will not do so. 

 

Instructor Initiated Contact Policy

I promise that I will contact you frequently and in a variety of ways. First, of course, through our twice weekly in-person meetings. Also, I promise to provide you with timely feedback on assignments and to contact you if an assignment needs redoing. 

Note: instructors are allowed up to two weeks to turn back assignments, but my goal is to get most assignments back within one week and, if possible, sooner. 

Also, I will be making frequent announcements, at least two per week and often more, in which I

• Provide feedback about course assignments

• Remind the class of upcoming critical assignments

• Announce corrections / changes in the syllabus

• In some cases, share a story  in the news that is relevant to the course.

Finally, I will try to contact you regularly through the Canvas conversations / inbox tool, especially if there is an ongoing issue that we need to discuss, such as trouble keeping up with assignments. 

 

Student Initiated Contact Policy

It is your responsibility, and in your best interest, to contact me regularly throughout the semester. You can do this in a variety of ways: through the Canvas conversations / inbox tool, by text at 707-980-261, or simply by coming to office hours or speaking with me before or after class.

Please contact me especially if you have any questions about your grade or about an upcoming assignments, but I encourage you to contact me just to say hi ... I know we are all feeling isolated during this strange period! Please remember that I am happy to answer texts within 2 or 3 hours when you send them from 9 to 6 on week days, and often in the same time frame at other times of day or on weekend. Note, however, that I may take more time to return texts if sent at night or on Saturdays.  

 

Student to Student Contact Policy

Part of any good class is student-to-student contact. We will achieve this in a variety of ways, including through small group work and larger discussions in class, as well as through some collaborative work online. 

 

Class Workload Expectation

Be prepared for about 10-12 hours of work per week in this course. A three unit "lecture" course, by virtue of what is known as the Carnegie Unit (Links to an external site.), mathematically establishes a standard the amount of work expected from a student (and the instructor) in any college-level course. California state law upholds this, see California Code of Regulations, Education Code, Title 5, Section 55002.5. (Links to an external site.)

Table shows calculation of number of hours per week to be spent on class.

Type of Unit	Units	x Hours Per Unit	Total Hours
Lecture	3	x 16	= 48
2 hours homework per hour of lecture	3	x 36	= 108
		Hours of work per term	= 162
		/ number of weeks	= 16
		Hours of work per week	= about 10-12

 

Critical Administrative Dates

The following are the most important administrative dates that you need to know for this course: 

• • Start Date: Monday August 12 
  • First Homework Due: Monday August 12, by midnight. 
  • Last Day to Add: Friday August 30
  • Last Day to Drop with a Refund: Friday August 23 
  • Last Day to Drop without a "W": Friday August 30 
  • Labor Day Holiday: Monday September 2 (no class) 
  • Veteran's Day Holiday: Monday November 11 (no class). 
  • Last Day to Drop with a "W": Friday November 15 
  • Finals Week: December 7 - 13 (We only Meet on Wednesday for the Final Exam) 
  • Last Day of Class: Wednesday, December 11 
  • Official End Date of the Semester: Friday December 13 

Note: Once the section begins, students may only enroll with instructor permission. Please see me about getting an "add code" if you wish to add before the last day. I will grant your request if we have room in the course.

Note: A "W" stands for "withdrawal"—so that in place of the usual A - F letter grade, the letter "W" will appear on your  academic record, including transcripts. See a counselor or me for more details. 

Note: While I strive to make the information above accurate, there may be errors—so it is your responsibility to double-check the information by visiting the Solano College website calendar. 

 

Critical Course Due Dates 

The following are important academic / course dates that you need to remember for this course: 

• Official Start of the Semester:  Monday August 12 

• Actual First Day of Class: Monday August 12 

• First Major Essay:  Friday October 11 

• Midterm Exam: Monday October 14

• Second Major Essay Due: Friday November 8

• Final Major Essay Due: Friday December 6 

• Final Exam: Wednesday December 13 (Finals Week Meeting/Final Exam) 

Note: These dates are tentative and are subject to change as necessary. You will be given plenty of notice if this is required, however. Also, I will never move a date "forward" so that it is sooner than it appears initially in Canvas and on this syllabus. I will only provide you with more time on assignments, if I deem it necessary. I practically guarantee that this will happen at least once over the course of the semester. 

Required Books and Materials

My goal is to keep the cost of books down for this course as much as possible. For that reason, I will only be requiring that you buy the following full-length book:

• Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond and published by Broadway books in 2016. 

The book should be available online and is modestly priced. 

In addition to these books, you will need regular access to the Internet, which I recommend doing by laptop, tablet, or desktop computer as much as possible, as accessing course materials via phone can sometimes be difficult. That said, you obviously need to make your own decision on this point. 

 

 

Overview

Many students don't take full advantage of all of the wonderful resources available to them. Below are short descriptions and links to more information about how to access some of the best of these. Please read this section carefully and take notes! 

 

Accessibility Services (Formerly DSP)

Accessibility Services is possibly the most important resource for many of us on campus. If you qualify, you will be given important accommodations, some of which include extra time on exams and the right to take an exam in a quiet space. Many people who qualify, however, simply don't make use of this resource, so please talk to me if you are even mildly curious. :-) 

The Solano College Library / The SCC Digital Library 

The Solano College LibraryLinks to an external site. is not just a place where you can go to check out books. The library gives you access to a variety of services that you will likely find useful over the course of your college career. These include: 

• Printing services 

• Research Assistance

• Films on Demand

• E-Magazines

• Quiet Study Space

Please visit the website for more detail, or talk to me. I am happy to walk you over to the library and introduce you to the librarians! :-)  Also, be aware that you can access the SCC digital library directly through Canvas, in the course navigation bar to the left on your screen. 

 

The Academic Success and Tutoring Center (The ASTC) 

 The Academic Success and tutoring centerLinks to an external site. provides a variety of services, including: 

• Online tutoring

• In-person tutoring

• Access to NetTutor

Critically, the ASTC now has weekly hours not only on the main campus, but at the satellite campuses in Vacaville and Vallejo. Please visit the ASTC websiteLinks to an external site. for more details. 

Also, be aware that both the ASTC and NetTutor can be accessed through the course navigation bar, to your left on the Canvas page. 

 

Basic Needs Resources

The Basic Needs CenterLinks to an external site. connects SCC students without access to food, clothing, housing, technology, transportation, childcare, and other essential needs to college services and community resources, including:

• Free Food Pantry, Clothes Closet, and Resources

• Housing Assistance and Referrals

• Emergency Assistance

• Health & Well-Being for Students

You can reach  the director, Christina Rodriguez, directly at (707) 863-7839 or visit theBasic Needs websiteLinks to an external site. for more details. 

 

 Academic Counseling 

Academic counselingLinks to an external site. services are available by appointment and by "express." Please visit the website or use one of these methods to get yourself started: 

• • Email (counseling@solano.edu): best for petitions, pre-requisite clearances in which documents are needed to be reviewed (please include the reason you are emailing, your name, Solano Student ID #, and phone number)
  • Phone (707-864-7101):   best for quick questions on transfer, deadlines, and guidance for choosing one course (please be ready to provide your name, Solano Student ID #, and call back phone number)

SOLANO COLLEGE MISSION AND LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Mission Statement

Solano Community College’s mission is to educate a culturally and academically diverse student population drawn from our local communities and beyond. We are committed to student learning and achievement and to helping our students achieve their educational, professional, and personal goals. Solano transforms students’ lives with undergraduate education, transfer courses, career-and-technical education, certificate programs, workforce development and training, basic-skills education, and lifelong-learning opportunities.

Land Acknowledgment

We should take a moment to acknowledge the land on which we are gathered. For thousands of years, this land has been the home of Patwin people. Today, there are three federally recognized Patwin tribes:

• Cachil DeHe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Indian Community
• Kletsel Dehe Band of Wintun Indians
• Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation

The Patwin people have remained committed to the stewardship of this land over many centuries. It has been cherished and protected, as elders have instructed the young through generations. We are honored and grateful to be here today on their traditional lands. Approved by Yocha Dehe Tribal Council (July 23, 2019)