User Name and Password

You must use a user name and password after the first week of class. Without these words you will not be able to access the course materials. The format of your username and password are clearly posted on the main page of your course. If you still need assistance with your username and password please go to this page and read the instructions: http://www.bcconline.com/orient/password.htm, to receive further assistance.

In the box below please explain your understanding of user names and passwords, including how you expect to receive your user name and password for this class:

Instructor’s Information

Catalog Description: Designed for students who are considering teaching as a career and for those wishing to prepare to be teacher aides. Includes a self-appraisal of the student's potential as a teacher. Encompasses the background, problems and issues of education in a democratic society with special emphasis on ECE programs.

At the completion of this class, the student will have a better working knowledge of:

• The history and types of programs in early childhood education.
• How young children develop and how culture, race and ethnicity affect the development of the child.
• What it takes to create a safe, healthy learning environment for children.
• Factors that affect behavior and techniques used to guide behavior.
• What is curriculum and the importance of play.
• The teachers’ role in early childhood programs.
• The use of observations and assessments in early childhood programs.

• Read assigned material, analyze the subject matter, and formulate personal philosophies of education.
• Indentify and analyze the historical basis for today’s early childhood programs.
• Distinguish between generalization, facts, and conclusions through online group discussion, required readings, writing assignments (discussion questions and chapter activities) quizzes and examinations.

• Demonstrate familiarity with the history of the education of young children in Europe and America.
• Identify in writing the major philosophies of education and their inherent process and theories of learning.
• Understand child growth and development and be able to analyze the intellectual, physical and emotional periods making a child’s life.
• Identify and evaluate selected strategies designed to involve parents in a program to teach very young children.
• Observe and evaluate environments based on best practices and make recommendations for improvements.
• Identify and name a variety of programs and curricula, pointing out similarities and differences.
• Identify the personal and professional requirements for teaching.

Projects (Complete Two projects)

Project A: 35 pts

Project B: 20 pts

Week 1: History of Early Childhood

Read: Chapter 1 and Lecture 1

• Chapter 1 Assignment - Re-read "Insights from the field" (pg. 35). Answer question 5. Your response should be double spaced, 12 pt, and at least 100 words. Send the response as an attachment.
   
• Discussion Question 1 - Why is it important to know the history of early childhood education?
   
• Quiz - 1 Syllabus

Week 2: Types of Programs

Read: Chapter 2 and Lecture 2

• Chapter 2 - Review Questions #6 (located at top of page 72)
   
• Discussion Question 2 - How can evaluating programs help children and teachers? What evaluation instrument have you used or has been used to evaluate the program you work in?
   
• Quiz 2 - Chapters 1 and 2

Week 3: Who Is the Young Child?

Read: Chapters 3 & 4 and Lectures 3 & 4

• Chapter 3 - Learning Activities #2 (located on page 101)
   
• Chapter 4 - Review Questions #1 (this a matching exercise located on page 151)
   
• Discussion Question 3 - How important is it to know and understand the cultures and heritage of children we teach?
   
• Quiz 3 - Chapters 3 and 4

Week 4: Who Are the Teachers?

Read: Chapters 5 & 6 and Lectures 5 & 6

• Chapter 5 - Review Questions #5 (Located on page 188)
   
• Chapter 6 - Review Questions #6 (Located on page 231)
   
• Discussion Question 4 - How might a working portfolio help us understand a child?
   
• Quiz 4 - Chapters 5 and 6

Week 5: Who Are the Teachers?

Read Chapters 7, 8 & 9 and Lectures 7, 8 & 9

• Chapter 7 - Learning Activities #6 (Located on page 260 of your text)
   
• Chapter 8 - Review Questions #5 (Located on page 278 of your text)
   
• Chapter 9 - Learning Activities #3 (Located on page 325 of your text)
   
• Discussion Question 5 - Do you think it is important for parents to be involved in their children's education? Why? What do you think are some of the reasons parents do not get involved in their children's education?
   
• Quiz 5 - Chapters 7, 8 and 9

Week 6: Curriculum and Physical/Motor Development

Read Chapter 10 and 11; and Lecture 10 and 11

• Chapter 10 - Review Questions #2 (Located on page 369)
   
• Chapter 11 - Review Questions # 1 (Located on page 391)
   
• Discussion Question 6 - What do you think of the concept of multiple intelligences? Does it make sense to you?
   
• Project A - Conduct a one hour observation. See syllabus for details.
   
• Quiz 6 - Chapters 10 and 11

Week 7:  Cognitive and Language Development

Read Chapter 12 and 13; and Lecture 12 and 13

• Chapter 12 - Review Questions # 2 (Located on page 417. This is a matching exercise)
   
• Chapter 13 - Review Questions # 7 (Located on page 454)
   
• Discussion Question 7 - Do you believe that children should keep their home language or acquire English as quickly as possible? What might be the problems if children discard their home language at school?
   
• Quiz 7 - Chapters 12 and 13

Read Chapter 14 and Lecture 14

• Chapter 14 - Review Questions # 2 (Located on page 509)
• Discussion Question 8 - How are emotional, social, creative and spiritual growth related to each other? What is the role of the teacher in each of these areas?
• Project B - See Syllabus for more details.
• Quiz 8 - Chapter 14

Week 9: How Do We Teach for Tomorrow?

Read Chapter 15 and Lecture 15

• Discussion Question 9 - What are the most pressing issues facing early childhood educator today?
   
• Discussion Question 10 - If American children of the future will be more diverse, possibly with a home language that is not English, with working mothers and families under stress and duress, how do we begin to respond? Do any of these circumstances change the general principles about how children learn? If so, how? And if not, what changes should we make to respond to their needs?
   
• Final - Chapters 1 - 15

• Students are expected to have read all material prior to the due date.
   
• Students are expected to complete all class work. In addition to completing the assignments, you should read, analyze, and respond to the questions and comments from the other members of the class.
   
• You will be expected to contribute to the class discussion in a substantive way two out of seven days of the week. Your responses to your classmates’ questions and comments should be 25 or more words in length.
   
• Students are expected to attend class on a regular basis. Attendance through the online course is noted as assignments, quizzes and discussion questions are turned in by the due dates. Any student who fails to complete the first week's work will be considered a "no show" and dropped from the course.
   
• If the student misses the assignments for two weeks in a row, or misses three assignments, he or she may be dropped by the instructor.
   
• It is the student’s responsibility to drop the course. If the student does not drop, but remains on the class roll, a grade of F will result (if you need to drop - please check at the Barstow College office for the drop deadline).
   
• A posting place at the top of the discussion page indicates the instructor's message board to you. Be sure to check this each week so that you do not miss messages and clarifications; remember that sometimes no instructor posting will have been made. Students are not to post in the instructor's posting area. Should you have a concern with your class please email me your question. It is not appropriate for students to post their concerns in the instructor's posting area. Students who post in the instructor's posting area will receive a warning and their posting will be deleted unanswered. Students who ignore the warning and post again to the instructor's posting area will be dropped from the class.

• Assignments are due by 11:59pm (your time zone) on the days listed in the course schedule.
   
• Late assignments will be penalized with a 10% grade deduction for each day late, up to two days. If an assignment is more than two days late it will be penalized with a 50% grade reduction unless you have made prior arrangements with me.
   
• In case of an emergency, please contact me to make special arrangements to turn your assignment in. Please note that an explanation and documentation or verification of the emergency may be required. Contacting the instructor does not guarantee that your late work will be accepted or that you will avoid any grade deduction.

You must inform the instructor at least two weeks prior to the finals date that you intend to take the exam at another location so that your instructor has time to approve a suitable proctor and location. Friends, family members and neighbors are not suitable proctors. FILL OUT THE PROCTOR FORM to request a proctor.

All proctors must be librarians, military educational officers, college professors, professional proctors (such as our lab aides), teachers or clergy. The proctor must have a professional email address and phone. (GMail, Hotmail, Yahoo, Excite, AOL, Netscape, Earthlink, Verizon, Netzero, MSN, etc email accounts are unacceptable). The email address must correspond to a school or business.

In the box below type: I understand and agree to abide by the course policies listed above.

Online Instructions

YOU MUST FILL OUT THIS SYLLABUS IF YOU INTEND TO TAKE THE COURSE!

It is your responsibility to make sure the instructor has the all the contact information stated at the top of this syllabus by the start of classes!! It is your responsibility to email the instructor if you have any problems or do not understand this syllabus.

It is your responsibility to confirm your enrollment either via the Internet at http://bcregweb.barstow.edu/ or by calling (760)252-2411 x7236 if you are having problems accessing the course material. After you have confirmed your enrollment go to http://www.bcconline.com/orient /and read the password link. Following this procedure will ensure you are helped in the fastest manner possible.

By enrolling for this class, the assumption is that you possess the necessary skills to read at the college level, to enter and perform research on the internet, to email using proper email etiquette and to post to the discussions.

When emailing your instructor: dharris@bcconline.com include your full name. Send all email with the name of the course in the subject line and Lesson No. or the words: problem, question or comment. Many times I receive email with no name in the body of the email. Sign all email with your name as registered at school, or else you will not receive a reply and your assignment will not be graded.

You must explain the problem in the subject line, i.e., CHLD 10, Research 1 -- no research available. Email without an appropriate subject line will be deleted and will not be read. With the current high incidence of viruses and unsolicited email I automatically delete all email without appropriate subject lines.

Remember I do not answer email on the weekends, so 48 hours response time do not include Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. If an email stating problem, help, or question in the subject line is sent on Monday through Thursday you can expect a response within 24-48 hours. If an email stating problem, help, or question in the subject line is sent on the weekends there will be a longer turn around time, but the email will be answered by Tuesday of the following week.

Email assignments will have a one week turnaround time, and you should not expect an answer to a successfully submitted and completed assignment before the end of the one week turnaround time period. Receiving graded assignments or an answer to your questions before the above stated timelines have passed does not guarantee that you will receive replies that quickly in the future.

Online classes are NOT conducted via instantaneous transmission. Just as I am giving you a SEVEN day period to complete your work, I am to be given SEVEN days to reply to your assignments. In addition, the above stated timelines apply to ALL students and ALL responses to your questions and concerns.

I appreciate your understanding of the above stated timelines and will respond to ALL questions and concerns about this class within the timeframes stated above.

At the conclusion of the class students may find out their grades by going on the Internet at http://bcregweb.barstow.edu/. I do not email or post student grades and will not respond to inquiries about grades at the conclusion of the course.

In the box below type: I understand and agree to abide by the online instructions written above.

IMPORTANT

You will not officially start this course until after you have completed the orientation sessions at http://www.bcconline.com/orient/. No work should be completed until AFTER you have reviewed the orientation area. The orientation area will answer many frequently asked questions about online instruction and also provides tutorials on common problems students encounter while doing online courses. If you are experiencing technical difficulties and/or need to learn how to use our courseware you should first check the orientation area to see if it answers your technical question. If your technical question is not answered on the website you may then email the webmaster@bcconline.com with your question.

If your question pertains to class materials you should email dharris@bcconline.com. The webmaster cannot answer course related questions, and DeBorah Harris does not answer technical questions. Remember that you must state your full name, problem, question or concern and your class name in the subject line when asking a question.

In the box below type:

• I understand there is one meeting for this course (the final). If I am unable to take the final on the main campus, or at Barstow College's Ft. Irwin or Miramar sites, I understand it is my responsibility to find a proctor and completely fill out the proctor from.
• I understand I must fill out the syllabus in order to complete this course and that completing the online orientation before beginning my course work is mandatory.
• I realize that I should email the instructor with any class related questions. I also understand that I should first check the orientation area for answers to my technical questions and can email the webmaster@bcconline.com my technical questions ONLY after checking the orientation area for the answer to my question first.

Standards for written work and behavior

Written reports, college adult-level behavior, quizzes, and class exercises will be executed and/or performed in accordance with standards expected at Barstow College. In addition to the requirements of the assignment, points will be deducted for incorrect spelling and improper grammar, and for inappropriate, rude, or derogatory comments. The assignments you submit MUST be in APA format unless otherwise indicated. The student is strongly encouraged to store and save ALL submitted work.

Academic Honesty

Plagiarism is presenting the work of another as your own. Plagiarism can be either intentional or unintentional. It is the student's responsibility to give proper credit for the materials taken from other sources (i.e. words of another person, published writing, or of any other information taken from the internet, book, magazine). It is important that you do your own work. Plagiarism can result in a failing grade on the assignment. For more information concerning plagiarism you can go to: Purdue Online Writing Lab: Avoiding Plagiarism

In the box below type: I understand the policy on plagiarism and agree to abide by it.

Syllabus Disclaimer

A syllabus is not a contract between instructor and student but rather a guide to course procedures on attendance, requirements, grading, and objectives. The instructor reserves the right to amend the syllabus when emergencycircumstances dictate. Students will be duly notified.

Please retype the following in the box below:

I understand that the syllabus is not a contract between instructor and student but rather a guide to course procedures on attendance, requirements, grading, and objectives. The instructor reserves the right to amend the syllabus when emergency circumstances dictate. Students will be duly notified.

If you have a disability which may impact your success in this course, you may contact the Office of Student Support (OSS) to arrange any reasonable accommodations and supports to which you are entitled. It is the responsibility of the student to initiate these procedures. The OSS department can be contacted by calling 760-252-2411 x7225 or 760-252-6759 TTY/TDD or emailing oss@bcconline.com.

After filling out this form, copy the confirmation page and send it via email to dharris@barstow.edu and dharris@bcconline.com.