Hello. My name is Thea Hosselrode. It’s a German name and is pronounced with two A sounds. The H is silent. Click the icon below to hear how my name is pronounced. I have been teaching at ACM for 14 years. I’m an Assistant Professor in the Office Technologies Department. I have a Master of Education in Interdisciplinary Studies from Frostburg State University. The “Interdisciplinary” part means that half my degree was in a second discipline—which for me was Master of Business Administration. I just celebrated my 19^th Anniversary and have two sons. I really enjoy teaching online courses. I look forward to working with you. Please stop by my office and introduce yourself when you are at the Cumberland campus. My office is located on the top floor of the Technologies Building, Room T-125.

Course Description:

This course is designed to provide knowledge and understanding of terms commonly used in the legal profession. Content of the course includes spelling and definitions of terms in the legal field.

Texts: (click here for purchasing information)

§ Brown, G. (2008). Legal Terminology, 5th Edition. New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0132426838

§ There is a free website with this textbook that contains learning objectives, chapter summaries, flashcards, and practice quizzes. Go to http://www.prenhall.com/brown. Take advantage of this.

Course Outcomes:

Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:

· Spell, pronounce, and define the legal terms presented in the text

· Use legal terminology in correct context

Student Learning Goal of the Office Technologies Department:

· Students will apply technology and technical skills to complete office tasks.

· Students will demonstrate effective written and oral communication skills.

Technical requirements for the course:

If you have never taken an online course before, this course will be different for you. Our primary means of communication will be through the Internet; therefore, you should be comfortable with using the Internet and email. You must have reliable Internet access (you must provide your own ISP), MS Word or Corel WordPerfect, an email account, and a browser (Netscape 3.0 or higher or Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher).

You are expected to have basic computer and internet literacy skills. This includes the ability to work comfortably in a browser, use a search engine, and create and modify documents in MS Word or Corel WordPerfect. You will also need a Blackboard login account. I will assign that to you.

You may also want to:

· Read about distance learning and take an online quiz to see if distance learning is for you. (Click the link that is underlined in this bulleted information)

Please note: Technical difficulties do occur during a semester. However, technical difficulties do not excuse late or incomplete assignments.

Course content

The course will cover terminology used in practice and procedure, criminal law, torts, contracts, personal property and agency, wills and estates, real property, family law, and business organization/bankruptcy. Please see the course calendar and Table of Contents in the textbook for a week-by-week list of what topics will be covered in the course.

How the course is conducted

Welcome to the online version of Legal Terminology. This information is intended to help you get started. Since there will be no face-to-face class lecture, it is imperative that you are conscientious, motivated and self-disciplined. While the course is very flexible in terms of when you put in the time, you can expect to average about the same amount of time as a normal lecture course--about three hours total a week per credit. This comes out to nine hours per week. Note also that the course is NOT self-paced. Assignments are due by specific dates. You may work ahead if you like, but you may not “work behind.”

A list of all assignments and their due dates is included in the course calendar. I will NOT remind you of when assignments are due. You are expected to refer to the calendar and to complete all assignments on time. If you have difficulty with the assignments or have any questions, please contact me and I will be happy to assist you.

Course Materials:

Textbook

Your primary resources are Blackboard material, the textbook listed at the beginning of this syllabus, and the textbook’s companion website (listed above). If you don't want to come to campus to pick up the book, you can either order them from the Allegany College of Maryland bookstore and ask them to mail it to you (301-784-5348, there is an additional fee for shipping) or order them online from www.mypearsonstore.com. If ordering online, use the ISBN number indicated on the syllabus to be sure you order the correct textbook. If you choose this route, please be sure when you order that the textbook is in stock in order to avoid delays.

Getting Started

You may begin the course on January 21, 2008, by logging into Blackboard. For information on how to log in, go to http://www.allegany.edu/dl/onlineorientation/ooblackboard.shtml. Be sure your email address is correct in Blackboard (see link above for information) and be sure that you change your password periodically. You are responsible for keeping your password secure.

As soon as you register for the course you should send me an email that contains the requested info below. Without your email address, I have no way of contacting you. This is one of your assignments for Week 1 on the calendar. My email address is thosselrode@allegany.edu Please be sure to send me the email from the account you will be using throughout the course. I’ll set up my Outlook to always accept mail from this email address. If you use a different address during the semester, I may not receive your message. Blackboard will be the primary method of conducting the course.

Be aware that the college server often blocks Hotmail accounts. If you send me an email and I don’t respond within 48 hours, I probably did not receive your email. Even if you don’t use Hotmail, your message could be blocked based on something you write in the subject line or email. Always contact me by phone/voice mail if you suspect your email did not come through.

Please include in the subject line of your email “Legal Term-Enrollment your name”.
In the body of the email include:

Your full name

Your full mailing address

Your preferred contact phone number

Your e-mail address

The college which you are attending, including the campus

Your preferred testing site (you will take the final exam in a testing lab)

Grading and Testing

Assessments for the course will consist of tests, written assignments, classwork, a portfolio (or portfolio assignment), and a final exam.

Grades will be posted on the blackboard site. Students may view grades as soon as I have completed grading the assignments/exams. I will complete grading of assignments within 1 week of due date. After you submit an assignment, an exclamation mark shows up in your gradebook. This represents that your assignment is in blackboard for me to check. After I check it, the score shows up in your gradebook. After you take quizzes, your score automatically shows up in your gradebook. Pay attention to the time constraints of quizzes and make sure you submit the quiz before the time is up.

Your grade will be affected when you miss assignment deadlines because there is no extension on due dates. If you do not complete assignments for a three-week period, you will be dropped from the class. Please communicate with me about hospitalizations etc.

The final exam will be given by the testing center. The course schedule will give the time frame for the test. The exam may not be taken after the scheduled dates. Tell me in your first email which site you will be using.

Plagiarism—Cheating

These areas are not tolerated. The college has a policy on academic dishonesty. You are expected to abide by the policy.

Plagiarism is passing off someone else’s work or idea as your own. Academic Dishonesty also includes failure on your part to keep your current and past assignments out of the hands of other students who may misinterpret their origins. For more information on plagiarism and documentation, please see ACM’s Documentation Guide and Plagiarism Website at http://www.allegany.edu/plagiarism/

TESTING CENTER CONTACT INFORMATION

From the local calling number, any extension can be reached.

Cumberland campus: testing@allegany.edu

Charlie Jackson, phone (301) 784-5554

Bedford campus: mclark@allegany.edu

Mary Ann Clark, phone 814-652-9528 ext. 6204, fax 814-652-9775

Somerset campus: tshaffer@allegany.edu

Tiffany Shaffer, phone 814-445-9848 ext. 6104, fax 814-445-8132

The final grading scale follows:

A = 93-100%
B = 85-92%
C = 74-84%
D = 65-73%
F = Less than 65%

The grade that you earn will be from the following:

Orientation Assignments: There will be 4 orientation assignments. Each is worth 10.

Tests: There will be five tests. Each test is worth 50 points.

Graded Chapter Exercises: There will be 29 Chapters. The review work from each Chapter is worth 5 points.

Research/Critical Thinking: There will be 4 research/critical thinking assignments. The Terminology Composition is worth 20 points. The State Law Research and Analysis, Local Newspaper Article Report, and Web Site Analysis are each worth 10 points.

Class Participation: You will be required to participate each week in the DISCUSSION BOARD. This is connected to one of the critical thinking assignments above. This is worth 100 points.

Portfolio: The portfolio work due for this course is the community service section. You will also physically start the binder. (There is a career assignment for students not in an Office Technologies program.) This will be worth 50 points.

Final Test: This will be taken in the testing lab and is worth 100 points.

Late assignments

No late assignments will be accepted. The online test feature and assignment section of Blackboard will be programmed so that tests and assignments will be unavailable after the due date has passed. Any assignment that is not handed in on time will receive a grade of zero.

The exception to the “no late assignment” rule is the orientation assignments in Week 1. Since these are learning assignments designed to help you prepare for success in the class, there will be a grace period of 1 week for these assignments. However, please contact me if you are having problems completing these assignments so that you don’t fall behind.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Board

If you have a question or problem, please check the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) discussion board first. If the answer is not there (or the answer was not posted by me and you aren’t sure if it is correct), contact me by email at thosselrode@allegany.edu.

Contacting me

If you need to speak to me by phone, please call my office number at (301) 784-5317. My office hours are listed on page 1 of the syllabus. If this is not convenient for you, please send me an email; and we can arrange a phone meeting at a mutually convenient time. You may contact me by email at thosselrode@allegany.edu

Blackboard

This course will be conducted using Blackboard software. You do not need to purchase software to use Blackboard; however, you will need a login and password to access it. I will provide you with this login and password.

After receiving your blackboard username and password, you should immediately familiarize yourself with Blackboard by going to (http://www.allegany.edu/dl/onlineorientation/ooblackboard.shtml) and then logging into your Blackboard account. You should be able to perform the following functions in Blackboard by the end of the first week of class:

Log into your Blackboard account (remember to log out when finished!)
Find and read announcements
Find and read course documents

Find the assignments area where you submit work
Find the discussion board
Find the grades area

You should also view information about what is expected of you in an online course by going to http://www.allegany.edu/dl/onlineorientation/oorientation.shtml.

E-Mail Policy

Always use the following guidelines when sending e-mail to me.

In the subject area, enter “Legal Term—your name”

I receive a lot of email. If you fail to put the words “Legal Term” in your subject line, it is possible that I may overlook your email. I check my email daily on weekdays. If your question requires a lengthy explanation/response from me, I will respond within 24-48 hours. If your e-mail is a quick question or comment, I will respond as soon as I read it. If you don’t receive a response by the third day, that is a sign that I did not get your message. Please send another email or call my voice mail.

Please send me e-mail from the account you listed in your initial email to me and please include your name on every email. This is important because I will set up your email address to always go to my inbox. If you email me from a different address, your message may end up going directly to my spam folder or be blocked by the ACM server.

Submission of assignments as electronic files

Unless otherwise stated, all assignments that are submitted to me should be in the format of an MS WORD or COREL WORDPERFECT document file.

Please put a page header on every document. Use the following guide when putting a header on your documents.

CourseID lastname firstname assignment pagenumber numberoftotalpages. Your header should look like this:

120 Hosselrode Thea criticalthinking#1 Page 1 of 4

Please use the following guide when naming your documents to submit to me.

CourseID lastname firstname assignment: where course ID is “120” and assignment is “criticalthinking#1”. (Do not include the quotes in the file name.) Your file name should look like:

120 Hosselrode Thea criticalthinking#1

Files should be submitted using the “View/Complete Assignment” link for the assignment. In the event that Blackboard is not working (for example, the Blackboard server goes down) and the due date is looming, you should submit the file as an email attachment along with a note describing the problem. If both Blackboard and email are down, send a fax to me at (301) 784-5022 indicating that you are experiencing a problem and supply a brief explanation of the problem. If your assignment is short (5 pages or less), you may also fax the assignment to me at that time.

Rules of conduct for participation in the Discussion Board

Check the discussion Board at least once a week to see if I have added a comment for the class. I will put information here that is important for the class to know. Students are encouraged to communicate with each other using the discussion board feature of Blackboard. Just because you cannot physically be in the same room as your classmates doesn’t mean you can’t communicate with them! The discussion board is provided so that students can get to know each other and discuss topics that are related to the course content. It can be a valuable source of information and support. However, please note that all messages are “public”, i.e. available for everyone in the class to view. When posting messages on the discussion board, please keep comments on a positive note and avoid “flaming” (verbally attacking someone else). Please provide feedback to other students in a kind and constructive manner.

Student Conduct and Plagiarism

The college has a strict policy on academic dishonesty. You are expected to understand and abide by the policy as defined in the student handbook.

Plagiarism is:

a. The submission, as your own work, of papers or parts of papers actually written by another;

b. the inclusion in your own work of a passage written by another person without giving due credit; i.e., quoting or paraphrasing without proper citation of source.

Cheating is:

An act of conscious deception done in order to obtain an underserved grade; or the aiding or abetting of deception in order to obtain an underserved grade.

Plagiarism is passing off someone else’s work or idea as your own. Academic Dishonesty also includes failure on your part to keep your current and past assignments out of the hands of other students. It is also suggested that you keep a record and/or rough draft of written or other work until you have received your final grade.

Accommodating Disabilities

Any student in this course who has a disability that may prevent him or her from fully demonstrating his or her abilities should contact me personally as soon as possible, so I can discuss accommodations necessary to ensure full participation and facilitate your educational opportunity.

A final note:

This course is a work in progress. As the semester proceeds, tell me what is working, what is not working, and what else you think I could do to help you be successful in this course. Thanks, and I hope you will enjoy Legal Terminology!

Course Calendar

(Calendar is subject to change at instructor’s discretion)

61-120/Tentative Course Schedule**

Spring 2008

WEB

PLEASE carefully follow this schedule. The due dates change based on the school calendar. For example, work for the first week may be due on a Sunday. Work for the second week may be due on a Monday. Don’t assume when a due date will fall. ALWAYS check this schedule. I use the school calendar; not the year calendar for due dates. If school is not in session, I don’t count it toward the online school week. Please follow the “Due” column on the right. All work is due by midnight of the day listed in the “Due” column.

Jan 21	Week 1		Read introductory letter/materials mailed to you (As stated in the syllabus/letter) Send me email—remember to include the site where you will be taking your final (As stated in letter) Take online quizzes (if necessary) (As stated in letter) Log into Blackboard (As stated in letter) Update your personal information in BB (As stated in letter) Explore each button in BB Read the course syllabus and calendar Print all documents the letter suggests (As stated in letter) Complete the tutorial Read the LIST OF INSTRUCTIONS document Print and complete the orientation assignments. There are four. Go to COURSE DOCUMENTS/WEEK 1 ASSIGNMENTS. Print and read the critical thinking assignments (due throughout the semester) Do yourself a favor and work on them when you have time. Start the first one this week. Go to COURSE DOCUMENTS/CRITICAL THINKING ASSIGNMENTS. Print and read the Portfolio assignment (due later in the semester) Do yourself a favor and work on it when you have time. Go to COURSE DOCUMENTS/PORTFOLIO ASSIGNMENTS. Always Log out of BB when you are finished			Due Jan 27 at Midnight
Jan 28	Week 2		Complete Chapter 1 assignments. Follow the instructions on the document called CHAPTER ASSIGNMENTS (found in COURSE DOCUMENTS/WEEK 1 ASSIGNMENTS). Next go to ASSIGNMENTS/ LESSON 1 folder to complete chapter 1. Complete Chapter 2 assignments Work on your Terminology Composition – found in COURSE DOCUMENTS/CRITICAL THINKING ASSIGNMENTS			Due Feb 3 at Midnight
Feb 4	Week 3		Complete Chapter 3 assignments Complete Chapter 4 assignments			Due Feb 10
Feb 11	Week 4		Complete Chapter 5 assignments Complete Chapter 6 assignments Take test on Chapters 1 – 6 Work on State Law Research and Analysis (Due Feb 24)			Due Feb 17
Feb 18	Week 5		State Law Research and Analysis due Complete Chapter 7 assignments Complete Chapter 8 assignments			Due Feb 24
Feb 25	Week 6		Complete Chapter 9 assignments Complete Chapter 10 assignments Work on Local Newspaper Article Report (Due March 11)			Due Mar 4
Mar 5	Week 7		Local Newspaper Article Report due Complete Chapter 11 assignments Complete Chapter 12 assignments			Due Mar 11
Mar 12	Week 8		Take test on Chapters 7 – 12 Complete Chapter 13 assignments Complete Chapter 14 assignments Complete Chapter 15 assignments			Due Mar 25
Mar 26		Week 9		Web Site Analysis due Complete Chapter 16 assignments Complete Chapter 17 assignments	Due Apr 1
Apr 2		Week 10		Complete Chapter 20 assignments Take test on Chapters 13 – 17 and 20 Complete Chapter 22 assignments Work on Portfolio Project (Due Apr 29)	Due Apr 8
Apr 9		Week 11		Complete Chapter 23 assignments Complete Chapter 24 assignments Complete Chapter 28 assignments Work on Portfolio Project (Due Apr 29)	Due Apr 15
Apr 16		Week 12		Complete Chapter 41 assignments Take test on Chapters 22, 23, 24, 28, 41 Complete Chapter 32 assignments Work on Portfolio Project (Due Apr 29)	Due Apr 22
Apr 23		Week 13		Portfolio Project Due in my office by Apr 29. Plan ahead to make sure it’s here. Complete Chapter 33 assignments Complete Chapter 34 assignments Complete Chapter 37 assignments	Due Apr 29
Apr 30		Week 14		Complete Chapter 38 assignments Complete Chapter 39 assignments Take test on Chapters 32, 33, 34, 37, 38, 39 Watch due dates!! Complete the Final Exam at your testing site between May 6 and May 12. Remember to take photo ID. GOOD LUCK!!!	Due May 6
May 7		Week 15		Complete the Final Exam at your testing site between May 6 and May 12. Remember to take photo ID. GOOD LUCK!!!	Due May 12
**The instructor has the right to change the course schedule/requirements at any time.