Program Goals and Student Learning Outcomes
The Empowered Professional Making a Difference is the theme of the Professional Education Unit’s conceptual framework. This theme focuses learning experiences on activities that permit the candidate to examine what he/she does and to make a difference in the instructional process. The subject matter, class activities, and skill development of this course were selected to assist your professional growth in one or more of the following Empowered Professional Making a Difference characteristics: a) critical thinker, b) lifelong learner, c) counselor/mentor, d) decision maker, e) problem solver, and f) ethical/moral professional.

Course Alignments by Assessments, Outcomes, and Standards
The State of Florida has responded to national and state initiatives in education reform and accountability by creating legislative policies relative to the preparation of teachers. Florida's Accomplished Practices, Sunshine State Standards, and Curriculum Frameworks outline the knowledge, skills, dispositions, and knowledge-base that teachers and students require to be successful in Florida's educational system.
Accomplished Practices: # 1.5, 2.8, 4.1, 4.2, 4.4, 5.5, 5.6, 7.2, 7.3, 7.5, 7.7, 8.1, 8.3, 10.1, 10.2, 10.6, 10.7 10.13, 12.3
Subject Area Competencies & Skills: 1.3, 4.1, 7.2, 7.3, 8.2, 8.4, 8.5, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 14.2
NCATE: 1b
ESOL Competencies: # 5.4, 12.5, 16.2, 17.1; 17.5
Psychological Foundations Competencies: # 1, 2, 3, 4
Sociological Foundations Competencies: # 4
NMSAPBS: 5.4, 12.5, 16.2, 17.1; 17.5

Accommodations, Communication, Class Participation and Attendance
Students with Disabilities: The Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC) at the University of West Florida supports an inclusive learning environment for all students. If there are aspects of the instruction or design of this course that hinder your full participation, such as time-limited exams, inaccessible web content, or the use of non-captioned videos and podcasts, please notify the instructor or the SDRC as soon as possible. You may contact the SDRC office by e-mail at sdrc@uwf.edu or by phone at (850) 474-2387. Appropriate academic accommodations will be determined based on the documented needs of the individual.

Email & Proper E-mail netiquette: Use UWF e-mail for all correspondence. Students are expected to check e-mail on a frequent and regular basis (a minimum of two to three times weekly) in order to stay current with University-related communications, recognizing that certain communications may be time-critical. It is recommended that e-mail be checked daily. Students are expected to check the eLearning daily for announcements. Please identify yourself by first and last name and indicate the nature of your email (i.e. concerns, questions, comments, assignments or grades).

Class participation is a factor in this course, and you are expected to actively participate in discussion boards. Treat your classmates and your instructor respectfully. As a student in this course you are expected to participate as an active member of the learning community. As such, we all need to help each other with general questions by posting and responding to the and post helpful responses to the Discussion Forum (Questions Answer and Suggestions) – QAS. Everyone in our class should access and read discussion postings several times a week.

The two class rules are 1) You can do anything you want as long as you do not cause a problem for anyone (including me and you) in the class. If there is a problem, I will do something. What I do will depend on you, the problem, and what you are willing to do to solve the problem. 2) Any concerns or issues should first be brought to the attention of your instructor/professor. If you have a concern or issue, make me aware by politely communicating the nature of the problem. For instance, you could email "I would like to speak with you about my grade on the first assignment." I am confident that through open communication we can resolve any problems that may arise during this course.

Attendance is expected and assumed. To do well in this course, you must complete your assignments fully and submit as requested. Unless otherwise noted, all assignments must be completed individually. Weekly assignments are described and outlined in the content pages for each session. To comply with course requirements and be credited for assignments, you will need to read through all components of each session.

• Attendance is defined as the act of attending and is active not passive. To attend in this class implies being prepared for and participating in virtual discussions on course web site in a timely fashion, collaborating with classmates and completing various aspects of class assignments, and demonstrating a positive disposition.
• Excused Absences are not necessary since this course is fully online. Plan out your week in advance so that you can dedicate 7 to 9 hours/week around your other weekly obligations. Since a two (2) day (48 hour) grace period is provided on assignments, no excuses are granted due to sickness, jury duty, religious holiday's, technical difficulties, etc.
• Extended Excused Absences and Incompletes are granted on a very limited basis. Students must notify course instructor prior to or immediately after any incident to be considered for a standard three day extended excused absence (i.e. hospital stay, death of an immediate family member, etc.) or an incomplete.

Pandemic and Severe Weather Policy: In the event of a weather related (i.e. hurricane), pandemic or similar emergency, the university may still require professors to go ahead with their courses, in which case we will continue class over the internet using eLearning, email, etc. Official closures and delays are announced on the UWF website and broadcast on WUWF-FM (88.1 MHz). Emergency plans for the University of West Florida related to weather or other emergencies are available on the following UWF web pages: Information about hurricane preparedness plans is available on the UWF web site: http://uwfemergency.org/hurricaneprep.cfm Information about other emergency procedures is available on the UWF web site: http://uwfemergency.org/

Late Work Policy: I grade for full points when assignments are turned in on time, and with the exception of assignments submitted late, seek to provide feedback within one week. Unless otherwise indicated, all deliverables are due by Sunday at noon central standard time. That is, homework in Week 2 is due before noon the Sunday that begins Week 3, and so on going forward. Late assignments will begin to incur a penalty if submitted after 48 hours. The purpose of providing a 48 hour grace period for submitting assignments is to prevent requests for extensions for sickness, jury duty, religious holiday, technical difficulties, etc. Students must notify course instructor prior to or immediately after any incident to be considered for a standard three day extended excused absence (i.e. long deployment military duty, hospital stay, death of an immediate family member, etc.). Extended excused documentation is required and should be uploaded to the "Medical Excuses/Military Leave" dropbox. Unexcused late assignments, if accepted at instructors discretion, will incur at least a 30% and no more than 50% late penalty.

Grades of Incomplete will be granted only on rare occasions. This must be initiated by the student and prearranged prior to the twelfth week of class.  A formal contract will have to be written that outlines the conditions for completing what incomplete work and how it will be scored to calculate the final grade.  The instructor may at his discretion file an “I” (Incomplete) when a student has not completed the work of a course by the time grades must be submitted, but has completed the majority of the work at a passing level and has a written agreement with the instructor and the department regarding completion of the work, including the nature of the work to be completed, the means by which the final grade will be determined, and the date by which the work must be completed. The completion date may be no later than one year from the end of the semester in which the student took the course. The agreement shall also specify a default grade to be received if the work is not completed by the date indicated. One copy of the agreement shall be retained by the instructor, one shall be given to the student, and one shall be filed with the department office.

Dropping the Course: The last day to drop a course from this semester is 1/11/13. The last day to withdraw from a course this semester with a partial refund and a grade of “WR” is 2/1/13. The last day to withdraw from a course this semester with no refund of tuition or fees and a grade of “W” is 3/22/13.