Hello,

My name is Joe Escobar and I am your instructor for HST203 United States History at Lane Community College.  You are receiving this email because you have registered for the course and you have wisely included your email address in your ExpressLane account information (which was transferred to Moodle).

I wanted to contact you in advance of our first class meeting on Tuesday (a week from tomorrow) 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 drop this course and 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.  The syllabus, calendar, and list of deadlines are located online in Moodle. 

#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 more information by reading the class information website, which I definitely suggest you do before we meet in class next week. 
http://media.lanecc.edu/users/escobarj

In addition, I post all student evaluations of my courses from past terms online. You should take a look before you decide to spend your tuition money on this class with this instructor.
http://media.lanecc.edu/users/escobarj/evaluations/ 

I have just made the Moodle class accessible to all registered students and have made an advanced copy of the syllabus visible as well. I hope you read it now so you can come prepared with questions on the first day.  Login now at:
http://classes.lanecc.edu

TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS

Under the Class Handouts link in Moodle, there are two links.  One links to a short video clip I put online, and the other is to a PDF file which you should be able to download/view and read.  It is very important that you successfully access both of these now.  If there are any problems, figure them out on your own, update your Quicktime plugin and/or web browser software, contact the LCC student help desk at SHeD@lanecc.edu, use a friend's computer or one in an LCC computer lab, or drop the class.  All technical issues you may have should be solved now, before the term begins.  Technical issues, beyond the LCC Moodle server going down, will not be valid excuses for failing to meet class deadlines and complete class assignments.


Finally, I would even suggest that you take the Chapter 22 Quiz, whether or not you have the textbook or have read the chapter.  Since I only count the highest score, AND you can take the quiz as many times as you want before next week's deadline, you've got nothing to lose.

Well, that's all of the news I have for you now.  I look forward to meeting you in person on Tuesday, April 3rd, and working with you during the term.

Until then,

Joe Escobar
History Instructor
Lane Community College


P.S.  Feel free to contact me with questions before the term begins, but I ask that you use Moodle messaging (INSTEAD OF EMAIL) to do so.  Often, student emails get "caught" in LCC's spam filter.  I don't get the messages and can incorrectly be perceived as being unresponsive to students.  Moodle messages ALWAYS get to me, and I respond very quickly.  If you've never sent a Moodle message, watch the help video on the Moodle class website.