ISSUES IN ARGUMENTATION ONLINE

COURSE ORIENTATION

Welcome to COMM 1111 Online! The following “course orientation” is designed to help students gain a better understanding the dynamics for this course.

COURSE PREREQUISITES:

Basic Computer Knowledge:

Issues in Argumentation Online is a COMPUTER intensive course. All course material (with the exception of the textbook content) will be delivered through WebCT Vista. This means that students are required to have basic-advanced knowledge of computers, computer applications, and trouble-shooting.

Do you know how to download a file from the Internet?

Do you know how to attach a file to an e-mail?

Do you know how to determine the size of a file?

Do you know how to use MS Word?

Do you know how to use MS Power Point?

Do you know how to access MyDC?

Do you know how to upload files to MyDC?

You are expected to be familiar with how to use a computer and WebCT to be successful in this (or any other) online course. Although this may sound rude, it is not my “job” to teach you how to use WebCT or any of the course-required computer-related programs/hardware. I am not qualified to be an instructor of technology. My “job” is to teach you as much as I can about communication (and even more importantly how to improve your communication effectiveness) in the short time we have together this semester. If you contact me regarding a WebCT or computer-related question, I will just direct you to our VERY capable helpdesk staff!!

If you are having a problem with your computer or WebCT, please contact the WebCT helpdesk. Although I consider myself technologically advanced…I’m not very good at answering technology-related questions or solving technology-related problems (remember my degree is in communication!) The helpdesk is designed to walk you through even the most basic problem. You can reach the helpdesk at (229) 317-6923 or 1-800-861-8318. They are available Monday - Friday (8am - 8pm). Please make sure you take these hours into consideration when you are planning to work on course material. I believe it is “Murphy’s Law” that you are more likely to have a technology problem if you wait until the night before something is due to start working on it. Keep in mind, if you are working on an assignment at 3am and you have problems, you are going to have to wait until the helpdesk opens at 8am for assistance!!!

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

WebCT VISTA:

This course will be using WebCT VISTA instead of WebCT CE. The University System of Georgia has required that all state colleges and universities convert their online curriculum to WebCT Vista starting spring semester, 2007. I decided to try to avoid the chaos of the conversion in December and started teaching using vista during fall, 2006. This is good news for you because I have already worked MANY of the “bugs” out of my vista courses. To access our course you can use the following link:

https://darton.view.usg.edu

Or you can go to Darton’s homepage. Hold your mouse over (don’t click) the WebCT tab across the top and a dropdown menu will appear. WebCT Vista is the 2^nd option.

JAVA:

WebCT Vista cannot operate properly without the latest version of Java. To identify whether or not your computer (or the computer you are using to access this course) has Java, look for the small “steaming coffee cup” icon in the tool bar located at the bottom right corner of your computer screen. If you do not have Java, or you just want to download the latest version, you can go to www.java.com. This download is free.

Mozilla Firefox:

It is suggested that students (and instructors) use Mozilla Firefox as their browser when using WebCT Vista.

Although WebCT Vista CAN operate using Internet Explorer, many of the features of vista cause Internet Explorer to have errors.

MyDC:

You will be required to access various information AND upload files through MyDC throughout the semester (There is also a link to access WebCT Vista within the “my courses” section of MyDC). You can access MyDC through Darton’s homepage, or by clicking the following link: https://portal.darton.edu/cp/home/displaylogin.

Please be aware that you must access your MyDC account every 90 day or the account will become “inactive”. To reactivate your account, please contact the Information Technology Helpdesk at (229) 317-6704.

Audacity:

You will be required to use Audacity to record your self-introduction speech for this course. Audacity is a FREE voice-recording program.

DOWNLOADING AUDACITY

1) Download Audacity to your computer by following the link in the Audacity tutorial (on the course homepage in WebCT)

2) Click on the LAME.dll link within the “Audacity Download” folder.

3) When you click on the link it will ask whether or not you want to “open” or “save to disk”. Select “save to disk”

4) You just need to put this Lame.dll file in your Audacity program file.

a. Select “My Computer”

b. Select “C:”

c. Select “Program Files”

d. Select “Audacity” folder

e. Put the Lame.dll file anywhere in that Audacity folder

5) If your computer is like mine, it automatically saves my download to my desktop. If this is the case, just cut and paste the file into the Audacity program folder.

SAVING YOUR FILES USING AUDACITY

1) Once you have recorded your speech you will need to save it.

2) DO NOT SELECT THE “SAVE AS” OPTION

3) To save your file you will need to “export” it as either a .wav or MP3 file.

4) I prefer MP3 files because they are more compact (smaller file size).

5) Once you have saved your file make sure that the file name says “.mp3” or “.wav”. For example: AmysSelfIntro.mp3 or AmysSelfIntro.wav

6) If your file name ends in .aup you have saved your file as a project. I CAN NOT OPEN ANY FILE THAT ENDS IN .AUP.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is an online Issues in Argumentation course?

How much time will I need to dedicate to this course on a weekly basis?

What will be the “mechanics” of this online Argumentation course?

What materials are required?

How will I learn the course material?

What types of assignments can I expect?

When are assignments due, and how will I turn them in?

Will it be easy to communicate with my instructor for this course?

Will it be easy to communicate with my classmates in this course?

What if I have technology related problems?

What if I have course related problems?

How do I get a copy of the syllabus and course schedule?

WHAT IS AN ONLINE ISSUES IN ARGUMENTATION COURSE?

Argumentation online is designed to meet the schedule demands of our busy Darton students. The entire course content will be delivered through WebCT and the course textbook (Freeley & Steinberg, Argumentation and Debate, 11^th ed.). The students will not meet with the course instructor in a classroom, however there will be required weekly meetings online. You can think of WebCT as your virtual classroom. Please be aware that you (as a student) will be required to spend just as much time reviewing course material as you would in a traditional classroom course.

WEEKLY TIME REQUIREMENTS - Minimum of 5 total hours per week

Lecture Material - COMM 1111 is a 3-credit course. This means that a student taking COMM 1111 in the traditional classroom format would spend 2.5 hours a week in class (either three 50-minute sessions or two 75-minute sessions) for 16 weeks. This equals 40 hours of classroom commitment per semester. During this traditional classroom time, public speaking instructors provide lecture material, supplemental course materials, and answer questions. Therefore, as an online student you should plan to dedicate set number of hours (2.5 for full-term) per week specifically to reading the textbook chapters and reviewing the online lectures.

Assignments – Although about 50% of a student’s time in a traditional class is spent sitting in class listening to the instructor, the other 50% is spent outside the classroom completing assignments. This is true for an online student too. In addition to the dedicated weekly time you should spend reviewing the course content material, you should also plan to spend 2.5 more hours working on course assignments.

That being said, this Issues in Argumentation course offers students GREAT flexibility. Students enrolled in this course can review the material during whatever times work best with THEIR schedule. My only requirement is that you “check-in” at least every 24 hours. This means that I will need you to log-in to WebCT on a regular basis to check for e-mails and updates. I am a VERY interactive instructor and will often send out suggestions, answer questions, and address concerns through the WebCT e-mail, announcements, and discussion forum features. This is important information and it is your responsibility to check our WebCT course often enough to stay up-to-date!

WHAT WILL BE THE MECHANICS OF THIS COURSE?

Online Issues in Argumentation courses have unique mechanics!

REQUIRED MATERIALS

Computer MicroPhone: Audacity is a voice recording program that you will be required to use to create an MP3 or Wav file of several of your speeches. You will also be required to create a voice-over PowerPoint presentation for one of your speeches. Some laptop computers have a built-in microphone. You can also purchase a mic in the computer/electronics section of most stores (Walmart, Circuit City, Target, etc.) These mics are usually under $10. Helpful hint: This type of product seems to be much cheaper when purchased online rather than in-store (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3626445).

** Students may also record audio speeches in the Darton College Foreign Language Lab (located on the 2^nd floor of the Library). If you decide to use the Lab to record, you must sign-in when you arrive and tell the lab attendant that you are in my course (COMM1111,Iinstructor Trombley). It will be your responsibility to make yourself familiar with how to use Audacity BEFORE heading to the lab. Detailed instructions for using the program will be included with each audio speech assignment (located in the “Assignments” section of WebCT). The Language Lab attendants/monitors are NOT familiar with how to use Audacity, therefore they will not be able to help you if you have problems recording. I would suggest printing off a copy of the assignment directions to take with you to the lab in case you need additional information.

METHODS OF LEARNING

Course material in online courses is delivered to students through WebCT using a combination of the textbook, instructor lectures (power points), supplemental materials, and assignments. The course content has been broken up into various “Learning Modules”. Students should follow the course schedule to determine which textbook chapter(s), leaning module(s), and assignments should be completed each week of the course.

TYPES OF ASSIGNMENTS

This is a brief overview of each of the assignments required for this course. Specific details for each assignment are located in the “Assignments” section of WebCT.

Speeches

The delivery format required for each speech is indicated in parentheses next to the speech number.

Speech #1 (Audacity) – Persuasion Speech (Question of Fact) This 5-7 minute speech will require you to address the truth or falsity of an assertion (what is true/false = question of fact).

Speech #2 (Audacity) – Persuasion Speech (Question of Value) – This 5-7 minute speech will require you to address the worth, rightness, morality, and so forth of an idea or action (what is good/bad, right/wrong = question of value).

Speech #3 (Audacity) – Position Speech (Question of Policy) – This 7-9 minute debate-style speech will require you to address whether or not a specific course of action should be taken. You will be given a list of policy topics and have the choice to either support or challenge the topic. Only one student will be allowed to choose each topic…in other words for each topic, one student will present a supportive speech and another student will present a challenge speech.

Speech #4 (Voice-Over PowerPoint) – Standard Debate (Group Speech) - This 10-15 minute simple debate will require a group (TWO students) to present an affirmative case, negative case, and refutation in regards to an assigned topic.

Quizzes & Exams

Quizzes: There will be 16 online quizzes posted to WebCT. The quiz due dates are posted on the course schedule and should be completed at some point during the week that each is due. For example, you have the entire first full week of classes to complete Quiz #1. Each quiz will ask 5 questions and will be worth 5 total points (1 point per question). Although the total for all 16 quizzes will add up 80 points (16 quizzes at 5 points per quiz), the quizzes will only be graded out of 60 points. This means that any amount of points over 60 that you score on the quizzes will be extra credit. For example, if you score perfect on all of the quizzes, you will receive 60 points toward your “quizzes” grade and 20 points of extra credit (added into your total points). If you miss one question per quiz, you will score a total of 64 points (16 quizzes at 4 points each)…which would mean that you would receive 60 points toward your “quizzes” grade and 4 points of extra credit (added into your total points).

Midterm and Final Exam: The midterm and final exams will be a combination of multiple-choice and true/false questions.

Evaluations

Write/Refute an Editorial (x2):

You will be required to pick a “current events” issue (local, national, or global). You have two options for this assignment: 1) You may choose to construct an editorial about this issue to be submitted to a hypothetical newspaper OR 2) Choose an editorial from a real newspaper and construct a “response” either in support or against the editorial.

Persuasive Speaker Review: Choose a public speaker (instructor, spiritual advisor, guest speaker at Darton, political activist, etc.) to critique. The speaker must be giving some sort of PERSUASIVE public speech and you must be a member of their audience for the entire speech. You will pretend that you have been hired as an independent speech consultant (i.e., persuasive speaking instructor) for this individual, and it is your job to provide a thorough analysis of their presentation.

Format Options (Choose ONE):

Write the critique as if you were writing a formal report.

Write the critique as if you were speaking directly to the person you have chosen to evaluate.

Your critique should include both positive feedback and constructive criticism.

ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSIONS

Due Dates:

Although this course is designed to add some “fun” to your busy Darton schedule, it is also a very intensive course. A quiz, speech, journal and/or other assignment will be due EVERY week. All due dates are posted in the course schedule (located on the course homepage in WebCT). Keeping up with assignment due dates is critical to your success in this course. Once a quiz closes, you will not have the opportunity to make it up. If you miss one of the other assignment deadlines you will be allowed to submit the assignment up to ONE week after the due date for 50% of the points. If you submit the assignment later than ONE week after the due date, the assignment will not count toward your final grade. Please let me know if you have any questions about any of the assignment due dates!

Submission Procedures:

Most assignment files (see below for description) will be uploaded to MyDC (if they are less than 10MB) or sent through www.yousendit.com (if they are less than 100MB) for submission. Each of your assignments document NAMES should include your name and the assignment name (for example: amytrombleyeditorial1.doc, amytrombleyquestionofvalue.mp3, amytrombleyeditorial2.doc, amytrombleyquestionoffact.mp3, etc.) The following types of assignments must be submitted through MyDC (file size less than 10MB) or www.yousendit.com (file size less than 100MB):

Speech Scripts – You will be required to submit a written version of each of your speeches. These speech scripts should be typed in Word.

Evaluations – As with your speech scripts, you will type all required evaluations in Word.

Power Point – For the group project

Voice Recordings (MP3 or WAV) – The speeches (question of fact, question of value, and question of policy) that require you to use AUDACITY will allow you to EXPORT a voice recording in either MP3 or WAV file format.

Exams & Quizzes – All exam and quizzes will be completed in WebCT.

WILL IT BE EASY TO COMMUNICATE WITH MY INSTRUCTOR?

YES!! You can communicate with me in MANY ways and I will hold regular online “office hours”. I love communicating with students (remember I majored in communication, so I must enjoy it, most of the time).

Here are your options:

WebCT E-mail: I will monitor my WebCT e-mail multiple times a day (I’m a bit of an e-mail junky).

Darton E-mail: I will monitor my Darton e-mail account multiple times a day (again, e-mail junky).

MySpace: I have a MySpace page (www.myspace.com/amytrombley). Although MySpace tends to be a bit controversial, I think it’s a great way to interact with my students and for them to get to know a little more about me. Throughout the semester I am pretty much your “virtual instructor”, and I believe MySpace allows you (as my students) to get to know me as a person like you do your classroom instructors. I strictly monitor everything on MySpace. I only accept friend requests from people that I know, and I also reserve the right to “block” any pages that I feel have questionable content. My only goal with MySpace is to be able to interact with my past and present students (and my own friends). I do not require you to have MySpace, use MySpace, or even like MySpace. I only offer it as ONE possible tool for the course.

WebCT Chat: WebCT has a “chat” function that works just like AOL instant messenger or MSN instant messenger. Anytime you are logged into WebCT, you can view which of your classmates is online (this includes me), and then send them an invitation to “chat”. To access this feature, look across the top of your screen for the tool bar (this is the bar that has the e-mail, discussion, etc.) Click the “more tools” option. Then select the “Who’s online” option. This will bring up a list of everyone that is currently online. Then you just put a check in the box next to the person you want to talk to and hit the “Send Chat Invitation” button at the bottom. If you just have a quick question and I’m online, you can send me a chat instead of sending an e-mail and get an instant answer!

WILL IT BE EASY TO COMMUNICATE WITH MY CLASSMATES?

YES!! You will have many opportunities to communicate with your classmates. The discussion forum feature in WebCT is a GREAT way to get-to-know each other, ask each other class-related questions, or just chit-chat. You can also use the WebCT “Chat” option discussed in the “Will it be Easy to Communicate With My Instructor” section. I also encourage those of you who actually attend traditional classes at Darton to get in contact with each other. You might want to form video recording groups.

WHAT IF I HAVE TECHNOLOGY-RELATED PROBLEMS?

As stated in the “Course Prerequisites” section, you are expected to be familiar with how to use a computer and WebCT to be successful in this (or any other) online course. Although this may sound rude, it is not my “job” to teach you how to use WebCT or any of the course-required computer-related programs/hardware. My “job” is to teach you as much as I can about communication (and even more importantly how to improve your communication effectiveness) in the short time we have together this semester. If you contact me regarding a WebCT or computer-related question, I will just direct you to our VERY capable helpdesk staff!!

WHAT IF I HAVE COURSE-RELATED QUESTIONS OR PROBLEMS

CONTACT ME!!! If you EVER have a question, comment, or concern, PLEASE don’t hesitate to contact me. Although I am working on developing my psychic abilities, I haven’t made much progress. This means that unless you TELL me, I won’t know. If you don’t ask me a question, I can’t answer it. If you don’t tell me about a problem, I can’t help you try to fix it. If you don’t tell me how much you love this class, I can’t do my happy dance.

HOW DO I GET A COPY OF THE SYLLABUS AND COURSE SCHEDULE

Very easily. The course syllabus and course schedule is always available on WebCT. I would suggest printing both of these documents and keeping them in a safe place. If you lose either of these printed tools (or it gets eaten by your dog, cat, rabbit, guinea pig, horse, little brother/sister, child, etc.) you can get another copy ANYTIME on WebCT. Both the syllabus and the course schedule will be listed on the homepage.

If there is ANYTHING that I have not covered in this orientation that you would like me to cover…please refer to the “What if I have course related problems” section.

NOW THAT YOU HAVE READ THE COURSE ORIENTATION, PLEASE TAKE THE COURSE ORIENTATION QUIZ. ALSO, PLEASE REVIEW THE SYLLABUS AND COURSE SCHEDULE.

Current Students

Quizzes & Exams

Evaluations