Navigate the Syllabus
What is this course and why am I taking it?
Welcome to Lifelong Learning Lab! In this course, we will explore lots of topics related to learning and higher education, identity and purpose, and collaboration and cooperation.
You might be taking this course because you are an Interdisciplinary Studies major and it’s required of all IDS majors. You might be taking it because you need some extra credits. Or your might be taking it just because you thought it looked interesting. Whatever your reason, my goal as your instructor is to facilitate conversation all around taking control of your own education.
Who is my instructor and how can I contact them?
I am, officially, Dr. Matthew Cheney, Director of Interdisciplinary Studies. You are welcome to address me formally if that is most comfortable for you, or you are also welcome to call me Matt or Matthew or just Cheney — I’ve had students use all those ways of referring to me. You are also welcome to use any pronoun for me that you like.
This is my seventh year as director of IDS, but I have been at PSU much of my life, because my mother worked here for 43 years. I wanted to get the heck out of rural NH when I was 18, so I went to New York University and spent three years working toward a BFA in Dramatic Writing, then, burnt out in New York, I transferred back home and finished up with a BA in English from UNH. I got a job teaching high school, and eventually made my way to Dartmouth College, where I got a master’s degree in Liberal Studies, a very IDS-like program where I specialized in a field called cultural studies. Eventually, I decided I wanted to teach college instead of high school, and I ended up at UNH, where I got a Ph.D. in Literature, specializing in 20th Century writers, global literature, and queer studies.
If you are curious who I am outside of work, you can check out my personal website. You can also find my books right here in Lamson Library.
Make an appointment with me
Office 📞 (603) 535-2510
Physical Office 🏫 Lamson Library 003
Course Drop-In Hours 🕝 Mondays 11:15am-12:15pm
Wednesdays 5-6pm
Drop In Hours
Mondays 11:15am-12:15pm
Wednesdays 5-6pm
Lamson 003
What are Drop In Hours?
Some professors call them “Office Hours,” but I call them “Drop-In Hours” because they are for you to do exactly that! During my Drop-In Hours, I will be in my office for you to come by if you need to talk for any reason. The IDS office (Lamson 003) is in the lower level of Lamson Library, between the Writing Center and the café.
Here’s a list of things you might want to talk to me about, but you really can come to talk about anything that’s on your mind.
- How you are doing in this class
- Confusion about an assignment
- Support with your ePort
- Time management issues
- Strategies for keeping track of deadlines
- Something in your life that is getting in the way of your learning
- General questions about how things work at PSU – withdrawing, registering for classes, changing your major, financial questions, etc. If I can’t answer the question, I usually know who can!
- And anything else that’s on your mind
Do I need a textbook?
Nope! The FREE Open Education Resource (OER) for this class can be found here: clusterlearning.press.plymouth.edu. Other readings in the class will be accessible to everyone for free.
What am I going to learn in this class?
In this course, students explore interdisciplinarity, cluster learning, and open education in a setting that puts their own knowledge and concerns at the forefront. Individual work allows students to explore and express their own academic interests, while group work unites diverse experiences. Students share work with peers and with the world at large through multimedia projects.
Learning Goals
Students who successfully complete this course will have the opportunity and ability to…
- reflect on learning experiences and develop goals and strategies for their future learning.
- show an understanding of an engagement with the PSU Habits of Mind.
- engage in and develop an understanding of project-based, interdisciplinary, and open education.
- articulate a clear understanding of their own interests and passions.
- demonstrate knowledge of academic disciplines and interdisciplinarity.
- understand the idea of the “knowledge commons” and their relationship to it.
- explore the tensions and affordances of collaborative work in order to improve teamwork
- share work and knowledge with relevant communities external to PSU.
- interrogate why school and education are structured the way they are.
- propose new approaches for their education that align with their personal values and future goals.
- develop a website (ePort) with a clear purpose, audience, and voice.
What am I going to do in this class?
There are two major projects in this class, an individual one and a group project. During class, we will have smaller activities and assignments, but the stuff below is the major work of the course.
Personal ePort Project (40% of grade)
In this course, you will build your own website on “USNH Domains.” You will create a space completely curated to your needs – maybe you want to create an artist’s portfolio to showcase your favorite work; maybe you want post and rework some of your strongest academic work for your resume. The sky (and your drive/ our tech skills) are the limit! You can control the privacy settings on your ePort, which we will discuss in class, but if you prefer to work in an inherently private setting, please discuss this with me and I will help you to use Mahara, Canvas, or another tool. One thing to keep in mind is that you aren’t going to be graded on your tech ability. We will do our best together with the power of our collective brains, tutorials, Google, the Help Desk, and folks at the CoLab who are talented with WordPress. The most important thing is to keep an open mind and be willing to try things out, even if they don’t work.
Required ePort Elements:
- ePort Vision Proposal
- ePort Setup Checklist
- 4 ePort Posts (minimum)
- Final ePort Evaluation
Group Project (50% of grade)
Your will work with a group of peers to host a class takeover. Your group will choose a topic (either from my topic list or propose a new one) and will be responsible for organizing and leading class during the session assigned to you (see the course schedule). You can design or find an activity for us to do, facilitate a discussion, host an event open to more than just our class, present a skit or series of creative works, or something else! I think we can all agree that we’ve seen enough slideshow presentations… but if you want to present something, let’s talk about how we can make it unique or include another experience to shake things up.
Required Group Project Elements:
- Project Proposal (25 points)
- Midpoint Check In (25 points)
- Project Summary & Materials (45 points)
- Group Reflection (25 points)
Miscellaneous Items (10% of grade)
A few of our assignments don’t quite fit into the ePort or Group Project bucket and will be assessed separately.
What should I bring to class?
- Please bring a CHARGED laptop to every class session. You do not need to own a laptop — you can check one out at the Help Desk in the HUB with your student ID. We will do a lot of work in class together.
- It’s a good idea to bring a pen and paper to class just in case we’re doing something for which you find it useful.
- This isn’t necessarily something to bring to class, but please create a folder to keep your work for this class. You can use OneDrive, Google Docs, a folder on your computer, or another method that works for you. Having a folder to keep your work is going to be important for being organized and referencing previous work. And please NAME your documents with clear titles so you can find your work later.
How am I going to be graded and how do I pass this course?
This is a Pass/No Pass (P/NP) course. There will only be 3 “grades” given in this class for assignments, with the focus being on completed and timely work.
- 100%→ completed assignment and done on time and by the original due date
- 75%→ late or incomplete assignment
- 0%→ did not submit assignment or was submitted more than one week after the deadline
- Life happens!! I will be flexible with this deadline as long as you are communicating with me about the circumstances.
Since this is a pass/no pass course, please see the evaluation scale on the right to see what grades will be considered PASS, and what will be considered a NO PASS.
Evaluation Scale
- A (95 – 100) (PASS)
- A- (90 – 94) (PASS)
- B+ (87 – 89) (PASS)
- B (84 – 86) (PASS)
- B- (80 – 83) (PASS)
- C+ (77 – 79) (PASS)
- C (74 – 76) (PASS)
- C- (70 – 73) (PASS)
- D+ (67 – 69) (NO PASS)
- D (64 – 66) (NO PASS)
- D- (60 – 63) (NO PASS)
- F (Below 60) (NO PASS)
project = 50% final grade
misc assignments = 10% final grade
What is the attendance policy?
Attendance has a direct effect on the classroom community and that’s everything in this course. In addition, lots of class time will be spent working with your group on your class takeover. If you aren’t pitching in with group work, there’s a possibility that you won’t be able to pass the course. For this reason, attendance is VERY important. I encourage you to strive for perfect attendance in this class since so much of it is based on class discussion, activities, and our group takeovers. We all miss out if you aren’t around because everyone is an important piece of the puzzle in this class. With all of this said, there are lots of reasons why students miss class, and I don’t need you to justify those absences. But, at a certain point, too many missed classes make it difficult for you to finish work, be part of our community, and pass this course. If you hear from me about absences, don’t panic. Let’s just set up a time to talk and figure out what’s next.
Here is my attendance policy:
- Excused absences will have no direct effect on your grade. I say DIRECT because, although I won’t be calculating an attendance grade, missing class often results in missing work, falling behind, and not engaging with your group work. An excused absence is simply when you tell me ahead of time that you are going to be absent from class and you communicate your plan to complete your work outside of class, catch up with your group over text/ with a physical meeting, etc.
- Two unexcused absences will result in me reaching out to you. An unexcused absence is when you don’t communicate with me ahead of time that you are going to be absent. If I reach out to you, you aren’t in trouble and I’m not mad. My main concern is you — I want to make sure you’re ok. Then, I want us to come up with a plan to meet with me about your missed work and make a plan to complete it.
- Six unexcused absences will most likely result in a “NO PASS” for the course. This is almost half of our class meeting times and indicates to me that you haven’t been able to be part of our class community and have missed a lot of important discussions, information, work time, and group work. And, again, this is only if you don’t communicate your absences with me beforehand and you aren’t pulling your weight in the group.
- TLDR: If you need to be absent from class, talk to me beforehand and stay on top of your work and connected with your group. That’s it!
The University’s Excused Absence Policy can be found here: Excused Absence Policy.
What other class policies should I know about?
Basic Needs
College can be challenging to navigate, and it will be hard for you to learn if your basic needs aren’t met— if you aren’t getting good nutrition, or enough sleep, if you feel lonely or isolated, or if you’re anxious about your living situation, finances, safety, resources, or other issues. Fortunately, there are many people and resources on campus that can provide support. Your academic advisor, your instructors, your Student Success Coach, Student Account Services, and many others can answer questions you have and help you find resources you need. I can also help you find the resources you need to be successful; you can always reach out to me if you find yourself struggling. On Canvas, please refer to the module titled “If You Need Support” for a bunch of resources.
Academic Honesty
Presenting someone else’s work as your own or without attribution is a violation of the University’s Academic Integrity Policy, which can be found here: Academic Integrity Policy.
ADA Statement
Plymouth State University is committed to providing students with documented disabilities equal access to all university programs and facilities. If you think you have a disability requiring accommodations, you should contact Campus Accessibility Services (CAS), located in Speare 210 (535-3300) to determine whether you are eligible for such accommodations. Academic accommodations will only be considered for students who have registered with CAS. If you have a Letter of Accommodation for this course from CAS, please provide the instructor with that information privately so that you and the instructor can review those accommodations.
Technology Resources
We will use Canvas and this website as our primary platforms in this class. I will post all assignments on Canvas and you can check your progress there. This site will be where you will find our course schedule and relevant links and resources. We might use Google docs or OneDrive for collaboration and interaction. We will be able to collaborate on text documents, slide presentations, and other Microsoft or Google tools.
If you need help using the various technology tools and software available on campus, or if you are experiencing problems with your personal technology devices (laptop, phone, tablet,) the Helpdesk is available in HUB 123, Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. You can also contact them by phone at 603-535-2929 or via email at helpdesk@plymouth.edu.
Accommodations to Support Learning
Each of us learns in different ways, and everyone needs some kind of help in order to learn effectively.
The PSU policy for academic accommodations is: “Plymouth State University is committed to providing students with documented disabilities equal access to all university programs and facilities. If you think you have a disability requiring accommodations, you should contact Campus Accessibility Services (CAS), located in Speare 209 (603-535-3300) to determine whether you are eligible for such accommodations. Academic accommodations will only be considered for students who have registered with CAS.”
If you have a Letter of Accommodation for this course from CAS, please provide me with that information privately so that we can review those accommodations together. Even if you aren’t eligible for academic accommodations through the CAS, please share your ideas about what I can do to support your learning.