Michigan Online Syllabus
Participation Strategies
Engaged learning looks different for everybody. In this course, we hope you will define your own measures of success and engage with the material in a way that best suits your needs.
We recognize and celebrate the diverse ways learners engage in courses. As you go through this course, we hope you will reflect on your unique skills, needs, and aspirations, and engage in the course material in a way that aligns with your own goals. While the course provides time estimates for completion, you should feel empowered to engage in the material in whatever ways make sense to you.
Community Engagement
We expect everyone to be mindful of what they say and its potential impact on others. The goal is to have respectful discussions that do not violate the community space created for these conversations. Here are some productive ways to engage in this course:
- Participate: This is a community. Read what others have written and share your thoughts.
- Stay curious: Learn from experts and each other by listening and asking questions, not making assumptions.
- Keep your passion positive: When replying to a discussion forum post, respond with thoughts on what was said, not about the person who posted. Avoid using all caps, too many exclamation points, or aggressive language.
- Acknowledge discomfort: The topics discussed in this course might be challenging or hard to talk about. Stick with it and remember the benefits of having these tough conversations that surface from multiple perspectives.
We expect all learners to abide by our full Learner Engagement Policy. We will specifically be monitoring this course for language that could be considered inflammatory, incivil, racist, or otherwise unacceptable for this learning space, and we will remove language deemed such.
Note regarding “study groups” outside of the platform: While learners are encouraged to interact with one another using communication tools offered within the learning platform, note that any study groups formed outside of this platform, such as over social media or communication applications and websites (e.g., WhatsApp) are not affiliated, endorsed, or moderated by the University of Michigan. If you receive an invitation to an outside study group mentioning the course and claiming to have any official connection to U-M or individual instructors, please exercise caution as this may be an attempted scam.
Academic Honesty
All submitted work should be your own and academic dishonesty is not allowed, such as, but not limited to:
- Copying words, ideas, or other materials from another source without giving credit to the original author
- Copying answers or copying from your peers within the course
- Employing or allowing another person to alter or revise your work, and then submitting the work as your own
- Using Artificial Intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT, to create or edit your work and submitting that work as your own, unless you were instructed to use AI as part of the assignment
Academic dishonesty may result in deleting assignment submissions, forum responses, removal from the course, or other actions as needed. For more information on academic honesty and misconduct, please refer to our Learner Engagement Policy.
Accessibility
We are committed to developing accessible learning experiences for the widest possible audience. We recognize that learners with disabilities (including but not limited to visual impairments, hearing impairments, cognitive disabilities, or motor disabilities) might need more specific accessibility-related support to achieve learning goals in this course.
Please use the accessibility feedback form to let us know about any accessibility challenges such as urgent issues that keep you from making progress in the course (e.g., missing or inadequate alt-text, captioning errors).
Third-party sites and software: While the University of Michigan is not responsible for the accessibility of third-party sites or applications that may be linked from this course, we still encourage you to report associated third-party accessibility issues so that we can ensure you are able to participate. In such cases, we may contact you for additional information as we investigate ways of removing accessibility barriers or to suggest accessible alternatives.
Global Learning Statement
We welcome all learners to this course. By enrolling in this course, you join people from all over the world and we value the perspectives they bring to the learning environment. We strive to create a community of mutual respect and trust where people from all backgrounds and views are valued and heard without the threat of bias, harassment, intimidation, or discrimination. We pay attention to your feedback on how different types of learners experience this course and aim to make improvements so the course can best serve everyone. We hope you enjoy learning about topics that are important to you.
