Welcome to the First Day of Class!

2008-04-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I have heard from some of you. Thank you for contacting me.

If you would like to meet me in person for an orientation session one evening on campus, I think that can be arranged. I do know that my other students find it extremely helpful. I just received the student roster yesterday, and I see that many of you have not listed e-mail addresses, so I am unable to contact you other than telephone. I am asking all students to please send me an e-mail to cma@cascadia.edu so I have a record of your e-mail and can put you on a distribution list so we can communicate more effectively.

Some people may find the class web site at http://www.cascadia.edu/faculty/cma a bit overwhelming. I do put quite a bit of information in my class sites. The key is that information is duplicated. Reading assignments are listed quite clearly by weeks on the reading assignment page and the same goes for writing assignments. I am also quite a nag, so you may see that in the reading assignments by the week I might insert reminders about your writing assignments to help keep you on track.

I was having some issues with uploading an .xml file for audios, so that will be attended to forthwith. Another student had written to me wanting information as to exactly what the assignments are as it was not on the syllabus. I separate that information out on the grading scheme page. The Cascadia grading scale as well as the class point totals for each assignment is specified.

I have collected feedback from past students and used their comments to tweak my class web site. I realise that some of you prefer all your information on one page, but the majority of my students (so far) prefer that information be segregated in order to find pertinent dates and assignments more easily. Therefore, if you are the type of person that likes everything on one page, I am sorry to have to disappoint you in this regard.

However, to make it a little easier for those who want to know exactly what assignments must be submitted here is the run down:

Six written assignments -

Citation exercise part 1 (Citation1.doc)
Citation exercise part 2 (Citation2.doc)
Three (3) rough drafts
Final Paper

Weekly Discussion Board Postings

Try to post as often as your schedule allows. However, I don't think a minimum of three postings per week will destroy anyone's time management plans. And by postings, I do not include postings that merely agree with or repeat a previous posting by another student. The postings comprise 10% of your grade and the grading is determined by the combination of quantity and quality of your posts.
Please maintain social graces and civility in your posts. Passion and disagreements are fine, however, do not insult or become verbally agressive and/or abusive. That type of behavior will earn a "0" for discussion board postings.
If a student has an issue with the instructor please resolve the issue privately. Becoming verbally abusive with the instructor is really bad form and reflects poorly on the student rather than the instructor.

Examinations:

Four (4) examinations worth 125 points. I do not give multiple choice examinations. I will try to upload a sample exam or two for you, so you have an idea of what to expect.

I know there are some broken links and those will be attended to during the course of the week. Please do not panic about anything in this class. There is nothing so terrible that will happen as far as assignments and tests go that cannot be settled and/or handled in a civilised and calm manner.

One final note to this announcement. Please do not be shy about contacting me for any reason. You are encouraged to ring me or text message me. My number is: 253.335.8050 (mobile). Although it is a south-end number (we used to live in South King County) I actually live near Cascadia, if that provides any comfort for any of you.

I try to make myself available to my students as much as possible and I do aim for a quick turn-around time as far as responses go. Please give me a week or more to return feedback on assignments as I am teaching six classes this quarter and because my assignments and examinations tend to be time intensive for me to grade, I ask for your indulgence in letting me do a good job teaching and helping each and every one of you.

Thank you,
Chiemi

History 122

Welcome to the First Day of Class!