HISTORY V111
Section 001
Dr. Powers
Spring, 2010
COURSE MATERIALS AVAILABLE ONLINE
Aside from the textbooks, most of
the essential course material usually provided in workbooks and handouts is
provided through computers. If you don't know how to use a computer, you'll
need to learn the basics right away. This guide is intended to inform you just
what materials are out there, and then to provide basic information on how to
get them. If you've already been here at least one semester, you shouldn't even
need the second part. If you need more than this guide, see me.
I.
THE WEB PAGE
I've got a World Wide Web page for
my courses. The URL is:
http://www.uscsumter.edu/~tpowers/
Once you're there, just follow the
links to Courses for Spring, 2010 and from there to History 111-001.
Don't ignore the other materials of
a general nature on the entry page. The readings aren't long, but you might
find some of them very useful. The essay on plagiarism, for example, is there.
The HIST 111 webpage has links to a
course description and to five other pages:
·
Administrative Files
·
Guides
·
Handouts
·
Readings
Here’s what’s on the “Administrative Files” page:
Course
Introduction. This has most of the information about the course, including
objectives, attendance policy, grading, required books, etc.
Schedule of
Classes and Assignments: As the title says, this lists the topics for each
day’s class, daily readings and other assigned materials, dates of tests, and
more.
Course Materials
Available Online is the document you’re looking at right now. It tells you what course
materials are online. Budget cuts being what they are, it’s no longer permitted
that we duplicate these sorts of things on paper and hand them out to you. This
tells you how to get them.
Index of
Materials Online is a separate document showing both the contents of the various website
and Blackboard pages and directions for getting any particular document. It
also tells when you’ll need each.
The “Readings” page is a list of links to other
documents. You’ll be required to read some of them. The others are there for
your information.
For a look at the other pages, see the “Index of
Materials Online”
Everything that’s on the course webpage is also on Blackboard
or is accessible through Blackboard. Because of the way Blackboard
pages are organized, the structure is a little different. In some cases, Blackboard
will simply provide a link back to the webpage. In others, the same documents
will be on Blackboard and the webpage but in different formats.
You’ll
also use Blackboard to turn in your abstracts and evaluations. Just go
to “Assignments” on the Blackboard page, click on the link to the proper
assignment, and upload your paper. I will not accept abstracts and evaluations
on paper. They must be uploaded to Blackboard by the beginning of class
on the date indicated for each on the “Assignments” page as well as on the
Schedule of Classes and Assignments. Once the deadline has passed, the link will
go away, and you’ll be unable to submit your paper, so don’t miss these
deadlines!
To get into Blackboard in the first place,
you’ll need your userid and password. These are the same as you use to get into
your University E-Mail account. If you don’t have them, there’s a guide on how
to get them in the following section. Once you have them, goto http://blackboard.sc.edu or just go to the
USC Sumter home page (http://www.uscsumter.edu
and click on “Blackboard.” At the Blackboard welcome page, click on
“Login.” Enter your userid and password where indicated on the login screen,
and click “login” or hit the <enter> key. This should bring you to your
personal Blackboard welcome page. Find the list of courses you’re
enrolled in, and click on HIST 111.
The Blackboard site is organized
differently from the server or the website.
·
To get to
materials stored under “Administrative Files” on the webpage, click on “Course
Information” and then on “Administrative Files” in Blackboard.
·
To get to
materials stored under “Guides” on the webpage, click on “Course Information”
and then on “Guides” in Blackboard.
·
To get to
materials stored under “Handouts” and “Readings”, click on the “Course
Documents” buttons on Blackboard. You’ll then see links
which will take you to the “Handouts” and “Readings” pages of the course
website. It’s simpler just to go to the site directly, but if you happen to
like working through Blackboard, here it is.
·
Also under
“Course Documents” is a section containing outlines of Power Point
presentations which I sometimes make in class. These are not on the website. If
you want them, you must go to Blackboard. It’s useful to have
these rather than to sit there copying the presentation slides in class. They
can be good study tools as well. I may not use all of these during the
semester, but all are useful as study tools.
I
will post grades on Blackboard for your information, but will not use Blackboard’s
gradebook to compute them. In part, this is because Blackboard cannot now accommodate a grading system such as mine, in
which, for example, you have six homework assignments, but only the highest
four grades count toward your final grade. Thus, you’ll be able to see what you’ve
earned so far, but nothing will be calculated.
E-mail is another thing. See the next section.
I will be using the course e-mail
list which Blackboard generates automatically.
UNLESS YOU GO IN AND CHANGE IT, Blackboard AUTOMATICALLY SENDS ALL E-MAIL TO YOUR UNIVERSITY
E-MAIL ACCOUNT! Check that account daily, or change your address in Blackboard so that the e-mail will be
forwarded to an address you use regularly. I often send out class information
on e-mail, so it’s important that you check it.
To change your Blackboard e-mail address, just go
into Blackboard, then click on TOOLS, then
on “Personal Information,” then on “Edit Personal Information.” Just below your
name will be a box for your e-mail address. Remove the address that’s in there
(unless that’s the one you want to use) and enter your preferred one.
In case you’re new, or for some
other reason didn’t know, USC provides all registered students with web-based
e-mail accounts. This is University E-Mail. The class mailing list which Blackboard constructs automatically
uses your University E-Mail address, unless you set it otherwise as mentioned
above. The University E-Mail accounts need to be activated before they can be
used. Here's how you do that:
1. If you don't know your PIN,
go by the Office of Records and Registration in the
2. Get on the internet and go
to USC's VIP page (http://vip.sc.edu).
Enter your USC I.D. number (usually your Social Security number without the
dashes, but that’s beginning to change as USC tries to get away from using
Social Security numbers as ID numbers – if you’ve already been assigned a new
USC ID number, use that instead) and your PIN as required. (If you used your
initial PIN to get in here, the first thing the system should do will be to
make you change your PIN.) Click on the "Technology" tab. From there,
you should be able to retrieve your user identification number (userid) and
password. If you already know your userid and password, skip to the next step.
3. Goto http://www.sc.edu/studentemail/.
There, you’ll find links to an FAQ as well as to the student help desk. You’ll
also notice a space for you to log in. Follow the instructions there. Take a few minutes to become accustomed to the way the system works, so
you'll know how to read or send mail. The system uses MS
Outlook, so if you’re already familiar with that, you’re OK. PLEASE NOTE THAT
THIS IS A NEW SYSTEM! IF YOU HAVE USED THE PREVIOUS SYSTEM, YOU’LL NEED TO SET
UP YOUR ACCOUNT AGAIN, AND YOU’LL NEED A NEW PASSWORD. You can reset your
password on VIP under the “Technology” tab.