I will start with the following marking scheme, which is based on the University of Western's Faculty of Ed. with some personal tweaking. If you feel that certain elements are needed or not needed, then this weekend is your chance to voice your opinions in the comments section below my post here. Although I mentioned I would only mark one of your posts, and it will remain that way, I am including as a requirement that you respond to others in order to achieve level 4. Think of it as a part of your post. If you've done all that work to make your post great, then wouldn't you like to hear some feedback from other students? Bien sur.
General Suggestions:
-Participate actively. To get the most, it is important for you to actively participate in discussions throughout the course
-Post on a regular basis - a minimum of every three days. That means twice a week, but don't heap them up on the same day. Basically, if you follow the above suggestion it means you make one post to be evaluated and a second post which is a discussion with one of your classmates.
-Make substantive postings. Please avoid making postings that simply agree or disagree or repeat ideas already posted. Rather, add substantively to the discussion by extending the ideas of others, relating personal or other experiences that illustrate ideas being discussed, proposing alternate ideas, raising new questions for discussion and asking for clarification.
-Express ideas concisely. Please avoid lengthy postings. One way to do this is by keeping each posting focused on a single idea or theme. Make separate postings for different ideas and themes.
-Make a variety of postings. Keep in mind the various regions of the world and also the various themes of study (i.e. Population, Environment, Economy, Sustainability, Geopolitics).
-Spell check work before posting. There's no excuse in 2012 when you are using a computer.
Level 4 - (80-100%)
1. Contributes to discussions with high degree of regularity
2. Responses indicate a high degree of knowledge of events and how they relate to world issues
3. Interacts with other members on the discussion board with a high degree of effectiveness
4. Demonstrates a high degree of self-motivation
5. Accepts criticism postively
6. Illustrates ideas with references to classroom (and other) experiences with a high degree of effectiveness
7. expresses ideas clearly and concisely with a high degree of effectiveness
8. Includes references to two external sources to support posting.
Level 3 - (70-79%)
1. Contributes to discussions with considerable regularity
2. Responses indicate a considerable knowledge of events and how they relate to world issues
3. Interacts with other members on the discussion board with considerable effectiveness
4. Demonstrates considerable self-motivation
5. Usually accepts criticism postively
6. Illustrates ideas with references to classroom (and other) experiences with considerable effectiveness
7. expresses ideas clearly and concisely with considerable effectiveness
8. Includes references to one external sources to support posting.
Level 2 - (60 - 69%)
1. Contributes to discussions with some regularity
2. Responses indicate a some knowledge of events and how they relate to world issues
3. Interacts with other members on the discussion board with some effectiveness
4. Demonstrates some self-motivation
5. Sometimes accepts criticism postively
6. Illustrates ideas with references to classroom (and other) experiences with some effectiveness
7. expresses ideas clearly and concisely with some effectiveness
8. Does not reference to external sources to support posting.
Level 1 - (50 - 59%)
1. Contributes to discussions with limited regularity
2. Includes a response to another classmate, but lacks a formal post
3. Responses indicate limited knowledge of events and how they relate to world issues
4. Interacts with other members on the discussion board with limited effectiveness
5. Demonstrates limite self-motivation
6. Does not accept criticism postively
7. Expresses ideas with limited effectiveness
8. No references to external sources to support posting.
<50%
1. Does not include a post
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
G8 Summits (and other summits of the global power structure)
This is a requested topic. Take it away...
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Week 1 - Current Events-(b)
This is related to the shooting in Quebec the other night during the PQ victory party. It looks like another English/French divide could build up over the next few months/years. New bills are being proposed that will dig up controversies of the past. What are they?
What do you think about her victory?
When 52% of 50% of the population votes you in, does democracy really exist anymore ?
http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/premier-marois-to-roll-back-tuition-hikes-create-new-bill-101-1.943614
What do you think about her victory?
When 52% of 50% of the population votes you in, does democracy really exist anymore ?
http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/premier-marois-to-roll-back-tuition-hikes-create-new-bill-101-1.943614
Habitat Destruction
This is an area to discuss habitat destruction as it relates to forests and oceans as the homes of our legged and non-legged cousins.
Take it away T.S.
Take it away T.S.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Week 1 - Current Events
I will get the comment chain started for this week here. I will also ask questions. You may post your response below. Remember that this is like a conversation so check to see that another student hasn't already written the same thing as you earlier in the day.
I see here that there are protests taking place in Egypt that are directed towards the Syrian President Bashar Assad. These Egyptian protestors are asking Assad to step down from power. Why would they protest a against a leader who isn't even in charge of their own country? Would you be willing to visit another country's embassy in Ottawa and protest against that other country? This isn't something that happens often in Canada so there must be some real serious reasons for sympathy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/police-protesters-against-syrias-assad-regime-clash-in-egypt/2012/09/04/51ab0182-f6d7-11e1-a93b-7185e3f88849_story.html
I see here that there are protests taking place in Egypt that are directed towards the Syrian President Bashar Assad. These Egyptian protestors are asking Assad to step down from power. Why would they protest a against a leader who isn't even in charge of their own country? Would you be willing to visit another country's embassy in Ottawa and protest against that other country? This isn't something that happens often in Canada so there must be some real serious reasons for sympathy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/police-protesters-against-syrias-assad-regime-clash-in-egypt/2012/09/04/51ab0182-f6d7-11e1-a93b-7185e3f88849_story.html
Monday, September 3, 2012
Bottled Water
The most obvious issue with bottled water is the fact that it creates rubbish. This can either be burned (end up in atmosphere) or buried in a landfill (pollutes soil), or can even be discarded in our lakes, rivers and ultimately our mother, the ocean. This photo was taken on a Caribbean beach in the Dominican Republic - not so pristine as you would have thought eh?
The plastic bottle itself is made using oil. In fact, fill a bottle to 1/3 of its volume and that is the approximate amount of oil it takes. Then it needs to be transported from the water source (usually an UNtested well), to the distributor, then again to the grocery store and then the consumer typically drives a vehicle to the store in order to purchase it. That's a lot of oil.
Bottled water is not tested nearly as often as tap water.
TAP WATER - it's healthier for you and our planet!
Blog Overview
This is an overview.
In general you can post to the news events of the day by selecting from the tabs on the right of the screen. They are organized by the week.
You will be responsible for posting one news events from a world region per week.
You can post as many as you like. One, Twenty, but I will only select one for evaluation.
That post should contain a MINIMUM of two sources (not including your newslink itself), and one of those two sources should be from a reliable (i.e. academic/government) source. Please try to abstain from using wikipedia, random websites, etc.
You will begin that post with the statement "This is my weekly post ..." or "Mark this one"
Please change it up on a weekly basis so that you have covered each region by the end of the course. I won't be a stickler here, so you can overlap a tad, but if I notice that you are constantly posting on the same issue on the same part of the world then I will make you aware of the need to vary your posts.
Try to comment on another student's post so that it feels like a conversation/debate/or learning table. You may even include a response as one of your selected posts to be evaluated. In fact, I encourage it.
As the course develops and we begin to understand the major global issues, you may wish to explore a particular topic more in-depth. A particular issue may strike a chord with you. You may also take part in a long-term ongoing conversation on that topic that lasts the duration of the school semester. (i.e. my bottled water post isn't really a day to day issue as much as it is a decade old habit that we need to get out of).
If you want to add another sub-topic to each unit, make a request for me to add it by going to the tab on the right titled "Mr. Forsyth please add..." And I can create a new sub-heading where we can create a discussion board on that topic. I have added an example called "Bottled Water" where you can see how that may look.
There are roughly 17 weeks to the course and there are 17.5% marks allocated to the area of Thinking/Inquiry. Convenient. This means you will receive approximately 1% of that mark component based on your weekly participation. You will be expected to tie in course material that we cover on methods of critical thinking and analyzing World Issues.
This blog is live - this means it is a work in progress and can be modified to suit the needs of your learning. Feel free to post comments/suggestions under the tab titled "Forsyth please add"
Let's get this started then shall we? I've created a tab titled Week 1-News where you can feel free to add comments on this week's top current events.
Enjoy!
In general you can post to the news events of the day by selecting from the tabs on the right of the screen. They are organized by the week.
You will be responsible for posting one news events from a world region per week.
You can post as many as you like. One, Twenty, but I will only select one for evaluation.
That post should contain a MINIMUM of two sources (not including your newslink itself), and one of those two sources should be from a reliable (i.e. academic/government) source. Please try to abstain from using wikipedia, random websites, etc.
You will begin that post with the statement "This is my weekly post ..." or "Mark this one"
Please change it up on a weekly basis so that you have covered each region by the end of the course. I won't be a stickler here, so you can overlap a tad, but if I notice that you are constantly posting on the same issue on the same part of the world then I will make you aware of the need to vary your posts.
Try to comment on another student's post so that it feels like a conversation/debate/or learning table. You may even include a response as one of your selected posts to be evaluated. In fact, I encourage it.
As the course develops and we begin to understand the major global issues, you may wish to explore a particular topic more in-depth. A particular issue may strike a chord with you. You may also take part in a long-term ongoing conversation on that topic that lasts the duration of the school semester. (i.e. my bottled water post isn't really a day to day issue as much as it is a decade old habit that we need to get out of).
If you want to add another sub-topic to each unit, make a request for me to add it by going to the tab on the right titled "Mr. Forsyth please add..." And I can create a new sub-heading where we can create a discussion board on that topic. I have added an example called "Bottled Water" where you can see how that may look.
There are roughly 17 weeks to the course and there are 17.5% marks allocated to the area of Thinking/Inquiry. Convenient. This means you will receive approximately 1% of that mark component based on your weekly participation. You will be expected to tie in course material that we cover on methods of critical thinking and analyzing World Issues.
This blog is live - this means it is a work in progress and can be modified to suit the needs of your learning. Feel free to post comments/suggestions under the tab titled "Forsyth please add"
Let's get this started then shall we? I've created a tab titled Week 1-News where you can feel free to add comments on this week's top current events.
Enjoy!
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