| Dictionary | Lessons | Resources | Library | ASL University Main |
Hello :)
Welcome to ASLU!
My name is Alyson Rafferty. I'm your ASLU Success Coach!
Feel free to contact me for anything having to do with your class.
The online version of this email is at: https://lifeprint.com/aslu/
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions about anything to do with this course you may always email me. I tend to be in the Lifeprint Office in the evenings Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Here's how to get succeed in your course:
___ Read your your syllabus thoroughly:
[ ASL 1 Syllabus ] [ ASL 2 Syllabus ] [ ASL 3 Syllabus ] [ ASL 4 Syllabus ]
___ Take the quizzes for your level and email me your answers.
___ Complete and submit a 500 word research paper.
___ Take the Deaf Culture Quiz and email me your answers.
___ Create and submit your video project.
___ Choose a local proctor, request and take the receptive final.
The specific instructions and links to do the above assignments are in your syllabus!
You study the lessons at Lifeprint.com (then go to your syllabus and click on the quiz video links FROM YOUR SYLLABUS and type out your answers then clearly indicate your name, your class level (ASL 1, ASL 2, ASL 3, or ASL 4), and email me your answers at ASLUniversity@aol.com. I'll get back to you generally within a week with your quiz results or other scores. If you think I missed your email feel free to email me again and cc Dr. Vicars at BillVicars@aol.com for backup. Tip: Sometimes it is totally okay to also cc a parent or local support person as a way to make sure that your emails are being sent.
I'll keep track of your scores on my local Excel spreadsheet and I encourage you to also save your scores locally.
After you've taken the quizzes (including the culture test) you need to turn in your research paper, your video project (receiving 70% or better), and pass the receptive final (at 70% or better). Then you will be done and I'll email you your course completion documentation.
The lessons are at: http://Lifeprint.com/asl101/lessons/lessons.htm
Level 1 students study lessons 1 through 15.
Level 2 students study lessons 16 through 30.
Level 3 students study lessons 31 through 45.
Level 4 students study lessons 46 through 60.
In the lesson pages you will see links to the vocabulary. I strongly recommend you click on each of the vocabulary links and review the individual signs and review the sentences.
Then watch the instructional video.
There are some practice quizzes at the end of some of the lessons -- also if you want even more practice quizzes see: http://asl.gs/quizzes-practice/index.htm
However, make sure you also do the REAL quizzes by using the quiz links in your syllabus. Watch the video of Dr. Bill signing each question. Write the number of the question and what he signed. If you are not sure what he signed it means you didn't study hard enough, go back to the lesson, click on each vocabulary link, check out ALL the versions of a sign, then click on the sentence example links, then watch the instructional video for the lesson THEN go watch the quiz video and it will be a lot easier to write down what he is signing. Then email your answers to me.
Also you might want to bookmark www.youtube.com/billvicars
For the specific videos that match your lessons -- see the SCHEDULE section of your syllabus.
Also, in some of the later classes -- if you feel that you are not recognizing some of the signs in the quiz videos that likely means you need to review previous lessons or do a better job of scrolling down on the individual vocabulary pages so you can learn the variations.
I'm going to say it again because it is important: See your syllabus for more details regarding your assignments.
When you email me it is really helpful if you identify yourself clearly (first and last name) and which class you are taking.
The SUBJECT LINE of any emails you send should include: "The name of program, your name, and the topic of email."
For example:
"ASL 1: Jane Smith: Paper Topic: "
"ASL 1: Jane Smith: Video Project Link"
"ASL 1: Jane Smith: Final Exam Proctor Info: REPLY REQUESTED."
Please read your syllabus (and re-read it) until you understand what it will take to get the grade you want out of this course. Use the links in your syllabus to make sure you take the right quizzes. (There are practice quizzes that are good to take but that don't count toward your grade. So use the links from your syllabus to be sure. If you note any conflicting information or information that needs updating...do let me know. Here at ASLU we are always working on website trying to make improvements.
When you get near the end of your lesson quizzes it will be time to submit your research paper, your "video project," and the name of a local proctor for your final exam (see the syllabus for more info). You can turn in your research paper, culture test, video project, and final exam at ANY time during the course. Just make sure to get everything done a couple weeks before you need your letter grade. (At the end of the semester there is an "end of semester rush" when the procrastinators turn in their assignments and it sometimes takes us a couple of weeks to get everything graded.
I recommend you keep backups of your work (quiz answers, etc.) so that when you get done with the course you will have an electronic folder with your answers to the quizzes, your receptive final exam answers, your research paper, and a backup of your expressive video (see the syllabus for more info). When you get everything completed, I'll document your work by awarding you documentation in PDF format.
Feel free to email me any time for any reason. If you do not hear back from me within a week, resend your email. (I get a rather large number of emails but I'm very good at replying to all emails when I come into the office.) Understand that I am not bothered at all whatsoever by my registered students sending as many emails as they would like or need in order to succeed in their studies.
A note regarding the Final Exam and the Video Project (see the syllabus for general details). The final exam is weighted at about 5:1 which means that each sentence has about five concepts and if any one of those concepts is missed the whole sentence is wrong. This provides a testing result that is similar in rigor and difficulty to what I expect from my in-person college students. I expect my online students to pass their Video Project and also their Final Exam at 70% or better so that I can document that the distance education student has attained a level of communicative competence similar to what would be typically be demonstrated by a first or second semester college student (depending on which level is being tested) achieving a "C-" or better.
Let me state that again: Since this is a distance education program I expect you to do at least 70% on the Video Project and on the Final Exam in order to pass this course.
Thus regardless if you get 100% on all the other quizzes -- if you do poorly on either the final exam and/or expressive video project you cannot pass this course.
I know some of you are really interested in learning this language and will work hard to do much better than the minimum. Respect!
Remember, when sending email it is best to put in the subject line:
ASL 1: "first and last name" "the topic of your email." (Or whatever course level you are in).
-- That helps me to stay organized and track your progress.
Also, if you need a timely reply (I get tons of email) it helps to add something like "REPLY REQUESTED" to your subject line (along with your first and last name and the course you are in).
Cordially,
Alyson
_____________________________
Alyson Rafferty
ASL University Associate Director and Head Student Success Coach
Email: ASLUniversity@AOL.com
p.s. If you have some sort of urgent situation you are also welcome to contact Dr. Bill Vicars directly:
[Link] Dr. Bill's Contact Info ►
(Or see: www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/contact.htm )
Questions and Answers:
QUESTION:
A student writes: "Hi I was wondering how to set up the due dates for my quizzes tests and projects. Thanks, ________"
ANSWER:
Hello :)
Decide your due dates based on what best meets your needs.
The course is "open" 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so your schedule is totally flexible.
Sometimes students on summer break take my class and have "all day free" and literally do two or three lessons a day (immersion style) and complete the lessons in a couple of weeks and then do their paper in a couple of afternoons, one afternoon for their video project and an hour for their final exam -- thus completing the program in three weeks.
Some students mess around, don't do anything and then end up asking me if I wouldn't mind if they go past the typical 16-week deadline. To which I generally reply, "Sure, as long as I'm alive and the website is up you are welcome to complete the program." Technically though, according to the registration letter, if a student isn't doing at least one lesson a week I can consider them to have "dropped out" and I can drop them as a student. (I haven't done that though -- ever. It just doesn't seem cool. It doesn't hurt me to keep 'em on my roll.)
Quite a few students do "one lesson per week" and get done in about a "semester" (16 weeks).
I recommend you take a good look at your schedule and ask yourself "When is it likely that I will have a convenient and regular time to sit myself down and DO a lesson?" (Pick a time that is attached to some other "regular" occurrence in your life.) Then schedule "15" of those times to do one lesson each time. Doing a lesson consists of: reviewing the vocabulary, reviewing the sentences, and taking the REAL quiz for that lesson. If you have time, read the various cultural and background information, take the practice quizzes, and watch the instructional video (where I teach one-on-one). If you don't have a lot of time then focus on the things that get you points.
This course is not about scheduling but rather how efficiently can you complete: 15 lesson quizzes, 3 unit quizzes, one research paper, one video project, and one cumulative final exam.
If it were me? I'd knock the lessons out as FAST as I can and get them DONE and choose my proctor and take my final exam and BOOM the course would be over (so I could focus on the other things in my life). It is a myth that a person has to stretch out "language lessons" over a few months. I've found the opposite to be true: The more immersive your experience -- the better you actually learn the language. The fact is, the only way you will retain this information for more than a few months after the class is for you to either "keep taking classes" or to develop Deaf friends and hang out in the Deaf world.
One thing for sure to do is to complete your video and final exam at least two weeks before you need your documentation so that I'll have time to grade them.
Question:
Do you give partial credit for partially right answers on the final exam?
Answer:
The grading of the final exam is based on sentences not on words.
Thus a student who misses one major sign in each of four sentences on a 20 sentence exam will end up with a score of 16 out of 20 for having missed four sentences out of twenty.
If you get the sentence completely correct, you get the points.
If you miss a major sign or if you change the meaning of the sentence then you miss the whole sentence.
This is based on having tested several thousand students. (I started teaching college classes in my mid-twenties. About a hundred students per quarter and/or semester, for over twenty years. 200 x 20 = 4,000) I've found that an average student will miss four or five sentences, a good student 2 or 3, very good student, 1 or 2, and an exceptional student will miss none. Thus the grading works out quite well to the typical grade scenario of A's, B's, C's, and so forth. If I graded it by "words" and not sentences, almost every student would get an "A" and the students who really should not pass would be getting "C's."
Why is this important? Because language classes are cumulative. If you haven't sufficiently learned the basics you should not be promoted to the next level course. This is to protect you, your next instructor, and the Deaf Community.
Question:
Where do I find the video links to the official quizzes?
Answer:
The links to the VIDEOS for the official quizzes are in your syllabus.
For example, here is the video for ASL 1: Quiz 1: http://lifeprint.com/quizzes50q/quiz01video.htm
(That link is found in your syllabus under the "Assignment" column in the "schedule" section of your syllabus.)
Or if you would prefer, here is a page with the (right) quiz links all in one place: http://lifeprint.com/quizzes50q/index-video-list.htm
You should watch the video quiz and type out your answers after studying the lesson:
http://lifeprint.com/asl101/lessons/lesson01.htm
It also helps to watch the instructional video (which is part of the lesson).
Then after you've watched the quiz video and typed out your answers you should email them to me at ASLUniversity@aol.com
I recommend doing about one quiz a week to be considered progressing. Also, if you want to pass the Final Exam make sure to REVIEW frequently! (So you can remember the earlier material when it comes time to take the Final).
Then when you get done with the quizzes you can use your time to prep your research paper, do your video project, and review for the final exam (all of which are explained in your syllabus -- so please READ it). You should email me your proctor's name, title, and email address several weeks before you need your letter grade for this course.
Question: When I log on to https://canvas.instructure.com/ it tells me I'm not registered for any courses!?
Response: Do NOT attempt to log into Canvas. The Canvas program stopped providing a free grade book so for now just email me your answers.
[END]