UNIV 4995
Culminating Special Project
3 Credit Hours

Course Information

Course Description:

Academic research or other creative activity resulting in a tangible product to demonstrate synthesis of a student's coursework.

Course Objectives:

Project: Your special project illustrates the extent to which you can manage a significant independent study project in a thoughtful and professional manner. It is the culmination of your undergraduate program. Whatever form it takes, it should grow out of your study. Your project may be writing an interdisciplinary research paper, creating curriculum materials, designing a computer program, developing a specialized model, producing a documentary video, building a prosthetic device, etc. For example, any special project submitted by a student in the Information Technology program must related to some aspect of the law.
Prerequisites and Corequisites:
A list of all course prerequisites with a statement of why the prerequisites are deemed necessary.
Proposal and Contract:
Each student must submit the following before being accepted into a Special Project course:
  1. Project Proposal
  2. Project Contract

Both of these documents may be found at the end of this syllabus under Special Preliminary Forms. They may also be found in the course menu links within the WebCT course.

Course Procedures:

1. Time spent on special project. While the amount of time spent on a project doesn't necessarily mean the product will better or worse, but it does indicate a certain level of effort and commitment. Generally, you should expect to work about 150 hours for a three-credit project.

2. Reflective Paper. Every special project is a process of thought and action through which learning occurs. The learning process is seldom evident in the final product of the project. Because of the importance of the learning process, every special project must include as part of its final product a reflective paper describing the process by which the special project was carried out.

3. Oral Presentation. After your project is complete, you will schedule a presentation for your faculty adviser who may invite others to the presentation. The presentation should be no longer than 30 minutes and should emphasize the findings or result of your project rather than the process. The method for doing this may differ depending upon the location of the student and professor. It may be done in person, by videoconferencing, audio conference, or some other acceptable mode.

4. Approval of Completed Project. Your chairperson signs a statement indicating that your project is consistent with your study and sufficiently extensive or complex to receive 3 or 6 credits. Projects must be completed before students can be certified for graduation.
Specific Course Requirements:
A description of any special course requirements, such as knowledge of specific software, and why it is necessary for successful completion of the course.
Textbooks, Supplementary Materials, Hardware and Software Requirements
Required Textbooks:
 

Please visit the Virtual Bookstore to obtain textbook information for this course:

 http://rodp.bkstr.com

Supplementary Materials:
A list of other published material the student is required to purchase for the course including lab manuals, lab kits, etc.
Hardware Requirements:
The minimum requirements can be found at http://www.rodp.org/students/hardware_software.htm. Specific hardware requirements for this course include...
Software Requirements:
The minimum requirements can be found at http://www.rodp.org/students/hardware_software.htm. Specific hardware requirements for this course include...(A list of software the student is required to purchase or download for the course, Real Player, Media Player, Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Office, etc).
Instructor Information
Please see the separate page inside the course to find instructor contact information as well as a statement of virtual office hours and other communication information.
Assessment and Grading
Testing Procedures:
A statement describing the process students will need to have in place for proctors, online testing, etc.
Grading Procedure:
A detailed statement of how grades are related to or reflective of the expected learning outcomes. A statement of what constitutes high achievement in the course. 
Grading Scale:
##-##---A
##-##---B
##-##---C
The grading scale should emphasize assignments, projects, and student participation in the learning community as well as timed quizzes and periodic examinations.
Assignments and Participation
Assignments and Projects:
A sequenced list of assignments and projects arranged by course section or module with due dates if applicable.
Class Participation:
A statement that students must participate in all interactive aspects of the course if interaction is part of the course design. For example, students must communicate with other students in the chat room, students are expected to communicate with the instructor as a learning resource, students must check the course bulletin board frequently for announcements, and students must actively participate in threaded discussion events.
Punctuality:
A statement of course milestones to keep the students on track in an asynchronous environment. 
Course Ground Rules
A reiteration and emphasis of certain rules and course expectations.  For example, Participation is required, Expected to communicate with other students in team projects, Learn how to navigate in WebCT, Keep abreast of course announcements , Use the assigned college or university e-mail address as opposed a personal e-mail address, Address technical problems immediately, Observe course netiquette at all times. 
Guidelines for Communications
Email:
  • Always include a subject line.
  • Remember without facial expressions some comments may be taken the wrong way. Be careful in wording your emails. Use of emoticons might be helpful in some cases.
  • Use standard fonts.
  • Do not send large attachments without permission.
  • Special formatting such as centering, audio messages, tables, html, etc. should be avoided unless necessary to complete an assignment or other communication.
  • Respect the privacy of other class members
Discussion Groups:
  • Review the discussion threads thoroughly before entering the discussion. Be a lurker then a discussant.
  • Try to maintain threads by using the "Reply" button rather starting a new topic.
  • Do not make insulting or inflammatory statements to other members of the discussion group. Be respectful of other's ideas.
  • Be patient and read the comments of other group members thoroughly before entering your remarks.
  • Be cooperative with group leaders in completing assigned tasks.
  • Be positive and constructive in group discussions.
  • Respond in a thoughtful and timely manner.
Chat:
  • Introduce yourself to the other learners in the chat session.
  • Be polite. Choose your words carefully. Do not use derogatory statements.
  • Be concise in responding to others in the chat session.
  • Be prepared to open the chat session at the scheduled time.
  • Be constructive in your comments and suggestion
Web Resources:

Library

The Tennessee Virtual Library is available to all students enrolled in the Regents Degree Program. Links to library materials (such as electronic journals, databases, interlibrary loans, digital reserves, dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, and librarian support) and Internet resources needed by learners to complete online assignments and as background reading must be included in all courses. 

Students With Disabilities

Qualified students with disabilities will be provided reasonable and necessary academic accommodations if determined eligible by the appropriate disability services staff at their home institution. Prior to granting disability accommodations in this course, the instructor must receive written verification of a student's eligibility for specific accommodations from the disability services staff at the home institution. It is the student's responsibility to initiate contact with their home institution's disability services staff and to follow the established procedures for having the accommodation notice sent to the instructor.

Syllabus Changes

The instructor reserves the left to make changes as necessary to this syllabus. If changes are necessitated during the term of the course, the instructor will immediately notify students of such changes both by individual email communication and posting both notification and nature of change(s) on the course bulletin board.

Technical Support

Telephone Support:
If you are having problems logging into your course,
timing out of your course, using your course web site tools, or other technical problems, please contact the AskRODP Help Desk by calling

1-866-550-7637 (toll free)

or go to the AskRODP website at:

http://help.rodp.org

Special Preliminary Forms

Special Project Proposal:

UNIV 4995 Special Project Proposal

Instructions:

  1. Copy the contents of this Proposal to your clipboard.
  2. Paste the contents into a new Microsoft Word file on your computer.
  3. Complete all items of the Proposal.
  4. Email to your instructor as an attached Word file.

*******************************************

  Student Name: _______________________________________

                    SS#: ________________________

Title of Project: _________________________________________________________

 

1. Give an overview of the project. 

 

2.  Specifically, what do you expect to learn from the project that you don't know now?  Or, what are your learning objectives?

 

3.  What topics will be studied or researched, and/or what activities will be performed?

 

4.  What resources will be used for the Special Project?  (Be specific with books, journals, professional contacts, or special sources of information or experience).

 

5.  What evaluation procedures have you and your chair agreed to do? (e.g., meetings, online discussions, draft copies, etc)

 

6.  What criteria will be used to evaluate your project?

 

7. What coursework or professional background have you had to prepare you to do this study?

 

8.  What technical terms need to be defined?  (any terms that are in the proposal that need to be defined).

 

9.  What style will you use for the written portion of your project?

___Turabian

___APA manual

___MLA manual

___AP stylebook

___Other ________________________

Special Project Contract:

UNIV4995

Special Project Contract

Instructions:

  1. Copy the contents of this Contract to your clipboard.
  2. Paste the contents into a new Microsoft Word file on your computer.
  3. Complete all items of the Proposal.
  4. Email to your instructor as an attached Word file.

*******************************************

Name____________________/____________________SS#_______________________

Address________________________________________________________________

               street #                      city                               state                 zip

Home Phone___________Work phone____________Email_______________________

Title of Special Project_____________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Registration for this Special Project will be in which semester? _____________________

                                                                                                     semester            year

I am requesting to sign up for ______(3 or 6) credit hours

=================================================================================================

Provide a brief description of what you will do in your Special Project.  State what the tangible product of your work will be.  If you are not completing an extensive written project (e.g. if it is to be performance-based, portfolio, model construction, etc.), please indicate what the formal written portion of your project will be.  A reflective paper must be included with the final product.

 

Approved:______________________________________________________________

                        chairperson for project                                                   date

 

_______________________________________________________________________

Chair's address                                                email                                        phone