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Read Me First!
Dr. David Cohen
Welcome to UMUC's Online Classroom! This document contains important
information you should know about the class. |
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| Technical Help | ||
| Contact Information | Confidentiality of the Classroom | |
| Hints for Successfully Completing This Class | Additional Information |
Take a few minutes to explore. Notice how the Conferences and Study Groups are laid out.
Take the Tour 101. You can find this self-paced tutorial by clicking on Options at the top right of your WebTycho interface, then clicking on Self-Register and selecting Tour 101 in the dialog box..
Sure. All this can look a bit intimidating at first, but you will be surprised how quickly you get used to it.
Unlike the face-to-face classroom where we meet once a week, this class is organized in terms of weekly sessions.
Sessions start on 12:00 am on Mondays and end at 11:59 pm on Sundays.
All times are Eastern Standard Time.
You should always enter the class through the WebTycho login screen [http://tychousa.umuc.edu/].
Some hyperlinks in the WebTycho classroom open new Navigator Windows. In Windows 95/98, you can keep track of these windows on your task bar. If you cannot return to your classroom from your current Navigator Window, check the other Navigator Windows on your taskbar.
I will be checking into the course a least three times a week and will be posting messages and announcements regularly.
The best way to contact me is by email: dcohen@umuc.edu
If you wish to speak with me by phone, my number is 301-985-7606. You can expect a response within 2 business days.
If you need assistance with the WebTycho system, help is available. You can:
- access the online WebTycho user guide at http://tychousa.umuc.edu,
- attend a free online WebTycho orientation class at http://tychousa.umuc.edu,
- use the "help" function in the WebTycho classroom,
- contact WebTycho Support by telephone at 1-800-807-4862 (available 24/7), or
- email WebTycho Support at tychosupport@polaris.umuc.edu.
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Guidelines for Online Etiquette
- It is important to always be polite and professional, whether agreeing or disagreeing with colleagues.
- Remember NOT to write anything you wouldn't want to see publicly printed; computer messages are NOT absolutely PRIVATE.
- Since any E-mail message that you write can be (and may be) forwarded to others, students should not disclose trade secrets or company-confidential information as part of this course.
- Do not forward personal notes or messages to others unless you have obtained permission from the author.
- In the conferencing format, students will be responding to the entire class (public domain). If that is not what is intended, students should use E-mail to address one/several students or the instructor (private domain).
- Since there are no body language cues in the online environment, students should be cautious when using BOLD typeface (which gets attention--is it the type you want?), when using words or phrases that can stereotype people, when responding to ideas with which one feels strongly. Professionalism at all times is critical.
- Be sure to give citations for quoted materials or others' ideas, just as one would in hard copy.
- Since all communications are written, it is best to keep comments limited--one screen is usually sufficient for online attention spans.
- Be sure to re-read messages before sending, and edit as necessary.
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Confidentiality of the Classroom
In order to facilitate communication and learning in this environment, it is very important that class members agree to respect the confidentiality of what has been shared in this class. Please DO NOT reveal /discuss any personally identifiable information (such as work site, comments about organization or persons, views of policies, etc.) verbally or by copying the information, without the express permission of the speaker/writer.
If the email address that appears next to your name in the Class Member list isn't the address you'll be using for WebTycho classes, you're required to update your active email email address in UMUC's Interactive Student Information System (ISIS).
To do this,
- go to http://www.umuc.edu/gsmt/ostuserv.html,
- click on ISIS,
- enter your social security number and PIN (personal identification number, used for IRIS touchtone registration), which will bring you to the "change options" function, and
- enter your correct email address.
Students may retrieve their PIN at http://www.umuc.edu/studserv/studserv.html.
Hints for Successfully Completing Online Courses
Designate certain times each week that you will work on this course. With the flexibility of a distance education course, it is easy to let things slip until the last minute. Plan ahead. Avoid procrastination. It will even out the workload and reduce the tension.
Have a specific achievement goal for each log-on session. This will help you to concentrate on what you need to get done. Without a goal or plan for a session, it is very easy to be tempted by numerous Internet and non-Internet distractions--and then find that little was accomplished during the on-line session.
Rather than type text directly into WebTycho's input boxes, create your material off-line on your word processor and then "paste" it into the box.. This is usually more efficient than trying to create your material while logged on to the course. With your word processor, you can make changes quickly and in a more relaxed environment until the material is the way you want it for posting. This also provides a backup of your material should you be disconnected from your ISP.
If you are assigned to an online team or study group, work with them! Do not stay silent while others try to get organized or struggle with a problem. Be an active participant from the start. Say hello and try to help. You may have the best ideas of all and not realize it. Also, your team can be a great source of information for you--they can answer questions, provide advice, and tell you where to get other assistance.
Submit your work on time.
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Individually graded assignments--such as papers, midterms, and finals--must be posted to your individual assignment folder, unless instructed otherwise. In this class, the preferred format for files uploaded to the student assignment area is .doc. But I will also accept .txt and .html. If you use Word, do NOT include macros in your document.
In some sections of WebTycho, such as the study group area and the conference area, you can upload a file from your computer so that class members (or members of your study group) can download it. These files can be MS Word documents, spread sheets, or even PowerPoint presentations. Your must realize, however, that:
- Only those students/faculty who have the same application on their computers can read the files.
- You must use the proper extension in your file name (the three characters that follow the period after the file name and "tell" the computer which application was used to create the file -- for example, .doc for Word documents, .ppt for PowerPoint presentations, and .xls for Excel spreadsheets).
- Files uploaded by students may contain viruses. Almost always, the student who uploads an infected file is unaware he or she has a computer virus. To avoid these types of problems, save files you download to your hard drive or floppy and run a virus check on these files before opening the files. The WebTycho program cannot contract viruses because it only transfers files it does not execute them. Viruses also cannot be hidden in plain text files.
WebTycho also allows you to upload web pages. Netscape Composer along with the most recent versions of Word and WordPerfect allow you to save your files as HTML. These files are cross platform and can be read by any browser. However, you must store any .jpg or .gif image files associated with these pages on your own web server space.
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