First Meeting for All Students (Spring, 2008) occurs on the following dates: English 2322.090, January 15 on DigiChat. English 2323.090, January 17 on DigChat; English 2327.090, TBA. We use DigiChat (See, Below) This is the ONLINE Orientation as well as the First Tutorial. We will meet on the same days as noted above at 6: 30 p.m. (SHARP!) Plan to spend THREE HOURS ON-LINE ONCE A WEEK! This schedule holds for the remainder of the semester! These TUTORIALS are REQUIRED! CHECK YOUR "PALS" WWW SITE DAILY FOR ANNOUNCEMENTS!
Spring, 2008
Michael S. Seiferth
The Department of English
Orientation and Information
WWW, INTERNET COURSES
English 2323;
English 2327; ENGLISH 2322
SPRING, 2008
Click Here for the Academic Calendar, PAC
Hello!
Welcome to our Literature Course, which you will be taking this semester. You are about to embark on a whole different learning experience in your pursuit of higher education. The central, informing feature of online education, I believe, is that you can work at your own pace whenever it is convenient to you, work anywhere you are connected to the WWW, and work with any number of people no matter how distant they may be from you! We shall, however, be meeting online one per week and you will be meeting with your fellow students in small groups from time to time. This is a pretty good deal, no? But, this kind of freedom from one-time and one-place requires a degree of self-discipline, adequate computer equipment, and access to reliable internet providers. You will be directed to a number of self-assessment tools (or perhaps you have already done the inventories) where you can honestly evaluate your preparedness for this task. In fact, you can go to this WWW site to evaluate your readiness to pursue online education:
http://lonestar.texas.net/~mseifert/tutorial.html
Now, let's get going.
http://lonestar.texas.net/~mseifert/
When you arrive at this page, note the box or table and you will click on English 2327 or English 2322 or English 2323 (American Lit. I or British Lit I or British Lit. II). You will then arrive at the Main Pages the course. For your information, the URL for these courses is as follows:
American Literature (English 2327):
http://lonestar.texas.net/~mseifert/eng2327mainpage.html
British Literature (English 2322):
http://lonestar.texas.net/~mseifert/eng2322mainpage.html
British Literature (English 2323):
http://lonestar.texas.net/~mseifert/eng2323mainpage.html
(b) Now, explore the various "buttons"; when you click on the Syllabus, for example, you will find the course explained, academic policies laid out, and the required textbooks and other books listed for you. You will have to read the syllabus carefully to see the above sections.
2. What makes our course work, however, are the various inter-active features.
(a) You are required to have an e-mail address. Most of our communication, however, will take place within PALS where you automatically have an e-mail account.
(b) You are required to meet with the class in the Chat Room during a SET TIME EACH WEEK, USUALLY THREE HOURS PER WEEK. THESE TUTORIALS ARE ESSENTIAL TO YOUR LEARNING, AND THUS, THEY ARE THE BASIS OF YOUR BACKGROUND. THE SEMINARS, IN FACT, INCLUDE YOUR PUTTING ON THE "BULLETIN BOARD" OR VIA EMAIL DRAFTS OF YOUR PAPERS SO THAT ALL STUDENTS CAN READ AND EVALUATE YOUR WORKS IN PROGRESS. THUS, THE INSTRUCTION IN THIS COURSE CONSISTS OF TUTORIALS--THREE HOURS PER WEEK--AND SEMINARS AND FINAL DRAFTS OF MAJOR PAPERS. FROM TIME TO TIME YOU WILL HAVE AN INTERESTING LECTURE ONLINE FOR WHICH YOU CAN EXPECT MULTI-MEDIA PRESENTATIONS. Finally, your participation on line forms an integral part of your evaluation. You can easily access the Chat Room by clicking on the DIGICHAT icon on the home page. Remember, we are NOT using the PALS CHATROOM; rather, we are using the DIGICHAT ROOM. (http://www.accd.edu/it/digichat)
Therefore, you will receive assignments, messages, and so forth via e-mail. and you will be able to communicate with your fellow classmates through e-mail, the Bulletin Board and the DigiChat Room. .
Well, this is about it for the first, general lesson on getting connected! I am hopeful that you will find this experience pleasant and informative.
Your First On-Line Assignment
Using the BULLETIN BOARD I want you to POST to everyone your name, e-mail address, and a line or two about YOU!. I will use these, and so will you, to set up e-mail accounts for general distribution. PLEASE, do not start a new thread. Just click on the first message, which should either read as "Instructor" or "Michael S. Seiferth".
Please, do this by Wednesday, January 16 by 6:00 P.M.!
Of course, we still have the telephone! If you have any questions, please send e-mail first. If you need to get immediate help and feedback, please call 824-4136!
Thank you for your kind attention to the details noted above!
