Syllabus for SOS-110
CRITICAL INFORMATION LITERACY
Critical Information Literacy provides a foundation for achieving one’s academic goals, even if students are reentering academic study after an interruption in their formal schooling. Through interactive instructional software programs students evaluate and strengthen their skills in critical thinking, writing, and information literacy. At the same time, students receive a hands-on introduction to the Thomas Edison State University learning environment as they build skills in both baccalaureate-level research and professional communication.
After completing this course, students should be able to:
CO 1 Demonstrate appropriate skills in reading, writing, and math so that they are well prepared to succeed in their degree program.
CO 2 Identify practical strategies for achieving academic success at Thomas Edison State University.
CO 3 Use information literacy and critical-thinking skills to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use and share information.
CO 4 Explain what constitutes plagiarism and recognize how to avoid it.
CO 5 Discuss best practices for communicating in the workplace.
CO 6 Examine the impact of technology in their field of interest.
You will need the following materials to complete your coursework. Some course materials may be free, open source, or available from other providers. You can access free or open-source materials by clicking the links provided below or in the module details documents. To purchase course materials, please visit the University's textbook supplier.
You will need to purchase access to MyLab Foundational Skills™ software for this course.
Access to MyLab™ is provided in the MyLab Foundational Skills section of your course site. When you click the Course Home link for the first time, you will need to pay with a credit card or Paypal. Once you have made your payment, you will have access through the same Course Home link.
Critical Information Literacy is a three-credit, online course consisting of six modules. Activities include skill-building assessments and instruction, discussion forums, assignments on module topics, and a final project. Module titles are listed below.
For your formal work in the course, you are required to participate in online discussion forums, complete assignments, work through Information Literacy and Critical Thinking software, take quizzes, and complete a final project. See below for details.
Consult the Course Calendar for due dates.
One or more of your course activities may utilize a tool designed to promote original work and evaluate your submissions for plagiarism. More information about this tool is available in SafeAssign.
You are required to complete six discussion forums. The discussion forums are on a variety of topics associated with the course modules
The discussion forum topics allow for interaction among students and the mentor. The discussions help promote a sense of online community and encourage you to bring your own experiences and insights to bear on the issues raised in the readings. All discussions in this course are asynchronous, threaded discussions.
Participation in online discussions involves two distinct activities: an initial response to a posted question and subsequent comments on classmates' responses. Meaningful participation is relevant to the content, adds value, and advances the discussion. Comments such as "I agree" and "ditto" are not considered value-adding participation. Therefore, when you agree or disagree with a classmate, a reading, or your mentor, state and support your agreement or disagreement. You will be evaluated on the quality and quantity of your participation. Responses and comments should be properly proofread and edited, professional, and respectful.
To receive credit for your online participation, you must make a substantive contribution to the discussion forum. A “substantive contribution" means writing at least a short paragraph summarizing your ideas or experiences on the topic and responding to at least two other student's contribution in a timely and material way (i.e., expanding on, agreeing with, or disagreeing with a student's response in specific terms). Vague statements of agreement or encouragement will not be considered substantive.
Located within the Evaluation Rubrics folder on the course website is the rubric used in the grading of online discussions.
You are required to complete seven written assignments. The written assignments are on a variety of topics associated with the course modules.
Your written assignments will be graded according to the evaluation rubric found within each assignment link. Please note that your assignment will receive an automatic 0 if any of the following is the case: (a) your assignment does not address the assignment question; (b) your assignment consists simply of sections cut and pasted from other sources, with or without attribution; or (c) your assignment has been plagiarized.
You should always proofread your course submissions (including discussion forum posts) before posting or submitting them within the course. Fortunately, most word processing programs have proofreading tools built right into them. (You may find these within an area titled “Review” or “Edit” on the program’s top navigation bar.) Using these tools provides a quick “first pass” in proofreading your work.
In addition, examine the proofreading tips found on each of the following sites. You may want to bookmark these sites in your browser so that you can easily return to them:
The NimblyWise Information Literacy and Critical Thinking assignments are designed to introduce concepts and help you build skills related to information literacy and critical thinking. There are four Information Literacy assignments and four Critical Thinking assignments, with each assignment containing one or more lessons.
In Module 1 you will take the pretests for both Information Literacy and Critical Thinking. Your score on each of the pretests will not count toward your final grade in the course, but if you take the pretests and score a 90% or higher, you will automatically earn full credit for all NimblyWise assignments in that topic area and do not need to complete them.
If you were enrolled in SOS-110 within the last 12 months and dropped the course but were able to first complete either your Information Literacy or Critical Thinking requirement, inform your mentor and tell her or him in which semester and section you were previously enrolled (for example, 2019JUN SOS-110-OL009), as well as which parts of the program you successfully completed. The university will be able to verify whether you have fulfilled that requirement in a previous semester and, if you have, your mentor can give you credit for that part of the program. You may still have additional parts to complete, and you will need to submit all required written assignments and discussion forums within this course section.
The MyLab Foundational Skills™ software from Pearson is designed to help you assess your reading, writing, and math skills and improve skills as needed. The program’s adaptive learning technology assesses your performance and activity in real time and personalizes content to reinforce concepts that target your personal strengths and weaknesses.
Instructions for purchasing access to MyLab Foundational Skills are given above in the Course Materials section of the syllabus.
Students please note: You are required to complete all of your MyLab Foundational Skills assignments by the end of Week 8 of the semester (see Course Calendar). Your access to MyLab will end at that point, so it is very important that you complete your assignments before that time to receive credit for your work. You may complete work in the assigned topics at your own rate, as long as you finish all by the end of Week 8.
If you were enrolled in SOS-110 within the last 12 months and dropped the course but were able to first complete some of your MyLab requirements, inform your mentor and tell her or him in which semester and section you were previously enrolled (for example, 2019JUN SOS-110-OL009), as well as which parts of the program you successfully completed. The university will be able to verify whether you have fulfilled that requirement in a previous semester and, if you have, your mentor can give you credit for that part of the program. You may still have additional parts to complete (such as Math), and you will need to submit all required written assignments and discussion forums within this course section.
You are required to complete five quizzes. The quizzes are on a variety of topics associated with the course modules. Quizzes are open book and unproctored, and they will help you review basic terminology and concepts. All quiz questions are multiple choice. There is no time limit for taking each quiz.
You are encouraged to take the quizzes multiple times for additional practice. You will see some different questions each time. The gradebook will record your most recent score.
The final project is a paper that looks toward your career field, focusing on the impact of technology in your field and the importance of maintaining currency both in technology and in all aspects of your field.
Refer to the Final Project area of the course site for full instructions about completing the project. However, be aware that your final project has several assignment requirements throughout the course. Please check the Course Calendar for the exact week when each is due.
Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:
All activities will receive a numerical grade of 0–100. You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. Your final grade in the course will be a letter grade. Letter grade equivalents for numerical grades are as follows:
A | = | 93–100 | C+ | = | 78–79 | |
A– | = | 90–92 | C | = | 73–77 | |
B+ | = | 88–89 | C– | = | 70–72 | |
B | = | 83–87 | D | = | 60–69 | |
B– | = | 80–82 | F | = | Below 60 |
To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of C or better (for an area of study course) or D or better (for a course not in your area of study), based on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., exams, assignments, discussion postings).
To succeed in this course, take the following first steps:
Consider the following study tips for success:
To ensure success in all your academic endeavors and coursework at Thomas Edison State University, familiarize yourself with all administrative and academic policies including those related to academic integrity, course late submissions, course extensions, and grading policies.
For more, see:
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