Criminal Law and Criminal Evidence and Procedures ---On-line!
This step off into cyberspace is an exciting new adventure for many of you. And certainly, our "virtual classroom" will differ in many ways from the face-to-face classroom to which you have become accustomed. There are no lectures here. I am no longer your "teacher." I am here to help you organize your learning, to facilitate the process, and to provide activities that promote your understanding of the material, but I will not be "teaching" you. You will teach yourself with my help and with the help of the other members of our learning community, also known as your cyber classmates.
Because you must teach yourself with the help of the community, it is very important that you connect with your classmates and interact with them often and in meaningful ways. This interaction will happen via e-mail, in the Virtual Donut Shop that will be open 24 hours a day, in the study group chat rooms that will be set up, and in the conference areas.
Your success in this course is directly related to how much time you are willing to invest in doing the course work and establishing relationships within our learning community. You will find your classmates to be important resources from whom you can learn and who, in turn, will rely on you to help them learn. During the first week of class, we will be doing exercises especially designed to help you establish a network of people with whom you can interact throughout the semester.
And certainly, I expect to be a primary resource. I am here to help you, shore you up, encourage you, throw you a lifeline and get you back on track when needed. I will not leave you stranded and floating in the outer reaches of space. I check e-mail and logon to the system daily.
So here we goooooooo............
Can you picture yourself blasting off into space? Look around.
Do you see other
people out there? Look for them. They are there.
Let's get started....
There are some helpful preparations you can do immediately to ensure
that your voyage is as smooth as possible.
1. You must be
organized. Read my suggestions for
getting organized
2. Next, you should read my advice for success
in online courses.
2. The orientation
letter has important information for you.
3. Read the
Syllabus and General Information in Blackboard
After you are able to logon to
the course in the Blackboard System,
you will be able to complete the following tasks.
4. To get started with the course, click on "Assignments" in
the frame
at the left of the Blackboard screen. Then click on "Week
One Assignments"
5. In the "Week One Assignments..." folder, you will find instructions
about editing your personal information to
include the e-mail address
that you will use for this course.
6. Also check out the various areas of the course by clicking
on the
icons in the left frame. Some of the
areas are empty at this
point of the course, but several areas contain
important content.
7. After you started with the course, start creating your home
page
for the course. It is not required that you
create a home page.
Click on "Tools" in the left frame.
Then click on "Edit Your Home Page."