The activities, questions, challenges, and assignments associated with WGS 102 and completed for credit are managed through the University of Alberta’s eClass online learning system. This page offers you some general guidelines for activities including discussion forums, assignments, and exams. Information about the optional Community Service Learning component is provided on eClass.
Much of the value you will receive from this course will come from your interactions with your classmates and your teaching team and so regular participation in forums is both expected and strongly urged.
DISCUSSION FORUMS: Discussion forums for WGS 102 live in the course eClass page. In your discussion groups, you will work together with the support of the teaching team to: understand key concepts, identify ideas that are unclear, practice effective and collegial online communication, and learn how to do close critical readings of required texts.
You should make a maximum of two posts in each discussion board, and your post should be between 150-200 words. Unless you are the first person to post, your post should engage directly with something one of your colleagues has said. You should use examples from assigned resources in to write succinct responses to the discussion questions. Here are some examples of ways to engage effectively with your peers:
- Re-state what your colleague has said in your own words. For example, “You make the point that oppression takes different forms.”
- Advance the discussion by adding a new point. For example, “I think this is a really good point, and I want to build on your point by thinking about how this applies to the Black Lives Matter movement.”
- Raise a new question that arises for you based on the discussion. For example, “A question that arises for me is how are people resisting these forms of oppression?”
Other effective ways to engage in discussion are:
- Asking for clarification
- Including quotations and examples from readings
- Relating the discussion to current events
- Respectfully disagreeing with your colleague
- Summarizing what people have said so far
BIG IDEA CHALLENGE
All students are required to complete two “Big Idea Challenges” this semester. The purpose of these challenges is to encourage you to apply the big ideas and theories you are learning in this course to the world outside of our virtual classroom. You will find a list of challenges and assignment requirements here. You will share your responses to these challenges in the appropriate forum on eClass.
FINAL EXAM
The final exam for our course will assess your comprehension of the learning objectives from each module. The exam will be open-book, consisting of short answer and essay questions.