Welcome to NU300

1. Welcome to NU300 Instructor: Kelley Edds

2. Due Dates of Assignments/DQs • Everything is due by 11:59pm (EST) • Please communicate to me if something comes up and you can not turn your assignment in on time. • I will grant extensions for certain circumstances…but do not assume you will be able to turn in your assignment late. You must get the “OK” from me first.

3. Discussion Questions (DQs) • Please look at and refer to your discussion rubric when you complete your DQ responses • There are specific criteria that must be followed every week • I will grade your weekly responses by this rubric • I will also place an example in the announcements you should follow for all DQ responses

4. DQ Important Criteria • These are some things student’s overlook when completing their DQ responses • Initial discussion question responses need to be a minimum of 100-150 (or longer if you choose) words. Comments to classmates do not have a length requirement. • Students are required to participate in each discussion thread on at least 3 different days during the unit week. • Your original post must occur BEFORE day 3 (before Friday).

5. DQ Criteria Cont. • You must reference your initial response a cited source (from the week’s reading or something else you came across). This will get you used to writing your sources in APA format (will post an example). • When you respond to other student’s responses, please include their same in the Title line.

6. APA Format • Use 6th ed • Tutorial will be posted in the announcement page. THIS WILL HELP WITH THE QUIZ • Assignments are to be in APA format • Discussion responses are to be in APA format • References • Citations • Examples in Doc Sharing

7. Turning in Assignments Early • You may turn in papers early into the dropbox if you need to • You may not answer DQ questions early…you must wait until the Unit to start to receive credit for your post • Please focus on the current DQs in the Unit and only answer/respond to those question • If you want to get a head start on next week’s DQs…you may complete them in WORD on your computer and copy and paste them into the forum when the week starts. This way you have completed them already, so all you have to do is post them

8. Seminars • There is only 1 more mandatory seminar after this one • The next mandatory seminar in unit 6 will be announced. • If you are unable to make it, you will have to submit an alternate seminar assignment to the dropbox

9. Announcements on Course Home Page • Please read the announcements as I post important announcements • I will always post when your grades are posted after DQ responses and Assignments • I always try to get your grades posted as soon as possible…but this is a large class. I have 7 days to return your grades back to you per Kaplan’s policy but will always try to get them back sooner. I know how it feels waiting for a grade to be returned

10. StrengthQuest • You will compete a StrengthQuest exercise in Unit 4 • Your individual codes are posted on the announcement page • Instructions are also posted on how to complete it • Please let me know if you have any troubles with this exercise.

11. Course Set-Up • I hope you have used the first week to look through the site and get familiar with the format • The format is very similar from week to week (Unit to unit) • Make sure to read the directions to the assignments carefully and observe how many DQs there are for the week – it varies from 1-2 per week. You must answer all of them and follow the criteria for each question.

12. NU300 Major Assignments • Under “Course Home” there is a document labeled “NU300 Major Assignments” • Please refer to this weekly • This has all your assignments, rubrics, and criteria for all your major assignments in a nice Unit to Unit chart.

13. Professional Development Plan • You will create a Professional Development Plan (PDP) that you will complete in Unit 10. You will start by completing the StrengthsQuest activity in Unit 4 (to assist you in formulating your strengths and weaknesses) and your Goal-Setting Exercise in Unit 3 (to assist you in writing some additional goals). • You will use a template to assist you in developing and organizing your Professional Development plan. This project should be done in paragraph form, but it would be very smart to use the template headings (italicized and flush against the left margin) so that you are sure to cover all aspects of the assignment. You do not have to cover every item beneath the main headings. Just make sure you have well-developed paragraphs. • This project will need to be done in formal APA format with well-developed paragraphs throughout. There is lots of information regarding this writing style in the course materials and Doc Sharing. In general, the paper needs a title page and a reference page. It needs to be double spaced, the margins need to be 1-inch, and the font size needs to be 12. References need to be listed in APA format and need to be cited somewhere in the body of the paper. There is no minimum number of words required for this assignment, but please note that the final version submitted in Unit 10 will need to be between 1500-2000 words. This project will be graded and returned to you with comments and suggestions. You will re-submit your corrected version in Unit 10. • Please include 3-5 references, cite them in your paper, and submit your assignment in APA paragraph form. When complete, save as a Word document and place in the Dropbox basket: Unit 6: PDP First Draft.

14. Any Questions?