Syllabus
Syllabus
COURSE PROFESSOR:
For millennia, the Kumeyaay people have been a part of this land. This land has nourished,
healed, protected and embraced them for many generations in a relationship of balance and
harmony. We find inspiration from this land; the land of the Kumeyaay. As members of the San
Diego State University Community, we acknowledge this legacy and as students in this class, we
recognize the histories of injustice towards the Kumeyaay people and aspire to contribute to the
collective struggles towards a decolonial future.
This course is in an online format, operating primarily through the Canvas platform. All
class materials will be posted on the class Canvas page. All assignment submissions are expected
to be made on Canvas as well. The course is organized into weekly units launched independently
and sequentially throughout the term. The materials for each week include chapters, lecture
videos for some weeks, PowerPoint slides, class discussions, and online quizzes. Please ensure
that you create a sustainable plan at the beginning of the semester that helps you stay on track
with the quick-moving format of the course. Remember that online courses offer you both
additional flexibility and confer additional responsibility on you. Particularly for the 6-week
format, I strongly encourage you to conduct a time audit to strategize ways to keep up with the
shortened time frame and condensed course content, or consider taking the course during a
regular 15 week semester.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
1. Yamasaki, J., Geist-Martin, P., & Sharf, B. F. (2017). Storied health and illness:
Communicating personal, cultural, and political complexities. Long Grove, IL: Waveland
Press.
2. Harrington, N. G. & Record, R. (2024). Health Communication: Research and Practice
for a Diverse and Changing World (2nd ed.)
3. Additional readings provided on Canvas.
4. Packback Platform.
5. Assigned films.
(Over the course of the semester, students will watch approximately 10-12 films.
These films have been carefully selected to help demonstrate class concepts. Each
quiz will contain questions about the film. You will be granted access to the
movies through Canvas each week.)
COURSE POLICIES
Email Policy
Email is the primary means of contact. Please include [Semester and COMM 321] in
the subject line. This helps sort through the numerous emails we may receive each day and
respond accordingly. Allow a 48-hour response time and use basic courtesy and proper
grammar when emailing. If there is no response within this timeframe, you may resend your
email.
Please ensure that you check your SDSU email daily for any email from faculty/TAs, in addition
to checking the Announcements on Canvas.
The pointers below can help you decide when/ whether to email for specific issues:
- General questions about the course that are NOT answered in the syllabus
- Concerns regarding deadlines (extensions will not be granted except in extreme
circumstances)
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- Canvas & technical issues (Do not e-mail about issues that are a result of procrastination,
such as trying to submit an assignment the same minute it’s due. If you experience a tech
problem on Saturday you can e-mail Dr. but there’s no guarantee it will get resolved
before the deadline.
- Wanting to meet to prepare for an assignment or review class materials
- Requesting feedback on a grade or wanting to discuss a grade—which must be done
synchronously during office hours as it is not possible to do so over email.
Class Conduct
Although this course is conducted online, you are still expected to virtually conduct
yourself with respect for the course, yourself, and others. This means you are to 1) come
prepared to online discussion forums (i.e., do all readings/homework and come ready to discuss
the content) and take pride in the work you do, 2) offer support and encouragement to your
classmates, 3) listen to others carefully before offering your opinion, and 4) talk to your
instructor outside of class if anything that happens during discussion bothers you. Your active
participation in the learning process is expected and valued.
A class about health communication is a stimulating topic, filled with controversies that
touch upon our personal values, beliefs, and issues of identity. I encourage you to share your
thoughts, concerns, and opinions in class—we will have a stimulating learning environment and
a richer learning experience if we can discuss a wide range of perspectives. At the same time, the
issues we will address can be highly emotional ones and we won't always agree with one another.
It is vital that everyone feels safe to air her/his/their ideas and opinions. Please be sensitive and
respectful to other viewpoints when making comments and contributing to discussion.
Sometimes a simple acknowledgement that you are disagreeing with a position can move a
discussion forward (e.g., I understand your position and reasoning, but I drew a different
conclusion as I see the issue differently). Please limit your remarks to issues and not people.
If a student consistently exhibits behavior that disrupts the online forum or contributes to
a negative communication climate, action will be taken, including forced withdrawal from the
course. In addition. all university students are expected to abide by the Student Code of Conduct
(see http://go.sdsu.edu/student_affairs/srr/conduct.aspx).
Participation
To benefit from this course, you are expected to fully engage with the material, instructor,
and your peers. This means you are expected to (a) read and consider applications of the
information before engaging in discussion forums, (b) ask questions and/or make applications in
online discussions, and (c) work to facilitate interactions.
Late Work
Late work is not accepted. Only under rare and extreme circumstances will students be able to
make up missed work. It is your responsibility to submit all assignments on or before the
designated due dates. In the event of an emergency, please contact me as soon as possible. LATE
WORK IS NOT ACCEPTED AND WILL RECEIVE A GRADE OF ZERO. In the event of an
unanticipated EMERGENCY – and if it is feasible – students who provide proper written
documentation for late work may have an opportunity to make-up the assignment. Please note
that this policy ONLY applies to university approved absences.
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Canvas Policy
Canvas will be the main platform for our course. This class is broken up into 6 weeks. All
course materials will be available on Canvas during their assigned weeks. Materials will include
the required weekly readings/videos which you should watch before posting the DQ/Packbacks
and taking the quizzes. The readings will be a combination of the two textbooks required for the
course and the videos will be a combination of
Materials for each week will be available beginning Monday morning. Class materials
will not be made available to students before the scheduled time. Materials for each week will
close the following Sunday at 11:59 pm. If you experience a tech problem on Sunday you can e-
mail but there’s no guarantee it will get resolved before the deadline.
Attendance
Since the course is online, attendance is monitored exclusively through discussion
participation and submission of work.
Academic Integrity
Plagiarism is one of the highest forms of academic offense. The University adheres to a
strict policy regarding cheating and plagiarism. These activities will not be tolerated in this
class (i.e. there are no second chances regarding issues of plagiarism). Become familiar with the
policy (http://www.sa.sdsu.edu/srr/conduct1.html). Any cheating or plagiarism will result in
failing this class and a disciplinary review by Student Affairs.
Overview:
In any case in which a Professor or Instructor identifies evidence for charging a student
with violation of academic conduct standards or plagiarism, the presumption will be with that
instructor’s determination. However, the faculty/instructor(s) will confer with the director to
substantiate the evidence. Once confirmed, the evidence will be reviewed with the student. If,
following the review with the student, the faculty member and director determine that academic
dishonesty has occurred, the evidence will be submitted to the Office of Student Rights and
Responsibilities. The report “identifies the student who was found responsible, the general nature
of the offense, the action taken, and a recommendation as to whether or not additional action
should be considered by the campus judicial affairs office.”
(http://www.sa.sdsu.edu/srr/academics1.html).
Intellectual Property:
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The syllabus, lectures and lecture outlines are personal copyrighted intellectual property
of the instructor, which means that any organized recording for anything other than personal use,
duplication, distribution, or profit is a violation of copyright and fair use laws.
Self-plagiarism
Students often practice some form of ‘double-dipping,’ in which they write on a given
topic across more than one course assignment. In general, there is nothing wrong with
doubledipping topics or sources, but there is a problem with double-dipping exact and redundant
text. It is common for scholars to write on the same topic across many publication outlets; this is
part of developing expertise and the reputation of being a scholar on a topic. Scholars, however,
are not permitted to repeat exact text across papers or publications except when noted and
attributed, as this wastes precious intellectual space with repetition and does a disservice to the
particular source of original presentation by ‘diluting’ the value of the original presentation. Any
time that a writer simply ‘cuts-and-pastes’ exact text from former papers into a new paper
without proper attribution, it is a form of self-plagiarism. Consequently, a given paper should
never be turned in to multiple classes. Entire paragraphs, or even sentences, should not be
repeated word-for-word across course assignments. Each new writing assignment is precisely
that, a new writing assignment, requiring new composition on the student’s part.
Secondary citations
Secondary citation is not strictly a form of plagiarism, but in blatant forms, it can present
similar ethical challenges. A secondary citation is citing source A, which in turn cites source B,
but it is source B’s ideas or content that provide the basis for the claims the student intends to
make in the assignment. For example, assume that there is an article by Jones (2006) in the
student’s hands, in which there is a discussion or quotation of an article by Smith (1998). Assume
further that what Smith seems to be saying is very important to the student’s analysis. In such a
situation, the student should always try to locate the original Smith source. In general, if an idea
is important enough to discuss in an assignment, it is important enough to locate and cite the
original source for that idea. There are several reasons for these policies: (a) Authors sometimes
commit citation errors, which might be replicated without knowing it; (b) Authors sometimes
make interpretation errors, which might be ignorantly reinforced (c) Therefore, reliability of
scholarly activity is made more difficult to assure and enforce; (d) By relying on only a few
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sources of review, the learning process is short-circuited, and the student’s own research
competencies are diminished, which are integral to any liberal education; (e) By masking the
actual sources of ideas, readers must second guess which sources come from which citations,
making the readers’ own research more difficult; (f) By masking the origin of the information,
the actual source of ideas is misrepresented. Some suggestions that assist with this principle:
• When the ideas Jones discusses are clearly attributed to, or unique to, Smith, then find
the Smith source and citation.
• When the ideas Jones is discussing are historically associated more with Smith than
with Jones, then find the Smith source and citation.
• In contrast, Jones is sometimes merely using Smith to back up what Jones is saying
and believes, and is independently qualified to claim, whether or not Smith would
have also said it; in such a case, citing Jones is sufficient.
• Never simply copy a series of citations at the end of a statement by Jones, and
reproduce the reference list without actually going to look up what those references
report—the only guarantee that claims are valid is for a student to read the original
sources of those claims.
*Note about ChatGPT use: As we figure out the broader implications of using large
language models like ChatGPT for student work, please cite whenever you have used this
platform to write portions of text. For this class, not citing such derivation from ChatGPT or
other large language models will be considered plagiarism. Also, please know that these
platforms are also notorious for propagating incorrect information. There can be glaring
inadequacies in the system particularly when it comes to more nuanced content that may be
expected in your class discussion. In all honesty, it may be a better use of your time to think and
write, as opposed to relying on this technology completely. The final word on this for our
purposes – proceed with caution!
If you have a documented disability that requires academic accommodations, please turn
in your accommodation letter to me by the second week of class. If you are a student with a
disability and believe you will need accommodations for this class, it is your responsibility to
contact Student Disability Services at (619) 594-6473. To avoid any delay in the receipt of your
accommodations, you should contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible. Please note
that accommodations are not retroactive, and that accommodations based upon disability cannot
be provided until you have presented your instructor with an accommodation letter from Student
Disability Services.
WRITTEN WORK
All assignments will be submitted through Canvas. If you experience Canvas problems
while trying to submit an assignment, email me a copy of the assignment before the deadline and
then figure out what went wrong. This should not happen consistently.
You will be expected to use current APA 7th Edition style guidelines for all written work.
Use of appropriate grammatical skills in your written work is very important. Your written work
will be evaluated on both content and mechanics. Good writing should be free of mistakes and
without composition errors (e.g., sentence fragments, run-on sentences, subjectverb
disagreement, misspelled words, typographical errors). Proofread your papers; do not leave it up
to your computer software.
Unless otherwise indicated, all of your work MUST BE TYPED (using no more than 12
point type with 1 inch margins on all sides per APA) and double-spaced. Failure to meet written
work guidelines will result in a grade penalty— please remember I do not accept late work.
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GRADED ASSIGNMENTS
There is a total of 650 points that can be earned for this course. The final grade will be
determined by adding the total points earned for each of the graded assignments. The final
grade is based on number of points accumulated—NOT PERCENTAGES. Final grades are
not rounded up and are NOT negotiable. The point breakdown for class assignments follows.
Discussion Question Post (DQ) /Packback Post- 300 points (30 points* 10 DQs) Students will
engage in discussion posts for each part of each week (30 points for each part) on Canvas
through the Packback platform (details below). For example, during Week 1, part 1, you will
complete DQ1/Packback1. During Week 1, part 2, you will complete DQ2/Packback2. So each
week you will have two DQs due. There will be an exception to this during Week 6, which I send
reminders about through the announcements on Canvas.
You must complete the introductory Discussion Question Post on Post 1 (details below).
Overall, these discussions will be driven by student questions (questions you create), arising
from the readings for that segment of the week. You may choose any of the readings provided.
However, at the beginning of your discussion post (in the body) please state clearly which
reading your post emerges from. For example, “Based on Harrington & Record’s chapter 8”, or
“Based on Yamasaki et al., Ch. 8..”. These questions/posts will present opportunities to reflect on
weekly readings and discuss with classmates. The assignments will require you to complete two
tasks as follows:
i) Create a discussion post based on the reading for the first/second segment of the week.
a. This will require that you post a question as the title of your discussion post – for
example (Here I am using the discussion question posed by Yamasaki et al., Ch. 3
p. 74 to demonstrate) “Based on your own experiences with healthcare providers,
why is communication so important to the patient-provider encounter? In contrast,
can you think of a medical situation in which effective communication may be
unnecessary?” Feel free to browse the many examples of discussion questions at
the end of the Yamasaki chapters, but do not use these questions as you may be
flagged for plagiarism, since you are required to generate your questions.
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For Post 1, where you have yet to engage in text readings, you may provide a
simpler question/s about yourself such as “Who am I? What is the most
interesting thing about me? What is the most recent example of
effective/ineffective health communication I have witnessed and why?” This is
just one example, and you are not bound by these questions. As directed by
Packback, you may also include images and video clips to ensure an engaging
response.
b. Next, answer this question yourself as the discussion post flowing from that
question. Put simply, the question is the title of the post, and your answer is the
body of the post. Each post should be a minimum of 250 words and a maximum
of approximately 500 words. However, please know that there will certainly be a
penalty for going below the minimum, whereas there is not really an enforced
upper limit as such for grading purposes. For those of you worried about points
being deducted for excessive writing, I want to reiterate that I am always happy
with more discussion, but not less.
ii) Respond to the discussion posts of at least two other students. Remember, these responses
need to be engaging, and not in the realm of “Yes”, “No”, or “Awesome”.
Please aim for at least a paragraph for each response, between 100 to 150 words.
Responses will need to be thoughtful and grammatically correct to earn full points.
Packback
This is the platform under Canvas, where you will be making Discussion Question Posts (DQs)
On Packback, students ask the discussion questions, giving students a space to develop their
ideas, take an active role in learning, and practice writing. Packback Questions is a question
based discussion platform where you can ask the BIG questions about what you're learning and
what you still want to know. The more open-ended your question or the more in-depth and
exploratory your response, the more effort is shown, and the more Curiosity Points you earn on
the post. Packback considers legibility, formatting, the inclusion of images, videos and
supplemental materials within questions and responses that make the post easier more interesting
or more insightful to read.
https://www.packback.co/pedagogy/how-to-post-a-quality-response-on-packback/
Please ensure you read through the hints for posting questions on Packback. In addition, I am
also adding a powerpoint on how to maximize your Packback score on Canvas.
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B 543 to 561
B- 517 to 542
C+ 497 to 516 C range –
Average/inconsistent work
C 478 to 496
C- 452 to 477
D 387 to 451 D
*You can expect most of the class to earn a B or C. Some students will earn an A and a few
students could earn a D or F.
**A does NOT stand for average; A work is high quality work that does more than address the
bare minimum requested in a prompt.
Week TOPIC/READINGS/ACTIVITIES