Orientation
Grades Syllabus Link
Webliography
Lessons
Charles Davis Assignments Link
Guest Lecturers Schedule
Contact Dr. Davis Final Project Link
Orientation Information and Online Training Group Management Information
Directory of Important Contacts Communications between Students and Instructor

Taking an Online Course

If this is your first time in an online course, you may not know quite what to expect. It is quite a different learning environment from the traditional classroom setting. Take a few minutes and read these Tips for Online Success developed by the distance education team at Texas Women's University.

Using Blackboard

This course will utilize Blackboard to manage course information. Blackboard is easy to learn and use. Here are some instructions to help you learn how to navigate the software.

Online Postings and Replies

Several topics in this course require you to participate in asynchronous threaded discussion using Blackboard. Your participation in this discussion takes one of three forms. Part of the time you will be asked to make an original posting in response to questions that will be posed by the professor. These questions generally require you to synthesize the readings for a particular topic or respond to a case scenario. Your responses will be graded based on their quality and originality. A mere restatement of what is in the readings or what another classmate has said will not be considered a high quality or original response.

The second form of participation in the threaded discussion is a reply to an original response. In your reply, you should not merely agree with the original posting. Rather, you should point out new areas for consideration or flaws in the original reasoning. These replies may end up generating additional discussion, much as you would encounter in a traditional classroom setting.

The final for of participation in the threaded discussion is through continued dialogue after the reply session. You may respond to as many replies as you wish, although responses to replies are not required. This type of participation will earn extra credit.

In all postings, do not just state an opinion, but support your position with facts.

Here are some "netiquette" tips from the distance education team at Texas Women's University.

Online Discussions

Throughout the course you will participate in synchronous online discussions. These will be similar to "chat room sessions" you may have participated in. For several of these online chats, practitioners will be joining the class to offer their expertise. The professor will control the floor for these online discussions. Your participation in the online chat will be graded similarly to the threaded discussions - quality and originality of participation. It is NOT solely about quantity.

Transcripts of all online chats will be archived in Blackboard for your later review.