COMM 12: Intercultural Communcation Syllabus - Hybrid Online
Instructor: Meg Farrell
Phone: 741-2490
Email: done through Angel Learning web site
Campus email: meg_farrell@westvalley.edu
Office: LA 4E
Course Objectives: This course is designed to help you improve your intercultural communication skills in various situations by helping you to acknowledge and understand different viewpoints and perceptions by first understanding your own. This class explores the notion that there may be more than one way of viewing the world. Upon completion of this course, you should have a conceptual and practical understanding of culture; an understanding of the basic concepts, skills, principles and theories of intercultural communication; and an understanding of how cultural identity influences communication.
Suggested Prerequisites: This class requires effective face-to-face and written communication skills. You may be more successful in this class if you possess these skills sets and if you have taken Public Speaking.
Online Requirements: This section meets partially online and requires access to email, the internet, and ANGEL. Most course requirements, tests, and assignments will require weekly ANGEL log-ins for success.
Community Service Requirements: You must complete at least four one+ hour conversation sessions with an ESL student on four different dates to fulfill your community service requirement in this course.
Material Requirements: Experiencing Intercultural Communication, Martin and Nakayama, 2nd Edition
Course Requirements:
| Assignments | Points |
| Self and Silence Project | 35 |
| Nonverbal Norms Project | 35 |
| Cultural Resume Family Project | 60 |
| Exam One | 40 |
| Exam Two | 40 |
| Journals | 40 |
| International Partner Sessions | 20 |
| Participation | 30 |
| Total | 300 |
Grading: You will be given points based on clearly defined criteria. The criteria for each requirement will be available online for one-week time periods. It is recommended that you keep copies of all of your grades.
Make-Up Policy: There are no make-up speeches, in-class assignments, homework, journals, papers, or exams. Projects lacking citations or an acceptable turnitin.com report will not receive any credit. You are only given the privilege to give a speech if you submit a typed outline prior. If a life or death emergency arises, please contact me by phone and email regarding any possible exception to this policy. If you are dropped from your family due to a lack of participation in sessions, you can not make-up the points; and your family will not be responsible for completing your portion of the Cultural Resume assignment.
Participation: You can earn up to 30 participation points by doing the following: being on time for each online and face-to-face session, actively participating in class discussions, logging-in to ANGEL weekly, participating and being prepared for live chats with your family, thoughtfully posting in discussion forums by designated due dates, and by completing required homework assignments, readings, and film reviews.
Exam/Live Chat Sessions: There are five required online sessions, from 6:00-7:30 p.m. Two are timed true/false and multiple choice exams which cannot be made-up (3/19 and 5/21). The other three are 60-90 minute live-chats with your family members regarding your Cultural Resume Project (2/12, 2/26 and 4/23). You can be dropped from your family if you do not effectively participate in any required live-chat session.
On-Campus Sessions: There are five mandatory on-campus class meetings on Mondays from 6:00-9:00 p.m. in LA21 on 1/29, 3/5, 4/9, 5/8 and 5/14, all of which have required assignments that must be submitted in person. You receive 50% credit on assignments not submitted by you to me, in person, during class, or to turnitin.com before class. You will be dropped from your family if you miss more than half of any session.
International Partners Program: You will receive five points of community service credit for each session you complete by the due date. Your ESL partner must have resided in the US for less than 2 years.
Journal Writings: Journals must be typewritten, 200+ words, and submitted on-time to receive credit.
Discussion Forum: You will be required to post, peer critique, and thoughtfully respond to Discussion Forum posts by the designated due dates as part of your Participation Grade. Each required initial post must be at least 100 words, your response posts 50 words, to receive up to two points credit for each submission.
Academic Dishonesty: Cheating on test or assignments, plagiarizing speeches or assignments, and falsifying community service are all examples of academic dishonesty. Other examples include: not citing sources in your outline, speech, or paper; not submitting your paper to turnitin.com; and/or receiving a poor turnitin.com report. All forms of academic dishonesty are grounds for failing the assignment or the course.
Disabilities: This instructor and West Valley College make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented disabilities. Please contact DESP (731-2010) and me privately to discuss your specific needs.
Student Conduct: Students are treated like professionals and are therefore expected to act in turn. Keep cell phones, sunglasses, and audio headphones off during class time. Treat each of us with respect and compassion, even if you strongly disagree with the opinions that are shared. Listen with your heart as well as your intellect. Dress professionally on speech days and do not wear hats during speeches. Disorderly conduct, and/or illegal, dangerous or acutely distracting behavior will not be tolerated. Gender, cultural, sexual orientation, ethnic, and racial discrimination will not be tolerated and will be grounds for dismissal.
Disappearing Students: Online courses have notoriously high drop rates. IÕd like this class to be different. If you are considering dropping the course for personal or academic reasons, contact me before you officially drop as I would appreciate the opportunity to try to work with you to pass. DonÕt just disappear!
Urgent Issues: For a quick response to an urgent issue, make sure you click the box at the bottom of your ANGEL email to me that indicates that your email will also be sent to my private email address.
Success: If you sincerely try and keep up with assignments, readings, and due dates, you will likely achieve success in this class. I want you to be successful; however there is only so much I can do to help make that happen. You are also accountable for your experience in this class. LetÕs make it a positive one!