About web courses

etched in granite, of course

Logistics

This is a purely web course which means that your presence on campus is never required to complete the course. As an exclusively web course, reading assignments, instructional assistance, graded examinations, exercises, essays, class discussions and the rest will be delivered electronically. While you and I each are obligated to commit efforts worthy of three hours of credit to this course, effective participation in the class does not require that you devote any particular hours (such as 10-11 am MWF) to the course. Instead, there will be windows during which time particular tasks must be completed. For example, you will be required to complete several (timed) examinations. In each case, the exam will be available to you for a 23.75 hour period, and you may start the exam at any time within that period I specify and have, say, 35 minutes to complete it. To give another example, I will on occasion post some issue I want all members of the class to discuss through Blackboard (about which more later). I will announce the issue and you will be asked, for a grade, to participate (several times) over a particular multiple day period in a back and forth exchange with other class members. In other cases, there will be various types of exercises which you are to complete, for a grade, over a two- or three-day period. You cannot begin a task until the window is opened and once the scheduled window has shut you will have no more opportunities to earn points on that task.

The timing of course events is based on a Monday through Friday schedule. This does not mean that you may not be well-advised to spend time over the weekend reading, researching, reviewing and writing for the course, but it is to say that students will not be expected to submit work on Saturdays or Sundays.

Platforms

I will lead this class using with different mechanisms. The first is my ASU website. The trailhead for POSC 1003, Introduction to Politics, is at http://myweb.astate.edu/fidel/classes/politics/index.html; the base camp for POSC 2103, US Government, is http://myweb.astate.edu/fidel/classes/government/index.html. All of the materials specific to these classes have links from these two pages, but there are other pages on my website which may prove useful to you, and you are encouraged to look around. Note that, in the case of almost all if not all chapters, I have prepared a webpage to supplement the textbook and to provide useful links; associated assignments are also posted on the relevant pages.  Based on the overall class schedule, I will post announcements when each particular webpage is ready for final use in the term.  As you proceed through the term, you should master those webpages as well as the assigned textbook reading.  I am still building these pages and reserve the right to make changes in course requirements until the normal first day of classes and the right to make changes in other materials past that time (in particular specific assignments, which change from term to term) but you are free to look at what has been posted thus far. (Whenever you look at my webpages, you should hit refresh to catch any changes I may have made since you last looked at a particular page.)

The second platform for this course is Blackboard, more precisely Blackboard8. You will be automatically enrolled in the Blackboard section for this course. At Blackboard you will find announcements, course information and Word documents which I may post from time to time, assignments, and the Discussion Board in which you will be engaged periodically in on-line exchanges with other students and me (simulating the kinds of class discussion one would find in a traditional course though, in this case, the conversation is not synchronized and takes place over several days). In another use of the technology, you will complete the multiple choice parts of your exams through Blackboard. Blackboard also has a "digital drop box" into which you will submit--using the send file, not the save file command--examination essays and other writing assignments, works I will evaluate and return with comments through the same facility. Only Word document are acceptable.  Note, too, that I will specify a filename format that should be used in sending files using the Digital Drop Box--something along the lines of Essay2_lastname_firstname--and my life will be easier and, thus, I will be less aggravated if you follow the file naming convention that I provide.)

Obviously, I will be available through e-mail and may contact you individually the same way.For all contacts, in particular for Blackboard, you must use your ASU student account (smail.astate.edu). Once the classes begin, all general communications to the class will be made through Blackboard. You should also log into Blackboard to check for announcements at least once a day; at the same time, you should also check your smail account for e-mail messages I may have sent. You will have at least 24 hours advance notice of assignments and such, but you may not be excused from anything because you did not make yourself aware of a posting.

To keep costs down and, even more, to cut down on the hassles of "telephone tag," I discourage efforts to reach me by telephone. E-mail is the way to go.  You can reasonably expect a response from me, except in extraordinary circumstances, within 48 hours; if I have failed to respond within that time, please feel free to resend your message. In the event you find yourself near Jonesboro, I can also see you during my normal office hours.

Required reading

Information on the required text is at the course webpage. You will need to have the book in hand when the term begins. Books are available from the ASU Bookstore and there may also be copies in stock at Indian Book & Supply (870.935.2325). You can also order a text on-line (note the title is hotlinked to the publisher’s site). In any event, you should make sure that you get the correct edition/version. Earlier (or later) editions may be out there but you run the risk that previous editions may not include current information or features found in the edition I am using.

It only makes sense that a course in political science is made more meaningful by reference to current goings-on in government and politics, and so students are expected to be up on the daily news. Probably better than the local newspaper are on-line versions of national newspapers, notably the New York Times and the Washington Post,. Other resources are at http://myweb.astate.edu/fidel/goodies/index.html. Note, too, that a tremendous amount of library material--including LexisNexis which accesses newspapers and other materials, other search databases, and a bounty of social science literature--is available on-line from ASU’s Dean B. Ellis Library; you can enter the site from anywhere in the world using your student number (note that it must be preceded by the number ‘7’).

Words to the wise

This class has no class, or at least no class meetings. Where a traditional course requires your time and effort to complete reading assignments and to attend class with three hours of contact to amplify what you have learned by reading, the balance in a web course shifts to the reading. While I will be presenting materials on-line to facilitate your learning, I cannot duplicate electronically what I present in the classroom. Diligence in reading the assigned text and other assigned readings—reading continuously and carefully—is critical for a traditionally taught class, and there is a price to be paid by students who fail to do the reading in those classes, but the failure to do all of the reading and to do it well is fatal in web courses. 

Strangely, my experience has been that many students taking fall or spring web courses do less well than those in summer web classes, even though the semester pace is only one-third that of the summer.  I can only attribute the difference to a sense on the part of summer students that things move quickly and so they need to keep focused.  Semester students may tend to neglect their web courses, thinking they last a whole 14 weeks and failing to adequately keep up.  Don't let yourself forget about your obligations for consistent and serious work.

Working at a distance, it is important for your success in this class that you read instructions carefully and that you save and appropriately organize class materials. Moreover, I am going to be rather testy if students repeat a question that has already been asked and answered. While I am certainly happy, more than just obliged, to be of assistance, I don’t think it reasonable to expect me to answer individually each person who inquires about something already covered.

I want to be of help to you as you proceed to learn in this course. I am opening a "forum" at Blackboard called "questions on my orientation message" where you can post any questions you may have about the course. Please ask away.

view from Aquinnah May 2010