Online Orientation

Online Orientation

Dr. Boetticher

(Revised July 24, 2011)

Welcome!

Greetings! I recognize that you have many choices in terms of universities, courses, and professors. Thank you for enrolling in this course. To help you get comfortable with this course, I have designed this orientation document.

What is a Web-Based course?

This class is designed so that you may enroll in the pure Web-based section (meaning that you do not need to set foot on campus), or the face-to-face section (if available). Both sections have full access to the password protected notes and the 38 YouTube videos. If there are no face-to-face sections for a given semester, then students are expected to email all assignments to . For students enrolled in the face-to-face sections assignments may be submitted electronically or preferably in hard-copy format. Regarding exams, I would prefer those students enrolled in the Web-based section to take all exams on campus, but this is not a requirement. Please notify me as soon as possible whether you wish to take the exams remotely so that I may arrange to have the exams proctored.

Those registered in the Web-Based section are welcome to attend some or all of the face-to-face lectures (assuming there is a face-to-face section). The classroom location and meeting times will be listed on the online syllabus.

Should you attend lectures?

Not attending lectures assumes you possess certain traits. Review these traits very carefully to see if they apply to you.

· Can you work independently?

· Are you generally self-motivated?

· Do you have good time-management skills?

· Do you need convenience and an adjustable schedule?

· Are you comfortable asking for clarification and continuing to ask when you need more information?

· Do you know how to check help screens, manuals, are FAQs?

· Do you have good study skills?

Students enrolled in the face-to-face section are expected to attend all lectures.

We will be following the online syllabus very closely. The online syllabus for the Database course is (or will be) available at: http://sce.uhcl.edu/boetticher/courses.html. The online syllabus contains a weekly course schedule with due dates for quizzes and assignment; policies and procedures; specific tasks (what quizzes to take and when); and links to additional resources.

Accessing course materials – Yahoo Groups

The course notes and assignments will be available in folders in a Yahoo Group called Graduate_Database_Course. The course notes for the whole semester are available in the Notes folder. As always, they are subject to change.

How to join the Yahoo Group?

First, email me the following information:

I will be collecting this information during the orientation, which is the first class. However, if you want to get a great start for this class, I would recommend sending me this information as soon as possible to .

In terms of phone numbers, 99% of the time I do not call a student. The primary exception is if a student misses an exam without any notification.

You may submit one or more email addresses. I recommend you provide email address(es) that you check on a daily basis. Your membership to the Yahoo group will be based on the email addresses you submit. In order to download the course materials, you may need to submit at least one Yahoo account. Also, if your email address changes, then it is your responsibility to provide me with an update. Also, if you need to drop the course, please send me an email, so I may remove your email from my mailing list.

Once I receive your email, I will also send you a password for the course notes. I will also divulge this password during the orientation (first class) session.

Using Blackboard to take quizzes and see grades

What is Blackboard?

Blackboard is a Web-based application program for the creation of online courses. It has many features. For this course, we will be using the quiz facility. During the semester I will post midterm, final, course averages, and course grades via Blackboard.

How are students registered into Blackboard’s student roster?

UHCL’s University Computing Technology (UCT) group has created an automated process for creating student accounts in Blackboard. All courses flagged as Web-based or Blackboard courses are noted in the PeopleSoft registration database. The students are extracted and given a username and password to access Web courses. If you have any problems with their username and/or password please email the UHCL support center at or call them at 281-283-2828.

Blackboard Orientation

An orientation for using Blackboard is available at http://courses.uhcl.edu/BB9Orientation.pdf .

Please read this document carefully prior to taking any quizzes.

Quizzes

This course utilizes the Blackboard quiz facility. Online quizzes are designed to help you succeed in this class. They are beneficial for several reasons. They allow you to get feedback prior to the midterm and final exams. Also, one goal of the quizzes is to nudge you to keep up with the readings and not procrastinate. By keeping up with the readings you will get more out of this course. Getting more out of this course (and all your other courses) will help you achieve your professional goals.

When choosing a quiz, be very careful to select the correct quiz. Once you start a quiz, there is no turning back.

Time Limit per Quiz. I estimate that each question requires about 2 minutes per question. So if a quiz has 10 questions, then you have a total of 20 minutes. If you go over the time limit for 1 or 2 quizzes, that is acceptable. However, if the pattern continues, then I will bring this to your attention.

Quiz Availability. Every quiz has a hard deadline regarding when it must be taken! I found that one of the keys to academic and professional success is discipline. Implementing hard deadlines avoids the “last minute cramming” scenario. In order for you to get the most out of this class and learn as possible, the deadlines become tighter and tighter as the semester progresses so that you are taking quizzes on assigned materials prior to attending class. This will enable you to know what you don’t know. This approach will enable you to be proactive in your studies. Once you have convinced yourself of the benefit of a proactive approach, I anticipate you will to do the same for your other classes. Make sure that if you do have any questions, that they are answered during the “face-to-face” class (or via email, discussion board, or chat).

The Online Syllabus

This section describes the syllabus layout and policies. Most items in the syllabus are intuitive; I will highlight some key points.

Read through the syllabus very carefully. Each week is carefully outlined in terms of tasks that need to be accomplished. Here are some points to pay attention to on the syllabus

· Under the course title you will see, “Updated Month,Day Year.” This represents the last time that I updated the syllabus. When there are significant changes to the syllabus I will send an email to the class regarding any changes.

· The syllabus includes my phone number and email. The best way to reach me is via email.

· Readings from the textbook are identified as chapters.

· Readings from the class notes are called units.

· Quizzes have hard deadlines as to when they must be completed. These deadlines are given for each quiz in the syllabus.

· Within the syllabus are the homework/project assignments. These documents are either in MS Word or PDF format and can be downloaded and/or printed. Due dates and point values are provided on the online syllabus.

· Regarding attendance:

· Face-to-face: You are expected to attend every class. If you miss more than 1 class, then your course grade will be reduced by 2 points for each lecture missed. Coming late to class on a regular basis will impact your course participation grade.

· Pure Web-based: You do not need to attend any lectures on campus. Also, you do not need to show up inperson to take any of the exams. However, you may attend any/all of the face-to-face lectures and/or exams. However, it is my experience that those students who do attend class on a regular basis do better on tests than those that don't. If you will be off-campus during the exams, please make the necessary arrangements with me as soon as possible.

· Read the Other Policies section of the syllabus very carefully! Among other things, it describes what is considered cheating for this class. Penalty for cheating will be extremely severe and may result in an F for this course. It could also cost you a TA position or one or more academic scholarships.

Once you have completed reading this document and reviewing the syllabus, you are ready to take the first quiz. This is a quiz on the syllabus. You may take the syllabus quiz as many times as you wish. However, you must get a 100% on this quiz in order to proceed to the other quizzes. Providing a syllabus quiz helps you to get familiar with Blackboard. You may even want to make some mistakes on the syllabus quiz, just to see what Blackboard does.

Note that all other quizzes may be taken only one time.

What makes for a great class?

I started teaching in 1984 and have worked for several start-up companies along the way. Over the 25-plus years of teaching I have seen certain characteristics that make for a great class. I would really like to see you get excited about this class and your career. To this end, I would like to describe what makes for an exciting class.

What I do to make this a great class

As a faculty member, I have very high expectations of myself and seek to keep my online notes updated, produce corresponding videos to help with the learning process, and provide extensive and timely feedback with online quizzes. I thoroughly enjoy teaching and hope that my enthusiasm is evident.

What you can do to make this a great class

Get very excited about learning. Don’t think of learning as a chore, rather think of it as something that will make you more valuable to society. Your education is very easy to carry around and, if properly applied, can dramatically improve your life and the world.

Be very curious. Don’t get too focused on grades, because at some point when you graduate you will be expected to continue learning and you will not receive a grade. Students that are very curious ask lots of questions. Remember, the only dumb question is the one that is not asked. The more you understand a subject area, the deeper the level of questions that you can pose. The types of questions will go from just clarification to applying your new knowledge in different domains.

Do not be a slave to your conditioning. As a graduate student, you have had many years of experience as a student in many classes. Thus, you may have learning habits and beliefs about yourself that are difficult to change. The good news is that no matter how well (or poorly) you have done academically, you have the opportunity to reinvent yourself into a great student. So, why not start today to be the student (and person) you’ve always wanted to be?

Have fun! Try to let go of your fears and have fun as you learn. I find people learn better when they can have fun while they are learning.