HIST 103DCE News

Now, I think, we have truly begun the work in the course. By now you should have received a packet of CDs by mail. The e-mail lists are up and working. And we can start administering quizzes. So, if you need a little guidance, here are the things you should be doing.

1. Be sure you have explored the website for the course. The course is pretty much front-loaded--study guides, specs for assignments, and all.

2. Get into the e-mail list. By now you should be receiving e-mail from the gap1 list or the gap2 list. (If not, then write Mr. Lewis right away and let him know.) If you haven't already, then send now your introductory message to your e-mail list. (Information about the e-mail lists of Cumberland Gap is written into the page of that name linked from the home page.)

3. Study Lecture (Episode) 1. See the Lectures page linked from the home page for how the lectures work. See the study guide for Lecture 1 linked at left of the home page. Drop the first CD into your CD drive, follow the instructions that should open up automatically, and let it talk to you.

4. When you're ready, take the quiz over Lecture 1. I have just uploaded the first quiz and linked it to the home page. Find it in the Quiz Center at lower left. Study the lecture first! On taking quizzes, again, see the instruction page linked from the home page. Also, you should have received an e-mail from Mr. Lewis giving you a user name and password to get into the quiz.

We're 2 days late uploading the first quiz. So we're going to leave it up there available longer than the calendar says. We'll leave the quiz out there available until Tuesday morning 6 September. After that, we have to move on into the second unit.

Any troubles or questions out there? Write Mr. Lewis (lewis@plainsfolk.com) if so.

Greetings again--an announcement here. At right of the home page of the course you will find a link to Virtual Office Hours. This takes you to a place where you can log into a chat room to talk with me about the course. Since we've been spinning wheels a little bit getting started, owing to data problems and general unfamiliarity with the format, I'm going to be in the chat room at 6:30 this evening (Tuesday). I'm inviting anyone in the course to drop in and ask any questions you have in real-time.


When you log into the chat room, please use first name and last name. After that you can enter any questions or comments you have, or you can just listen to (watch) others discuss what is happening and going to happen in the course.


I was going to do this later on, but I feel like it's time to open the opportunity right now. So, if you feel moved, drop by this evening.

And by the way, many of you should receive the lecture CDs by mail today. When you drop the first CD into your CD drive, it should open automatically. It has a viewer packaged with it. Be sure the sound is turned on! Then follow the spoken instructions and get into Lecture 1. (Look at the instuctions for hanling lectures posted at the website, too.) Let Mr. Lewis know if there are any problems. We've tested these things repeatedly, but if nothing else, it's always possible CDs could be damaged in the mail.

Well, we've had some "issues," as people say these days, with data. Which is to say, we've had problems getting the data we need to operate this 103 DCE course. (It's part of the general situation of moving to all new data systems across the university over the summer.) If you're checking in here, let me mention a couple of things.

First, you should be getting e-mail now from a section of Cumberland Gap, our e-mail discussion arrangement for the course. You have been assigned either to Section 1 or to Section 2 of Cumberland Gap. You should have received instructions about this by e-mail, and also been referred to the information page about Cumberland Gap linked from the home page of the course. If you have not gotten anything from your Cumberland Gap section, then something is messed up, and you need to notify Miles Lewis right away: lewis@plainsfolk.com

Second, shortly you should receive an e-mail from Mr. Lewis giving you passwords and such you will need in order to access the quizzes. Look for this! And if you don't get it in a day or two, better write Miles about that, too.

Third, because of the data issues (problems getting addresses), we only today mailed out the CDs containing the lectures for the course. Sorry, be patient, we'll get the schedule back in order. Keep watching this space, as well as your e-mail, for information about the course.

Looking over the website, I find it's pretty much complete. As you begin using it for the course, let me say there are a couple of things we're still working on, so we'll ask you to be patient at first. The bibliography, for instance, which is supposed to list books and films you can use for assignments. It's not done--you can look at it, but it's incomplete. Also, the study pages for the lectures. They are complete as to the lecture content, but at the bottom, we need to add notes about books and films; this is because, of course, the bib is incomplete! We're on it, though.

The quiz center at lower left of the home page--quiz links will blink in at the appropriate time. Every week we'll activate the quiz for the week. In the meantime, go to the information page about quizzes linked on the right side of the home page. This in turn will lead you to a free quiz, a sample, practice quiz. (The link was wrong on that before, and I just fixed it.)

Any other questions as we get going, contact Mr. Lewis: lewis@plainsfolk.com

All students in the course, please send by e-mail the following information:

1. The e-mail address you wish to use in this course
2. The first name you wish to use in this course (like if your name is Robert but you go by Bob)
3. The mailing address where we should mail your CDs with the lectures on them

Send this information to: lewis@plainsfolk.com

That's the address for Miles Lewis, instructor for the course.

We plan to do our mailing this Friday, 26 August. As the calendar shows, work in the course begins the following Monday.

It looks like we're ready to go with the fall section of HIST 103 DCE. The website is pretty much complete (a little touching up to do), the lectures are packaged up for mailing, and the online quiz system is working (although the quizzes are not yet loaded; we'll link them up as the time comes for you to take them). On Monday I'll make a roster and turn it over to Miles Lewis, instructor for the semester.

All students enrolled in the course: please send an e-mail to Mr. Lewis at this address: lewis@plainsfolk.com

He needs you to send him your mailing address. He has a packet of three CDs ready to send to each of you. These contain all the lectures of the course.

If you examine the calendar linked at right, you'll see that next week, the week of the 22nd, is not scheduled for any reading or quizzes. This is the week for gearing up. Mr. Lewis needs your mailing address, and we'll get materials in the mail to you. Meanwhile, he and I will get the records system and the online quizzes loaded in time for active work in the course beginning on 29 August.

Received this message from a student enrolled in the course:

"I was wondering if you would send me an e-mail describing what materials are required for this class. Please include ISBN #'s for any text material. I spoke with the history department and they sort of explained to me how the class is structured. I am excited to see how that format works out."

I'll reply here, as others may be seeking the same information. The version of Tocqueville's Democracy in America I recommend is the cheap paperback, edited by Richard D. Heffner. The ISBN is 0451528123. This is the only textbook required. Other readings are online.

And I'm excited, too, to see how the distance offering unfolds. I've taught various courses over the web, but they were all graduate courses, limited enrollment. This is a little different, to say the least. I think we've got the structure in place to make it work, though.

The two fellows working with me on development of the course, Dale Davis and Miles Lewis, and I are into crunch time getting it ready for beginning of fall term. Looks like we're on target to be ready on time, thank goodness. The lectures are being packaged into CDs, a total of three CDs to hold them all. Everyone enrolled will receive the CDs by mail. The website is shaping up--take a look around, and you'll see some things incomplete, but the shape of the animal is visible. The online quiz system is the remaining piece of the puzzle. It requires a server that handles asp files, which our university servers do not, and so I've had to make arrangements to host the quizzes with my private Internet provider. I'm going to test that system today. Textbooks--local students can buy from the Varsity Mart here at NDSU. The Tocqueville text is the only one required. Students from elsewhere can get the same cheap paperback from an online vender.