COM 112 Fundamentals of Communication Common Syllabus

Course and Instructor Information

Credit Hours:: 3 hours
Term and Year:: semester and year
Delivery Mode:: Online

Instructor:: Name
Office Hours:: days and times
Telephone:: preferred phone number
Email:: UIS email address
Pronouns:: preferred pronouns

Course Section Information

This course is designed as an online course. All course content will be delivered and completed asynchronously by the deadlines noted on the course schedule. The learning management system that we will use is Canvas. All assignments will be submitted via Canvas unless otherwise directed by me.

Section Specific Policies

Policy 1 Title

text

Policy 2

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Course Description

This course emphasizes development of effective speaking skills through students’ in-class presentations, as well as through critical analysis of the effectiveness of oral communication. This course fulfills a general education requirement in the area of Oral Communication.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Use communication theory to describe the relationships between self, message, culture, and others in public speaking, interpersonal, small group, organizational, and mass media.
Create speeches that effectively organize their ideas and use clear thesis statements.
Incorporate strong evidence in their presentations and verbally cite these supporting materials.
Analyze an audience and setting and adapt their messages to those needs.
Establish credibility with an audience by demonstrating knowledge and understanding of a topic.
Deliver speeches extemporaneously with fluency, expressiveness, and effective nonverbals.
Prepare and use visual aids that promote audience understanding.
Listen to, analyze, and critique oral communication in interpersonal and professional settings.

Required Materials

The following materials are required for this course. Additional readings and assignments will be posted on Canvas by your section instructor. You have the option to purchase the physical textbook or the e-book (either version is fine). When purchasing the textbook, keep in mind that the UIS Bookstore will match any listed price online.

Open Door Policy

As instructors of COM 112, we are here to help you succeed. We invite you to schedule a time to discuss any concerns you have with us at any time during the semester. If anything in this course is unclear, please don’t hesitate to ask for clarification. If you have concerns you do not feel comfortable sharing with your section instructor, please contact the basic course director Timothy Bill (tbill2@uis.edu). If Timothy Bill is your instructor and you have concerns, please contact the Director of the School of Communication and Media, Dr. Beth Ribarsky (eriba2@uis.edu).

Common Course Assignments

Each student must complete the following assignments in COM 112:

Informative Speech: 15% of Total Points
Persuasive Speech: 15% of Total Points
Instructor’s Choice Speech: 15% of Total Points
Three Exams: 30% of Total Points
Reflections, outlines, self-evaluations, and other assignments: 25% of Total Points

You must complete all three major presentations (informative, persuasive, and instructor’s choice) to pass this class. Each of these speeches must be 5-7 minutes in length, include four verbal source citations, and use a presentation aid. Specific assignments will be posted to Canvas or given by your section instructor. Please see your section’s class syllabus, schedule, and/or Canvas for additional details. Instructor choice speeches are determined based on the curriculum developed by your instructors and may include but are not limited to a special occasion speech, a sales speech, a demonstration speech, or a debate.

Late Work

All assignments are designed to help students to present their speeches effectively. Missing due dates prevents you from receiving timely feedback from your instructor. If your section instructor accepts late work, they will outline their late work policy in their section specific policies.

Extra Credit

Extra credit opportunities may be available but are not guaranteed. Your section instructor will share details of any extra credit opportunities they decide to offer to your class. The sum of all extra credit opportunities offered for the course should not exceed 3% of the total points available in the course.

Grading

Grades in COM 112 are determined based on the points you earn throughout the course. The following table clarifies the percentages of total points needed to earn each respective final grade.

**Grading Scale**
Percent Range	Letter Grade
93.5% - 100%	A
90.0% - 93.4%	A-
86.5% - 89.9%	B+
83.5% - 86.4%	B
80.0% - 83.4%	B-
76.5% - 79.9%	C+
73.5% - 76.4%	C
70.0% - 73.4%	C-
66.5% – 69.9%	D+
63.5% - 66.4%	D
60.0% - 63.4%	D-
0% - 59.9%	F

Grading Disputes

If you think a grade is unwarranted, you should: (1) reread the assignment, (2) reread/review your work, (3) reread the evaluation, and (4) type a justification for the grade you think you earned. Your section instructor will accept your written justification no earlier than 24 hours after you receive your grade and feedback and no later than two weeks after you receive your grade and feedback. They will then arrange a time to meet with you to discuss your evaluation and your dispute.

Audiences and Video Recordings

For online and blended courses, to ensure the speeches are meeting the state of Illinois’ requirements, the Illinois Articulation Initiative has implemented a very strict policy across all online courses across the state. If you cannot meet these requirements, you should consider taking the course at a later date or enrolling in an on-ground section of the class.

Audience
- All three of the required speeches must be delivered in the presence of a live audience consisting of at least 6 people whose age is 16 or older.
- At least one of the three required speeches must be presented in front of a live audience located in the same room as the speaker, with the audience visible in the video recording throughout the entire presentation.
- Two of the required speeches may be presented live on a videoconferencing platform (such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams), with audience members’ faces visible to the speaker throughout the entire presentation.
- Audience members must be aware that they will be recorded or streamed live and that the video may be viewed by the instructor and the online class.
Setting
- Students must perform in an appropriate environment that is free of visual and auditory distractions.
Venue
- The preferred venue is a workplace or community location (such as a classroom, library room, or conference room).
Video Requirements
- Recorded speeches may not be edited; recording must be done in one continuous take (without stopping and starting).
- Camera must be focused on the speaker so that the speaker’s face and body are clearly visible throughout the speech.
- Effective lighting must be used to ensure the visibility of the speaker.
- External ambient noise must be minimized to allow for clear reception of speaker’s voice.
Technology
- Institutions are responsible for ensuring that students taking a fully online course, or a course with online components, are provided information about the specific, necessary technology required to complete the course. Students taking a fully online course, or a course with online components, are expected to utilize appropriate technology.
- UIS Information Technology Services (ITS) provides equipment students can check-out for completing coursework. Please take advantage of this service if you need additional technology to record speeches for this class.

Audience Size Penalty

A failure to meet the requirements listed above will result in a penalty being applied to your final speech grade. Specifically, if you do not have enough audience members for your presentation, your final speech grade will be reduced by one full letter grade for each audience member absent. For example, if you deliver an ‘A’ speech, but only have five audience members, your final grade will be reduced on letter to a ‘B’. If you have an audience of 2 or fewer people, you will automatically receive a zero for the assignment.

Additionally, as noted above, one of your speeches must be presented in front of a live audience located in the same room as the speaker. Audience members not located in the same space as the speaker will not count towards meeting the audience size requirements for the speech.

Audience Size	Penalty
6 or more	No Penalty
5	One Letter Grade
4	Two Letter Grades
3	Three Letter Grades
2 or fewer	Zero for the Assignment

Speech Time Penalties

Delivering your presentation within the time limits is an important skill to learn as a speaker. If your presentation is under the minimum time requirement or over the maximum time allowed, you will receive a penalty on your grade for the speech. Specifically, for every 15 seconds you are under or over the time limits, you will receive a 3 points penalty on your speech grade. For example, if you are 1 minute and 10 seconds under the minimum time requirement, your final grade will be penalized by 15 points.

Academic Integrity Policy

We support the UIS policy on Academic Integrity, which states, in part: “Academic integrity is at the heart of the university’s commitment to academic excellence. The UIS community strives to communicate and support clear standards of integrity, so that undergraduate and graduate students can internalize those standards and carry them forward in their personal and professional lives. Living a life with integrity prepares students to assume leadership roles in their communities as well as in their chosen profession. Alumni can be proud of their education and the larger society will benefit from the University’s contribution to the development of ethical leaders. Violations of academic integrity demean the violator, degrade the learning process, deflate the meaning of grades, discredit the accomplishments of past and present students, and tarnish the reputation of the university for all its members.”

One of the most common academic integrity violations is plagiarism. Plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as your own. Examples of plagiarism include:

Using direct quotes without quotation marks
Misrepresenting the author’s ideas or main points
Using someone else’s ideas without citing them as such
Using another person to write, re-write, or edit your work,
Using one piece of work from one course for another course without instructor permission
Failing to attach all group members’ names to an assignment
Misquoting of sources

Academic sanctions range from a warning to expulsion from the university, depending on the severity of your violation and your history of violations. Whatever the sanction, we will file a report of academic dishonesty to the Office of the Provost. You are responsible for understanding and complying with the UIS Academic Integrity Policy.

Artificial Intelligence Policy

Recent developments in AI, such as chatGPT, make it important to underscore that the core principle of academic integrity is doing your own work. We can only learn by applying our own minds to a problem. Learning can be done individually or cooperatively with others, but we must be participants in the learning. Any other approach precludes us from learning. This is the fundamental reason that academic integrity policies prohibit practices such as cheating on exams, plagiarizing, or paying others to take tests or write papers. In all such cases, students are not doing their own work and cannot be learning or demonstrating their learning. Correspondingly, universities do not wish to give credit for students who submit others’ work as their own. The submissions lack integrity because the students did not do their own work.

Although AI is relatively new, its use for illicit purposes presents identical dangers to academic integrity. For instance, chatGPT offers students a new alternative to writing their own essay. However, the outcome is the same: any person who uses it for that purpose sacrifices the opportunity to learn how to write for themselves. It is morally wrong because it violates university policies designed to promote learning and measure it fairly, but it is also a self-defeating strategy of the highest magnitude. The best reason for all of us to do our own work is to give ourselves the chance to learn and to grow. That is true at the University, and it is true in life.

Academic Accommodations

If you are a student with a documented temporary or ongoing disability in need of academic accommodations, please contact the Office of Disability Services at 217-206-6666. Disabilities may include, but are not limited to: Psychological, Health, Learning, Sensory, Mobility, ADHD, TBI and Autism Spectrum Disorder. In some cases, accommodations are also available for shorter term disabling conditions such as severe medical situations. Accommodations are based upon underlying medical and cognitive conditions and may include but are not limited to: extended time for tests and quizzes, distraction free environment for tests and quizzes, a note taker, interpreter and FM devices. Students who have made a request for an academic accommodation that has been reviewed and approved by the ODS will receive an accommodation letter which should be provided by the student to the instructor as soon as possible, preferably in the first week of class.

Service Members and Veterans

We recognize the complexities of being a member of the military community and a student. If you are a member of the military or a military veteran or dependent, please inform us if you need special accommodations. Drill schedules, calls to active duty, mandatory training exercises, complications with military education benefits, and other unforeseen military and veteran related developments can complicate your academic life. If you are aware of a complication, we will work with you and put you in contact with university staff members who are trained to assist you. Please contact the office of Military and Veterans Student Services for additional assistance.

Mental Health Statement

From time to time, it is common for students to experience a range of issues that may have an impact on their academic performance, social development, and emotional wellbeing. These may include stress and time management, depression or mood changes, excessive worry, substance/alcohol misuse, interferences in eating or sleep, relationship issues, or other personal/emotional concerns. The UIS Counseling Center offers a variety of confidential services including individual (in person and remote) and group counseling, crisis intervention (including after hours), and specialized screenings. Students who have paid the Health and Counseling fee will receive services at no additional charge; exclusively online students have not paid the fee and should reach out to the counseling center for service options. If you or someone you know experiences any of the above mental health concerns, we strongly encourage you to contact the UIS Counseling Center or visit any of the resources provided below. Getting help is a smart and courageous thing to do for yourself and for those who care about you.

UIS Counseling Center: Call (217) 206-7122
Crisis Text Line: Text Home to 741741 to connect with a volunteer crisis counselor
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988 to talk to someone now

Prairie Flag Participation

This course participates in the Prairie Flag Alert System, an early intervention system designed to enable academic success, student persistence, and graduation. When an instructor observes student behaviors or concerns that may impede academic success, the instructor may raise an alert flag that 1) notifies the student of the concern, 2) requests an individual contact to discuss the issue, and 3) in most cases, also refers the student to the academic advisor. If you receive an email notification of a Prairie Flag alert, initiated through our Advise U platform, it is your responsibility to contact the instructor as soon as possible to discuss the issue. The purpose of the contact is to determine how best to address the issue, accurately assess its potential impact on your academic success, and to plan actions to prevent negative consequences and enable academic success. For more information about the Prairie Flag system, contact your academic advisor.

Section Specific Policies

Instructors may set additional policies that apply only to their section(s) of the course. These policies should not contradict what is present in this common course syllabus and should be outlined in a section specific syllabus or policy document shared at the beginning of the semester. Section specific policies may include late work policies, extra credit opportunities, policies governing the use of technology in class, dress codes or other speaker expectations, audience expectations on speech days, participation expectations, etc.

Additional Campus Resources

The following resources may be of help to you in this course.

Brookens Library

Get help at your library! You can access library resources, databases, and helpful research guides from Brookens Library. For in-depth help, please contact one of our librarians directly via email or schedule a one-on-one research consultation conducted in-person, over the phone, or online. View full list of librarians by subject.

Additionally, the UIS Library has developed a research guide specifically for creating speeches. This research guide includes instructions for developing a topic and finding sources for your presentations.

The Learning Hub

The Learning Hub provides students on campus with many services including online and face-to-face tutoring for writing, science, exercise science, academic skills, business, computer science, and math; supplemental instruction; workshops; and online resources. Any student who is enrolled at UIS is eligible for the free services. If you feel like you need extra help in the class, please use this service along with instructor help. When making an appointment, please have the following information ready: course number, instructor, assignment/paper length, and your available days and times.

Center for Academic Success and Advising

The Center for Academic Success and Advising (CASA) offers additional services to students including a textbook library. If you are waiting for your textbook to arrive, lose your textbook, or otherwise need assistance accessing the text, you can find copies of our course textbook in their office. You cannot check out these texts, but you can read them while in their space. CASA is located in suite 460 on the 4^th floor of Brookens Library.

Information Technology Services

ITS Tech Support is the primary point of contact for technology questions, problems, and issues. This service is available to all UIS faculty, staff, and enrolled students. You can contact them with any technology related questions by calling 217.206.6000 or 877.847.0443, by emailing techsupport@uis.edu, visiting their physical location in Brookens Library, or through the Live Chat feature on their website. These services are available during the hours posted on their website.