HUMANITIES 1103: APPRECIATION OF THE FILM AS ART
ANOKA-RAMSEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
SPRING 2016 SYLLABUS
General Course Information
Professor : Ms. or Professor Bean
Office: H210
Phone: (763) 433-1139
E-mail: catherine.bean@anokaramsey.edu
E-mail is the best way to communicate with me throughout the semester, as check it frequently, Monday-Friday.
I do NOT use the Pager function in D2L Brightspace.
Office Hours:
Mondays: 9-noon ONLINE
Tuesdays and Thursdays: 1-2 p.m., on campus in H210 and by appointment.
Course Web Sites:
D2L Brightspace Login: https://anokaramsey.ims.mnscu.edu/?logout=1
Pr ofessor’s Homepage: www.ar.cc.mn.us/bean/main
Text
Boggs, Joseph M., and Dennis W. Petrie. The Art of Watching Films.
8 th edition.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012.
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, discussions, 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. Note that not all films are required every semester. See our Schedule for the ones we’ll watch this term.
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.
Attendance and Active Class Participation in an Online Environment
Because this class is conducted as a discussion-based seminar, your participation is vital to your success and the success of the other writers in the class. Therefore, regular, active participation is required. Regular participation includes interacting with others online to tackle assignment questions, complete collaborative projects, and participate in discussions.
For online courses, attendance translates into active online involvement in the coursework and promptly responding to communications from other students and the professor; failing to be actively engaged will negatively affect your grade.
Because class participation is critical to your success in this class, if you fail to log in to D2L Brightspace for 2 weeks without communicating regarding your absence from our course, a Last Day of Attendance (LDA) will be automatically entered into the student record system, which will result in a failing grade being issued for the class. Once the LDA is entered, you may request to be withdrawn by going to the Records Office before the withdraw deadline.
The College allows students to withdraw fro m classes with a “W” grade through the 80% point in the semester. This date varies, depending upon each course’s specific start-date. Refer to the online ARCC Course Schedule for this semester’s last withdrawal date.

Due Dates, Electronic Submissions, Late Work, and Late Vouchers
ALL ASSIGNMENTS, QUIZZES, EXAMS, AND ONLINE GROUP
DISCUSSIONS ARE DUE IN THEIR RESPECTIVE AREAS IN D2L
BRIGHTSPACE BY NOON ON TUESDAYS.
All assignments are on our course’s Schedule, located in the table in the center of our D2L Homepage. Follow the real-time dates on our Schedule and systematically complete the Read, View, Write, and Discuss requirements for each week.
THE D2L DROPBOX CLOSES PROMPTLY AT NOON EVERY TUESDAY. The
D2L Dropbox will not accept any items after this time. Assignments that are not submitted on time will earn a zero, which will negatively affect your final grade.
All Assignments must be submitted as Microsoft Word (or MS Wordcompatible, such as .odt and .rtf) documents to our D2L Dropbox by the assigned due date and time. Assignments that are not submitted as MS Word or
Word-compatible documents are subject to a grade penalty.
All work that is submitted to the Dropbox is considered complete and final, and will be graded as such; therefore, be certain to ONLY submit work to the
Dropbox when it is completely finished and ready to be graded; revisions, subsequent submissions, and alternate work will not be accepted or graded.
Because legitimate disruptions do occur in life, you have a one-time exception to our Late Policy: a Late Voucher. You can access your copy of the Late Voucher on our D2L Homepage, in the table in the center of the page.
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 may redeem it for 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.
The absolute last day to submit late work accompanied by a Late Voucher is printed on our class Schedule. This is also the last day to redeem any unused Late Vouchers for extra credit.

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 meets all assignment requirements, conforms to the prescribed format specifications, and is professional in appearance, content, and tone. Work that does not meet assignment requirements, formatting guidelines, and professional standards will be marked down, at the discretion of the professor.
Likewise, all class communications with the professor and other students must remain professional and respectful at all times. In the course of our class
Schedule, you will be instructed to read and follow the Effective Online
Communication rules prior to beginning our online communications.
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.
Plagiarism consists of knowingly presenting another person’s ideas or writing as your own without appropriate citation. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, cheating on a quiz or test, copying someone else’s words or ideas into a paper or other assignment, and borrowing, buying or downloading papers that you then submit as your own work. Plagiarism is both unethical and illegal. Presenting another person’s ideas or writing as your own without full, clear, and appropriate citation will result in an “F” for the entire course, and you will be reported to the
Dean of Educational Services for a Violation of the Student Conduct Code.
Collusion is also prohibited. Examples of collusion include extensive use of another's ideas for preparing a creative piece, undue assistance in the preparation or editing of written materials, or working with others on individual assignments. 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 you will be reported to the Dean of Educational Services for a Violation of the Student Conduct Code.

This course utilizes TurnItIn.com
to assist with plagiarism identification. Any student work in our class may be submitted by the professor to TurnItIn.com to verify originality and authorship.
Grading
Your grade for Humanities 1103 is 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 D2L Brightspace Discussion rooms.
Students will earn their active class participation grades based upon both the quantity and the quality of their discussion contributions.
Quantitatively, you are required to post a minimum of 3 comments to our small group Discussion rooms in D2L Brightspace each week to qualify for a C. Correspondingly, a minimum of 4 weekly posts are required to qualify for a B, and a minimum of 5 posts are needed to qualify for an A.
Because both quantity and, most importantly, quality are considered when determining Active Class Participation grades, quantity alone does not guarantee any particular grade. It is the quality of your posts, once you’ve met the minimum number, that determines your grade.
Students who are aiming for an A or B in this category should strive for 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 an interesting intellectual DISCUSSION, not a onesided monologue.

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 D2L
Brightspace 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 D2L Brightspace Website. This way, you can both see your grade on each individual quiz, assignment, or discussion, and you can easily keep track of your overall course grade. Grades are posted in D2L
Brightspace 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 grade of B is very good, showing that the student has consistently demonstrated an aboveaverage performance. Lastly, an A is tough to earn, and exemplifies outstanding achievement on every marker of learning.
Official College Communications
E-mail is the official means of communication at Anoka-Ramsey Community
College. This is the way that the College communicates important information to students, such as registration information, important dates, and other announcements. E-mail is also the means by which professors communicate with students outside of face-to-face classroom meetings, so be certain to check your College e-mail on a regular, consistent basis. Failing to read your College e-mail does not constitute a valid excuse for not being aware of the information communicated to you. You are responsible for knowing all information conveyed in ARCC e-mails.
Establish Class Contacts
Become acquainted with the members of our class, and your small discussion group in p articular. Everyone’s e-mail address is available by clicking on the
Classlist tab on our D2L Brightspace site.
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
Brightspace.)
Pass/Fail Option
Students who wish to opt for a Pass/Fail grading option must set this up with the instructor within the first week of class.

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.