1) Discussion Question answers (With SUBSTANTIVE POSTS)

2) Substantive Replies for participation credit.

Here is how to earn 100% for each:

Discussion Question Answers:

Your Discussion Question answers should consist of the following components:

1. IF you do not know where to start for your Discussion Question, then in your answer you can use the wording of the question in your answer. So if your forum question was something like, “How do you think the creation account in Genesis would affect a Christian’s worldview?” Your answer could be worded something like, “I believe that a Christian’s worldview would be affected by the creation account in Genesis in the following ways ____________.” Then you would fill in the blank. (Please note this is only for the Discussion Question, and not elsewhere because if you do this in the Topic Assignment, your LopesWrite score will be too high). 

2. Your answers need to give reasons why you believe what you believe. What I mean by this is give support for why you think that this is true. Do not only state, “I believe that a Christian’s worldview would be affected by the creation account in Genesis because it is in the Bible.” While this is a fine start, you need some more development.

3. I am looking for at least 200 words in these answers, and please answer each question in a separate paragraph. A one-sentence answer is not sufficient. Interacting with and citing the topic reading is especially encouraged.

4. It is not required but is recommended to end your post with a question. That invites discussion.

5. If the question has more than one question, be sure to answer all the questions with a separate paragraph.

6. You need to answer the first question by day 3 and the second question by day 5. Your fellow students are depending on you to post so they can reply

Four Substantive Replies Earns 100% Participation Credit:

First, I would like to describe what a substantive reply is not. A substantive reply is not, “I agree with your post, great thoughts” or “Thank you for your post I really like what you had to say.” It is good to communicate briefly like this with fellow students, but posts like this will not count toward your substantive post requirement.

A substantive reply is at least 100 words (at least 4 entirely full lines in the default font and size) and contributes to the conversation in a meaningful way. One way to do this is to pick up on an aspect of your classmates post and expand upon it. So you could say, “What you wrote reminded me of this quote that I am fond of (then give the quote and explain it).” This is a MIN-675 course and I am sure that many of you will find that this is a good place to share brief passages from the Bible or a brief quote from the topic reading.

For this class, you will need to have at least 4 substantive replies to fellow classmates or my posts. These replies should be spread out over at least 3 days. You can have more than this, but to receive full participation credit you need to have at least 4 substantive replies to fellow classmates spread out over multiple days.

I am looking forward to our discussions!

Grace & Peace,

Dr. Debbie Fulthorp

Following are my policies for late and early assignments:

LATE ASSIGNMENTS

It is difficult to catch up if you get behind in this class, so do absolutely everything in your power to keep up with your work. However, if you end up needing to submit something late, keep the following in mind:

* I will accept late work for topics 1-5 up to 10 days after an assignment’s due date; after 10 days, an assignment may not be submitted at all.

*Please note that once the week is over, I do not generally accept DQ's late or participation late, unless there is a personal/family emergency or military leave.

* I will accept late work for topic 6 until noon on the final Friday of the class.

*Topic 7 work cannot be submitted late. Per GCU policy, once the class ends, no work may be submitted. All topic 7 work must be submitted by 11:59pm (AZ time) on the final day of class.

If you need a drop box opened, you will need to message me in Halo to ask. Please attach a copy of the assignment to the message to show me that it is completed and ready to submit to the drop box. Once I see that you have completed the assignment, then I will open the drop box. You must follow through and submit the assignment to the drop box because I can only grade work that is submitted through the drop box. Once a drop box is opened for a late submission, it will only remain open for 24-48 hours, so be sure to submit right away. 

Point Deductions

Class, You have probably looked at the Syllabus and Course Materials by now and realize there is a significant amount of work in this course. It will be easy for you to fall quickly behind to the point that you will not be able to catch up. So, I want to encourage you to stay current with the assignments.

As you know, the GCU Late Policy, (pg 38) as stated in the Online Classroom Policies, is a 10% per day penalty for late work. You can see that your grade suffers greatly for any late work. After just five days, this would give 100% work a failing grade. Here is my late policy for this course:

Main bi-weekly assignments (worksheets /essays):

• 1 to 5 days late: 10% deduction.

• Any time after five days: 25% deduction.

DQs cannot be late: No points for late submission of a DQ.

• DQ1 is due on Wednesday night (no credit for submission after Wednesday).

• DQ2 is due on Friday night (no credit for submission after Friday).

There is no credit for late Participation (after Sunday).

• Weekly participation ends on the Sunday night of each week.

• Every week starts a new topic of discussion.

• Do not go back to the previous week to respond. There is no credit for these responses.

• For full points: enter two responses during four different days of the week for a total of eight responses (not including the two answers to the DQs)

I am putting this policy in place so that you are not crushed by late work when life happens. However, I want to provide you with sufficient motivation to stay on top of your work and not fall too far behind too quickly.

EARLY ASSIGNMENTS

If you choose to submit an assignment earlier than 48 hours before the due date you will need to post a message in the private forum alerting me to your submission, otherwise, I will not know that there is an assignment in the drop box that is ready for grading. You do not need to let me know about early quizzes or DQs, but do let me know about other early assignments.

While submitting assignments early is your prerogative and you may choose to do that, in my experience, assignments I have received early do not tend to be as thoroughly or accurately completed, and the scores earned tend to be lower than assignments completed and submitted after students have read all the material for the topic and engaged in class discussion throughout the topic. Therefore, I encourage you to work on your assignments throughout the topic, adding to them and editing as you learn more through the readings and class discussions during the topic, and then submit it within 48 hours of the due date.

Thanks,

Dr. Debbie Fulthorp

Here are my expectations for the Discussion Forum. (Total Weekly Participation - 4 times a week - 3 different days, Thurs-Wed)

Discussion Questions:  

Each week you will need to answer two Discussion Questions. 

·      The first DQ each week is due by 11:59pm (Arizona time) on Saturday

·      The second DQ each week is due by 11:59pm (Arizona time) on Monday

DQ replies should be 200 words minimum. If the DQ includes more than one question, each question should be answered in a separate paragraph in your post. When you respond to the DQs I am looking for your own responses, with original thought, in your own words. Using supporting sources in your posts is great, but be sure to use scholarly sources (no websites), and cite your sources with in-text citations and a reference.  Do not use only another source to answer the questions. My expectation is that you will write your own thoughts in the DQ answers, and use supplemental sources to support your thoughts, if applicable. 

Type your response in the box; do not attach it as a Word document. Be sure that you only reply once the actual DQ and that your response to the DQ is your DQ answer. If you do not thread correctly, or if you include an attachment, your DQ answer will not show on my grading screen and you will not receive credit for it. It is the student’s responsibility to thread correctly.

Please note that once the week is over, I do not generally accept DQ's late or participation late, unless there is a personal/family emergency or military leave.

Participation: 

In addition to answering the two DQs you will need to post replies to your classmates (or to my additional questions) times a day on 2 or 3 different days each week (which is a minimum 4 substantive replies). To receive credit for a post it must be substantive  (100 words or more) and add something new to the discussion. When I grade participation each substantive reply (up to 4 posts) will receive 4 points. You will receive 1.30 points for each day you post (up to 4 days). (4 substantive replies = 16 pts; 3 days = 4 pts. 16 + 4 = 20 total points and it includes DQ responses.) 10 total weekly replies & DQ posts.

Please note, for week 1; the "Introduction/Class Wall" and "Summary of Current Course Content" don't count toward participation, they are only there for enrollment purposes.

What is meant by substantive?

In addition to adding something new to the discussion, a substantive post will move the discussion deeper, and it will typically be at least 100 words or three full sentences of content. Repeated ideas from another student’s post, compliments, or off topic comments in a post do not count as substance.

Tone:  

I expect that you will address each other and me at all times with the utmost respect. Before you submit a post, please review it to ensure that your tone and vocabulary are respectful of everyone in the class. Sarcasm is not appropriate in an academic forum. Writing in capital letters for emphasis is not appropriate. Do your best to write in a way that is encouraging of your classmates. I expect you to foster an atmosphere of curiosity and interest.

Remember that within our class we do not all have the same worldview. It is important that we are each respectful of other worldviews. One way to demonstrate respect is to frame your opinions and beliefs as your own opinions and beliefs, not as facts, for example, "In my opinion, the creation account in Genesis shows …” Even within a Christian worldview there are differences of interpretation and opinion. People who have the same worldview may not share the same opinion of every belief within that worldview. Remember that the Discussion Forum is an avenue for us to explore what we are learning and ask each other questions to help us better understand what we are learning. Per the GCU policy handbook, any activity in the classroom that does not foster a healthy learning environment and/or intimidates those in the class is considered a Code of Conduct violation. Seek to understand each other and the worldviews we are studying. Your respect will help create an atmosphere that is conducive to learning.

Format: 

I am the only one who will start new topics the forums. All your posts will be replies to existing posts.  

**Please do not post any links to outside materials or videos without my permission.**

I am looking forward to some great discussions in the weeks ahead!

Thanks,

Dr. Debbie Fulthorp

• This course requires the use of a Bible. Students should use one of the following versions: the English Standard Version (ESV), the New International Version (NIV), or the New American Standard Bible (NASB). Each of these versions is available in print. These versions are also available for free at www.Biblegateway.com .

• Students might also find it helpful to choose a study Bible such as the Life Application Study Bible NIV or the ESV Study Bible in order to take advantage of additional information.
• You can look through this PowerPoint to find out more about Bible Basics!

I wanted to reach out to you collectively and make sure you all understood thoroughly what happens with LopesWrite and what is plagiarism.

LopesWrite scores do not always tell me if a student has plagiarized. It tells me when there is something similar in your work to either another student's work, another website, or another book or our course material. Here are a few reasons why a student might have a higher than normal LopesWrite score.

1) Sometimes when you have a worksheet template, the score will go up higher because it is similar to the template.

2) A student did not meet the minimum word count requirement. When there are blank spaces, or incomplete parts, the score is higher because of the ratio of similarity within the assignment in conjunction to word count.

3)There are too many direct quotes. Please try to stay away from a lot of direct quotes. For the amount of work you do on the assignments, it weighs down the assignment with other peoples thoughts and words instead of yours. I want to hear how YOU are processing the material. Try to stay away from too many direct quotes in your writing. Instead, summarize the material and then use an in-text citation at the end.

4) A student has used Google, and the information Googled is actually another student's work and not the "Study Sheet" it claimed to be. Unfortunately students have given out their work freely over the internet. This is why you do not have access to your quiz answers - because too many students were posting it across the internet. What students often do not know is that if anyone uses this material, it will show up as another students' work. Even if you have no idea who that student is. Instructors see the names of the students from those parallel assignments. Everything done in secret always comes to light. PLEASE DO NOT USE GOOGLE FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENTS IN THIS CLASS.

5) Students have not used in-text citations or quotation marks.

6) You have begun the first part of your answer with using part of the question to your answer. For example, If the question asks, "What is your belief about the nature of the universe? Why?" If you were to answer like this -

"My belief about the nature of the universe is..." LopesWrite would count that as similar. Your instructors know how to look over this as well. But it is better to just write the answer instead of repeating the question from the assignment.

7) There was a glitch in the system.

https://media.giphy.com/media/xTiQyohZdXceENvkcM/giphy.gif

All of that to say - while there is a particular rule of thumb as to your LopesWrite scores, Instructors ALWAYS look over the LopesWrite Scores even if they say 0%. I have caught a few acts of plagiarism even though it said 0%. Someone thought they knew how to get around the system.

Now that I have shared with you all my secrets...you know! If you have a high LopesWrite score, I do not generally accuse you of intentional plagiarism. I just want to know what happened, and I want to help you not make that mistake again. In other words, I want to stop the hemorrhaging.

If you need help, you can contact your counselor, and they will help you find someone who can help tutor you.

Grace & Peace,

Dr. Debbie Fulthorp

I wanted to mention here in MIN-675, we love to cultivate discussion and dialogue as much as possible. 

 That means that ANY thread you reply to (as long as you answer in 100 words or more) is an opportunity for participation credit. 

The main responses to the DQ itself are not part of the “8 substantive posts.” These are your main responses, and I grade these more strictly to make sure you are answering the questions adequately and thoroughly. Those need to be 200 words with each answer separated into a paragraph for each question you are answering. 

I hope this helps to clarify a bit! 

Grace & Peace,

Dr. Debbie Fulthorp

Please don't forget to only use LopesWrite for your grammar editing/proofreading tool, (No AI Tools such as Grammarly, CoPilot, Google, etc.) and please only type into and use a Microsoft Word document (.docx) to complete your assignment.

You should have access to Microsoft Office 365 on the cloud for free as a GCU student!

Also, do not use Google for research; you have what you need in the class and in the GCU/GCTS library!

Note that I do not accept PDF's for assignments. 

Let me know if you have any questions!

Dr. Debbie Fulthorp

Scroll Down for the Templates and Turabian helps!

Happy Writing!

Dr. Debbie

Please don't forget to only use LopesWrite for your grammar editing/proofreading tool, (No AI Tools such as Grammarly, CoPilot, Google, etc.) and please only type into and use a Microsoft Word document (.docx) to complete your assignment.

You should have access to Microsoft Office 365 on the cloud for free as a GCU student!

Also, do not use Google for research; you have what you need in the class and in the GCU/GCTS library!

Note that I do not accept PDF's for assignments. 

Let me know if you have any questions!

Dr. Debbie Fulthorp

Scroll Down for the Templates and Turabian helps!

At the start of this class, I want to make sure that my policies regarding Google and AI use and other AI assistant help is very clear. (Wordtune, ChatGPT, Grammarly, etc.) and other AI assistant programs.

For some of you, you have no idea about what AI is. It is something our world has been thrust into where AI's are being used and transforming the way we do our work, and even education. I wanted to give you some guidelines on this for now until there are more firm policies across the board at GCU. For now, we are treating it much like Google. We ask that you not Google anything in the class. All you need is within the Course materials and the GCU library.

Here are some basic guidelines

Please Do Not:

1) Copy/paste anything written by ChatGPT into your assignment as that would be plagiarism. 

A core value of writing is that it forces us to organize our thoughts and is a key element in critical thinking. This is better developed when you are using your own mind, and heart into thinking.

2) Use an AI Assistant to proofread your work or reword something for you. Currently you have this option via LopesWrite. Once you click submit, you can look at the assignment, and LopesWrite will go through your assignment. At that point, you have the option to submit a new assignment without any recourse.

Please only stay within the boundaries we have given you. You might be using AI as a help in other courses, but every course is different. For these assignments, we want you to develop critical thinking skills.

Please check out this 7 minute video for further information!

https://youtu.be/ZPeU3aK-0uA

Thanks!!

Dr. Debbie Fulthorp