Please note – this is a draft of the fall 2010 syllabus. Please read it in order to gain a general understanding of the course but disregard all specific dates noted.
Holyoke Community College Domestic Violence – HSV 205 (3 credits) online Course Syllabus, Fall, 2010 Instructor: Katharine Daube, MPH E-Mail: kdaube@hcc.edu Phone: (413) 538-2000 Mailbox: Donahue 270
Domestic violence is major social problem. Factors causing abuse and conditions resulting from abuse are very complex. This course will analyze these complexities, looking at why abuse happens, how to address it, and how to prevent it. We will use a multidisciplinary approach to discuss child abuse, partner abuse, and elder abuse. This syllabus will give you an overview of course expectations. Please read it carefully! Many times! You will find a lot of information in this document (how to get an A on the discussion board, what happens when an assignment is late, how to contact my supervisor, etc.). Read it thoroughly and refer to it when you have a question about the course. This is a fast-paced course. You will need to be able to devote an average of eight to ten hours a week to this class. Course Description An examination of domestic violence from human services, historical, psychological, cross-cultural, legal, and sociological perspectives. The extent, types, and causes of domestic violence will be analyzed. Prevention and intervention strategies necessary to those working with women, men, and children who have been affected by domestic violence will also be covered.
Learning Outcomes: Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: Describe an overview of child, partner, and elder abuse from multiple perspectives. Discuss the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for Human Services workers who serve people involved with domestic violence, including evaluating the unique needs, problems, and resources of clients. Explain the interplay between societal violence and domestic violence. Discuss how the occurrence of abuse is impacted by social factors including race, culture, gender, and socio-economic status. Analyze the effect of domestic violence on various subcultures within the United States, including racial/ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, immigrants, elders, and gays/lesbians/bisexuals. Describe intervention and prevention strategies.
Teaching Procedures During this class, we will use readings, online discussion, online postings by professor, written assignments, and Internet sites (video and text) to learn about domestic violence.
Required Texts Wallace, Harvey. Family Violence: Legal, Medical, and Social Perspectives (5th edition). Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2008. Sapphire. Push. New York: Random House, Inc., 1997. Johnson, Jerry and George Grant. Domestic Violence. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2005.
Important Message about Online Learning Basic computer skills such as emailing, creating Word documents, and sending email attachments are necessary in order to be successful in this course. This course also requires a great deal of personal discipline. Online courses are not a good match for students who are tempted by procrastination. You should be prepared to spend an average of eight to ten hours a week on the class (more during the weeks when papers are due). If your home computer should fail at any point during the semester, please be prepared to use the computers at HCC or a local library. Computer failure is no excuse for missing or late work.
Change Your WebCT Password You all need to change your WebCT password before the end of the first week of classes. This is important so that others cannot log into your account.
How to Contact Me I can be reached by email on our Web CT site (see the “mail” icon on the welcome page). I check my mail daily or almost daily. Generally I should respond to you within one day. However, if you have sent me a message and do not hear back from me within 48 hours, please feel free to contact me again.
How You Will Be Graded In other words, do you want an A? Read on… Discussion board (1/3 of final grade): The discussion board allows me to monitor your comprehension of the readings and answer your questions. It is also a way for you to engage with other students. Every discussion board will begin with a set of questions from me. Each week, you will be required to: • Post one substantial response (at least 300 words) to my discussion questions for the discussion board. You must post your initial response by midnight on Sunday of each week. • Post three or more substantial follow up questions, answers, or comments to each discussion board. These postings can be questions about a fellow student’s posting, answers to another student’s questions, comments about the readings for the week, or even web links that are related to the topic of the week. You must post these by midnight on Thursday of each week. The discussion board week will run 12:00 am on Friday until midnight on the next Thursday. You can post at any time during the week, as long as you adhere to the deadlines (initial postings by Sunday midnight, and follow up postings by Thursday midnight). However, you must post to each week’s discussion board on at least three different days during the week. You can’t “save up” all of your discussion board participation for one day. In order to be a full participant in this class I expect you to check in with the discussion board frequently. This means that your comments posted to the discussion board must be submitted on three or more different days during the week. Postings to the discussion board that are pertinent, well thought-out, and respectful will result in high marks for this portion of your grade. Your contributions should also demonstrate a solid understanding of the assigned readings, and the use of evidence to support your views. The best discussion postings are the ones that refer to the concepts covered in the readings for the week. Zero to ten points can be earned for each week’s discussion on the discussion board. How to earn a high grade (9 or 10 points) for the week’s discussion: • Log on three or more times during the week. • Submit postings which contain an analysis that is based on information learned from the textbooks and the professor of this class. • Ask questions that engage the class in a discussion of the issues. • Although occasionally mentioning personal experience can certainly further our understanding of family violence, refrain from making this the core of your postings. • Adhere to the deadlines! The more substantial and relevant your participation is, the higher your weekly discussion board grade will be. It is tempting to save all discussion board participation for the last day or two of the week. However, if you log on, read other students’ postings, and respond to them throughout the week, the class will be more interesting for all of us and your grade will be higher.
Your grade will decrease for late postings, initial postings that are shorter than the 300-word requirement, submissions that are hard to understand due to grammatical or spelling errors, or posts that contain purely personal opinion with no reference to issues discussed in the readings for that week. No points will be awarded for a missed discussion. This is a fast paced class and missed assignments cannot be “made up” in the following week’s discussion board. Lastly, in terms of the discussion board: I expect that you will read all of the other student postings. I have a statistics function that allows me to see who is reading the discussion board and who is not. You will have a hard time following our class discussion if you do not read what your fellow students have to say. Furthermore, you might miss crucial announcements or reminders if you do not read my postings to the discussion board.
On the discussion board we will always respect the views of each other and never verbally attack someone simply for possessing different or unpopular ideas. Debate is not about attack; it is about listening, exchanging ideas, and challenging each other to really think. I will not tolerate personal attacks or disrespectful comments. If a student makes an inappropriate remark, one written warning will be given. Upon making a second inappropriate remark, the student will be required to talk personally with me. A third inappropriate remark will result in withdrawal from the course. This is not negotiable.
Weekly quizzes (1/3 of final grade): Quizzes will be a combination of multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions. Quiz content will correspond with the readings for that particular week. Quizzes will be due by midnight Thursday of each week. Late quizzes will not be accepted, except under extraordinary circumstances and with the instructor’s prior permission. Two papers (1/3 of final grade): You will receive two paper assignments during the semester. Very specific guidelines will be given regarding paper content and questions to be answered. Criteria for grading will be distributed with the assignment. For each calendar day that a paper is late, it will be graded down ten points. Missed assignments will result in no credit for that work.
Attendance policy As stated in the college catalog, “All students are expected to report to all classes on time. Persistent absence or tardiness may result in grading penalties or the student’s dismissal from class and a grade of AW.” Since this is an online course the rules change! You will be expected to log on and participate in each online discussion group a minimum of three times weekly. A grade of AW may be given if you have not posted something on the discussion board or contacted me for fourteen days, or if you fail to meet two deadlines for assignments. Any of the above criteria is sufficient for you to be withdrawn from the course.
Academic Support Students who wish to improve their performance in this course are encouraged to use the free tutoring and other support services available in the Center for Academic Program Support (CAPS). Take advantage of this excellent service and stop by CAPS in Donahue 240, or call (413) 552-2584. There is also free online tutoring available to all HCC students. You are able to get help and advice with your writing assignments for this class. This service is free and it is available 24 hours a day. Go to go to: http://etutoring.org/ and under “Select Your Consortium or Institution” click on Northeast eTutoring Consortium. Choose Holyoke Community College from the drop-down menu. Enter your user name and password. Your user name and password are identical, and consist of your first initial, last name and the last 3 digits of your Student ID number, all in lowercase. They are CaSE SenSiTIve. Example: If your name is John Smith and your student ID# is 000067544, your user name AND password would both be: jsmith544. Counseling Many students discover that a course on family violence can be emotionally challenging. The issues highlighted in this class may remind students of personal experiences of abuse. It is important to seek support when it comes to the challenging content of this class. HCC offers free and confidential counseling services to students who would like to talk about abuse, current relationship issues, and/or struggles with coursework. You can contact the counselors by email, phone, or stop by their office. For more information, go to
Special Needs Every effort will be made to meet the individual needs and varied learning styles of the students in this course. It is important that you inform me at the beginning of the semester of your particular needs. If you have a learning disability or need accommodations in this course, contact the Office for Students with Disabilities at 552-2417 to request accommodations before the start of the semester.
Academic Honesty Students enrolled in this course are responsible for academic honesty. This means that all work for this class must be undertaken by you without collaboration from others. Any dishonesty in the performance of course work, such as plagiarism or cheating in other forms, will be reported. In the event the student is charged with some form of dishonesty, the Student Discipline Policy will be followed. The full text of the Academic Integrity Policy and the additional Online Policy can be found either here Academic Integrity Policy or in pdf format at: http://webtide.hccdl.org/documents/Academic_Integrity_Policy.pdf. In order to guarantee the value of doing your own work, students who do not do their own work may be given a zero for the plagiarized assignment and possibly an F for the course. Withdrawal Policy Sometimes it is necessary for a student to withdraw from an online course. If that should become necessary, please complete the withdrawal form found at http://webtide.hccdl.org/forms.htm. Library HCC’s goal is to ensure that distance learning students have access to resources and services that mirror those that are available to students enrolled in non-distance learning courses at HCC. For more information, go to http://www.hcc.edu/campus/library/distance_learning.html. Dean of Distance Education
Should you need to contact the Gloria DeFillipo, the Dean of Distance Education (my supervisor) for any reason, you can send an email to: dladvising@hcc.mass.edu. Help Desk If you need WebCT support or technical assistance, please contact dlhelp at 413-552-2124 or dlhelp@hcc.edu. Be sure to indicate your full name, course number and the problem. Email assistance is preferred.
A Final Note The student body, faculty, and staff at HCC come from a wide range of cultural, ethnic, racial, and economic backgrounds. People here also have a wide range of lifestyles and intellectual ideas. As an institution of higher learning, we value and honor this diversity. Everyone on this campus and in this online classroom should feel that HCC is an open and safe place. Examining issues of family violence can be emotionally difficult for anyone. Some people in this class may have been exposed to domestic violence in one form or another. This course covers material that may feel unpleasant, uncomfortable, or even offensive to some. Please be prepared to meet the challenges of this course with an open mind while respecting your own personal thoughts and feelings. Do not hesitate to contact me by phone or e-mail if you have questions or concerns about the course. I will be happy to discuss any issues that you may have. I am looking forward to this semester! Katharine
