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SW 3200 Syllabus

Course Syllabus

SW 3200 - Cultural Diversity

3 Credit Hours

Course Information

Course Description:

This course will include an examination of culturally appropriate practice issues that are essential considerations for effective service delivery, including African American families and ethnic subcultures predominant in the U.S. 

Course Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will demonstrate an ability to:

  1. Understand one's own culture as it relates to one's abilities and personal style;
  2. Critically examine the dynamics of oppression and discrimination, especially for populations at risk, and how to appropriately intervene in an advocacy role geared toward social change;
  3. Apply knowledge of cultural diversity to individual development and behavior;
  4. Expand understanding of the interactions among and between oppressed individuals and social systems;
  5. Understand cultural components that impact engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation.
Prerequisites & Co-requisites:

None

Course Topics:
  • Cultural Competence Basics
  • Introduction of Social Context: Human Rights and Social and Economic Justice
  •  A Framework for Cultural Competence
  • Cultural Awareness
  • Cultural Knowledge
  • Cultural Skill Development
  • Education Realities for Major Cultural Groups in America
  • Economic Realities for Major Cultural Groups in America
  • Present and Future Directions: Developing a Personal Strategy for Cultural
  • Competence Growth and Practice
  • The Journal Experience
  • The Celebration
  • Closing Week
Specific Course Requirements:

Students will be required to have access to videos or DVD's for a Cultural Experience (CE1) movie assignment. These movies may be checked out from the university library or local library, rented. Students will select one movie from a list of movies, located under Module 4-Additional Resources. Students will share their movie review via the Discussion Board.

Students will also be required to complete an Ethnic Dining Experience (CE2). Students will select a restaurant of an ethnic variety that they have never tried before. For example, if you often eat at Mexican and Chinese restaurants, try a Thai, Indian, or Greek for the dining experience. If you don't have access to ethnic restaurants, find a recipe and prepare it for a meal. Students will then share this culinary adventure with other classmates via the Discussion Board.

Students are required to use APA format for many of the assignments. If you are not familiar with the APA style of writing, go to a library and get an APA manual or research APA official guidelines at the sites listed below. When purchasing the textbook for this course, an added bonus is the APA manual.

As a final experience, students will be required to complete a Cultural Journal of videos. These videos can be found under various modules within the course. A Journal Template has been created for submission of the assignment and can be found under Module 13-Additional Resources.

Assignments are to be placed in the drop boxes using Microsoft word document only. Open Office is available and free and will save as a Word document OpenOffice here

Textbooks, Supplementary Materials, Hardware and Software Requirements

Required Textbooks:

Please visit the Virtual Bookstore to obtain textbook information for this course. Move your cursor over the "Books" link in the navigation bar and select "Textbooks & Course Materials." Select your Program, Term, Department, and Course; then select "Submit."

Supplementary Materials:

The APA style manual is included in the cost of the textbook for this course.

Detail any supplementary materials needed for the course. Approximate costs and how to locate these materials should be included.

Hardware and Software Requirements:

Minimum hardware requirements can be found here.

Minimum software requirements can be found here.

Common applications you might need:

Web Resources:

Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab (for APA, MLA, or Chicago style)

The Writing Center Online Writer's Handbook

Student Resources:
  • Technical support information can be found on the TN eCampus Help Desk page.
  • Smarthinking virtual tutoring is available FREE of charge. to access Smarthinking, visit the course homepage and select Smarthinking under Course Resources. You also view sample sessions to see what Smarthinking offers and how it works.
  • Information on other student issues or concerns can be located on the TN eCampus Student Resources page.

Instructor Information

Please see "Instructor Information" in the Getting Started Module for instructor contact information, virtual office hours, and other communication information. You can expect to receive a response from the instructor within 24-48 hours unless notified of extenuating circumstances.

Participation, Assessments, & Grading

Testing Procedures:

There are no tests for this course. 

Grading Procedures:

Students grade will be based on the total number of points received in the course (see below). All module and discussion assignments are of equal weight. 

Grading Scale:

The grading scale for this course is as follows:

 Grade:  Points:
   A  940 - 841
   B  840 - 741
   C  740 - 641
   D  640 - 541
   F  540 or below

 

Assignments and Projects:

When completing discussions, do not include attachments. Refer to the individual modules for instructions on completing the assignments.

For this course, there is a Coffee Shoppe chat room that students may utilize to communicate with each, such as sharing resources, events, etc. This is not a graded item.

Graded Items

 Description  Points
 4 Module Assignments @ 50 points each  200 points
 3 Module Assignments @ 100 points each  300 points
 1 Module Assignments @ 200 points   200 points
 4 Module Discussions @ 5 points each   20 points
 7 Module Discussions @ 10 points each   70 points
 3 Module Discussions @ 50 points each  150 points
 Total Points  940 Total Points

 

Refer to the modules for instructions for individual assignments.
There are four (4) extra credit opportunities in the course. Students may choose any or all of the options to complete for extra credit and they are as follows:

  1. Annotated Bibliographies or Movie Reviews worth up to 40 points. See Extra Credit Assignment.
  2. Complete a post on the Discussion Board related to the Dining Experience assignment in Module worth up to 10 points. See Extra Credit: Cultural Dining Post and Dining Experience.
  3. Complete a post for Discussion 9 worth up to 50 points. See Module 9: The Educational Realities of Major Cultural Groups in America
  4. Complete a post for Discussion 10 worth up to 50 points. See Module 10: Economic Realities for Major Cultural Groups in America
Class Participation:

Students are expected to participate in all interactive aspects of the course. For example, you must communicate with other students via email and discussion board exchanges. Students are expected to communicate with the instructor on a regular basis and check the course frequently (i.e. every 2 days) for announcements and updates, Students must actively participate in threaded discussion events. It is expected that students work at a pace conducive to collaborate learning - that is, don't work to far ahead or too far behind your classmates. The class is designed to support student interaction and it is the responsibility of each student for meeting assignment deadlines.

Late Policy:

Late work will be penalized by one letter grade and no “make-up” work is accepted after the closing date of the assignment/discussion.

Course Ground Rules

The following two statements (1., 2.) were derived from the TBR System-wide Student Rules document, released January 2012:

RULES OF THE TENNESSEE BOARD OF REGENTS STATE UNIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM OF TENNESSEE SYSTEMWIDE STUDENT RULES CHAPTER 0240-02-03 STUDENT CONDUCT AND DISCIPLINARY SANCTIONS

Read the document in its entirety here.

1. Standards of Conduct:

  • Students are required to adhere to the same professional, legal and ethical standards of conduct online as on campus. In addition, students should conform to generally accepted standards of "netiquette" while sending e-mail, posting comments to the discussion board, and while participating in other means of communicating online. Specifically, students should refrain from inappropriate and/or offensive language, comments and actions.

2. Review the TN eCampus Academic Integrity/Academic Honesty Policy:

  • In their academic activities, students are expected to maintain high standards of honesty and integrity. Academic dishonesty is prohibited.

Such conduct includes, but is not limited to:

  • an attempt by one or more students to use unauthorized information in the taking of an exam
  • to submit as one's own work, themes, reports, drawings, laboratory notes, computer programs, or other products prepared by another person,
  • or to knowingly assist another student in obtaining or using unauthorized materials.

Plagiarism, cheating, and other forms of academic dishonesty are prohibited.

Students guilty of academic misconduct, either directly or indirectly through participation or assistance, are subject to disciplinary action through the regular procedures of the student’s home institution.  Refer to the student handbook provided by your home institution to review the student conduct policy.

In addition to other possible disciplinary sanctions that may be imposed, the instructor has the authority to assign an "F" or zero for an activity or to assign an "F" for the course.

Other Course Rules:

Students are expected to:

  • Participate in all aspects of the course
  • Communicate with other students
  • Learn how to navigate in Brightspace
  • Keep abreast of course announcements
  • Use the assigned course management (Brightspace) email address rather than a personal email address
  • Address technical problems immediately:
  • Observe course netiquette at all times.

Guidelines for Communications

Email:

  • Always include a subject line.
  • Remember without facial expressions some comments may be taken the wrong way. Be careful in wording your emails. Use of emoticons might be helpful in some cases.
  • Use standard fonts.
  • Do not send large attachments without permission.
  • Special formatting such as centering, audio messages, tables, html, etc. should be avoided unless necessary to complete an assignment or other communication.
  • Respect the privacy of other class members

Discussions:

  • Review the discussion threads thoroughly before entering the discussion. Be a lurker then a discussant.
  • Try to maintain threads by using the "Reply" button rather starting a new topic.
  • Do not make insulting or inflammatory statements to other members of the discussion group. Be respectful of other’s ideas.
  • Be patient and read the comments of other group members thoroughly before entering your remarks.
  • Be cooperative with group leaders in completing assigned tasks.
  • Be positive and constructive in group discussions.
  • Respond in a thoughtful and timely manner.

Library

The Tennessee Virtual Library is available to all students enrolled in TN eCampus programs and courses. Links to library materials (such as electronic journals, databases, interlibrary loans, digital reserves, dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, and librarian support) and Internet resources needed by learners to complete online assignments and as background reading will be included within the course modules. To access the Virtual Library, go to the course homepage and select the Virtual Library link under Course Resources.

Students with Disabilities

Qualified students with disabilities will be provided reasonable and necessary academic accommodations if determined eligible by the appropriate disability services staff at their home institution. Prior to granting disability accommodations in this course, the instructor must receive written verification of a student's eligibility for specific accommodations from the disability services staff at the home institution. It is the student's responsibility to initiate contact with their home institution's disability services staff and to follow the established procedures for having the accommodation notice sent to the instructor.

Syllabus Changes

The instructor reserves the right to make changes as necessary to this syllabus. If changes are necessitated during the term of the course, the instructor will immediately notify students of such changes both by individual email communication and posting both notification and nature of change(s) on the course bulletin board.

Disclaimer

The information contained in this syllabus is for general information purposes only. While we endeavor to keep this information up-to-date and accurate, there may be some discrepancies between this syllabus and the one found in your online course. The syllabus of record is the one found in your online course. Please make sure you read the syllabus in your course at the beginning of the semester. Questions regarding course content should be directed to your instructor.


Last Revised on April 3, 2018