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Hello, my name is Cliff Hudder,
and greetings to all signed on for English 1301
Online Class for Fall of 2008, section 4W001 or
4W002.
This document is not a syllabus, but a way to
give you all an idea of what's coming up for the
course this summer. There are some things you
can be doing now to get started, but don't fret
too much. Like any "normal" class, English
1301 Online proceeds week by week at a reasonable
pace, and does not require anything to begin save
fulfilling registration requirements, having access
the Internet and email and knowing how to use
them, and basic keyboarding skills. The course
itself will be available in your “Vista”
page on August 25, 2008. If you don't know what
a "Vista" page is, no problem! Read
on:
THE ORIENTATION: To quell your
fears and questions about the orientation--it's
the sort of thing which can be done online, and
will not require your presence at any particular
location or any particular time before the class
beings. This is pretty much how I run the course
(with one important exception). I'm always trying
to utilize the versatility available to us in
an online section.
Orientation Part One: This concerns
Vista, and information concerning it is available
now by clicking here.
Everything listed for the orientation is of interest,
but the "Vista
Student Orientation" is most helpful,
and is the part I require. (It'll tell you about
your Vista entry page for example.) I'm sure that
some of you have used Vista or some other online
course delivery system before, and will find this
an easy review. This part of the orientation includes
a quiz, but it won’t be active until you
log on to our course after August 25.
Orientation Part Two: Another
part of the orientation is a short introduction
specific to our course which you can read on Week
1 after class starts on August 25. Should you
have questions after examining the online orientation,
feel free to ask me via email, phone, or you can
even come see me in person in Rm E205J on the
Montgomery campus. I do think that even if you
haven't used Vista before, like any software,
playing with it for a week or so will bring familiarity,
and I'm expecting a learning curve for such things
at the start of the course.
ABOUT THE COURSE IN GENERAL: Like
its face-to-face counterpart, Online English 1301
will require approximately two hours of "home"
work for every "classroom" hour: thus,
including the readings, devoting twelve to eighteen
hours per week to the course isn't unreasonable
if you do it right. For me, the beauty of this
sort of course is that you can pretty much choose
which twelve to eighteen hours those will be.
One important aspect is worth emphasizing: English
1301 online is not a "correspondence course",
but more like a class that meets on the internet,
asynchronously, every week. Although you've got
a lot of flexibility, keeping up with the material
each week is important.
There will be assignments every week as well:
some quizzes over material covered, others written
journal responses to our readings, and a few responses
that will go on a discussion list. In addition
to these short assignments and journal entries,
we will be producing three essays along with drafts
for each. Finally, there will be a mid-term and
final exam.
OUR BOOKS : One of the reasons
I think this semester will be especially enjoyable
is that we'll be using a new textbook: READING
CRITICALLY, WRITING WELL 8th Edition, by
Rise Axelrod and Charles Cooper. (I don’t
really like the book everyone else uses, but don't
tell. The syllabus will be available on Week One,
but for those with the strong desire to read ahead,
we'll be spending a lot of time with the first
six chapters of this text.) Make sure you get
the 8th edition of this text.
Also I'll be sending you almost
weekly to examine THE CRAFT OF REVISION
by Donald Murray, and occasionally to a reference
work used in most English classes, THE LITTLE
PENGUIN HANDBOOK. These books are already
on the shelves at the Montgomery College bookstore,
or can be transferred to any other North Harris
campus bookstore by calling 936-273-7338. There's
plenty of time to get them from http://shop.efollett.com
as well.
THE MID-TERM and FINAL: I mentioned
the two exceptions to the "not having to
show up at any particular place at any particular
time" aspect of the course, and these are
the mid-term and final. These "in-class"
writing assignments for the course will be given
at the Montgomery College Testing Center and all
other North Harris/Montgomery campus Testing Centers
throughout Weeks Eight and Sixteen. Other locations
can be arranged by students so long as they are
proctored. There is no other way to insure that
those who say they're taking the course actually
are, so you should consider that these testing
center appearances—which require a photo
ID--guaranty the integrity of your three credit
hours. Note that you have complete control over
which day and hour during these weeks you come
in to take these quizzes, so long as it’s
during the testing center operating hours.
That's probably enough to burden you with whilst
summer is still upon us, but feel free to email
me with questions. You might catch me before the
semester starts at my office: 976-273-7399, or
leave a message. As I said, I believe the course
will be enjoyable, and I'm excited about our textbook.
I've always found that if you jump in, keep up,
and attempt everything, it's difficult to do poorly
in English 1301 Online.
Thanks, and welcome aboard,
Cliff Hudder
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