Welcome to the virtual classroom of History 1302. This class is from June 8 through July 9, and we'll be taking a look at a number of topics in American History, from the post-Civil War era through the 20th century.

A few very important points about taking classes on the internet:

  • you must be self-motivated and able to work with little supervision
  • you must enjoy writing
  • you must not be a procrastinator
  • you must be familiar with basic word processing (creating, saving, attaching to e-mails, etc.) and e-mail use, as well as using the internet

First things first, however. Before doing anything else, you MUST complete this online orientation, whether or not you attend the classroom orientation. Once I recieve it and respond to you, you may then start e-mailing me your assignments.

Required book for this course:

Peter Myers, Robert Hines & Rex Field, eds. Flyover History: Remembering Our Ignored Past, Vol. II, seventh edition. Thomson Press, 2008.

ISBN: 1-4266-2968-0

 

GETTING TO THE COURSE AND DOING THE WORK:

  • The Class Calendar is your syllabus, your guide and your Palo Alto history home on the web during this course. Here you will find all 12 of the topics we're covering, each with it's own link. If you click on topic one, for example, everything you'll need to know to complete the assignment is there, along with due dates. I suggest you bookmark this page to create an easy way to get into the class site.

  • Read the essays or other materials that are required for that topic. Flyover History: Remembering Our Ignored Past- Volume II is listed as Flyover next to the chapter's title and any other assigned readings will feature links so you can get to them quickly and easily.

  • Complete the quiz. (When you submit the quiz, list the question number and the letter for each answer next to the number. 1. C, 2.B, etc.)

  • Now scroll down to assignments. You will have a number of essay assignment choices. Each assignment choice has a capital letter in front of it. Select three of the assignment choices and complete each essay with a minimum of 100 words. (Unless otherwise noted.)

  • Once you have completed the topic's work- listening to the introduction and chapters, doing the quiz, and typing three essay assignments- send all of your work for that topic in one document attached to your email to me at vbeckman-wilson@mail.accd.edu. Be certain to label the e-mail's subject area with the course name and topic number. (e.g. Subject: History 1302- Topic #1 submission)

  • You are required to complete NINE TOPICS out of the 12, so you have many choices. The topics constitute 90% of the course grade. You are required to complete three of the four topics in Column A, three of the four topics in Column B, and three of the four topics in Column C. Send no quizzes nor assignments for the three topics you do not select.

  • The final exam is worth 10% and is required.

  • Requirement! Please include your name, course name, and topic number on all emails (and attachments). Your email address is not enough. It's not always easy to identify people by their e-mail addresses—mama1@yahoo.com = Sue or huskyman@juno.com = Harry. I'll get to know your name as quickly as possible. The best plan for easy identification is to ALWAYS put History 1302 Internet as the beginning of the subject line. At the very beginning of the e-mail message itself, type your name.

  • Send all of your topic work together. (Don't send the quiz and assignment essays separately.) Your topic's work can be sent directly in the body of the e-mail or sent as an attachment. If you use an attachment, YOU MUST USE MICROSOFT WORD. If you don't use MS word, complete your assignment in whatever word processing program you use, copy it and paste it into the body of the email you're sending me. I won't spend any time trying to find a way to open your attachment if it doesn't work.

  • Due dates are very important. Once a topic's due date has passed, you've missed it. Late work is not accepted in this class.

  • SAVE ALL WORK during the semester! If it's necessary to resend an assignment and you've deleted the work, you'll have to do it again. Do not delete any of your topic work during the semester. Create a folder for this class on your hard drive and save your work there.

  • Students are to use the required book- Flyover History: Remembering Our Ignored Past- Volume II to its fullest potential. I will also direct students to other required reading sources available on the World Wide Web. (All topics have web resource links.)

  • Please let me know if you find any broken links from this site to others.

  • At this point, click on the Class Calendar. If you have any questions, please send them along to me with 1302 Internet Question in the subject line of your e-mail, and I'll post common questions along with their answers as they come in on the Announcements page, to build an FAQ section. I answer e-mails quickly, generally within 24 hours. You may also call me during the day at (210) 363-6839. I hope you enjoy the class.

 

I'd like to thank Peter Meyers and Rob Hines, my colleagues in the Palo Alto History Department for generously allowing me to use their very successful internet classes as a model for my own venture into the virtual classroom.

Any mistakes on these pages are solely my responsbility.