NOTE: This document is an addendum to your course outline.

SHOULD YOU TAKE THIS COURSE?

For English 111 and 112, the College Catalog states that "College reading and writing competence are required." This means that your placement test indicates that you do not have to take Developmental Reading (English 05) or Developmental Writing (English 03).

For English 244, the College Catalog states that the preresquite is English 112 or divisional approval.

However, to be successful in any cyber course, you must have the following attributes as well:

• The ability to read and follow directions.

• Self relience and persistence in using a computer and searching a web site for answers to questions e.g. "When is this paper due?" "How do I get my written work from my computer to the teacher?"

• The ability to work independently and to meet deadlines.

• Good grammar and editing skills. These cyber courses are not designed to meet the needs of developmental writing students. If your grammar and editing skills are weak, you should reconsider enrollment in these courses.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO TAKE THIS COURSE?

• A textbook. The title is given on the course outline.

• Access to the Internet

• E-mail account

• A word processing program

• Any current English handbook which includes MLA guidelines for documenting electronic sources

• It is desirable, but not mandatory, that you have a home page on the web. Space for a home page is usually made available by your Internet Service Provider. If not, you may get free space for a home page at a commercial site on the Internet such as Xoom or Geocities. These or similar sites also provide free E-mail.

• Implied by the items listed above is a minimal level of proficiency with computers. The "Serf" program that I use to deliver the course is very user friendly and will help you do all that is necessary to submit your work. But there will also be opportunities to do things on the web that require some additional computer skills. The more you can do, or are willing to try, the more fun you can have.

1. Send me an email message so that I cannot communicate with you. Tell me which course you are registered for and include your social security number so that I can create a student account for you on Serf.

2. Read the document "How to Log on to Serf" and follow the directions.

3. Get yourself oriented to Serf and the course materials. Serf is very reliable and easy to navigate, but because it is new, it will take some getting used to. So as a first step, explore the Serf Syllabus and the Discussion Forums. Read the screens to see what your options are at every point. Read the course outline and look at all of the documents related to the course. The Links Index gives access to all course documents.

4. Read the instructions for the autobiographical sketch. Write you sketch and submit it to the proper forum. This exercise will familiarize you with the procedure for copying and pasting your work into Serf.

Relax. Creating cyber courses and constantly revising a web site is complex, and I am sure I have made some mistakes. Just report them to me by email. You will not run into any problem which cannot be fixed, and I will always try to correct errors and reconcile conflicting directions to your advantage. Immediately report any broken links or links that take you to the wrong document.

WHAT ABOUT PEER GROUP WORK AND FEEDBACK ON MY ESSAYS?

In some classes I have made specific provisions for peer group work so that students can give feedback on writing assignments whereas in others I have not. However, I encourage students to make use of the discussion forum for this purpose.

Students will be assigned to groups in the discussion forums where they will submit the process work on their writing assignments. Students can easily exchange feedback on a writing assignment using these forums. All they need to do is to select "Start a New Topic" from the options given on the forum page and to call it something like "Freedback Essay I" or whatever is appropriate. Members can then post their work and exchange feedback by simply responding to the topic. Directions for copying and pasting are given in the "Directions for Participating in the Discussion Forums."

WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I SUBMIT MY WORK TO THE WRONG FORUM?

If you submit your work to the wrong forum, go back and submit it to the proper forum. Work which is submitted to the wrong forum does no real harm other then to clutter things up. However, if you are careful, you should not make this mistake. Work which is submitted to the wrong forum or which is submitted to the forum after the deadline has past will not be given credit. Keeping track of all of the incoming work and giving proper credit is a big job and I will not have time to search the discussion forums for late or misplaced work.