Interpreting Policies and Expectations - Research Paper Example

Interpreting Policies and Expectations An Overview of the Course This course starts on 07/01/13 and ends on 08/25/13; the week 6 date is 08/05/13 and the day 5 is 08/09/2013. For this course, there are 3 credits in 8 weeks. The 6th Edition of the APA Manual is required for the course. Discussion posting is one of the key requirements of this course and successful organization of discussion posting is vital to achieve the course objectives. The major purpose of the discussion posting to enable the candidate to effectively exchange ideas between his/her colleagues engaged in scholarly research works. Evidently, discussion posting aims to assist the candidate to acquire new knowledge and to improve his/her knowledge base. Components of Scholarly Response The three components of scholarly discussion posting response are comprehensive, in-depth, and focused writing; APA style and citations, and relevance of the topic. The first element requires the candidate to provide comprehensive responses and to keep the responses specifically focused on the topic under consideration. It also requires candidates to give thoughtful postings after paying particular attention to week’s readings, relevant news, and other sources such as colleagues’ postings. It is vital for the candidate to depend on course sources as well as external sources to contribute to the authenticity of the posting. While using such sources, candidates are required to follow APA style so as to maintain uniformity and a high standard of scholarship. The use of APA style and citations are greatly beneficial to facilitate the participation of all course participants. The relevance of the topic is key tool for assessing the effectiveness of the participation. In order to ensure effective participation in discussion posting, candidates are expected to maintain the logical thread of discussion, which would enhance developing appropriate and useful ideas. Course Grades and Feedback Course grades will be based on participation in discussion postings and completion of assignments listed in the course syllabus. As described in the syllabus, the Course Grading Matrix gives an exact idea on course grading. A grade will be given for scores of 90% and above (900-1,000), B grade for scores of 80%-89% (800-899), C grade for scores of 70%-79% (700-799), and D grade for scores of 69% and below (699 or less).Feedback on all assignments will be given to the candidate by the 7th day of the week following the one in which the assignment was due. To illustrate, if the assignment was due in Week 3, the candidate would receive feedback on that particular assignment by 7th day of the Week 4. If a candidate thinks that he/she is not obtaining enough feedback, he/she is strongly encouraged to contact his/her instructor and ask for more feedback. The candidates can find contact information for his/her instructor under the Contact the Instructor area. The candidate may also refer to the Faculty members’ accessibility area of the Student policy excerpts in the Guidelines and Policies area to obtain further information on feedback. Walden University e-mail If the candidate has a course-related question, he can post his doubt in the discussion area or in the Contact the Instructor area. Since responses to a candidate’s question can be probably useful for others in the class, candidates are not advised to e-mail course-related queries to the Instructor or fellow classmates. Candidates are provided with Walden e-mail account to carry out their all official Walden University business. They are expected to check their Walden e-mail account every day throughout the course period. Students are not expected to send copies of their postings to the Instructor or fellow classmates via e-mail. According to this course schedule policy, all postings have to be made in each week’s Discussion area of the course. Application assignments must be delivered in a format that the Instructor can open and read (electronic format). In order to name application assignments, naming directions have been provided in each week’s Application area(s). Students are advised to particularly adhere to these directions while naming an application assignment. According to the Walden University policy, all e-mail correspondence should contain the subject line, which is formatted as course number-XX- candidate name (XX indicates the section number) followed a brief description of the subject. When sending Walden University e-mail, students must pay specific attention to the formatting requirements of the subject line. Example: Sub: DDBA 8005: Foundations for DBA Late Assignment Policy As mentioned already, discussion posting is an integral part of this course and therefore students are required to contribute to this in the Discussion area, strictly in accordance with the syllabus deadlines. If the candidate fails to meet the deadline without the prior consent of the Instructor, he/she would earn zero points. Candidates may contact the instructor in advance to obtain a short term extension of deadline (1-2 days maximum). It is to be noted that approval of the request for a short term extension is completely left to the decision of the Instructor and may be provided only for reasonable causes like an illness. However, students are required to produce proper documentation to prove that their excuses are genuine. Under any circumstance, students should not assume that the extension requested has been granted unless he/she receives a confirmation from the Instructor. According to this course policy, technical errors are not adequate reasons for missing guidelines. Since a week’s discussion is closed at the end of the week, a discussion post/response will not earn credit once the week is ended. Failure to meet the deadline without prior sanction of the Instructor will cause the candidate to earn zero points in the case of application assignments too. If the candidate fails to comply with the submission instruction provided by the Instructor, to submit the assignment in a format that the Instructor can open and read, or to submit the correct assignment, it will be considered as a failure to meet the deadline. The Walden University policy states that every assignment is due by 11:59 pm every Sunday. Students are expected to follow the Mountain Time but not their local time zone. Time zone difference is not a valid reason for missing deadlines. As per the Walden University policy, students will have access to the course and their course work 60 days after the end date of the course. After this period, candidates will no longer have access to the course or course related materials. References DDBA 8005: Foundations for Doctoral Business Administration Studies. Student Support and Calendar Information. Read More