Course Syllabus

Mizzou Academy

The purpose of Critical Thinking and Study Skills (CTSS) is to help you harness the power within you and use it to meet your goals.  Along the way, you will learn how to recognize and strengthen your learning skills and apply these to situations outside the classroom.  Additionally, you will develop writing skills that will be useful to you both in the academic sphere and the workplace.  Most importantly, this course will introduce you to critical thinking and how it is used by everyone to navigate the world, overcome obstacles, and make decisions on a daily basis. 

Many of the lessons in this course will help you to improve the skills you already have, even those you are unaware of, and connect them to real-world situations.  While this course is graded and an integral part of your academic career, our intention is to provide you with the power to meet your goals after graduation by implementing several useful techniques, resources, and processes introduced in the lessons.  More than just another course on the path toward graduation, CTSS provides you with tools to achieve lifetime success. 

The objective of this course is that students will be able to

  1. Develop goal-setting skills and their application to academic learning
  2. Understand metacognition, how it can be used in their learning goals, and apply it to their lives
  3. Learn and practice critical thinking skills both in and out of the classroom
  4. Develop paragraph and essay writing skills 
  5. Learn how to use the Learning Library 
  6. Use a rubric to meet assignment expectations

There are no outside materials required for this course.

The most up-to-date requirements can be found here: 

Additional requirements for the course are below: 

  • audio and video recording capabilities (e.g. smartphone, camera)

There are submitted assignments after Lessons 1,3,7, and 9.  The midterm exam has two parts:  objective and performance.  The objective portion covers information from Lessons 1-5.  The performance portion is a Dream Board Project that incorporates all the skills and concepts you have learned in the first half of this course.  The final exam also consists of two parts:  objective and performance.  The objective portion covers information from Lessons 6-10.  The performance portion is an original essay.  You begin work on this in Lesson 10 and use what you have completed as a part of your final exam submission.  

You should submit all assigned work in sequence (Lesson 1, then Lesson 2, etc.) Assignments for the course are listed at the bottom of this syllabus.

Quizzes are taken online. After you submit them, you’ll quickly receive a report on how you did. Unlike exams, you may use any assigned readings, your notes, and other course-related materials to complete graded quizzes and assignments.  Please note that graded quizzes cannot be retaken. 

Assignments may require you to submit your completed work in the form of a file (such as a text document, image, audio or video recording, or multimedia presentation) or a hyperlink for grading. Please ask questions if you need help converting a file or do not understand the expectations. 

After your work has been graded, you will receive a report that provides individualized feedback and comments on your work. Look carefully at what you missed and read any corresponding feedback. Then study the lesson materials to make certain that you can accomplish the associated learning objectives.

Each lesson provides step-by-step instructions on how to submit your work. Be sure to check submitted work carefully for errors (e.g. spelling, grammar, and punctuation) as they may result in points being deducted.  Our policy does not allow for resubmissions after a grade has been awarded.

You are required to take two proctored exams for this course.

See the "About Exams" in the policies section for additional information on exams at Mizzou Academy.

Your final grade will be based on the number of points you earn on assignments and exams.

Grading Scale
Grade Percentage
A 90–100
B 80–89
C 70–79
D 60–69
F 0–59

After completing the course, unofficial transcripts will be available in the Tiger Portal. See this page for information on requesting official transcripts. 

View the content below to learn more about each of these elements and how they work in your Mizzou Academy Canvas course.

 

Our academic integrity policy at Mizzou Academy is based on our values of ethical behavior, learning, and giving all stakeholders the benefit of the doubt. Collaboration, research, and technical literacy are vital 21st-century skills when combined with academic integrity. 

Mizzou Academy's academic integrity policy is aligned with the University of Missouri’s academic integrity policy. The definitions of what constitutes "cheating" and "plagiarism"are posted on the Provost’s Advising Council’s webpage which can be found here: https://advising.missouri.edu/policies/academic-integrity

If, when completing any of your assignments or exams for this course, you are found to have demonstrated cheating or plagiarism as defined above, this is a violation of academic integrity. At your teacher's discretion, violations of academic integrity may be subject to either or both of the following actions: 

  • receiving a zero for the assignment or exam
  • receiving an F for the course

If you anticipate barriers related to the format or requirements of this course, please let Mizzou Academy know as soon as possible. If disability-related accommodations are necessary (for example, a scribe, reader, extended time on exams, captioning), please contact Mizzou Academy.

*This section describes the policies of exams at Mizzou Academy. This section only applies if you have exams in your course. See the section above to see if you have exams.

Your exams are online. It is your responsibility to schedule your exams. 

During exams, unless otherwise noted, you are not allowed to navigate away from the exam or use any other resources. If you deviate from the exam guidelines without proper prior permission, it is considered cheating on an exam. 

Mizzou Academy values fair testing and assessment to determine that students master essential course concepts and skills. During a proctored exam, tests are supervised by an impartial individual (a proctor) to help ensure that all exams maintain academic integrity. You will need to use a Mizzou Academy approved proctor. Please see the Exam Proctoring webpage for more information. 

  • Choose a proctor and make arrangements for taking the exam.
  • At least 2 weeks prior to taking your exam, submit your proctor information to Mizzou Academy 
  • You will be sent an email notice indicating if your chosen proctor has been approved or denied.
  • Arrive at your proctor’s testing site at the scheduled time with a photo ID. At testing time, you will log into your Mizzou Academy account and select the exam for your proctor to access and administer.

If you are taking a global classroom course, work with your local teacher to identify your date of the exam and how you will be proctored. You do not need to request an exam date with the above form.

  • Complete and review all assignments.
  • Review the learning objectives; make sure you can accomplish them.
  • Be prepared to explain any key terms and concepts.
  • Review all the lessons, exercises, and study questions.
  • Review any feedback and/or comments on your assignments and previous exams; look up answers to any questions you missed.

**Not applicable to World Language courses.

Canvas is where course content, grades, and communication will reside for this course.

Course Summary:

Date Details Due
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