Week 1 Monday

Hello,

Welcome to English 407A: Fundamentals of Business Writing. Complete materials for this course will be available on Monday, June 4, but the syllabus, schedule and Course Introduction module are available now.

This is the first of your daily messages. I’ll use these messages to remind you of deadlines, keep you on track, and answer questions that are relevant to the whole class.

As you will read in the syllabus, I will be at my computer every evening (Mon-Thursday) from 5-6 pm working on English 407A.

I will use this time to respond to your individual questions, update the WebCampus site, review/respond to your work, and keep track of your progress.

How to contact me

You have four avenues for communicating with me for the duration of this course:

1. For questions about the class, assignments, or anything else that is not a personal, private matter, use the Web Campus discussion board.
   The discussion board has a special section specifically for questions about this class, our assignments, course technologies, etc. If you have questions about the class, you should post them on the discussion board under the space called "Questions about this class." You'll usually get the fastest response that way, because often another student has the answer and can help you out before I even see the message. (Students who are consistently helpful in this way definitely can enhance their class participation score.)
   
   When you do have a question, you should check the discussion board to see if your question has already been asked and answered. I'll only answer questions publicly once. The discussion board works best when you include a clear, specific, detailed subject line.
   
   Bad subject line: Problem
   Better subject line: Problem creating PDF file
   Bad subject line: Question
   Better subject line: What is the best way to write survey questions?
   
2. If you have a question of a private/personal nature use WebCampus email. By private/personal, I mean "I don't understand what my grade means" or "I need to drop the class." Communication via WebCampus email should be rare. I will only respond to private messages on WebCampus mail. Do not send messages to my personal university account; I will delete them unread.
   
3. Chat me.
   During my posted office hours (5-6 p.m. Mon-Thurs.), I am generally available online through the Web Campus live chat feature. If you see that I'm online, just send me a chat invitation. I'm happy to chat online.
   
4. Call me.
   You may leave a voice message for me on my university voicemail -- 702-895-5073. I check messages on this line once per day during the summer. I will return your call within 24 hours if you leave a number and time when you will be available.

What to expect from this class

For this first message, I want to offer a little free advice. This class is not meant to be easy, especially as online delivery. In fact, this class is hard work, and I expect you to work hard to be successful in this class. So it’s important that you take the work in this class seriously. That is your responsibility.

• This is not a self-paced course. Even though this is an online class, there are still due dates for all of the work that you are required to do in this class. Due dates are VERY IMPORTANT to me. If you miss deadlines, your grades will suffer and there are no opportunities to make up missed work or to do extra credit. Be sure to read closely the Class Schedule (located on the Course Content page). So you must keep up with the work every week. Don’t let yourself get behind. Check the calendar regularly and be vigilant about when work is due. Pay particular attention to how much work is due on Fridays, especially during the first couple of weeks. Work ahead in this case. Do not try to do all the work on Friday. There is just too much.
  
• Workload. Standard workload during the regular semester is three hours outside of class for every hour in class. Just because this is a summer course does not mean that you will do less work. This course is a three-credit course just like the course during the regular semester. With that in mind, I expect you to spend at least 20 hours per week on this course. That includes all of the reading, quizzes, exercises, and writing projects. You need to set time aside every day to work on this course. You will not be successful if you think that you can complete this course in a great burst of energy at the end of the semester (or even at the end of the week each week). If you don’t keep up with the workload every week, you will fail the course. I guarantee.

Also, you are expected to participate in the class on a regular basis. Whole-class discussions and peer-review activities are optional during the summer, but participating in these online components will help you get a better handle on course content and (usually) helps you produce more polished work.

This class is hard, but if you all work together, the class can be more manageable. If everyone participates and helps everyone else, we all can succeed. I guarantee.

Academic integrity

Finally, you will also notice as you peruse the materials on this course that we have some assignments that are the same and some that are different from those on other syllabi you may have seen for this class. We have had some problems recently with recycling the projects of other students.

I expect everyone to do their own ORIGINAL work in this class. We have a lot of samples for you to work with, but I want each of you to do your own thinking and your own writing. Don’t think that because this is an online course that you will be able to sneak things past us. Our searchable database has all of the old papers written by every student in English 407A. If you cheat, or try to take shortcuts by recycling old projects, you will fail.

And on a cheerier note

And now that I’ve acted the mean professor, I hope that you get a lot out of this class. This class is for your benefit, and we’ve worked hard to give you the necessary materials for success. We believe firmly that you will improve as a writer if you take the work seriously and think reflectively about HOW you write. What you write will certainly be graded, but you will do better for yourself if you think deeply about your writing process and learn to develop the skills for writing that you will need to be successful in the future. I will do everything that I can to help you achieve all of your goals in this class.

Good luck to each of you.

I look forward to a great semester.

Dr. Julie Staggers