Hilary E. Davis

hdavis@yorku.ca

Virtual office hours:

Office hours will be offered by appointment on Mondays during the second half of our scheduled class time, between 4:00-5:30pm.  They can be scheduled for Google Hangouts (chat) or Zoom.

INTERNET COURSE
(100% online)
ACCELERATED COURSE
(24 Class Modules in 12 weeks)

This course combines both asynchronous and synchronous components:

ASYNCHRONOUS: pre-recorded lectures, practice exercises, weekly quizzes and forum activities, other written assignments
SYNCHRONOUS: weekly Zoom sessions held during the scheduled class time (Mondays, 2:30-4:00pm EST)

• The overall purpose of this and all Modes of Reasoning (MODR) courses is to teach students to reason correctly and to express themselves clearly and precisely in verbal and written form. These critical thinking skills will help students not only with the remainder of their academic studies, but also in their professional and personal lives in general.

• This course (MODR 1730) will introduce important critical thinking and analytical skills by focusing on arguments made about social issues found in the social science, science, ethics, and mass media. In the past these have included the refugee crisis, student debt, online dating, sexting, and Ebola screening at airports. You will learn how to distinguish between inductive and deductive reasoning and how to identify, evaluate, and construct arguments. In addition, MODR 1730 will include a brief introduction to evaluating statistical and scientific information. You will be asked to develop arguments that arise from your personal interests and opinions as well as critical arguments that assess the writing of others. Throughout the course our focus will include the analysis of various media such as the news and popular press, feature films, advertising and political rhetoric, blogs and websites, as well as academic writing and philosophical arguments in this field.

• This is an approved LAPS General Education course for Social Science.

• Course credit exclusions: AP/MODR 1770 6.00, AP/MODR 1760 6.00. This means you may not take this course for credit if you are currently enrolled in or have a credit in either MODR 1770 or MODR 1760.

Technical requirements for taking the course:

To participate in the required asynchronous portions of this course, students will require a computer and/or smart device an internet connection.  To participate in the synchronous Zoom sessions held weekly during our scheduled class time (Mondays between 2:30-4:00pm, EST), you will need a computer or smart device with webcam and microphone and a stable internet connection.  Zoom can be downloaded as an app on most smart phones.  It is strongly recommended that you turn on your camera to participate in the Zoom sessions.

Here are some useful links for student computing information, resources and help:

Student Guide to EClass

Zoom@YorkU Best Practices 

Zoom@YorkU User Reference Guide

Computing for Students Website

Student Guide to eLearning at York University

To determine Internet connection and speed, there are online tests, such as Speedtest, that can be run.

Lewis Vaughan.  Concise Guide to Critical Thinking, Second Edition.  (Oxford, 2020).

Mark Battersby.  Is That a Fact?  A Field Guide to Statistical and Scientific Information.  Second Edition.  (Broadview, 2016).

Additional topical articles may be posted on eClass

Times and locations:

Please note that this is a course that depends on remote teaching and learning. There will be no in-person interactions or activities on campus.

This course moves at an accelerated pace.  Two modules of material – lecture videos, forum activities, quizzes will be posted weekly on eClass.  24 modules will be covered in 12 weeks.

This course mixes asynchronous and synchronous elements.  All lectures will be pre-recorded and offered asynchronously on the course eClass.  Weekly quizzes and weekly forum activities will also be available asynchronously on eClass.  There will also be synchronous weekly class meetings on Zoom during the first half our scheduled class time – Mondays between 2:30-4:00pm, EST.  These weekly Zoom sessions will review and reinforce the weekly material using practice exercises and activities designed for Zoom.  They will also be an opportunity for students to ask questions and have live interaction with the instructor and their classmates.

Each week’s asynchronous materials and activities should be completed before Monday’s Zoom sessions.  Weekly quizzes and forum activities will be due on Mondays at 11:59pm EST.

Organization of the course

• This remote course combines synchronous and asynchronous
• Weekly lectures will be pre-recorded and students will view them asynchronously. The weekly quizzes and forum activities will also be engaged with asynchronously.
• All course materials are accessed through eClass.
• There are non-negotiable weekly deadlines for quizzes and forum activities. Assignment deadlines are also non-negotiable.
• Weekly course material (e.g. video lectures, handouts, web links, practice exercises, forum activities, etc.) will be posted on eClass by midnight each Monday.
• All modules, assignments, quizzes, forum activities are opened weekly. None will be opened in advance of their scheduled date.
• All deadlines and launch times are Eastern Standard Time.
• Synchronous weekly Zoom sessions will be held during our scheduled meeting time, Mondays between 2:30-4:00pm. These Zoom sessions will not be recorded.
• I will not formally lecture during the Monday Zoom sessions. I will answer questions and we will work through practice exercises, sometimes in breakout rooms, in order to review and reinforce the weekly material.
• You should view the video lectures and engage with the other course material prior to the Monday Zoom sessions.
• All quizzes and forum activities will be due at 11:59pm EST on Mondays after the weekly Zoom session.
• This is an accelerated course. Each week covers 2 modules, i.e. what would be 2 weeks worth of material for a regular in-class 6.0 credit course. If you took this course on campus, then you would be required to attend two 3-hour lectures weekly. The content displayed each week reflects this time commitment. While you don’t have to log in to eClass at a specific time each week, but you need to keep up.
• If you are planning a vacation, work full time, have a heavy course load, or will be engaged in any other events that prevent you from logging onto eClass 2 or 3 times per week, you are strongly urged to rethink whether you should enroll in an accelerated section of Modes. There are full year sections of Modes which spread out 24 week’s material over the Fall and Winter Terms. 

By the end of this course, if you apply yourself, do all the reading, watch all pre-recorded lectures, and complete all assignments, activities, and quizzes, you can expect to see improvement in the following areas:

• Reading Comprehension: You will become a more active reader which includes learning how to read between the lines and how to ask critical questions.
• Writing: You will learn how to write two different types of arguments – a definition essay and researched proposal essay.  Your essay planning, organization, and editing should also improve.
• Critical Reasoning Skills: You will learn to identify and evaluate arguments in order to distinguish strong from weak arguments.  This will include learning how to evaluate evidence and sources used in arguments and those you use in your own research.
• Critical Thinking Skills: Ideally, you will learn to become a 'reasonable skeptic' and become able to identify and discuss the weaknesses and strengths in claims and arguments you encounter in the media, academic texts, and everyday conversation.

Course policies

• The lecture slides, handouts, and all materials found on this site are for the personal use only of students who are registered in this course, MODR 1730A. They are for educational purposes only and intended only to enhance accessibility. The instructor of this course holds the copyright to this material and does not give permission for any course material to be to duplicated, copied, and/or distributed outside of the class.  Nor do students have permission to upload course materials to commercial websites, file sharing websites or apps, or social media.  Anytime you download material from this eClass site you agree to these terms. Any person who uploads or shares course material without the instructor's permission violates copyright regulations and also FIPPA  and will face serious consequences.
• Students do not have permission to record and capture images from Zoom sessions – either the weekly class sessions or office hours. The Monday Zoom sessions will not be recorded by the instructor.

• Successful academic performance includes students not only completing assignments, but completing them on time. Late penalties are applied to assignments submitted after the due date. Exceptions to the late penalty can be presented to the course director by email for consideration. All essays must be uploaded to Turnitin via eClass.

• An assignment will be considered late one minute past the Turnitin deadline.

• You are strongly encouraged to avoid uploading assignments within the last hour of a deadline. If, for whatever reason, your document does not upload, it will be considered late.
• There will be no opportunity to make-up missed weekly quizzes or weekly Forum Activities.  If you miss these weekly deadlines, you will receive a “0” for the assigned work. 

• The lowest 2 marks will be dropped for both the Quizzes and the Forum Activities. This is to say that of the 12 weekly quizzes only the highest 10 will count toward your final mark and of the 12 weekly forum activities only the highest 10 will count toward your final mark.
• No make-up work or outstanding assignments will be accepted after Monday, April 4^th