Welcome to Spring 2009!

Welcome to everyone taking courses from me this semester. Here are some things to be aware of as you take an online course from me.

At Minneapolis Community and Technical College (and all Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system schools), we use Desire 2 Learn (D2L) as our course management software. There is a link to D2L at the bottom of the MCTC web site home page (www.minneapolis.edu), so you can use that link, or better yet, bookmark the direct link to D2L (https://minneapolis.ims.mnscu.edu/). Because the two web sites are hosted on different computer servers, it's a good idea to have them bookmarked separately. That way, if one server is down, you can still get to the other one.

Once you have logged into D2L, starting on Friday, you will see your courses listed separately under the semester. All of your courses will have links, whether or not the courses are taught online or not. Many instructors use D2L for posting grades and other class materials for face-to-face courses as well as using the software for online classes, so if you have other face-to-face courses on campus, be sure to ask your instructor how he or she uses D2L.

The syllabus is the class "master" outline. If you find a discrepancy between the syllabus and something in the D2L course (and I'm sure you will; after all, I am human and I do make mistakes), be sure to ask about it so I can make a clarification or correction. The syllabus for your course will be posted in the D2L content area for the course. You will be notified of any changes to the syllabus via this blog, course posting, and/or email.

And that brings us to communication. MCTC makes an email account available to you through Metnet.edu. You can activate that account, or be sure you have an active account listed in your student information on campus. In any case, it is your responsibility to ensure that your email is correctly listed in D2L and in your student information, because that is the email information I will use when I'm contacting you with course information. If you email me from some other account, I will reply to whatever email you use, but when I generate email, I will pull the information from whatever is listed in D2L. I do not keep track of other email information for students.

Once the first week of class is over, I will set up something I call "Online Office" within D2L. This will be a discussion forum that has two members - you and me. You can use that forum any time to communicate with me. Because it is private, you can use that space to ask about grades, get clarification on an assignment, ask for a deadline extension... whatever you would normally talk to an instructor about during regular office hours, before or after classtime, etc.

In all of my online classes, besides asynchronous email and discussion forum communincation, there will be opportunities for synchronous, real-time communication, either through chat on D2L or through webinars using WebEx. Because, of course, one of the points of taking an online course is so you don't have to be in one place at one time, I know you may not be able to participate in all, or possibly even any, chats/webinars. However, I do encourage you to make time to participate in at least one or more, as students who do indicate that the chats/webinars enhance and improve their learning in the course. In any case, archives will be available for you to review after the chat/webinar event. I will give you more information about these chats and webinars later.

I make use of various media in my courses. I often introduce content or give feedback to you by posting MP3 files, and I use video and Flash files as well. You should be able to use these various file types, and will need to have appropriate plug-ins on the computer you're using for class.

Which brings us to the computer and internet access you are using for taking online classes. It is best to have your own computer at home and to not rely on using a computer anywhere else, such as at a library, at work, or at school. Also, because of the media used in online instruction, having broadband Internet access is best, but you can make due with dial-up. Just be prepared for waiting and long download/upload times. There is information on technology recommendations and common plug-ins on the MCTC web site (http://www.minneapolis.edu/currentstudents/d2l.cfm). If you have any concerns about your computer skills or access, please ask them sooner rather than later.

And, one last crabby-sounding note: maintaining communication with me and accessing the course content and materials is your responsibility. Generally speaking, "technology problems" are not a valid excuse for missing deadlines, not being able to view something, not participating in class discussions or group work, and so on. If you know you have to move and you won't have your computer set up for a couple of weeks, you need to let me know BEFORE you move and work out alternate arrangements. If you're late paying your internet service provider and your internet access is cut off, you need to call me, and then find your way to a coffee shop and free wi-fi, and get online as much as you can anyway. My DH (darling husband) just finished getting his MBA through a distance program at Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, and one student was in southeast Asia when there was a tsunami that cut off his internet access; that was a valid excuse. If you have to flee an abusive boyfriend and don't get to a computer for a week because you're at a shelter, that's a valid excuse.

...Which leads me to one last, I hope "friendly" sounding point: If you talk to me about whatever situation you're facing during the semester, we can almost always work out something that will cut you a little slack but still keep you on track in the class to finish. Please, please, please communicate with me if you get in a hard place in your life. Maybe your mom is sick, or your kid had to go to the emergency room, or you fell on the ice and messed up your back and are on pain meds that keep you from concentrating, or you were just diagnosed with some life-threatening disease, or you're pregnant with twins and while you're not actually due until the semester is over who knows what might happen, or... who knows what? Please let me know what's going on as soon as possible, and we'll figure out how to handle it.

Okay, nuff for now.