HUMANITIES 1103: APPRECIATION OF THE FILM AS ART
ANOKA-RAMSEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
SPRING 2013 SYLLABUS

Professor:                        Ms. or Professor Bean
Office:                                H210
Phone:                              (763) 433-1139
E-mail:                               catherine.bean@anokaramsey.edu
                                            (E-mail is my preferred means of communication, as it allows me to respond to you in the most timely manner.
                                            Please do not page me using the Pager feature in D2L; I never use it.)
Mailbox:                            H245/6
Office Hours:                   M 7:30-9; T 7:30-9; W 8-9; H 8-9; and by appointment
Course D2L Website:    https://anokaramsey.ims.mnscu.edu/?logout=1   
Professor's Homepage:   http://www.ar.cc.mn.us/bean/main

Text
Boggs, Joseph M., and Dennis W. Petrie.  The Art of Watching Films. 7^th edition.
        Available in ARCC bookstore, either in person or online at http://www.arccbookstore.com/coonr/. 

Required Materials
Over the course of Humanities 1103, students will have to view multiple films in full.  Because we are working together in an online environment, it is your responsibility to obtain and watch all of the assigned films and complete their corresponding quizzes and discussion and writing assignments by the class due dates.  Please remember that there are fees associated with buying or renting these titles, and this amount is an assumed part of the course, counting as our viewing lab.

Please the Film List with Online Availability page on our course Website for a master list of films and their online sources.

Learner Outcomes
At the conclusion of this course, students should

A.    have an understanding and hopefully an appreciation of what is meant by the term “art” and see the relationship of art to cinema.

B.    understand film as a medium of communication in which there is the expression of ideas, thoughts and feelings and not just look
        at film as a medium of entertainment.

C.    understand the component parts of motion picture science—motion, light, edit, etc.—and understand how these parts interact
        and relate to one another in the finished product.

D.    understand the various genres of film and the characteristics of each genre.

E.    be able to look at and personally evaluate film more critically and intelligently than was possible before enrolling in the course.

F.    understand how film as a means of communication, can show ethnic and cultural aspects of a society other than one’s own.

Viewing Lab
You are responsible for viewing our weekly feature-length films outside of class.  Our class Schedule lists all of the required films.  Based on your screenings, you will take weekly viewing quizzes, complete weekly writing assignments, and participate in weekly online small group discussions.  All of these components will contribute to your overall course grade.

To watch the required films for this course, you have a variety of options.  You may obtain the movies via purchase, rental, or check-out at a public library.  Obtaining the required films will result in an assumed viewing-lab fee, which is each student’s responsibility.  Visit our Film List with Online Availability page for a list of titles and their online sources.

By using the Film List with Online Availability information and doing some investigating, you can ensure that your costs for our Viewing Lab are minimal.

Be aware that you will need to plan ahead to ensure that you watch the films, complete the quizzes, submit the assignments, and participate in the online discussions by the due dates listed in the Course schedule.


Film Subject Matter
Good film deals with a wide variety of subject matter, some of which may be considered controversial or offensive.  Assigned films may include violence, drug use, various forms of sexuality, nudity, and strong language, among other things.  Because this is a college class, our aim is to think critically about the films we are viewing and gain exposure to a wide range of materials and ideas, not all of which may be deemed socially desirable.  It may be in your best interest to reconsider taking Humanities 1103 if you anticipate having objections to the course material.  Alternate assignments will not be given.


Late Work and Late Vouchers
All assignments are due by noon on the assigned Tuesday due dates.  All Quizzes, exams, and small group Discussions also must be completed in their respective areas in our D2L Website by noon on the assigned Tuesday due dates. 

All due dates are located on our course Schedule.

Because legitimate disruptions do occur in life, you have a one-time exception to our Late Policy: a Late Voucher.  Each of you is hereby granted this Late Voucher.

All of the policies for the use of the Late Voucher are right on the document itself.  Please be sure to read it carefully.

Students who successfully submit all of their work on time and therefore do not use the Late Voucher will be rewarded with extra credit.  The rules for redeeming your extra credit are also printed right on the Late Voucher.  Please make sure you are aware of these guidelines, too.

 It is very important that you understand this late policy and its potential effect on your class grade.  Make sure that you do.


Work Expectations
It is expected that all participants in this class are committed to putting forth their best effort in successfully completing all class assignments.  This includes submitting work that conforms to the prescribed format specifications and that is professional in appearance. 

Likewise, all class communications with the professor and other students must remain professional and respectful at all times.  Read
the Effective Online Communication rules prior to beginning our online communications.

Work that does not meet formatting guidelines or is not professional in appearance, and communications that are rude or unprofessional, will be marked down. 

Students should realize that grades are earned based on the quality of work completed and submitted—the end result of one’s efforts—and not on the basis of effort or time spent completing an assignment.  The time needed to successfully complete assignments will vary from student to student.


Plagiarism and Collusion
You must do all of your own work in this class.  Plagiarism and collusion will not be tolerated.  Cheating is strictly forbidden.  Knowingly presenting another person’s ideas or writing as your own without appropriate citation will result in an “F” on that assignment, and a conference with the appropriate college officials to determine your status in the class.

Plagiarism consists of knowingly presenting another person’s ideas or writing as your own without appropriate citation.  Plagiarism includes cheating on a quiz or test and copying words or ideas in a paper or other assignment.  Plagiarism is both unethical and illegal.

Collusion is also prohibited.  Examples of collusion include extensive use of another's ideas for preparing a creative piece and undue assistance in the preparation or editing of written materials.  Such collaboration in work submitted by students is prohibited unless specifically approved in advance by the instructor.  Engaging in collusion is unethical, and will result in an “F” on that assignment, and a conference with the appropriate college officials to determine your status in the class.

Grading
Your grade for Humanities 1103 will be based on the following components:

Active Class Participation and Discussion (30%)
          Active Class Participation and Discussion is a vital part of your success in this class.    

Because we are working together in an online environment this semester, students will meet this graded requirement by participating in weekly online group discussions about the assignments that we are reading and the movies that we are screening.

Everyone will be assigned to a small group that you will work with throughout the term in our Discussion rooms.

Students will earn their active class participation grades based upon both the quantity and the quality of their discussion contributions.

At minimum, you are required to post 3 comments to our small group Discussion rooms each week.  Both quantity and, most importantly, quality will be considered when determining Active Class Participation grades.

Students who are aiming for an A or B in this category must accomplish several things:

1.    Post several times throughout the week for maximum impact.  Students that merely make all of their comment once per week are not fully engaged in or absorbed by long-term, ongoing discussions, nor are they allowing their thoughts to adequately percolate and develop over time.

2.    Post insightful, high-quality ideas—strive to see things in new ways, to challenge yourself and others.

3.    Respond to others in a thoughtful manner.  Remember that we are contributing to a interesting intellectual DISCUSSION, not a one-sided monologue.

4. Be sure that you have read the guidelines of Effective Online Communication.

Quizzes (20%)

Weekly reading quizzes and weekly viewing quizzes are given to ensure that students are current with the readings and film screenings and therefore ready for discussion. 

These two types of quizzes appear separately under Quizzes on our site.  Therefore, you can take the reading quiz after you finish the textbook chapter assignments, and you can take the film quiz immediately after you watch the films, while the information on both is still fresh in your mind.

These quizzes are purely a check to ensure that you did the required reading and viewing.  They do NOT ask you to interpret anything. 

All quizzes do have a time limit.  This limit varies, depending on the number of questions.  The time limit is in place to ensure that students have read or viewed the material in full, rather than skipping the homework and consulting the sources selectively to locate quiz answers.

Your lowest quiz grade will be dropped before your final class grade is calculated.

 Assignments (30%)

You are responsible for weekly writing assignments pertaining to the assigned readings and films.  Your lowest assignment grade will be dropped before your final class grade is calculated. 

Exams (20%)
            Both a midterm and a final exam will be given.

All course Grades will be posted on our course Website.  This way, you can not only see your grade on each individual quiz, assignment, or discussion, but you can easily keep track of your overall course grade.  Grades are posted in D2L as percentages.  Here is the key that will allow you to translate these numbers into letter grades:

90-100  A
80-89    B
70-79    C
60-69    D
0-59      F

The content of college courses is intellectually rigorous, and requires a considerable amount of time, striving, and hard work.  In college courses, grades are EARNED.  Grades do not merely indicate participation in and completion of the course. 

Grades of C are perfectly acceptable, reflecting that the student has shown an average level of competence and mastery of difficult material.  A B is a very good grade, showing that the student has consistently demonstrated an above-average performance.  Lastly, an A is tough to earn, and exemplifies outstanding achievement on EVERY marker of learning.  

Establish Class Contacts
Become acquainted with the members of our class, and your small discussion group in particular.  Everyone's Live@edu e-mail address is available by clicking on the Classlist tab of our Website.   

Classmates are an excellent source of information, and they can often quickly and thoroughly answer your day-to-day questions about our course, assignments, due dates, etc. 

Online instructors tend to receive hundreds of e-mails a week from their students, so whenever you are able to ask a question of a classmate and solve it that way, I very much appreciate it.

I’ll reiterate here what it says at the top of this syllabus: when you need to contact me, I definitely prefer e-mail, as this is the mode that helps me respond to you most quickly and effectively  (I do NOT ever use the Pager feature in D2L.).

Save Your Work
Be sure to keep duplicate copies of all work you submit until your graded assignment is returned, and keep all returned work until the end of the semester.  In the event that you have any questions or concerns about your work or your grade, you will need to produce your work for review.

Incompletes
Incompletes will only be granted to those who have a documented medical or family emergency in the final two weeks of the semester.  To receive an incomplete, all of your other work in the class must be complete and average at least a “C.”  All incompletes must be completed by the end of the fourth week of the following semester.  Notify me as soon as possible if this is your situation.