Submitting events for credit
To receive credit for having completed an event on your personal CEC, you need to write a 100-word reflective response to the event and submit it to Blackboard by whatever due date has been established by your instructor. The response must demonstrate 1) care and quality in writing, 2) attention to particulars of the experience, 3) reflection that addresses broader implications of the experience, to the issue at hand or to the student’s personal growth.
To submit a response, log in to Blackboard, click into your FYS class, and choose the CEC button. While you can type your response directly into the available essay-styled answer box, you would be wise to type your response first into a word-processing file and then copy it into the answer box. In any event, you are responsible for keeping a personal record of your responses as a back-up. Your peer advisors and/or instructor will review your response and either record the event as completed or contact you with questions. In some cases, instructors may ask you to submit your responses outside the Blackboard system, so always verify procedures with your instructor.
Tracking your progress
Your submitted responses will automatically register as an exclamation point (!) in the Blackboard gradebook – the system’s way of indicating that material has been received but not yet evaluated. Once a response has been reviewed and approved, the exclamation mark will be replaced with a checkmark ( √ ). Hence, unless an individual instructor uses an alternate tracking method, students can track their own progress through Blackboard gradebook.
Earning a CEC grade
The Community Engagement Contract comprises 20% of the First-Year Seminar course grade. The grade for this portion of the course will be based on the extent to which a student fulfills his or her own contract, as gauged by the student’s submission of appropriate reflective responses to those events.
A response will be given full credit 1) if it meets the standards of quality described above, under “submitting events for credit,” and 2) if it is completed by whatever due date was agreed upon between the student and the instructor.
The final grade for the CEC will be determined in relation to the percentage of the contract completed. Thus, a student who submits timely and appropriate responses for 10 contracted events completes 100% of the contract, earns 100 points, and receives a grade of “A” for this portion of the course; a student who completes 8 of 10 events completes 80% of the contract, earns 80 points, and receives a grade of “C+” for the CEC.