ADTED 507 Prospective Students

ADTED 507 Research and Evaluation in Adult Education (3): Guided discussion and reading in selected research and evaluation methods and trends as applied in adult education settings. Prerequisites: ADTED 460; introductory statistics course; introductory research design course. Please note: ADTED 460, an introductory statistics course, and an introductory research design course have been waived by the sponsoring academic department.

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Overview

This course is intended to provide a useful background for students pursuing the M.Ed. degree in Adult Education. While many of the examples will be from the field of adult education, the content is also applicable to other educational fields. (In other words, ADTED 507 is an introductory course in understanding research and evaluation that may be transferred into other programs.) We recommend that students take ADTED 507 early in their M.Ed. programs, but not as their first course. (Students are advised to take ADTED 460 before taking ADTED 507.) Feedback that we hear from students completing the program is that the statistics requirement should be scheduled as early in the program of study as possible, but it is not a prerequisite for ADTED 507.

The course has three goals. They are to enable you to:

• read the adult education research literature critically;
• understand the research process and different types of research;
• develop a foundation for your courses in Adult Education and for writing your master's paper in ADTED 588, which you will take toward the end of your degree program.

We are weaving the themes of international adult education and distance learning into all the courses in the Adult Education Program offered through the World Campus. Wherever you are located, you (and I) need to learn about adult education worldwide. We now live in a global society that we need to understand better. You are also embarking upon an adventure in distance learning. Through this course, and the Adult Education Program, we will all learn how to design and deliver distance education, and how to apply what we are learning to our own workplace.

Penn State's resident Adult Education Program typically encourages lots of collaboration among its students. ADTED 507 offered through the World Campus is no exception. You will learn much from your fellow classmates, and you will be expected to be an active participant in your group work. But it is like the rest of life--you get out what you put in! You will also be expected to post your ideas and assignments, react to others' ideas and assignments, and exchange thoughts with others. This is not the place to be a "lurker"!

Course Format

This course is paced, which means that there is an established start and end date, and that you will interact with other students throughout the course. The course consists of a textbook, articles, and a course Web site that contains the lessons and communications tools, such as a discussion forum and e-mail system. Some of the lessons incorporate links to articles necessary for you to complete assignments or to resource sites that provide more in-depth information on particular topics.

Our interactions with one another will be "asynchronous"--we'll use tools like e-mail and online discussion forums to exchange our thoughts. These tools will enable us all to participate at a time of day that is convenient to us. Since the discussions will be ongoing, however, you will be expected to log in to the course Web site at least five times per week (and not all in the same day!) so that you can keep up with the discussions and participate effectively.

The course is divided into 13 units of study. You will have one week to work through each unit. Within each unit you will find online "lecture" material, as well as reading assignments and both individual and group activities. The units of study are all located within our password-protected course Web site, under the "Lessons" tab.

As in an on-campus course, it will be important to keep up with the course work, as you will be required to participate in class discussions and activities that have specific time frames associated with them. For a more detailed look at what each unit will entail, as well as due dates for our assignments and activities, please refer to the "Course Schedule" section of this syllabus.

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Objectives

Through this course, you will:

• Learn to identify the characteristics of various research designs and methods scholars and practitioners use to answer research questions and address problems of educational practice.
• Critically analyze research studies provided in your textbook and available through the ERIC database for factors such as assumptions, biases, and contributions to the knowledge base and practice.
• Identify and begin to critically analyze a problem related to adult education at work, in the community, at home, etc.
• Facilitate the learning of fellow classmates by actively engaging in the class activities and discussion.
• Gain a foundation for your courses in Adult Education and for writing your master's paper in ADTED 588, which you will take toward the end of your degree program.

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Materials

The following are required materials you need to purchase:

• McMillian, James and Wergin, Jon F. (2005). Understanding and Evaluating Research, (3rd ed.). Prentice-Hall. ISBN # 0131721275.

You may purchase course materials from Barnes & Noble College (the bookstore used by Penn State's World Campus). For pricing and ordering information, please see the Barnes & Noble College website. Materials will be available at Barnes & Noble College approximately three weeks before the course begins. Alternatively, you may obtain these texts from other favorite bookstores. Be sure you purchase the edition/publication date listed.

Many of the University Libraries resources can be utilized from a distance. Through the Libraries website, you can

• access magazine, journal, and newspaper articles online using library databases;
• borrow materials and have them delivered to your doorstep—or even your desktop;
• get research help via email, chat, or phone using the Ask a Librarian service; and
• much more.

You can view the Online Students' Library Guide for more information.

You must have an active Penn State Access Account to take full advantage of the Libraries' resources and services. Once you have a Penn State account, you will automatically be registered with the library within 24–48 hours. If you would like to determine whether your registration has been completed, visit the Libraries home page and select  My Account.

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Technical Specifications

Technical Requirements

Operating System	Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8*; Mac OS X 10.5 or higher *Windows 8 support excludes the tablet only RT version
Processor	2 GHz or higher
Memory	1 GB of RAM
Hard Drive Space	20 GB free disk space
Browser	We recommend the latest ANGEL-supported version of Firefox or Internet Explorer. To determine if your browser fits this criterion, and for advice on downloading a supported version, please refer to the following ITS knowledge base article: Supported Browsers and Recommended Computers. Note: Cookies, Java, and JavaScript must be enabled. Pop-up blockers should be configured to permit new windows from Penn State websites. Due to nonstandard handling of CSS, JavaScript and caching, older versions of Internet Explorer (such as IE 6 or earlier) do not work with our courses.
Plug-ins	Adobe Reader [Download from Adobe] Flash Player (v7.0 or later) [Download from Adobe]
Additional Software	Microsoft Office (2007 or later)
Internet Connection	Broadband (cable or DSL) connection required
Printer	Access to graphics-capable printer
DVD-ROM	Required
Sound Card, Microphone, and Speakers	Required
Monitor	Capable of at least 1024 x 768 resolution

If you need technical assistance at any point during the course, please contact the Service Desk.

For registration, advising, disability services, help with materials, exams, general problem solving, visit World Campus Student Services!

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Course Requirements

Below you will find information about each of the following formal course requirements:

• Synthesis Questions (8 total - Units 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 12)
• Adult Education Research Critique Teams (Units 2 through 11)
• Annotated Bibliography (to be turned in as part of your Master's paper proposal)
• "Master's Paper Proposal" Activity (Unit 10)
• Group Evaluation Research Activity (Unit 11)
• Group Ethics Activity (Unit 12)
• Class Participation

 

Synthesis Questions (8 total - Units 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 12)

For eight of the core lessons in the course, you will be asked to answer questions about the materials you have read for that unit. This exercise is designed to help you refine your ability to understand and critique education research studies. Be succinct in your reflections, but make sure to answer each question completely. For the synthesis questions related to the research articles in your text (4, 5, 7, 8, and 9), please include the discussion questions, as well as the answers, and make sure your answers are in complete sentences and paragraphs, rather than outline form. Post your answer to the appropriate drop box for a given lesson by the end of the following lesson. (In other words, you have one week after the end of the particular unit to turn in the synthesis question for that unit.

See the Rubric for Individual Assignments for a complete explanation of how these assignments will be graded.

 

Adult Education Research Critique Teams (Units 2 through 11)

You will first read and then work in small teams to critique selected adult education research articles available from the University Libraries through the ERIC database. The titles and retrieval information for these articles are provided below.

For this assignment, the class will be divided into small teams at the beginning of Unit 2. Each team will carry out an asynchronous class discussion on the assigned papers. A private discussion area ("discussion forum") in the course management system will be created for each team to facilitate their discussion (the instructor will also have access to the discussion forum). Team members' grades for this assignment will be based on both individual contributions (part of your participation grade), evidence of meaningful team collaboration, and the quality of the final written papers.

All team members will receive the same grade for the overall assignment. See the Team Assignment Rubric for a complete explanation of how these assignments will be graded.

The teams will be responsible for accomplishing three core things:

1. Each team will identify five articles from the 10 listed below.
   
   
2. Each individual team member will read each of the five papers selected by your team (to be completed during Units 2-5). The purpose of reading the articles initially is to identify the research questions that are posed and how the investigator went about answering them. Also think about the two articles that interest you the most for the article critique assignment.



3. As a team, categorize the five selected papers in terms of the research design, based upon designs identified in the course content and assigned readings (to be completed during Units 6-9). For each article state
   • the research paradigm (positivist/conventional or constructivist),
   • the theoretical framework (this is not always explicitly stated; just do your best to identify it from any clues provided in the study report);
   • the research design (experimental quantitative, non-experimental quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, or action/practitioner), and
   • the methods used in data collection (experimental observation, survey, interview, document review, etc.).

   Additionally, for each article you need to briefly explain what information in the studies led you to make the decisions you did for the above categorizations. To accomplish this part of the assignment you should select someone from the group to act as the group facilitator to summarize the discussion of the four points above and e-mail the final result to me (due at the end of Unit 9). Your group submission should include the titles of the articles your team read, the categorization of each article based on the four points above, and an explanation of your reasons for categorizing the articles as you did.

   You may want to delay the categorization exercise until you have studied the different types of designs. Alternatively, you may also want to skim the introductory pages of each of the chapters in your textbook that introduce the different research approaches to see the main features of the research designs that we will be studying: quantitative non-experimental, experimental, qualitative, mixed methods, and action/practitioner. It sometimes becomes a bit confusing due to different terminology used in the textbook, Web sites, and articles. If at any time during your discussion you have questions about particular articles, be sure to send me an e-mail and I'll join in the discussion to assist in your deliberations. You may also schedule a "chat session" with me so your team and I can discuss particular elements of the assignment in real time.

   
   
4. As a team, choose two of the five selected research studies to critique. One should reflect a quantitative approach, and one should reflect a qualitative approach. Your team must select a different leader for each of the two chosen critiques. Since there are likely to be more than two individuals on each team, not everyone can serve as team leader.

   Pages 7-12 in your textbook provide criteria to consider in evaluating the introduction, literature review, research questions, methodology, results, and discussion/conclusion sections of the articles you choose for your critiques. You should use the "Questions to ask" provided on pages 7-12 as guidelines for writing your critiques. You may choose to set up your critique with those sections as subheadings with the answer to each within each sections, or you may want to take a more narrative approach. In any case, please use complete sentences and paragraphs rather than an outline format.

   The emphasis of this assignment should be on writing a critique, NOT a summary of the article! ("Critique" doesn't mean you have to be critical, but you do have to justify your comments. Simply summarizing what the author did in answer to the above questions is NOT a critique.) After discussion of all these issues, the leader is to draft an initial critique of each study from the discussions of the group. After posting the initial critiques and soliciting feedback from the other team members, a revised critique for each research study, based on team feedback, is then developed (750-1000 words for each critique) and e-mailed to the instructor. These will be due no later than the end of Unit 11.

This assignment will focus upon five of the following selected research papers, which are available in full-text form from the ERIC database through the University Libraries. Please make sure that you have at least one article that uses a quantitative design and one article that uses a qualitative design for your two team critiques.

1. Ellis, T. J. (2001). Multimedia enhanced educational products as a tool to promote critical thinking in adult students. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 10(2): 107-123.
2. Belzer, A. (2002). “I don’t crave to read”: School reading and adulthood. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 46(2): 104-113.
3. Torres, V. (2006). A mixed method study testing data-model fit of a retention model for Latino/a students at urban universities. Journal of College Student Development, 47(3): 299-318.
4. Batchelder, J. S. and Rachal, J. R. (2000). Efficacy of a computer-assisted program in a prison setting: An experimental study. Adult Education Quarterly, 50(2): 120-33. (Note: This article is available at: http://aeq.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/50/2/120)
5. Tomlin, A. (2002). Real life in everyday and academic maths. Paper presented at the Mathematics, Education, and Society Conference (MES3) (3rd, Helsingor, Denmark, April 2-7, 2002).
6. Narushima, M. (2004). A gaggle of raging grannies: The empowerment of older Canadian women through social activism. International Journal of Lifelong Learning, 23(1): 23-42).
7. Goff, K. (1992). Enhancing creativity in older adults. Journal of Creative Behavior, 26(1): 40-49.
8. Coccia, E. A. (1997). Becoming an expert: The college to work experiences of welfare-to-work participants. Community College Review, 25(3).
9. Quigley, B. A. and Uhland, Roberta L. (2000). Retaining adult learners in the first three critical weeks. A quasi-experimental model for use in ABE programs. Adult Basic Education, 10(2): 55-68.
10. Yorks, L. (2005). Adult learning and the generation of new knowledge and meaning: Creating liberating spaces for fostering adult learning through practitioner-based collaborative action inquiry. Teachers College Record, 107(6): 1217-1244.

Annotated Bibliography

Each student will be required to submit an annotated bibliography as part of the master’s paper proposal assignment, described in Unit 10. An annotated bibliography includes complete bibliographic information (APA style) and a paragraph annotation providing a 2–3 sentence summary of the article and a 2–3 sentence evaluation of the article (e.g., Is the article a useful addition to the literature on the topic? Who would benefit from reading the article? Are there any important gaps in information or perspective?). Please note that it is very important to include this latter evaluative piece, rather than just stating what information the article provides.

For this assignment you will be expected to search (from a distance) the main databases available through the Penn State's University Libraries. (Note: You will register with the Libraries and use some of their online databases, particularly ERIC, in Unit 1). In order to get in-depth understanding of the topic you are proposing to address for your proposal, you will locate relevant articles on the topic for your bibliography.

The annotated bibliography should contain a minimum of five sources and follow APA style. These references are to concentrate on books, peer-reviewed journal articles, and/or papers presented at research or professional conferences, not popular literature resources, such as newspapers or periodicals. You are expected to read and annotate the full text of articles that you include in your bibliography. In other words, do not use the abstracts provided in databases for your annotations.  These are written to summarize the articles and do not provide any evaluative information.  (Also, since they were written by someone else, they don’t represent your own work.) Please pay special attention to using APA style, as I will be focusing on the format, as well as the content, of your annotated bibliography when I evaluate it.

Although a formal literature review would be much larger in scope than this assignment, a more limited review should help you develop the core skills required to do the more formal review when you write your master’s paper in ADTED 588. Your annotated bibliography is to be attached as a section of your master’s paper proposal, submitted at the end of Unit 10.

See the Rubric for Individual Assignments for a complete explanation of how these assignments will be graded.

Master's Paper Outline Activity (Unit 10)

To get you thinking about your master's paper, you will complete your own master's paper proposal. This is just an exercise for this course, intended to help you think through a hypothetical project that you might conduct for your master's paper or that you might conduct to study a problem in your workplace. You are not obligated to use your topic and resulting proposal when you actually write your paper in ADTED 588.

See the Rubric for Individual Assignments for a complete explanation of how these assignments will be graded.

Group Evaluation Research Activity (Unit 11)

In this small group activity, you will work with your team to address questions regarding a "real life" evaluation issue (provided in the assignment). Once your team reaches agreement about your answers, you will post them to the appropriate discussion forum for sharing and grading.

See the Team Assignment Rubric for a complete explanation of how these assignments will be graded.

Group "Ethics" Activity (Unit 12)

For this activity, you will work with a team to analyze research situations and to identify the ethical components. Upon completion of the activity, a representative from your team will e-mail a summary of your team's discussion to the course instructor.

See the Team Assignment Rubric for a complete explanation of how these assignments will be graded.

Class Participation

In addition to the requirements stated above, you will be expected to log in to the class discussion forums and engage in discussions and activities on a regular basis. Interaction with each other is an important part of this course. It is recommended that you log in to the course Web site at least five times a week to work through course materials and to participate in course discussions.

I will monitor the quality and quantity of "discussion forum postings" students contribute in the process of completing the assignments. This process will be handled in a manner that makes it possible for all students to get an "A" in class participation, since the goal is to promote collaboration, not competition.

Students who post to all required discussion forums and Web-based lists in a timely manner and respond to two or three of your fellow classmates' postings will get the full credit. I will deduct points each time you do NOT post to a required discussion forum or if your postings are always late, since late postings don’t allow for the group interactions necessary for successful discussions.

Your postings should pertain to the content. Postings that simply say "I agree" with what is said do not count toward your class participation. You need to state either why you agree or disagree with the previous postings. The emphasis in this course is on critical analysis of the content. ("Critical analysis" does not necessarily mean being negatively critical. It implies that you have thought about and reflected on the content in light of what you are studying, what you already learned in other courses, and your personal experience.) In ALL assignments you will be expected to reflect critically upon what you studied. Simply summarizing what you read is not appropriate unless it supports your critical analysis.

It is especially important that you interact regularly on your team discussion forums as you work together on your group assignments. Team members need to be able to depend on each other so that the workload is shared equitably across the group.

Individual "Class Participation" grades will be posted halfway through the course to give students a clear idea of how they are doing in this aspect of the course. A final "Class Participation" grade will be given at the end of the course, as well.

See the Individual Participation Rubric for a complete explanation of how your participation will be assessed.

Please refer to the University Grading Policy for Graduate Courses for additional information about University grading policies. If, for reasons beyond the student's control, a student is prevented from completing a course within the prescribed time, the grade in that course may be deferred with the concurrence of the instructor. The symbol DF appears on the student's transcript until the course has been completed. Non-emergency permission for filing a deferred grade must be requested by the student before the beginning of the final examination period. In an emergency situation, an instructor can approve a deferred grade after the final exam period has started. Under emergency conditions during which the instructor is unavailable, authorization is required from one of the following: the dean of the college in which the candidate is enrolled; the executive director of the Division of Undergraduate Studies if the student is enrolled in that division or is a provisional student; or the campus chancellor of the student's associated Penn State campus.

For additional information please refer to the Deferring a Grade page.

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Course Schedule

Unit 1: Course Introduction - Welcome to ADTED 507!
Time frame:	Week 1
Assignments:	Read the online course material for this unit on the Lessons tab Complete the steps outlined in the Welcome Letter from your instructor (sent to you by Student Services with other course introductory materials) to acquaint yourself with the course environment. Complete the activities in the Getting Started folder (see the Lessons tab). Review the Course Syllabus Review the Course Schedule Post any questions to the "Main" discussion forum Post self-introduction to the "Unit 1 - Introductions" discussion forum Create a personal home page using the form provided in the course Complete Semantic Differential Survey Familiarize yourself with our library resources Review list of "Adult Education Publications" (see course content in the Lessons tab) E-mail summary of literature search to instructor

Unit 2: The Nature of Research and Research Philosophies
Time frame:	Week 2
Assignments:	Read the online course material for this unit on the Lessons tab Critique "A 'gender effect' in college learning?" and post your response to the "Gender Effect Article" discussion forum Complete "My Research Questions" activity Begin working with your Adult Education Research Critique team Read pp. 125-129 (top of page) of Jacobson article Read "What drives scientific research in education" Answer the synthesis question for this unit and submit it to the appropriate drop box by the end of the next unit Review AERA Web site and join a listserv

Assignments:

Read the online course material for this unit on the Lessons tab Read the Preface and Chapter 1 in your textbook (McMillan and Wergin) Complete the group "Thesis Generator Activity" Read about the concept of a "Theoretical Framework" Read "Writing Up Research: Using the Literature" Familiarize yourself with the APA editorial style Practice referencing in APA style Continue working with your Adult Education Research Critique teams Submit Synthesis Question response for Unit 2 to the appropriate drop box Answer the Unit 3 synthesis question and submit it to the appropriate drop box by the end of the next unit

Unit 4: Quantitative Non-experimental Research
Time frame:	Week 4
Assignments:	Read the online course material for this unit on the Lessons tab Read the introductory material for Chapter 2 and "The impact of alternate assessments: A statewide survey" in your textbook (McMillan and Wergin) Continue working with your Adult Education Research Critique teams Share your focus group experience with the rest of the class Submit Synthesis Question response for Unit 3 to the appropriate drop box Answer the synthesis question for Unit 4 (discussion questions on pp. 27-28 of McMillan and Wergin) and submit it to the appropriate drop box by the end of the next unit

Unit 5: Experimental Research Design
Time frame:	Week 5
Assignments:	Read the online course materials for this unit on the Lessons tab Review Web resources (see online course content) Read the introductory material for Chapter 3 and "The influence of concept mapping on achievement, self-regulation, and self-efficacy..." in your textbook (McMillan and Wergin) Share your listserv experiences by posting to the "Unit 5 - AERA Listservs" discussion forum Begin working on your Annotated Biliography, which will be turned in as part of your master's paper proposal at the end of Unit 10 Continue working with your Adult Education Research Critique teams Submit Synthesis Question response for Unit 4 to the appropriate drop box Answer the synthesis question for this unit (discussion questions on pp. 84-85 of McMillan and Wergin) and submit if to the appropriate drop box by the end of the next unit

Unit 6: Experimental and Non-experimental Research: Data Collection Techniques and Analysis
Time frame:	Week 6
Assignments:	Read the online course material for this unit on the Lessons tab Review "sampling" Web site (see online course content) Post to "Unit 6 - Sampling" discussion forum Review the "survey" Web sites (see online course content) Complete the mid-course survey (on the Lessons tab) Submit Synthesis Question response for Unit 5 to the appropriate drop box Submit your mid-term participation self-evaluation assignment to the "Class Participation 1/2" drop box by the end of the next unit

Unit 7: Qualitative Research
Time frame:	Week 7
Assignments:	Read the online course material for this unit on the Lessons tab Read the introductory material for Chapter 4 and the article "A fly in the buttermilk: Descriptions of university life..." in your textbook (McMillan and Wergin) Read the overview of case studies from Colorado State University (see online course content) Continue working with your Adult Education Research Critique teams Answer the synthesis question for this unit (discussion questions on pp. 125-127 in McMilland and Wergin) and submit it to the appropriate drop box by the end of the next unit

Unit 8: Mixed Research Methods
Time frame:	Week 8
Assignments:	Read the online course material for this unit on the Lessons tab Read "Mixed methods research examined" (see online course content) Read the introductory material for Chapter 5 and the article "The artistic and professional development of teachers: A study of teachers' attitudes..." in your textbook (McMilland Wergin) Answer the synthesis question for this unit (discussion questaions on pp. 143-145 in McMillan and Wergin) and submit it to the appropriate drop box by the end of the next unit Continue working with your Adult Education Research Critique team to critique the two articles/papers you've selected Submit Synthesis Question response for Unit 7 to the appropriate drop box

Unit 9: Action Research/Practitioner Research
Time frame:	Week 9
Assignments:	Read the online course material for this unit onthe Lessons tab Read the remainder of the Jacobson article (from Unit 2) to learn more about action/practitioner research Read the introductory material for Chapter 6 and the article "Doing research that makes a difference" in your textbook (McMillan and Wergin) Answer the synthesis question for this unit (discussion questions on p. 184 in McMilland and Wergin) and submit it to the appropriate drop box by the end of the next unit Continue working with your Adult Education Research Critique team to critique the two articles/papers you've selected Submit Synthesis Question response for Unit 8 to the appropriate drop box E-mail your research critique team's final categorization to me (to be done by the team facilitator)

Unit 10: Writing Up Your Findings
Time frame:	Week 10
Assignments:	Read the online course material for this unit on the Lessons tab Complete the "Master's Paper Outline" activity Submit Synthesis Question response for Unit 9 to the appropriate drop box

Unit 11: Evaluation Research
Time frame:	Week 11
Assignments:	Read the online course material on the Lessons tab Read the introduction to evaluation research in the Research Methods Knowledge Base (see online course content) Complete the Group Evaluation Research Assignment (see online course content) E-mail your research critique team's two article critiques to me (to be done by your team facilitator)

Unit 12: Ethical Dilemmas in Doing Research
Time frame:	Week 12
Assignments:	Read the online course material for this unit on the Lessons tab Read a brief introduction to research ethics (see online course content) Post your potential research ethics issues to the "Unit 12 - Potential Ethical Issues" discussion forum Review Web resources on ethics (see online course content) Answer the synthesis question for this unit and submit it to the appropriate drop box by the end of the next unit Complete the group "ethics" activity

Unit 13: Course Wrap-Up
Time frame:	Week 13
Assignments:	Submit Synthesis Question response for Unit 12 to the appropriate drop box by April 18 (midnight EST) Complete the "Reflection survey" (on the Lessons tab) Participate in the "Unit 13 - Reflections" discussion forum Submit your end of course participation self-evaluation assignment to the "Class Participation end" drop box

Formal instruction will end on the last day of class. Provided that you have an active Penn State Access Account user ID and password, you will continue to be able to access the course materials for one year, starting from the end date of the academic semester in which the course was offered (with the exception of library reserves and other external resources that may have a shorter archival period). After one year, you might be able to access the course based on the policies of the program or department offering the course material, up to a maximum of three years from the end date of the academic semester in which the course was offered. For more information, please review the University Course Archival Policy.

NOTE: If you are planning to graduate this semester, please communicate your intent to graduate to your instructor. This will alert your instructor to the need to submit your final grade in time to meet the published graduation deadlines. For more information about graduation policies and deadlines, please see "Graduation" on the World Campus Student Policies website. Note: If you are planning to graduate this semester, please communicate your intent to graduate to your instructor. This will alert your instructor to the need to submit your final grade in time to meet the published graduation deadlines. For more information about graduation policies and deadlines, please go to the Graduation Information on the My Penn State Online Student Portal.

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Grading

You will be evaluated based on the quality of your participation in each of the stated course requirements (see the Course Requirements section of the syllabus). A final course grade will be calculated considering each graded requirement and posted to the online course grade book. It is the students' responsibility to check their gradebook weekly to be sure that they are properly credited for assignments submitted. (If not, they are to contact the instructor by e-mail.)

The instructor reserves the right to make subjective judgments about the quality of student participation and products. (In other words, quantity does not equate to quality.)

Activity / Requirement	Point Value
Synthesis Questions (8 total - 10 points each)	80
Adult Education Research Critique Teams (10 points for the categorization assignment, 20 points each for the two critiques)	50
Annotated Bibliography	10
Master's Paper Outline Activity	10
Group Evaluation Research Activity	10
Group "Ethics" Activity	10
Class Participation (10 points for the first half of the course, awarded at mid-semester; 20 points for the entire course, awarded at the end of the semester)	30
TOTAL FOR COURSE	200

The following grading scale will be used to determine the satisfactory completion of the course (this grading system is taken from the Graduate Degree Programs Bulletin):

A (Excellent)	indicates exceptional achievement
B (Good)	indicates substantial achievement
C (Satisfactory)	indicates acceptable but substandard achievement
D (Poor)	indicates inadequate achievement and is a failing grade for a graduate student--a required course in which a D has been obtained cannot be used to meet degree requirements
F (Failure)	indicates work unworthy of any credit, and suggests that the student may not be capable of succeeding in graduate study

The grades of A, B, C, and D are assigned the following grade-point equivalents by Penn State (please note that a minimum grade point average of 3.00 for work done at the University is required for all graduate degrees):

Grade	Percentage
A	95-100%
A-	90-94%
B+	87-89%
B	84-86%
B-	80-83%
C+	77-79%
C	74-76%
C-	70-73%
D	60-69%
F	Below 60%

Academic Integrity

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Policies

• Accommodating Disabilities
• Use of Trade Names
• Additional Course Policies

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Disclaimer: Please note that the specifics of this Course Syllabus are subject to change, and you will be responsible for abiding by any such changes. Your instructor will notify you of any changes.

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