HST201 Fall Term Announcements LCC - HST201 Welcome Letter Hello, My name is Joe Escobar and I am your instructor for HST201 United States History at Lane Community College. You are receiving this email because you have signed up for the course and you have wisely included your email address in your ExpressLane account information. I wanted to contact you in advance of our first class meeting on Tuesday with some information relevant to this particular course. Top 3 things you should know before taking this history class. #1 You are enrolled in a HYBRID history class. (See the "h" note in the online schedule of classes.) Twenty-five percent (25%) of the credits for this class will be earned online. Students in this class are required to complete a significant amount of work online. If you are unwilling to participate in this type of class, I suggest you enroll in another traditional, face-to-face section. #2 No late work will be accepted in this class. You will have regular deadlines each week, given well in advance. It is imperative that you complete and submit your work by each deadline. #3 Your midterm and final exams must be taken in a secured testing lab OUTSIDE of our regular classroom hours. Given a several day window of time, you will choose a day and time to complete your exams during the testing lab's open hours. You'll find much more information by reading the class website. https://teach.lanecc.edu/escobarj You can even get an advanced copy of the course syllabus, located in Moodle. http://classes.lanecc.edu Well, that's all of the news I have for you now. I look forward to meeting you in person on Tuesday and working with you during the term. Until then, Joe Escobar History Instructor Lane Community College HST201 - IMPORTANT FIRST DAY INFORMATION I sent you an email last week with some important information about the class. If you did not read that, be sure to do so before tomorrow's class by logging into Moodle and looking at my "Welcome Letter" under Announcements. (You might as well read and/or print out the syllabus while you're there.) http://classes.lanecc.edu I'm sending you this additional email reminder as a courtesy because of what happened at LCC today, Monday. I believe all parking lots were completely full by 9am this morning. Staff received phone calls from students who had spent over an hour circling the parking lots looking for a space. We've been told that traffic tomorrow will be worse than it was today. Our class does not begin until 10am (or 1pm). If you think you can roll into the lot at 9:30am and get a space, you most certainly will be mistaken. So plan to get to campus well ahead of the class start time. But the most important thing is to come to class tomorrow, even if you are a bit late. It is LCC policy that students who miss 50% of their classes the first week will be dropped. Since our class meets only two days a week, missing just one day this week will result in your being dropped. I look forward to meeting you tomorrow. Hello all, Just a quick reminder to complete the Week 1 Opinion Poll BEFORE tomorrow's 10am deadline . You should also have watched the 4 minute web video, read chapter 1, and made an attempt at the Chapter 1 Quiz (which is due by 9pm on Friday). See you in class tomorrow. Hello all, Here is the first of two email "announcement" reminders that I promised to send to you. In just under 9 hours from now, your first chapter quiz is due. Remember to take the quiz repeatedly until you earn a score of 10 or better (50%). Next, look ahead (in Moodle) to week two. By Monday, yes, THIS COMING Monday, you are to have read chapter 2 and taken the quiz by the Monday 9pm deadline to receive credit. You should start getting used to this Monday 9pm quiz deadline for the rest of the term. This weekend we begin our first online forum. ALL of the information you need to know is in the Forum Guidelines and Scoring link in Moodle. Read it. The forum will "begin" when I send you another announcement later this weekend. Finally, you have a decision to make. Ten percent of our term is already over, and based on the book you've bought, the chapter you've read, the quiz you've (hopefully) taken, the poll you (hopefully) answered by the deadline, and the first two lectures you've heard..... will you stay or will you drop the class and get your refund? You have until Sunday evening to decide. Please make a choice that is best for you. (By the way, the "read my student evaluations" link on the Syllabus in Moodle is working correctly now, if you wanted to read what other students have said about the class and the instructor.) That's all for now. I hope to see you in class next week. smile http://classes.lanecc.edu Hello students, Yesterday, Sunday was the last day to drop and receive a full refund. If you are receiving this email, then you have chosen to stay in this class. Before we meet in class tomorrow, you must read chapter 2 and take the online quiz as many times as necessary to get a score of 10 or higher BEFORE tonight's 9pm deadline (MONDAY). We've had two assignment deadlines so far (week 1 poll and chapter 1 quiz). For your information, the gradebook in Moodle is always up-to-date. I encourage you to take a look. If you see problems with the grade, then be sure to Moodle message me and get it cleared up. (But if you've simply missed a deadline, please don't ask for an extension. As you know, no late work is accepted in this class.) YOUR FIRST FORUM We began our first forum this past weekend. You should have received an email/post from me on Saturday. Be sure you read the Forum Guidelines and Scoring page in Moodle. (I've seen some initial posts by students who have clearly NOT read the instructions.) You are all initially subscribed to the forum. Basically, this means you will receive an email anytime someone makes a post. The positive part of this is that you will keep getting reminded that people are talking about the subject and that you need to participate. The negative part might be that you don't want to receive so many emails. So, you have a couple of choices: #1 You can change how you receive forum emails by editing your Moodle profile and changing your Email digest type. No digest means you get a separate email per post (this the default setting in Moodle), OR you can choose to get a single, daily email which includes all of the posts made that day. #2 You can "unsubscribe" yourself from receiving the emails in this specific forum by clicking the "Unsubscribe from this forum" link in the upper right hand corner of the main forum page. (NOTE: Each time you make a post or reply, the default setting at the bottom of the page where you type your reply, will subscribe or re-subscribe you to the forum automatically, unless you choose otherwise.) Regardless, you have until Saturday at 9pm to "discuss" the forum information with your classmates and group members. See you in class tomorrow. Hello students, The deadline for the first week topics in Forum 1 was yesterday, Saturday at 9pm. You should have just received another email from Forum 1 where I've posted the materials and questions for the second week. Your posts and replies from last week can be found in the forum called Forum 1 Past Week's Discussions . You cannot post or reply in that forum, but you will be able to see what scores your posts and replies have earned. I'll be spending the next two days scoring them. I'd like to offer some advice for a few of you. Some student comments in the forum have been so vague that it is unclear to me (and perhaps to others) that the writer has even listened to the lecture or read the pdf. Be certain to include specific evidence that you've interacted with the materials I provided for you each week. You have until next Saturday, October 16 at 9pm to "discuss" the second week forum information with your classmates and group members. Your required work due BEFORE for Tuesday's class is pretty simple. #1 Watch the 6 minute web clip on the Puritans. #2 Read Chapter 3, and ... #3 Take the quiz on Chapter 3 before Monday's (tomorrow's) 5pm deadline. The gradebook in Moodle is always up-to-date. If you see problems with the grade, then be sure to contact me and get it cleared up. See you Tuesday. Hello students, I've finished scoring your posts for the first week's discussion. By looking at Forum 1 Past Week's Discussions , you can see what score each of your posts or replies received. (You can only see your own scores.) VERY IMPORTANT Recall that you can earn from 0 to 3 points per post or reply, and that you are "chasing" 6 points, contributing AT LEAST one excellent post and one excellent reply each week. Many of you did more that the bare minimum, which undoubtedly had a positive impact on your grade. Moodle simply "adds up" all of your posts and replies, up to the grand total of 6 points for the first week. Please do not be confused when the forum shows you getting #/6 for your post. The top number is your score for that post, from 0 to 3. The bottom number will always be 6 (for this past week). If we had just come to the end of the three-week forum assignment, that "grand total" (out of 6) would be your grade. Recalling that forums are worth 20% of your grade in this class, you can see what an impact this has on your current grade in this class, as shown on the bottom line of the Moodle gradebook. See you in class tomorrow, and don't forget about the Chapter 3 quiz due tonight in about 6 hours from now. Hello students, Our first three-week Forum 1 has come to a conclusion. I am scoring your posts for the last week and you will be able to see the individual post scores (and the cumulative forum grade) in the gradebook later this week. I have also added your classroom attendance scores, through the first four weeks, into the Moodle gradebook. Be sure to complete your Chapter 5 quiz before tomorrow's deadline. MIDTERM EXAM This is week five of the term, almost the half-way point, and your midterm exam 3-day "window" (Oct 29 - Nov 1) will begin this coming Friday. So it is time to start thinking about your midterm exam. I have posted the midterm exam study list under the Class Handouts link in Moodle. There are 3 versions of the same list, in MS Word, pdf, and html (web page). Print yourself a copy and begin your review of the materials we've covered over the last four weeks. Your midterm exam will NOT be taken in class. It will NOT be taken at home. It WILL be in Moodle and accessible ONLY from the computers in the Social Science Testing Lab, CEN456 (4th floor of the Center Building). You will need to bring a photo ID with you in order to take the test. Click the appropriate link in Moodle for the testing lab hours of operation to determine what day and time you plan to take your test. No appointment is necessary and although there is no time limit, most students finish the exam within one hour. That's all for now. See you in class on Tuesday. Hello all, I've scored your week 2 forum posts and the final week three materials are online and ready (see the link in Forum 1 ). Last night, you should have received my "post" in an email. In fact, I would say that you should set a goal to have at least one post done on one of the two topics before we meet in class tomorrow. I've consistently noticed that early posters have higher scores, in part due to back-and-forth discussions with their peers during the week. Waiting to post until the last day or two is definitely not keeping with spirit of this online assignment. I will see you in class tomorrow, and don't forget about the Religious Poll and the Chapter 4 Quiz due tonight, in a little less than 7 hours from now. Hello, Just a quick note to remind you that if you have not yet taken your midterm exam, today, Monday, is the final day to take it. The testing lab in CEN456 is open at 9am and will close at 7pm. (No tests are allowed to start after 6pm.) Remember that many classes use this lab for testing. 65 students in my classes took advantage of this past weekend to study and still need to take the exam. Don't wait until the very last minute today. Good luck. Hello students, I've taken a look at Midterm Exam scores, run an item analysis to look for mistakes and bad questions, and considered test difficulty rating and class average. After careful consideration, I have made a 10% upward adjustment to your midterm exam scores. This is a hefty increase, considering 10% is a full letter grade. Moodle now shows your current grade in the class, complete with everything for weeks 1 through 5. I'll talk about grades tomorrow in class, before we start material on Chapter 6, The Revolutionary Republic. So please hold your Moodle messages and grade-related questions until the conclusion of tomorrow's class. It is important that you read the chapter, take the computer quiz by this week's WEDNESDAY, 9pm deadline. See you tomorrow. Hello all, Just a quick note. Forum 2 , our last 3-week online assignment of the term, has officially begun. Since the first week of the forum involved a longer reading assignment, I thought I'd give some of you, who may be very slow readers like myself, advanced notice. Don't forget about the Chapter 7 quiz due on Monday. See you next week. P.S. For the 10am students who did not get to see the Valley Forge video clip in the classroom due to technical difficulties, here it is online. Hello students, The deadline for the first week of Forum 2 was yesterday, Saturday at 9pm. You should have just received another email from Forum 2 where I've posted the materials and question for the second week. You have until next Saturday, November 20, at 9pm to discuss the second week forum information with your group members. Your posts and replies from last week can be found in the forum called Forum 2 Past Week's Discussions . You cannot post or reply in that forum, but you will be able to see what scores your posts and replies have earned. I'll be spending the next few days scoring them. As in the first forum, there have been some posts that have been so vague that it is unclear to me that the writer has even read the essays (pdf file). Be certain to include specific evidence to prove your analysis of the materials I provided, especially the audio lecture this week (along with the web video and your textbook). You have no chapter quiz to complete tomorrow, Monday. But before class on Tuesday, you certainly should have read/watched/listened to the materials and posted to the forum. Do no procrastinate. Finally, this is week 8, the LCC schedule change deadline week. Just in time for this important date, you will find three workshops, offered on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week. More information here: http://www.lanecc.edu/trio/news/fall10.htm See you Tuesday. Hello all, The second week of our forum has concluded. You should have already received an email with the material for week 3. Since this next week is a short week, with the Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to give you the most amount of time to get started on your posts and replies. Forum 2 will close next Saturday, November 27, at 9pm. The Chapter 8 Quiz is due on Monday evening at 9pm. We have just one class this week, due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Tuesday we will be covering the material from the end of Chapter 7 through Chapter 8. Finally, you have a small extra credit opportunity to help your grade in this class. I have made the remaining weeks of the term visible in Moodle. You will see two anonymous surveys in Final Exam Week: * Student Evaluation of Instruction * Hybrid Course Questionnaire Students who complete both of these surveys by 5pm on the Thursday of Finals Week, will earn a 1% boost to their final class grades. The only module in Moodle which allows for completely anonymous student participation (even though you are logged into Moodle with your L# and PIN) is the Questionnaire Activity, specifically set to anonymous mode, which I have done. Therefore, I'd like your honest and frank feedback. Positive and negative comments left at the end of the Student Evaluation of Instruction questionnaire will be published on my website, under student evaluations, for future students to consider before taking my class. (I showed you the link to these responses in class on the first day of the term.) WARNING - I set the questionnaires so you can save a partially answered survey and/or return at a later time to change or complete the survey. Just be sure to click the SUBMIT QUESTIONNAIRE button for BOTH surveys, before the deadline, to receive the extra credit percentage point. See you in class on Tuesday, for our short week. Hello everyone, Well, that was one heck of a snow day. LCC decision-makers planned for a 10am start, so I got in my truck and (slowly) made it to LCC at 9:50am, only to find that they had closed the campus. And of course, Murphy's Law (if anything can go wrong, it will), the Lane website (and Moodle) were "down" from around 9:20am until about 12pm. I planned to send a Moodle announcement to everyone right away, but couldn't. I have put today's planned (and important) lecture on Moodle, complete with videos, so everyone can stay on track. You have a full week before we meet again to read/watch/listen to the materials. This is a situation in which our hybrid course provides a major benefit that the traditional class does not. The final week of Forum 2 concludes this Saturday at 9pm. I am currently scoring your posts and replies from week 2. I'll have those scores in Moodle soon. Our last computer quiz of the term, on Chapter 9 is due next Monday by 9pm. Finally, be sure to take advantage of the 1% extra credit point, given to students who complete both anonymous surveys found in Moodle under Final Exam Week. * Student Evaluation of Instruction * Hybrid Course Questionnaire See you next week, and Happy Thanksgiving. Hello all, Forum 2 has come to a conclusion. I'll be scoring your posts over the next few days. Thanks to all of you who participated regularly over the three week duration of this assignment. I have appreciated your conversations and debates on the historical topics and your analysis of the provided materials. As promised (a week in advance of finals week), you will now find three versions of the same final exam study list under the Class Handouts link in Moodle. (html, pdf, and Word .doc) The list is alphabetized and unsorted. Be sure to take your last computer quiz for Chapter 9 by 9pm on Monday. Also, just a quick reminder about the small extra credit opportunity you have. You should see two anonymous surveys in Final Exam Week: * Student Evaluation of Instruction * Hybrid Course Questionnaire I've had 22 students complete the student evaluation and only 17 complete the hybrid course questionnaire. In the Moodle gradebook, you should see a 1 & 100% next to each survey that you have completed. Please remember, that in order to get the extra credit, you must complete both surveys. See you in class on Tuesday. Hello Students, I have just completed posting all of the Forum 2 scores, and have updated ALL other grades, including attendance, quizzes, etc. for the entire term. What you now see in the Moodle gradebook is your current course grade going into the final exam next week.*** To see the effect a perfect 100% final exam can have on your grade (like the "current" and "highest" grade columns on the printout I passed around in class after the midterm exam), go to the Class Handouts link and click the web "handout" called final100.htm The extra credit 1% for the surveys has NOT been calculated into this grade projection. So if by scoring 100% on the final you can get the highest grade of 79%, AND you complete BOTH surveys before the deadline and earn 1%, you would get an 80%, B- in the class for the term. Final Exam Week is Monday to THURSDAY of next week. You will take your exam in the testing lab (where you took your midterm) on any of these days and times, whichever is more convenient for you. Mon - Wed 8:00 am - 8:00 pm Thursday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm CLOSED Friday Please note that your final exam is due, completed by 5pm on Thursday. Don't wait until the last minute. All students, in both the 10am and 1pm classes are invited to attend an optional final exam study session on Tuesday, December 7 at 10am in room 18/102. A "repeat", second study session is on Thursday, December 9 at 12pm in room 18/102. Unfortunately, this time is only a few hours before the final exam deadline, but it may be the only option for some people. See you tomorrow for the last day of class. *** If you believe that something in the gradebook is not accurate, you must contact me immediately via Moodle messaging. The time to rectify any concerns is now, not after your final exams have been completed and final grades have been submitted to the registrar. Hello Students, Welcome to Final Exam Week. I hope you've been using the final exam study list, located under the Class Handouts link in Moodle, to prepare for this weeks final exam. Remember, the final exam is NOT cumulative and deals only with the subject matter from chapters 6 through 9. Final Exam Week is Monday through THURSDAY of this week. You will take your exam in the testing lab (where you took your midterm) on any of these days and times, whichever is more convenient for you. Mon - Wed 8:00 am - 8:00 pm Thursday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm CLOSED Friday Please note that your final exam is due, completed by 5pm on Thursday. I strongly urge you not to wait until the last minute to take your exam. The lab serves students in all Social Science classes and all Distance Learning classes at Lane. The exam is similar in length to your midterm, so be sure to give yourself plenty of time. FINAL EXAM REVIEW SESSIONS All students, in both the 10am and 1pm classes are invited to attend an optional final exam study session on Tuesday, December 7 at 10am in room 18/102. A "repeat", second study session is on Thursday, December 9 at 12pm in room 18/102. Unfortunately, this time is only a few hours before the final exam deadline, but it may be the only option for some people. THE MOODLE GRADEBOOK Also, I have now hidden the gradebook in Moodle. When your final exams have been completed at 5pm on Thursday, I will then do as I did for the midterm exam. I'll run an item analysis, check for poor questions, consider exam difficulty, make any upward grade adjustments, etc. Once I have finished with this process, SOMETIME ON FRIDAY, I will make the Moodle gradebook visible again and send you a final announcement. You will then be able to see your final grade in the course. Please, no emails or Moodle messages saying "I can't see my grade" between 5pm Thursday and whenever you get my email announcement on Friday. EXTRA CREDIT SURVEYS I want to thank those of you who have completed the teacher and hybrid course evaluation surveys (in Moodle). If you haven't completed the anonymous surveys (BOTH are required for the 1% extra credit), please do so before 5pm on Thursday. Good luck on your final exams. Hello all, If you have not done so already, tomorrow is the last day to take your final exam. Only 20 out of 70 students have taken it so far. I was just asked by the testing lab coordinator to let you know that HUNDREDS of students campus-wide are still scheduled to take computer exams by 5pm, when the lab closes tomorrow. So, please plan accordingly and don't wait until the last minute. Also, at 12pm tomorrow we will have our last final exam review session in 18/102. Hello students, I know waiting for final course grades can be an anxious time, so I've been busy since the final exam closed today at 5pm and the results are in. Please read this entire email carefully before Moodle messaging me with grade questions. Well, the term has come to a conclusion. Final exams are over. The class final exam score average was MUCH higher than the midterm, as I expected it would be. Congratulations everyone. After the item analysis, all scores were increased by just 2%. Final course grades have been calculated and are now available on the class Moodle site. Look at the last line which reads: GRADE IN CLASS HST 201:… "Letter Grade" & "Percentage" This is ALMOST your final grade in this class. NOTE: If you completed BOTH extra credit surveys, you will see two lines in the Moodle gradebook that read: Hybrid Course Questionnaire Not used … 1 100 % Student Evaluation of Instruction Not used …. 1 100 % If either or both of these are zeros (0 0%), then the last line IS your final class grade. But if you completed both surveys, then your final GRADE IN CLASS percentage is actually one percentage point higher than what you see in the gradebook. Remember, you get only 1 point if you completed BOTH surveys. So, for example, if Moodle shows GRADE IN CLASS C+ 79%, and you have 1's next to both surveys, then add 1% to your GRADE IN CLASS percentage. In this example, even though Moodle says C+ 79%, you will actually be getting a B- 80%. Moodle can't automatically add one extra credit point to a class that uses weighted grades as ours does. I will enter the correct, adjusted grade into the ExpressLane system. Therefore, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT that you check your official LCC transcript grades, available early next week. The Moodle and ExpressLane systems are NOT "connected" for grading, so it is possible that data entry mistakes could occur, although I believe I've been very careful. I thank those of you who took the time to complete the questionnaires and give me your thoughtful and constructive feedback. I plan to read them over the break and put your good ideas to work for students who take my courses in future terms. I will also post the Student Evaluation of Instruction ratings and comments on the web for my HST202 students next term. Enjoy your Winter Break. You've earned it.