ENGL 2132
American Literature II

Dear Member of American Literature,

Welcome to American Literature, or almost—you still have to get through an orientation before you can start the course. If you are like me, you have little patience for orientations or instruction manuals, so let’s keep this as brief as possible.

 1)  How do I get into the course?

On the first day of scheduled classes, follow the WebCT Vista logon instructions.   At the end of this short orientation, you will find a link for logon instructions.  Please wait to log on until you have finished reading this brief orientation.

2)    What do I do once I get inside the course?  

Once you are inside the course, you will find everything to be straightforward—no fancy graphics or sound effects that will take a long time to load, or pop-up ads you want to shut by clicking on the X so that you can read.  Simply click on the lesson you wish to work on (let’s make that the lesson you have to work on ) as you complete your journey in American Literature.

 3)   What should I read inside the course to get an orientation that tells me only what I need to know—grades, due dates, how to go about assignments, where to email my work, where to phone if my computer crashes, and so on?

Click on Lesson 01 and read A LETTER TO YOU AND INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE.  Then, in the same lesson, click on the other links, such as COURSE SYLLABUS and COURSE CALENDAR, as well as LESSON-HOW-TO, and you should be ready to go.  In Lesson 02 you will find all the STUDY QUESTIONS.  You will also want to take a look at ESSAY EXAMS, which you can access from the main/home page of the course.  For a shortcut, you will here also find SYLLABUS and CALENDAR, all clickable.  I hope you find the large font of the course helpful.  It should offset some of the blinding effects of the ant-print of the Norton Anthology :)

4)  Once you have completed some initial “orientation reading,” do not click on Email the instructor .  Instead, go to your favorite email account and email provider and type ulf.kirchdorfer@darton.edu  into your “Send To” box and send me a message letting me know you got inside the course.  If you have any questions, email me those, or if you have no questions, email me a hello and let me know, for example, how your day is going, what you think about the weather, or what you fear or love about literature, and so on.  Once we know our email accounts are working, we are on the way, at least as reliable as carrier pigeons flocking with words, we hope, through the land of American literature.

 5)  Why use my own email account and not simply use WebCT to email?

While WebCT might provide a convenient format into which to put classes onto the Web, email can be faster and more convenient and reliable when you use an email account that is not tied into the course.  And if you are like me, you don’t want to have several email accounts with several passwords to forget when you want to quickly check your mail anytime-anywhere/24-7.

 6)  This is not question number six really, but just a way to let you know a few more important logistics factors (you’ll find them in the course syllabus and/or calendar as well):

Be sure to use Word and to send all assignments in a Word attachment.  I am unable to open any other format.

Be sure to back up your work on your computer’s hard drive but also on a disk; print out a copy of your work as well.  All this sounds like a computer user’s paranoia, but from experience, I know just what a difference it can make to have saved your work.  Speaking of backing up, always keep a copy of the email you sent me; that way if I have not received your email, you can later forward me a copy.

Type your name and address inside the document so that I can give you credit for your work.

Complete and mail me the Distance Learning/Online Academic Honesty Form, which you will find in the SYLLABUS.  All  course work, including exams, will be sent via email from any location of your choice.  By signing the honesty form, you avoid having to come to campus to take exams, something which would defeat the purpose of an online course.  I thank you for signing the form and am sorry we have to do this—99.9 % of the population is honest.

If you are experiencing any technical problems, contact the WebHelp Desk.  You’ll find their link at the beginning of this orientation.

Get up and stretch at least once every hour that you spend in front of the computer.  That way you’ll be able to minimize, I hope, your visits to a chiropractor or orthopedic surgeon.

I am looking forward to working with you as I hope you will find American literature to be more than a dull, credit-must course!

And here is the link with those logon instructions.

      Logging on to WebCT Vista

http://online.darton.edu/Handouts/vista_log_on.htm