Course Syllabus

RULES/EXPECTATIONS:

5 DAYS/WEEK, STARTING FROM THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS, YOU ARE ASSIGNED WORK.

ALL WORK IS ASSIGNED AND SUBMITTED ON CANVAS. IT IS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS, EVERYWHERE YOU GO. ALL OPEN/DUE DATES ARE PRESENT IN SEVEN PLACES ON CANVAS ("DASHBOARD," "JUMP TO TODAY," "COURSE STREAM," "COURSE CALENDAR," "TO DO," "COMING UP," TEXT/EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS). SO, NO EXCUSES FOR NOT SUBMITTING IT ON TIME. SO, DO NOT ASK ME TO REOPEN ASSIGNMENTS. CANVAS IS AS EASY TO USE AS ANY APP ON YOUR CELL PHONE.

IF YOU ARE ABSENT FROM CLASS, YOU REMAIN ABSOLUTELY RESPONSIBLE FOR 100% OF MATERIAL COVERED AND WORK DONE IN CLASS. SO, IF YOU MISS, THEN GET HELP/NOTES FROM A CLASSMATE. I DON'T DEDUCT POINTS FOR ABSENCES (except when noted*) BECAUSE MISSING CLASS, IN ITSELF, HURTS YOUR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE.

IN THE CLASSROOM, MOBILE PHONES MUST BE INVISIBLE AND SILENT. THEY MAY NOT REST ON YOUR DESK OR IN YOUR LAP. THEIR VISIBILITY IS DISRESPECTFUL TO ME. MY COURSE MUST BE THE EXCLUSIVE FOCUS AND CENTER OF YOUR ATTENTION DURING CLASS TIME. ANY VIOLATION  (e.g., texting, visibility of phone) OF THE MOBILE PHONE BAN RESULTS IN THE VIOLATOR'S NAME ON THE "WHITEBOARD" AND A 1 POINT DEDUCTION FROM YOUR ASSIGNMENT POINTS.

*See "Scholarly Inquiry."

CLASS TIME/ROOM: TuTh 1:40-2:55 PM, PET108

OFFICE: Petrocelli 324. MOBILE PHONE/TEXT: 978 660 5968. EMAIL: Canvas Conversations or cohenf@franklinpierce.eduOFFICE PHONE: 603 899 4289

OFFICE HOURS: MWF 10-10:45, 12-12:45. 

"MOBILE" OFFICE HOURS anytime up to 8 PM, 7 days a week, text or call 978 660 5968. 

PROF. COHEN IS ALWAYS AND EASILY AVAILABLE outside of class to serve your needs.

MOST IMPORTANT LINKS (Reading, research, classroom materials):

PO206 Classroom "Whiteboard"

Franklin Pierce Library Academic Databases

The Economist: www.economist.com. To access this from off campus, use this link and you'll be prompted to sign in: http://libguides.franklinpierce.edu/economist

New York Times. To avoid hitting the paywall, you have to set up an account using FPU's site license for the Times here: http://libguides.franklinpierce.edu/NYT. Look for "Getting Started Using the Site License." This gives you a free subscription to the New York Times online. Sing up for it. I also recommend installing the NYT smart-phone app.

Franklin Pierce Political Science Inquiry and Research on Facebook. Please "Like" and "Follow." We will be posting and sharing our academic work here.

OTHER LINKS (FPU Political Science on social media):

Franklin Pierce Political Science & Intelligence and Security Studies. Department's Facebook page featuring information for majors, minors, and alumni from the Poli Sci and ISS programs.

Franklin Pierce Political Science Discussion Board (on Facebook). A place for discussion of politics, public/foreign affairs, etc. among anyone who is interested.

A PORTABLE, PERSONAL COMPUTING DEVICE is essential to doing work in- and outside the classroom.

CANVAS AUTOMATICALLY SAVES your work and, therefore, before the due date you may open and work on the assignment as many times as you wish. Just don't click "Submit" until you are finished. 

ANSWER KEYS to reading and class-session questions is always shown to students after the due date.

OFFICE365. All students have Office365 accounts, meaning all of you have access to online and downloadable versions of Microsoft Office. Any files submitted must be in MS Office formats. We make use of other programs in the MS Office suite.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY (Plagiarism, Cheating). My policy is that which is stated in the Franklin Pierce University Academic Catalog. Regarding the "instructor's discretion" part of the policy, a student receives a zero for the assignment, in addition to the penalties described in the catalog.

SPECIAL ACADEMIC ACCOMMODATIONS must be sought at the Center for Academic Excellence

THE GOAL OF THIS COURSE is for students to learn how to compare nations to gain insights into their politics, economy, governments, constitutions, and process for making domestic/foreign policy. To reach this goal, we will inquire deeply into the nature of political interactions in societies across the world. GLE Learning Outcomes: Social Science, Inquiry and Analysis, Critical Thinking.

READING MATERIAL FOR THE COURSE is always posted in the assignments. No books required for purchase.

COURSEWORK consists of the following:

(1) DAILY QUIZZES (5 days/week except during "Scholarly Inquiry") on the following:

  • assigned reading
  • assigned audio/visual materials
  • classroom lecture/discussion (including "whiteboard")
  • deeper inquiry on a subject

For quizzes on classroom lecture/discussion, use your own notes or, especially if you are absent, seek a classmate's help or notes. Classmates can be reached via Canvas Conversations (mail). Being absent gives you no special free pass from material covered in class. Like those present in the classroom, you are accountable for that material. Class review assignments are open for a minimum of 3 days, plenty of time for absentees to get help/notes from classmates. Reading (audio'visual clip) quizzes are open for 2 days.

Canvas automatically saves your work and, therefore, before the due date you may open up the assignment as many times as you wish. Just don't click "Submit" until you are finished.

(2) SUBMISSION OF CLASS NOTES (EXTRA CREDIT): Students receive extra credit every time they submit reasonable notes (by 11:59 pm, same day of class) and lose out on extra credit when they don't. Just click on the "Class Notes" assignment. Notes must reasonably reflect the content of lecture, discussion, and Q & A.

You can take notes in the "Text Box"; upload an MS Word document; upload a focused photo of neatly handwritten notes; or paste a "share" URL (to OneNote or an online document).

Notes must reasonably reflect the content of lecture, discussion, and Q & A. If you are tardy or have your cell phone out, then I will not accept your notes. 

(3) SCHOLARLY INQUIRY into concepts and political issues assigned by the professor. We will use scholarly inquiry to develop our skills in the following areas. I do penalize for absences from "scholarly inquiry" sessions, which I treat as labs. They will are noted in the calendar:

  1. social science inquiry
  2. information literacy
  3. written and oral communication;
  4. analysis;
  5. digital literacy.

(4) FINAL EXAM is comprehensive and consists of 40 objective questions (e.g., multiple choice, matching, true/false, etc.): 3:15-5:15 PM, Monday, May 13. I provide a detailed study guide to make it easy to prepare.

Course Summary:

Date Details Due