CPLT 150: Values and Ethics in Literature
Dr. Professor (ProfessorD@sc.edu; I will answer emails within 24 hours.)
Welsh Humanities Bldg. 912
Virtual Office Hours MW 11-12
Academic Bulletin Description
Analysis and interpretation of literary texts from a range of cultures and eras that address
questions of personal and societal values, moral principles that guide human behavior, decisionmaking, and definitions of what constitutes “a good life.”
Comment [USC1]: This sample is based on a
successful course syllabus and justifications
from a DED proposal approved during 20132014. This course will be offered via 100%
asynchronous online delivery. Note that the
instructor clearly outlines the learning
outcomes and course assignments/assessments.
In addition, she provides a schedule of
activities and time estimates to demonstrate
that a typical student will spend at least 2100
minutes during the semester per credit hour
working on the course (e.g., 2100 x 3 credit
hours = 6300 total minutes for this course).
Full Course Description
This course is a foundational overlay course intended to satisfy University core requirements in
Values, Ethics, and Social Responsibility (VSR) and Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding
(AIU). This course is open to all undergraduates seeking to fulfill core curriculum requirements
for graduation, including students participating in Palmetto College or Back to Carolina.
Students will learn to analyze and interpret literary texts that address questions of personal and
societal values, i.e., moral principles that guide human behavior; decision-making; and defining
and leading “a good life.” Values we will encounter and analyze include compassion, justice,
community, love, self-discipline, integrity, loyalty, commitment, self-discovery, happiness,
and responsibility. As we focus on these diverse writers’ values-based discourse, we will
explore the effects of literature on our own responses to ethical challenges and explorations.
Learning Outcomes
The student who successfully completes CPLT 150 will be able to:
 Analyze literary texts, noting style, period, composition, and context of the work
 Discuss specific artistic periods as related to the course texts with regard to history,
development, and major practitioners
 Describe the thematic content of texts, with particular focus on authors’ treatment of
ethical and moral issues
 Identify the source and function of values
 Compare the values, norms, and ideals in selected works of world literature and discuss
the development of values-focused discourse in these works
 Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of values, ethics, and social
responsibility for the self and for contemporary society as discussed and brought out in
literary texts
 Reflect on how values shape decision-making, both within literary texts and in the
societies they describe, as well as how values influence personal and community ethics
and decision-making
 Relate course discussions of values, ethics and responsibilities to students’ own capacities
to address ethical and social challenges.
Comment [USC2]: Learning outcomes are
clearly defined, measurable and comparable to
learning outcomes for a similar face-to-face
course at this level.
Required Readings:
 Eileen Chang, “Lust, Caution,” (on Blackboard)
 Carlos Fuentes, “The Two Shores” (on Blackboard)
 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, selections (on Blackboard)
 Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
(http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html)
 Mary Lavin, “Happiness” (on Blackboard)
 Aldo Leopold, “Land Ethic” (http://home.btconnect.com/tipiglen/landethic.html)
 Marguerite de Navarre, Heptameron, Tales 12 and 24 (on Blackboard)
 Plato, Excerpts from The Republic; Apology (on Blackboard)
 Alexander Solzhenitsyn, “Matryona’s House”; Excerpts from his Nobel Lecture (on
Blackboard)
 Leo Tolstoy, Excerpts from “What is Art”; “The Death of Ivan Ilych” (on Blackboard)
 Vergil, The Aeneid, Book IV (on Blackboard)
Weekly Schedule:
Each week will introduce a new text (or texts) associated with a particular value. In preparation
for Monday’s lecture (found on Blackboard), you should read the text listed on the syllabus.
Monday’s lecture will focus on background information about the text, author, and literary
period, and how it relates to the value of the week. After watching Monday’s lecture and
completing the reading, you should reflect on the questions listed on the Blackboard site and
respond to them in your Blackboard group discussion by Wednesday at 5 pm. By Thursday at 5
pm, you should have read your group members’ posts and responded to at least three. This online
discussion will then prepare you to write you individual blog post by Friday at midnight. By
Monday at noon, you should respond to at least two blog postings. In order to complete all of
the weekly assignments, you will spend about 9 hours per week on the course material for a total
of approximately 145 hours of course-related activities using Blackboard, discussion boards, and
blogs, and reading and reflecting on the texts. A chart of weekly responsibilities/deadlines
follows:
 Monday/Tuesday: Read assigned text(s) for week. Watch lecture online.
 Wednesday 5 PM: Blackboard initial post.
 Thursday 5 PM: Blackboard responses.
 Friday midnight: Individual blog post.
 Monday noon: Blog post responses. Read/prepare next text.
Comment [USC3]: Note that students are
expected to devote approximately 9 hours per
week (6300 minutes during the semester) to
the course.
Assessments (see detailed instructions for each component below):





Careful preparation and informed participation (on class Blackboard discussion board
each week) (20%)
Blog postings (20%)
Midterm examination (20%)
Final examination (20%)
Final project (20%)
Please note that instructions for posting to Blackboard or your blogs are found on the Blackboard
site. If you have any trouble, be sure to contact your instructor for help.
Comment [USC4]: Here the instructor
specifies how each type of assignment counts
towards the course grade.
Blackboard Group Discussions: Every week you will be required to post to our class discussion
board. Questions about the value and the text(s) for each week will be posted for you to respond
to. Since this course is 100% online, your attendance will be monitored through your
participation in the group discussions and your blog posts. Failure to regularly participate in the
discussion boards will negatively affect your grade. Please contact me early in the semester if
you think you will have difficulty completing the requirements of the course. As noted above,
your first post should be by Wednesday at 5pm and you should then comment on at least three
other comments by Thursday at 5pm.
Discussion Board Grading Criteria
Since the main discussion in this course takes place online, it is important that you take the time
to respond carefully and thoughtfully to the discussion questions and then to read your
classmates’ answers and respond to them. Careful reflection will help you to engage with the
texts in a deeper manner and develop your thoughts about them. When composing replies, you
can also consider the following:
 provide an alternative perspective
 share stories about your own experiences
 ask questions to further the discussion
 post additional resources (websites, books, articles)
 discuss why you agree or disagree with something (remember to stay courteous as
you do so!)
The grading rubric for discussion board posts and replies will be posted on Blackboard.
Blog Postings:
Your blog posting should reflect on the text and values of the week and respond to the
instructor’s lecture and to the prompts posted each week by the instructor. Be sure to read over
the discussion board posts and incorporate your classmates’ comments into your post as you
reflect on the role the value of the week plays in your life. The blog post should be posted by
Friday at midnight. By Monday at noon, you should have responded to at least two blog
postings. The grading rubric for blog postings and responses will be posted on Blackboard.
Midterm and Final Exams:
The midterm and final exams will be based on the texts, course lectures, and group discussions.
The format will be short answer and essays with questions focused on background information
about the texts and authors, questions about the texts themselves, and questions about how the
value is associated with the text. You will be expected to compare the values, norms, and ideals
in the works of world literature we have discussed this semester and discuss the development of
values-focused discourse in these works. Additional details about each exam will be posted on
Blackboard.
Final Project:
Using the medium of your choice (see below), describe how a certain value (or values if you
prefer) has been influential in your life and your surroundings. You may wish to reflect on a
particular ethical challenge you have faced and how you responded. Be sure to address how the
discussions we have had this semester connect to how you lead your life and how you hope to
treat and be treated by others in your community. You may convey this information in one of the
Comment [USC5]: Only required assignments
and activities count towards the “6300 minute”
total. If the discussion board posts were
optional, they could not be counted.
Comment [USC6]: Descriptions of each
assignment category explain the kinds and
amount of work students will do for each
assignment.
following manners (and remember to be sure that the medium you choose can be shared with the
class through Blackboard!): PowerPoint presentation, video, collage using glogster.com, or
screenplay. After the projects are due, you will visit and comment on at least four of your
classmates’ projects. Additional instructions and the grading rubric for the final project will be
posted on Blackboard.
Course Grade Determination
Your letter grade for this course will be determined by the following percentages:
90-100% = A
87-89% = B+
80-86% = B
77-79% = C+
70-76% = C
70% or below = F
ACADEMIC SUCCESS
I will be contacting you via the email address you have in Blackboard. If you primarily use
another email account, you should make sure that the Blackboard account is linked to that
address. It is your responsibility to ensure that your email accounts work properly in order to
receive mail.
If you are having trouble with this course or its material, you should contact me via email to
discuss the issues. As a student in this course you also can get help from:
 The Student Success Center: http://www.sa.sc.edu/ssc/
 The Academic Centers for Success: http://www.housing.sc.edu/ace/
 Support for Blackboard and Technology
 As a student in this course, you also have access to support from University Technology
Services for Blackboard and computer issues.
 Blackboard Support: http://uts.sc.edu/academic/blackboard/support.shtml
 Technical Support from University Technology Services:
http://uts.sc.edu/support/helpdesk.shtml or call 803-777-1800
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
University policy regarding academic responsibility (Student Affairs Policy STAF 6.25) states
“It is the responsibility of every student at the University of South Carolina Columbia to adhere
steadfastly to truthfulness and to avoid dishonesty, fraud, or deceit of any type in connection
with any academic program. Any student who violates this rule or who knowingly assists another
to violate this rule shall be subject to discipline.” Students who commit an act of academic
dishonesty may receive a failing grade on the assignment or in the course. More information
regarding this policy can be found in the Carolina Community: USC Student Handbook and
Policy Guide at http://www.sc.edu/policies/staf625.pdf.
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact the instructor to discuss the logistics of any
accommodations needed to fulfill course requirements. In order to receive reasonable
accommodations from the instructor, students must be registered with the Office of Student
Disability Services. Any student with a documented disability should contact the Office of
Student Disability Services to make arrangements for appropriate accommodations at 777-6142
or http://www.sa.sc.edu/sds/about/.
Comment [USC7]: This statement identifies
provisions and resources for students with
disabilities.
Course Schedule
Week
First day of
class/weekend
prior to first full
week of classes
Week One:
Literature and
Values
Week Two:
Compassion
Topic
Introductions
Assignments
Time on Task
Read the Course Introduction
30
We explore two key writers who have treated the
connections between literature and values, and we
look at a framework for analyzing ethics and action.
We begin with Tolstoy’s 1886 “Death of Ivan
Ilych,” the text that sparked individual assessment
among the Virginia convicts through its portrayal of
the importance of compassion for one’s fellow
human beings—and the psychological and societal
devastation caused by its absence.
Lecture: Course Introduction
Discussion Board: Introduce
yourself
Introductions Total
Text readings: Plato, The
Republic, excerpts. (Athens, 4th
century BCE). Leo Tolstoy,
“What is Art,” excerpts.
(Russia, 1897). On Blackboard.
Week One Lecture
Discussion Board questions:
please answer the questions in
the Week One forum.
Discussion Board Responses
Individual Blog post: Please
reflect and respond to the
question posted in the Week One
module
Blog Post Response
Instructor Responses
Discussion Board – 15
Blog – 15
Email, announcements - 15
Week One Total
Text reading: Leo Tolstoy, “The
Death of Ivan Ilych” (Russia,
1886). On Blackboard.
30
45
105
180
60
45
20
60
30
45
440
180
Week Two Lecture
Discussion Board questions:
please answer the questions in
the Week Two forum.
60
Discussion Board Responses
Individual Blog post: Please
reflect and respond to the
question posted in the Week
Two module
20
Blog Post Response
Instructor Responses
Discussion Board – 15
Blog – 15
Email, announcements - 15
Week Two Total
30
45
60
45
440
Comment [USC8]: Note that the course
schedule clearly lays out units (by week), types
of assignments and activities to be completed,
and the estimated amount of time for each.
Week Three:
Justice
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1963 “Letter from a
Birmingham Jail” was written as the civil rights
leader had been jailed for his participation in
marches and sit-ins against racism and segregation.
Text reading: Martin Luther
King, “Letter From Birmingham
Jail” (US, 1963). Text can be
found at this site:
http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Art
icles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.ht
ml
Week Three Lecture
60
Discussion Board questions:
please answer the questions in
the Week Three forum.
45
Discussion Board Responses
20
Individual Blog post: Please
reflect and respond to the
question posted in the Week
Three module
Week Four:
Community
Aldo Leopold’s “Land Ethic,” which formed part of
his 1948 environmental classic A Sand County
Almanac, advances some of the same concerns as
Dr. King’s letter, but with an ecological focus.
Blog Post Responses
Instructor Responses
Discussion Board – 15
Blog – 15
Email, announcements - 15
Week Three Total
Text reading: Aldo Leopold,
“The Land Ethic,” in A Sand
County Almanac (US, 1949).
Text can be found at this site:
http://home.btconnect.com/tipigl
en/landethic.html
Marguerite de Navarre’s 1558 Heptameron contains
60
30
45
440
180
Week Four Lecture
60
Discussion Board questions:
please answer the questions in
the Week Four forum.
45
Discussion Board Responses
20
Individual Blog post: Please
reflect and respond to the
question posted in the Week
Four module
Week Five:
180
Blog Post Responses
Instructor Responses
Discussion Board – 15
Blog – 15
Email, announcements - 15
Week Four Total
Text Reading: Marguerite de
60
30
45
440
180
Love
the French author’s brief tales of love, loyalty,
deception, power, and danger. In both Tales, the
author addresses different kinds of love, as she
questions what love can endure and the forms it can
take.
Navarre, Heptameron: Read
Tale 12 and Tale 24 on
Blackboard
Week Five Lecture
60
Discussion Board Questions:
Please answer the questions in
the Week Five forum
45
Discussion Board Responses
20
Individual Blog Post: Please
respond to the question posted in
the Week Five module
60
Blog Post Response
30
Instructor Responses
Discussion Board – 15
Blog – 15
Email, announcements - 15
Week Six:
Self-Discipline
Membership in a community requires some degree
of self-discipline; we will consider whether a leader
has a particular responsibility to maintain selfdiscipline for the good of the society s/he heads. In
his first-century epic The Aeneid, the Roman writer
Vergil explained through his portrayal of the
lovesick Lydian queen Dido the negative effects on
a society when a nation’s ruler loses this crucial
sense.
Week Five Total
Text reading: Vergil, The
Aeneid, Book 4 (Rome, 1st
century BCE). On Blackboard.
180
Week Six Lecture
60
Discussion Board questions:
please answer the questions in
the Week Six forum.
45
Discussion Board Responses
20
Individual Blog post: Please
reflect and respond to the
question posted in the Week Six
module
Week Seven:
Synthesis
Synthesis is a word from ancient Greece that means
"to put together." This week we are going to try to
bring together many of the threads and ideas we've
been working on over the past six weeks. For this
440
Blog Post Responses
Instructor Responses
Discussion Board – 15
Blog – 15
Email, announcements - 15
Week Six Total
Text Reading: Dante, The Divine
Comedy: Cantos 1, 5, and 26
60
30
45
440
180
purpose, we will be using Dante Alighieri's Divine
Comedy as a springboard for our synthesis. It is one
of the world's most extraordinary works of
literature. Dante's works have influenced Western
artists, philosophers, and theologians, and even
inspired a modern video game. It is an examination
of human actions, responsibilities, consequences,
and rewards from a variety perspectives and
personal narratives. Because of this, it can help us
synthesize the themes and issues we have
considered over the past six weeks of class.
Week Seven Lecture
60
Discussion Board questions:
please answer the questions in
the Week Seven forum.
45
Discussion Board Responses
20
Individual Blog post: Please
reflect and respond to the
question posted in the Week
Seven module
Mid-Term Exam
Week Eight:
Integrity
Conducted on Blackboard
Blog Post Responses
Instructor Responses
Discussion Board – 15
Blog – 15
Email, announcements - 15
Instructor Responses
Discussion Board – 15
Blog – 15
Email, announcements - 15
Week Seven Total
Test Availability:
Monday Oct. 13 at 8:00 AM
until Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 5:00
PM
Exan Total
Fall Break
No Classes or Assignments
Plato wrote the The Apology in the 4th century
BCE. It is a powerful work of literature, despite
Plato's conflicting views of art (remember our first
week and Plato's less than positive thoughts about
art in The Republic). The word "apology" comes
from the original Greek apologia - meaning
"speaking in defense". And in this work, Plato
gives Socrates an opportunity to do that.
Text Reading: Plato: The
Apology on Blackboard
60
30
45
45
440
60
180
Week Eight Lecture
60
Discussion Board questions:
45
please answer the questions in
the Week Eight forum.
Discussion Board Responses
Individual Blog post: Please
reflect and respond to the
question posted in the Week
Eight module
Blog Post Responses
Instructor Responses
Discussion Board – 15
Blog – 15
Email, announcements - 15
Week Eight Total
Week Nine:
Loyalty
Issues of loyalty to oneself and one’s community,
however the latter may be defined, surface in the
Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes’ story “The Two
Shores.” The narrator of the story, a Spaniard
captured by Mayans at the time of the Spanish
conquest of Mexico in the sixteenth century, serves
as a translator for the Spanish military conqueror
Cortez but knowingly mistranslates Cortez’s words
to his defeated enemy. Fuentes’ story thus
examines the issue of personal responsibility
through the prism of language and its power to
influence world events.
Text reading: Carlos Fuentes,
“The Two Shores,” in The
Orange Tree (Mexico, 1992).
Available for purchase at SC
Bookstore, amazon.com, etc.
Also on reserve at Thomas
Cooper Library.
Eileen Chang, a twentieth-century Chinese writer
who herself lived through the Japanese occupation
of China during World War II, tells a story of
political and personal commitment in “Lust,
Caution” (1979). Her main character questions an
initial commitment to assassinate a collaborator
when personal feelings complicate the picture.
60
30
45
440
180
Week Nine Lecture
60
Discussion Board questions:
please answer the questions in
the Week Nine forum.
45
Discussion Board Responses
20
Individual Blog post: Please
reflect and respond to the
question posted in the Week
Nine module
Week Ten:
Commitment
20
Blog Post Responses
Instructor Responses
Discussion Board – 15
Blog – 15
Email, announcements - 15
Week Nine Total
Text reading: Eileen Chang,
Lust, Caution (China, 1979).
Available for purchase at SC
Bookstore, amazon.com, etc.
Also on reserve at Thomas
Cooper Library.
60
30
45
440
180
Week Ten Lecture
60
Discussion Board questions:
please answer the questions in
the Week Ten forum.
45
Discussion Board Responses
20
Individual Blog post: Please
reflect and respond to the
question posted in the Week Ten
module
Week Eleven:
Self-Discovery
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust tells the story
of a scholar, Faust, who is so obsessed with the
search for knowledge that he is willing to enter into
a pact with the devil to further his goals. A love
story and a tale of temptation and redemption,
Goethe’s text is one of the world’s great works of
literature.
Blog Post Responses
Instructor Responses
Discussion Board – 15
Blog – 15
Email, announcements - 15
Week Ten Total
Text reading: Excerpts from
Johan Wolfgang von Goethe’s
Faust: Prologue in Heaven,
Night, Outside the City Gate,
Study (Germany, 1808, revised
1828-1829). Excerpts can be
found at the following site:
http://www.gradesaver.com/goet
hes-faust/e-text/
The Irish writer Mary Lavin’s 1969 short story
“Happiness” addresses issues of happiness, again by
looking at language and how words’ meanings are
malleable depending on circumstances. The
narrator’s mother claims despite a difficult life
30
45
440
180
Week Eleven Lecture
60
Discussion Board questions:
please answer the questions in
the Week Eleven forum.
45
Discussion Board Responses
20
Individual Blog post: Please
reflect and respond to the
question posted in the Week
Eleven module
Week Twelve:
Happiness
60
Blog Post Responses
Instructor Responses
Discussion Board – 15
Blog – 15
Email, announcements - 15
Week Eleven Total
Text reading: Mary Lavin,
Happiness (Ireland, 1968). On
Blackboard.
60
30
45
440
180
always to be “happy,” a term that is misunderstood
and rejected by the other characters in the story as
untrue until the narrator’s own insight changes her
mind at the end of the tale.
Week Twelve Lecture
60
Discussion Board questions:
please answer the questions in
the Week Twelve forum.
45
Discussion Board Responses
20
Individual Blog post: Please
reflect and respond to the
question posted in the Week
Twelve module
Week Thirteen:
Responsibility
The Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a
survivor of the Soviet gulag (prison camp) system
who came to be seen as the “conscience” of his
nation, wrote the short story “Matryona’s House”
(published 1963) to laud the values of a simple
peasant who fulfills her responsibilities and
exemplifies the best of her community in the face of
a repressive Soviet state system. We will also
examine and discuss excerpts from Solzhenitsyn’s
1970 Nobel Prize Lecture, in which he claims that
the writer has a responsibility to improve the world
by promoting values through his literature.
Blog Post Responses
Instructor Responses
Discussion Board – 15
Blog – 15
Email, announcements - 15
Week Twelve Total
Text readings: Alexander
Solzhenitsyn, “Matryona’s
House,” “Nobel Lecture”
(Russia/Soviet Union, 1963,
1970). On Blackboard.
Final Project
30
45
440
180
Week Thirteen Lecture
60
Discussion Board questions:
please answer the questions in
the Week Thirteen forum.
45
Discussion Board Responses
20
Individual Blog post: Please
reflect and respond to the
question posted in the Week
Thirteen module
Week Fourteen
60
Blog Post Responses
Instructor Responses
Discussion Board – 15
Blog – 15
Email, announcements - 15
Week Thirteen Total
Final Projects Due on
60
30
45
440
600 total minutes
Blackboard
Instructor Response
Final Totals for the Semester
Minutes per week (13 x 440)
Minutes for final project
(student to content)
Minutes for final project
(student to instructor)
Total Minutes for semester
for work on
project
completion
70
5720
600
70
6450
Comment [USC9]: This total represents the
combined estimated amount of time for all
course learning activities combined: studentcontent, student-student, and studentinstructor—showing that the coure meets or
exceeds the minimum of 6300 minutes for a 3credit course.
Justification for Distributed Delivery Offering
CPLT 150 is a new course that does not duplicate existing offerings. Intended as a foundational
overlay course to satisfy Carolina Core requirements in Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding
(AIU) and Values, Ethics, and Social Responsibility (VSR), this course teaches students to
analyze and interpret literary texts that address questions of personal and societal values. The
course syllabus and learning outcomes have been approved by the Carolina Core specialty teams
in both AIU and VSR, certifying that the course’s content, approach, and level of difficulty is
appropriate to fulfill the university’s core curriculum standards in these areas.
In the complex, multicultural world we now inhabit, students need training to evaluate situations
from moral and ethical standpoints and to draw on an awareness of past discussions of the types
of problems they face. But not all students can come to their local campus to immerse
themselves in studies of language, literature, and ethical thought. Offering this course via
distributed delivery will make it available to all undergraduates seeking to fulfill core curriculum
requirements for graduation, including students participating in Palmetto College or Back to
Carolina who might otherwise not have the opportunity to complete such a course. Students
seeking to return to college study but limited by job and familial constraints, students who are
enrolled at regional campuses that do not offer similar courses, and on-site students who are
unable to take all their courses in traditionally-offered time slots need the option of viable
Humanities courses that will satisfy core curriculum requirements and prepare them for
productive contributions to society.
The course will be taught by faculty and instructors from USC’s Program in Comparative
Literature (CPLT), housed in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, which is
South Carolina’s only full undergraduate and graduate-degree-granting CPLT program. With
highly qualified faculty from fields including Chinese, Classics, French, German, Russian, and
Spanish, the CPLT program is uniquely placed to offer this course.
Identification of Provisions for Student-Professor, Student-Student, and Student-Content
Interactions:
Student-Professor Interactions: The students will watch the professor’s lectures online and will
interact with the professor through the weekly discussion board (the professor will prepare
weekly prompts and post comments to student postings). The professor will also provide
individual feedback on students’ discussion board postings, blog postings, and final projects
using grading rubrics (rubrics will be posted on Blackboard).
Student-Student Interactions: Students will comment on each other’s discussion board postings
(3 responses per week), blog postings (2 responses per week), and final projects (4 responses).
These responses are required assignments and will be graded by the professor using rubrics (to
be posted on Blackboard).
Student-Content Interactions: Students will engage with course content by completing weekly
reading assignments; viewing weekly lectures; writing discussion board postings in response to
questions about the reading; writing blog entries that synthesize their reflections about the
reading with material learned in lecture, discussion and readings; completing midterm and final
examinations; and composing a final project.
Comment [USC10]: SACS accreditation
standards require that distributed-learning
courses be of equivalent rigor and quality as
similar courses offered via traditional delivery.
Because this is a new course that has not ever
been offered in a traditional classroom, the
instructor demonstrates that it meets the
standards set for all Carolina Core courses. If
this proposal were for an online version of an
existing face-to-face course, the instructor
might instead show that the proposed course
uses the same or similar learning outcomes as
the traditional version of the course.
Comment [USC11]: In these paragraphs, the
instructor lists key benefits of offering the
course online.
Comment [USC12]: Note that as long as the
total for all activities is at least 6300 minutes
and there is a reasonable balance of different
kinds of interactions, the number of minutes in
each of the three categories may vary,
depending on the nature of the course and the
instructor’s teaching style.
Comment [USC13]: Student-professor
interactions may include recorded lectures
(when the lecture incorporates an opportunity
for students to ask questions or receive
feedback from the instructor), instructor
participation in and moderation of discussion
boards, individual feedback on student
assignments, virtual class or individual
meetings or review sessions, etc. Virtual
office hours may count towards this total, but
the amount should reflect the number of
minutes *each* student would typically
attend—not the combined total of minutes the
instructor spends.
Comment [USC14]: Group discussions,
student responses, peer review assignments,
collaborative projects, and other direct
interactions among students count towards this
category.
Comment [USC15]: Time that students spend
reading course material, viewing PowerPoint
presentations or lectures (lectures that do not
include a venue for students to ask questions or
receive feedback from the instructor count in
this category rather than as “student-professor”
interactions), completing quizzes or writing
assignments, completing examinations,
conducting research, or preparing papers or
projects count towards this category.
Explanation of Delivery Technology to be Used:
The materials for the course, lectures, discussion boards, and blogs will all be found on the
Blackboard site for the course. Each week, the professor will record the PowerPoint lecture using
Adobe Presenter and post it on Blackboard for students to view. The students will participate in
weekly discussions on the discussion board and make weekly posts on their personal blogs.
Blackboard will include links to learning materials and relevant online educational sites.
Description of Provisions for ADA Compliance:
The professor will meet with a designer at the Center for Teaching Excellence to ensure that the
course materials posted on Blackboard incorporate basic accessibility features. The course
syllabus includes an accessibility statement that encourages students with disabilities to register
with the Office of Student Disability services; should a student with a registered disability enroll
in the course, the professor will work with the Office to make any additional accommodations
appropriate to that student’s needs.
Comment [USC16]: The instructional design
team at the Center for Teaching Excellence can
advise faculty on how to incorporate basic
accessibility features into course materials.
Course syllabi should also include a statement
referring students who need additional
disability-related accommodations to the
Office of Student Disability Services.