Course Syllabus

 

The Syllabus

Indiana University School of Social Work
Department of Labor Studies
L290 Preventing Sexual Harassment (1 credit)
Fall 2015 Instructor: Rae Sovereign
574 904-3799 cell
nsoverei@iusb.edu

Course Description

This one-credit course will briefly examine all aspects of workplace and academic sexual harassment, including but not limited to definitions, history, federal and state law, EEOC guidelines and procedures, employer and school liability, personnel, school and contract language and policies, and personal perspectives. Reasons for and solutions to workplace and academic sexual harassment will be discussed.

Textbook

No textbook is required. All readings will be online in the files or attached to assignment.

Course Objectives

At the completion of this course, students should be able to:

1. Know the different forms of sexual harassment, legal definitions, and state and federal law. Addressing sexual harassment in the workplace and school environment.
2. Understand and analyze the behaviors, attitudes and employment issues that contribute to sexual harassment in the workplace
3. Be able to develop effective strategies that can confront workplace incidents of sexual harassment and understand how their attitudes and behaviors (and others) contribute to the issue.

Course Expectations

You are expected to:

1. Participate fully in forum discussions. 
2. Read all handouts, and come to the discussion prepared to share what you have learned, experienced or what to learn about preventing sexual harassment in your workplace or school.
3. Submit the assignments on the due date only. Late submissions will be marked down .5 points for every day late, unless I am notified beforehand that there is a request for a late submission.
4. The assignment tab will indicate when the assignment/discussions are due.
5. All comments on the material will be posted in the associated discussion; exam/test answers are to be posted to the assignment or quiz as indicated. The discussion posting is to be considered the classroom discussion. In order to receive the gradebook points for "reading others comments", you must read 65% of the total of postings in the forum. The Canvas system will tell me how many you have read. You must click on individual comments, read, and then move on (or respond).

Course Suggestions for Success

1. Participate - This course is designed so that everyone will get a chance to fully participate in group discussions. The teaching style is collaborative which means that we can all learn from each other.
2. Ask Questions - This class is designed for majors and non-majors. If there is terminology you do not understand, please say so. No questions should go unanswered!
3. Respect others - The subject matter of this course usually sparks some lively debate, which is encouraged. The rule is that all opinions are welcome and respected and should be respectable.

Conduct of Course and Assignments

During this course, you can expect to work individually. Various methods of learning will be used including, readings, internet websites searches, case studies, films, forum discussions, quizzes, and other methods if needed. Unlike face to face classes, online courses take more time.

There are extensive readings in this course, so keeping up with the assignments is critical for your success. If you are having difficulty with the course, assignments, or other factors related to this course, please contact me ASAP so I can facilitate a strategy for your success in this course.

I am not a computer programmer, so technical questions regarding Oncourse should be directed to your local IT department or ksweeny@indiana.edu.

Outline of Content and Readings

Week 1

Readings and lecture
PowerPoint presentation

Assignments: Summarize the readings, lecture and powerpoint, if present.

In the discussions:

Put your Name, campus, major, interests, concerns

Telling our stories: This is a moderated forum where you will discuss whether you have ever been a victim of sexual harassment or knew someone that was a victim of sexual harassment. What happened ? (if you care to share the details) How did you feel about the situation?

The readings will provide a legal definition. Please be considerate of others and let them tell their story without criticism. Post at least three times, once your introductions, the second posting your story, then feel free to comment on another person’s posting as well.

Quiz 1 How much to you know about sexual harassment? Put answers in quiz tab.

Week 2

Reading and lecture

Assignments: Summarize the material that you have read and submit it to the week two discussion thread.

Discussion postings are for classroom discussion that should reflect the readings for the week.

Readings: provided online with the discussion posting
Discuss any questions, comments, and attitudes that are raised during the forum discussions or in the readings.

Week 3

Reading and lecture

Assignments: Summarize the material that you have read and submit it to the week three discussion thread.

Discussion postings are for classroom discussion that should reflect the readings for the week.

Readings: provided online with the discussion posting

Discuss any questions, comments, and attitudes that are raised during the discussions

Quiz 2 Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Justify your answers. Put answers in quiz tab.

Week 4

Reading and lecture

Assignments: Summarize the material that you have read and submit it in the week four discussion thread
Postings are for classroom discussion that should reflect the readings for the week.

Readings: provided online in the discussion description

Discuss any questions, comments, and attitudes that are raised during the discussions

Quiz 3 Discussion questions on Sexual Harassment Justify your answers.
Put answers in quiz tab.

Course Policies

Students are expected to respect the opinions and feelings of other students, instructors, and guest speakers even though they differ from their own.

Consistent with the School’s academic policy, an evaluation of the course and its instructor will be completed at the end of the course.

When using electronic communication, Internet etiquette is expected.

Academic dishonesty (including cheating on exams and plagiarism in papers) is not consistent with ethical conduct in Labor Studies. In cases of academic dishonesty, university and IU School of Social Work guidelines will be followed. And student caught cheating or plagiarizing (offering the work of someone else’s as one’s own) will fail the course.

The School of Social Work follows the Indiana University policy on plagiarism which states:

Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else’s work, including the work of other students, as one’s own. Any ideas or materials taken from another source for either written or oral use must be fully acknowledged, unless the information is common knowledge. What is considered “common knowledge” may differ from course to course.

a. A student must not adopt or reproduce ideas, opinions, theories, formulas, graphics, or pictures of     another person without acknowledgment.
b. A student must give credit to the originality of others and acknowledge indebtedness whenever:

1. Directly quoting another person’s actual words, whether oral or written;
2. Using another person’s ideas, opinions, or theories;
3. Paraphrasing the words, ideas, opinions, or theories of others, whether oral or written;
4. Borrowing facts, statistics, or illustrative material; or
5. Offering materials assembled or collected by others in the form of projects or collections without acknowledgment.

In addition to the university statement on plagiarism which is published in the IU Student Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct, the IU School of Social Work defines plagiarism as including:

a. The intentional or unintentional use of information from another person without full acknowledgement. Such use, even when unintended, causes the work to appear to be the student’s own work and thus the student, not the original author, benefits from the omission of proper acknowledgment.
b. Copying or using information from web sites without appropriately documenting the internet source.
c. Buying or using a document written by another person.
d. Submitting any part of the student’s own work which has been previously submitted, unless one’s own prior work if fully acknowledged and appropriately cited.

Any student caught cheating or plagiarizing (offering the work of someone else as one’s own) will fail the course. Failure of a required social work course will result in automatic dismissal from the social work program. A student’s right to appeal such a dismissal is outlined in materials distributed at student orientation meetings.

To avoid plagiarism, credit sources whenever you use someone else’s language or ideas. Such crediting must be detailed and specific. Normally, simply including a literature citation in your list of reference is insufficient. Rather, you must specifically acknowledge a source each time you use the source, paragraph by paragraph, even sentence by sentence as necessary. See the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th.ed.) for in-text references.

An easy way to avoid the omission of citations, use EndNotes (available to students online) when acknowledging someone else’s work.

Policy on Incompletes

A grade of incomplete can be granted and noted on the final grade report by the instructor when 1) a substantial portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed, 2) the course work is of passing quality, 3) the student is experiencing some hardship that would render the completion of course work unjust to hold the student to the time limits previously established. A grade of incomplete will revert to an “F” after one academic year or when contract requirements are not fulfilled.

All requests for an Incomplete will be forwarded to the Director of the Department of Labor Studies: Irene Quiero-Tajalli 317 274-6725 itka100@iupui.edu

Assignments and Grading

Your grade will be based on the following point system:

1. Reading of other’s postings........ . 15 points These points are given at the end of the class if you have consistently read 65% or better of all comments. Canvas tells me when you log on, for how long, and what you have been doing. 
2. Second Assignment (quiz 1)....... .15 points
3. Third Assignment…(quiz 2)…… 15 points
4. Fourth Assignment.. (quiz 3)........ 15 points
5. Forum Discussions ...................... 40 points (10 points per week)( 5 points for the first discussion post, 5 points for the second discussion post.

Total..................................... .100 points

 A+         101+

A            100.0

A-           97.0

B+          94.0

B            91.0

B-           88.0  

B            91.0

B-           88.0

C+          85.0

C            82.0 

C-           79.0

D+          76.0

D            73.0

D-          70.0

F            69

Grade availability

Weekly grades will be released when the grading for that week is complete. Your final grade, however, will not be available until the end of the course. If you are keeping a weekly count of your points, then be mindful that if you miss a forum posting or an exam, the gradebook will count this as 0 points until the end of the term when I enter the final grades. Your Final Grade will depend on what the total number of points is for the course.

See supporting documents in the syllabus tab.

Grading Criteria for Papers

Class participation: Per the Class Schedule, discussions will be held in each of the units assigned. (Each Unit generally lasts 1 week) Participation includes postings (at least twice) and proof that you have read the discussion postings. This information is available to me because I am the instructor. The Canvas program keeps statistics on your participation and the records of your interactions with the program.

To earn points for discussion participation in a unit, you must post both an on-time, (1st posting) quality 100-word minimum opening comment and (2nd posting) a quality 50-word minimum responsive comment, i.e., a response to a comment by either the instructor or another student. Comments should reflect that you have read the assigned materials for the unit, as well as comments by the instructor and your fellow students.

Written communication requires good writing skills to communicate information accurately and concisely to others. For this reason, formal writing assignments in Labor Studies courses will be evaluated for content, ideas presented, and clarity of the presentation. All formal papers will be typed, double-spaced, paginated and citations should be present when necessary. The grade for a paper will be based on the following criteria: I give one warning for misspelled words. After that, there is a ½ point deduction in the grade for that assignment.

Presentation and Appearance

a. Neatness
b. Correct grammar (noun-verb agreement, sentence structure, proper and consistent verb tense, etc.
c. Use of nonsexist language
d. Spelling
e. Punctuation

Organization

a. Structure and format of the paper
b. Logical sequencing and continuity of ideas
c. Clarity of expression
d. Conciseness

Content as indicated by specific proper assignment

All information on assignments and forum topics will be posted the week prior to the due date. The directions for the assignment and topic for discussion will be posted in the disccusion. Midterm and Final Exam will be posted in the assignments and the corresponding grade item tab.

Presentation and Appearance

a. Neatness
b. Correct grammar (noun-verb agreement, sentence structure, proper and consistent verb tense, etc.
c. Use of nonsexist language
d. Spelling
e. Punctuation

Organization

a. Structure and format of the paper
b. Logical sequencing and continuity of ideas
c. Clarity of expression
d. Conciseness

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Policies

In compliance with ADA guidelines, students who have any condition, either permanent or temporary, that might affect their ability to perform in this class are encouraged to inform the instructor at the beginning of the term. This should be discussed with the instructor within the first three (3) weeks of class. Adaptations of teaching methods and class materials, including text and reading materials or testing will be needed to provide equitable participation.

 

You will find all reading material in the discussion section each week. I will add attachments and direct you to web site when needed. Good luck and I look forward to hearing from you all.

 

The Instructor

The Instructor.doc Download The Instructor.doc