– 4 – August 8, 2008

COLLEGE OF MARIN DEpartment of english

August 8, 2008

Dear Student:

You are receiving this email because you have enrolled in one of the two online sections of English 151 at the College of Marin this Fall, either section 80201 or section 80202. This letter contains information that will get you started in the course, so read it carefully and save it for future reference.

§  Prerequisite: The prereq for English 151 is completion of English 1A (English 150) with a grade of “C” or better. If you are a continuing student at the College of Marin, and took English 150 at COM, I will get an Academic History printout with the information that you completed the prerequisite course. If you took 150 or its equivalent at another college, I will need some proof that you completed the course. An unofficial (or official) transcript will be fine. You can bring your proof to my office (Harlan Center 225, on the Kentfield Campus) between Monday the 18th and Thursday the 21st of August. If you do not find me, you may leave your documents with the Department Secretary, Mina Namvar whom you will find on the ground floor of Harlan Center in her office. You may also fax your document to 415-456-5086. Be sure to mark it: “Attention: David Rollison.” Or you may email me an electronic transcript. You must show me proof of eligibility before you can continue in the course.

§  Texts & Materials: The required text book for the course is Introduction to Literature: Critical Thinking & Writing, published by Pearson Custom Publishing (ISBN 0536438498). You may purchase this in the College of Marin Bookstore. This text is custom produced for this course and is “value packed” with CourseCompass [MyLiteratureLab] access and a CDROM (meaning those items are free) and a small supplemental literature anthology. It may be possible to purchase the textbook online but make sure you have the right package of materials.

The student access code is for CourseCompass, which is an educational website maintained by Pearson Education, and our virtual classroom. You may purchase the access code online with a credit card at http://www.students.pearsoned.com, but remember, you will also need the CDROM and text book. CourseCompass is the site where your 151 class will take place. I’ll paste in an announcement from Pearson at the end of this letter that will show you how to register once you have an access code. You will need your access code, a valid email address (use a real one so we can correspond as necessary), the course ID, and the College of Marin Zip code

If you are registered in section 80201, the course ID is rollison71664

If you are registered in section 80202, the course ID is rollison59769

Please be certain which section you are enrolled in before proceeding and then note that your CourseCompass section will be identified by a (1) or (2) once you register. Always include your name and the appropriate number (1) or (2) when communicating with me.

COM zip code is 94904.

With this information, you should be able to register on CourseCompass without a problem. It is best if you have a PC with MSWord as your word processing program, but you may also successfully work with CourseCompass using other operating systems as long as you attend carefully to the file saving protocols you must use.

Finally, I recommend, but do not require, an English handbook. If you already own one, great. If you do not own one, I always say that if you want to get through four years of college, it’s a great idea to buy one. I recommend The Little, Brown Handbook, Compact Edition, by Aaron. But, truthfully, any English handbook from a reliable academic publisher will do. You will find these in the COM Bookstore or on an online source.

§  How to do the course: You will have to log on to CourseCompass at least two days a week (Tuesday and Thursday) during the term. On each of those days, I will post an “announcement” that will direct you toward the day’s activities. You have a certain amount of flexibility in completing tasks assigned for a given day, but, generally speaking, you should complete them on the day they are assigned to avoid getting behind. As long as you complete a posted task before the next posting, your work will not be late. (Exceptions are tasks with stated deadlines.) Tasks will range from reading quizzes on assigned readings (which should be completed on the day they are posted) to “Discussion Board” activities in which you will participate in class discussions, exchange ideas, and peer review drafts of essays, “scaffolding” questions about readings or themes which are intended to help you build the essays you will write in stages (rather than one desperate draft at the 11th hour) or to clarify and deepen your understanding of the themes about which you will be writing, online research about readings and themes under scrutiny or to help support your own essays, and more. If you are conscientious about logging on and if you follow directions carefully, you may find this course rewarding. When essays are due, that will be on dates specific and times specific.

There may be a T.A. assigned to the course, who, like me, will be available to you to help you navigate the course, answer questions about things that puzzle you, and help you to write effective essays. Both of us are available by email and, in some cases, by appointment, in case you need clarification or assistance with any aspect of the course. Be wise and take advantage of the fact that help is available to you.

If no T.A. is assigned, there are alternative tutoring resources that I will inform you of.

§  Problems:

1.  Some students have problems with essay writing. You have tutoring available from the t.a. and me online to help with some of that. Also, if you follow the scaffolding exercises carefully, keeping their ultimate purpose in mind, you’ll find a lot of problems solved. Finally, if you manage your writing time appropriately so as to take advantage of the writing process as it works best, you will draft, plan, edit and revise your essays, and therefore write better essays.

2.  Some students have problems reading and interpreting literary texts. Again, you have tutoring available to help with interpretive questions. But also, I think I have designed an approach that makes it possible for any college student to interpret even difficult literary texts successfully. If you follow the method carefully, you’ll see positive results.

3.  Some students have troubles with CourseCompass. CourseCompass is a pretty user-friendly, intuitive website, and most people have no trouble with it. If you are a MAC user, or do not use Word as your word processing program you may have some minor issues. Pearson has by-telephone and by-email tech assistance available to you Monday through Friday and the t.a. and I can also help you with most issues. You do need to have a reliable computer and to have your web browser set properly. It helps to have some of the usual accessories, such as Realplayer, QuickTime, adobe reader, and so on. A complete list of suggestions for setting your browser will be found under “Course Information” once you access the site.

4.  Some students have trouble following written directions. This has turned out to be the single most significant success factor in online 151. Maybe because of habits with email or the web or maybe because of trying to make time go faster, or maybe for unknown reasons, some people gloss over the directions too quickly. The solution is simple: take the time to read directions carefully so you are sure 1) what to do, 2) when to do it, and 3) how, when and where to turn it in.

I hope this letter addresses your needs and questions for the moment. If not, please email me with any questions you may have.

Good luck this semester. There are far worse things to be doing than reading stories and poems and thinking about ideas and themes that occupy the minds of thoughtful people everywhere, in times past and in the present.

Sincerely,

David Rollison

Here's the info from Pearson:

Students, welcome to CourseCompass!

CourseCompass is a dynamic, interactive eLearning program. Your instructor has requested that you have access to this online program. With CourseCompass, you can access your instructor’s course materials, complete assignments online, and communicate with your classmates.

To access your CourseCompass online course for the first time, you need to register and log in. Whenever you want to use CourseCompass after that, you just need to log in.

To register for CourseCompass

To register, you need a student access code and the course ID from your instructor.

Student Access Code:

Course ID:

When you have this information, you’re ready to begin:

1. Go to http://students.pearsoned.com.

Click Register and follow the on-screen instructions. When you are asked, type your student access code and the course ID.

2. Type your contact information, such as name and e-mail address.

3. Enter information about your academic institution.

4. Type a personal login name and password; you’ll use this unique login name and password each time you access your CourseCompass course.

You’re done! You can now log in to CourseCompass and start exploring your online course.

To log in to CourseCompass

1. Go to http://students.pearsoned.com.

2. Click Log in.

3. Type in the personal login name and password you just created to open your customized CourseCompass page.

Note that if the above steps do not work for you, try myliteraturelab.com as the primary address.

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