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Orientation Letter for fall 2009 English ENGL 102 71024
Hello, and
welcome to English 102, a literature based argumentative writing
course. My name is Ron Dreiling.
During the course
of the semester, I’m going to help you evaluate literary works,
formulate critical opinions, and create effective arguments.
Along the way, you'll develop a deeper appreciation for the
power of literature to provide insight into diverse human
conditions, including you own. You’ll also discover new
pleasures in contemplating profound works of art.
After reading the
message below, please feel free to email me with questions.
Important
dates:
- August 24th.
The class website will not be open to access until 9:00 am,
August 24th. You will not see the Blackboard course
until then. Once you see it, you can enter it.
- August 27th.
You will be denied access to the class website at the end of
August 27th if you do not provide your email
address at the assigned location inside the website and
complete the assigned (short) writing assignment that you
will share with classmates. (All of this is explained in
full inside the website.) The required activities should
not require much more than 30 minutes to complete. You
don't need to get a "head start" on it. Completing it
simply proves you are a student in the class, kind of like
attending the first day of an onground class to avoid being
dropped.
To learn how
to access the class website, you need to complete the Blackboard
Tutorial at COC’s Distance Learning page.
It’s vital you first learn important
features about Blackboard prior to attempting to access my class
website. Here’s a link to that page:
http://www.canyons.edu/offices/distance_learning/OnlineOrientation/
Please note
that completing the tutorial does not mean you have logged in to
our English 102 website. The tutorial will explain “how” to
login to our class website and provide other key information
related to navigating and participating at our class website.
In order to
successfully complete this course, you must have ready and
reliable access to the Internet. You must log onto our
class’s site several times a week and on several different days
to retrieve and submit assignments and to participate in
discussion board activities. If you are going to be
unable to participate in this manner, this is not the course for
you. However, just as in traditional “brick room” class
formats, if you know in advance that you are going to be unable
to access the website, the "click room," for two or three days,”
accommodations can be made with me that will lesson the negative
impact of your “absence” on your grade. This is not a class
where you can complete work a week or two ahead of your
classmates or make up work that was assigned to be completed a
week or two ago. Students who do not login to our class website
for a period of four or more days will fail the course.
This class will
allow you the opportunity to meet deadlines in a manner most
convenient to your schedule. For instance, you will never be
required to logon to the website at a specific time, say . . .
2:15 pm on July 12th. However, you will have assignment
deadlines that must be met (quizzes, discussion board posts,
group work, essays, exams). You can complete work in advance,
save it, and then post it at our virtual classroom at the
appropriate time. Late work, especially major assignments like
essays, in an eight week class typically isn't an option.
Specific effects of turning in work late are explained in detail
for each assignment.
You need to be
computer literate, Internet savvy, and well skilled in document
creation and handling. Essays must be submitted to me in a
current version of Microsoft Word or an RTF file.
All of our work
occurs online. I will evaluate your performance on discussion
board projects, online quizzes, and virtual group work. There
will be four 1500+ word essays (over short fiction, drama,
poetry, and a novel), a mid-term exam, and a final exam. Any
student who does not complete all four of the essays, the
mid-term and final exams, and participate at least 80% of the
message board assignments will fail the course.
This class
provides students with many online quiz opportunities, all of
which are timed. If you have any documented learning
disabilities that may be impacted by time limits on quizzes (and
exams), contact me at the beginning of the semester so that we
can complete the necessary steps to allow you every opportunity
to succeed on the quizzes. (Typically, students complete the
quizzes onground at a Testing Center convenient to their
location.)
Required
Texts:
Make certain you have the edition indicated below. There are
many different versions of all of these texts “on the market.”
Be careful. Buy the required text from the COC bookstore.
Visit COC's webpage and find the COC bookstore website, which
allows you to purchase your texts online. Every semester
students attempt to pass the class without purchasing the
textbooks. Most if not all of them fail the course. Many
assignments are specific to the textbook. You can’t complete
them without having the book. Too many students have tried to
complete the class without the text, and too many have received
a failing grade despite their best efforts. Buy the books.
Roberts and Jacobs,
eds. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing
(fourth Compact Edition).
ISBN 978-0-13-601973-2 Make certain you have this edition.
There are multiple versions of this text available. You need
this one. You need the Fourth edition.
Beyond Feelings: A
Guide to Critical Thinking. Eight Edition.
ISBN 978-0-07-353569-2
Purchase ONE of the
following novels prior to the 10th week of the
semester.
The COC bookstore
does not have copies of either novel. I recommend you draw upon
resources I provide inside our Blackboard website during the
first seven or eight weeks of the semester to make a decision as
to which novel suits you best. Once you determine which novel
you wish to write your end of the semester essay on, purchase it:
Michael Cunningham. The Hours. (Any edition will work.) We
read the novel in the final month of the semester. Plan your
purchase of it accordingly.
T. C. Boyle. A Friend of the Earth. (Any edition will
work.) We read the novel in the final month of the semester.
Plan your purchase of it accordingly.
Getting a head
start:
The syllabus is not
available until you enter the course website.
However, for those who wish to get a head start on reading
required material from our texts, read pages 1-69 from the
Roberts text, read the play A Dollhouse by Ibsen, read
either of both novels The Hours, by Cunningham. Read and
study as many of the student essays from the Roberts text as you
can. Review pages in the Roberts text dedicated to MLA rules
for in-text citation and works cited pages. Read the first
seven chapters of the textbook Beyond Feelings.
I’ve been
teaching online courses for quite a few years, and the course I
have built for English 102 will guide you toward becoming an
improved writer and critical thinker. But keep in mind that
online courses like this one require a high level of
self-initiative. The course is ideally suited for students who
have demonstrated success in earlier writing classes and have
shown a capacity for self-directed study.
I hope the class
will bring a certain level of entertainment and even pleasure; I
know the class will bring challenges—you will write four essays
over four different works of literary art.
Once again,
welcome to the course.
Sincerely,
Ron Dreiling
Professor,
English
Office Location: College of the Canyons’
Campus—Hasley Hall: Room 328
Office phone: (661) 362-3068
Office Email:
ron.dreiling@canyons.edu
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