Syllabus for English 2327
American Literature I
Synonyms 34965 and 34966
DIL 012 and OPC 013
Fall 2011
August 22 - December 11
You must complete the required online orientation and
email the orientation quiz posted on ACConline to me at andreac@austincc.edu
by 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 30. Students who do not meet this deadline will
be withdrawn from the class. There is no
live orientation--only the online orientation.
Please do NOT email me the online orientation before the first day of
class.
This course does not require any face-to-face
meetings. The only thing students must
do “in person” is to take the mid-term and final exams in an ACC testing center
by their deadlines. (In order to learn
when these exams must be taken, please see the “Due Dates and Deadlines” link
on ACConline
.)
The only times you will be required to come to campus for this class will
be to take the mid-term and final exams in one of the ACC testing centers in
Austin or Round Rock. ALL students must take the mid-term and
final exams in Austin or Round Rock.
(I do not send the exams to the testing centers in Marble Falls, San
Marcos or Fredericksburg.) Neither do I
send the exams to any other locations whatsoever. If you
are enrolled in this class and you are unable to come to Austin or Round Rock
to take these two exams, you must withdraw from the course.
Instructor: Professor Andrea Clark
Office: CYP 1103.11 (My office
is in the one-story building that faces Cypress Creek Rd.)
Make certain
you note that my office is 1103.11. All the
faculty offices in this suite are numbered 1103.
Traveling to Cypress (link to map to the
Cypress Creek Campus)
Voice: (512) 223-2018 (local call from Austin)
I will be on campus
to check my voice mail on Tuesdays and Thursdays only. The fastest way to get in touch is to email
me at andreac@austincc.edu.
Office Hours: 10:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays only
Important
Note: Please check this site again during
the first week of class for a possible change in my office hours. One class I am scheduled to teach on campus
may be cancelled due to lack of
enrollment. This will not affect my
online classes in any way except for my office hours. They may need to change if I pick up another
class to teach on campus in place
of the class that
is most likely to be cancelled.
If
you would like to meet with me in person and it is not possible for you to come
during my scheduled office hours, please email me to make an appointment.
Mailing Address: Professor Andrea Clark
Cypress
Creek Campus
My Website:
http://www.austincc.edu/andreac
Note: Information for this course is going to be
posted on ACConline. (Please do not
attempt to log in until the week before classes begin; the system administrator
may not have your account on the Blackboard (ACConline) system uploaded until
then.) I will also post this syllabus—but not all the other course
documents--on my web site.
Email Addresses:
andreac@austincc.edu Please send all your assignments to this email address.
professor.andrea.clark@gmail.com Please email me at this address only in the
unlikely event that the ACCmail system is not working. It is my backup email address.
Course Description from
the ACC catalog
ENGL 2327 AMERICAN LITERATURE I:
BEGINNINGS THROUGH CIVIL WAR (
Required Textbooks
Volume A,
7th edition Volume B, 7th edition
The Norton Anthology of American
Literature, Package 1: Volumes A-B, the Seventh Edition, Nina Baym, general
editor. Publisher: W.W. Norton and Company, New York and
London. The ISBN for this two-volume
package can be written either of two ways: either ISBN-10:
0-393-92993-0 or ISBN-13: 978-0-393-92993-5. It is the same set of books, no matter
which ISBN you use. If you look
carefully at the two ISBN numbers, you will notice that they are the same
except that one has some extra numbers.
I know that this is very confusing, but some publishers are switching
over to putting 13-digit ISBN’s instead of 10-digit ISBN’s on their books. I am giving you both ISBN’s because some
bookstores might use the 10-digit ISBN and others might use the 13-digit
ISBN. If you want to see what the
two-volume set looks like, click this link to the publisher’s web site: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/titles/english/naal7/welcome.htm . Incidentally, the photo you will see there is
the image on the dust jacket (wrapper that holds the two books together) of the
two-volume set. It is not the photo of
the image on the cover of either volume of the set. So don’t worry if you don’t get the dust
jacket with your books; you don’t need it anyway. The important thing is to get the two volumes
with the correct ISBN’s.
Options for Purchasing
Your Textbook: Compare prices to save
your hard-earned cash!
This text is for sale in all ACC Bookstores
and many other college bookstores, as well as from online book sellers such as bookbyte.com, amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. I have also seen copies of each volume in eBay auctions for as little as $20. Pay special attention to the edition of the
text and the ISBN, especially if you are purchasing the text online. Since this is a new edition, it is highly
unlikely that you are going to be able to find this text at a bargain price or
to locate a used copy of the correct edition.
Sometimes you can save money by buying books online on sites such as
Ebay; in fact, you may find a copy of The
Norton Anthology of American Literature up for auction there for a fraction
of the bookstore price. But if you check
the ISBN and do a little research, you find that that
it is such a “bargain” because it (1) it is the “shorter edition,” (which does
not contain all the readings I assign), (2) it does not contain both volumes
of the textbook, or (3) it is an older edition.
(A textbook that has never even been read and appears to be brand new
can still be an older edition.) It is imperative that you get
the seventh edition because it contains readings that were not in the sixth
edition, and I will be assigning and testing you over some of these.
Textbook Support Web Site
The publisher of your textbook provides an
excellent web site to support the text. Parts
of this web site can be accessed without a password. However, in order to complete the online
quizzes on this site and get credit for them as bonus points in this course,
you must register for this site using the access code that comes with your
textbook. You will find the access code
card loose inside the first few pages of Volume A of your textbooks. (It is very easy for the card to fall out and
get lost or to accidentally throw it away, so be careful not to lose it! In fact, when I got my access code card, I
immediately created a MS Word document and saved the code on it.) The card has the heading “Norton Literature
Online” at the top, and at the bottom of the card there is a red arrow that
says “Registration Code.” The arrow will
point to your registration code for the Norton Literature
Online
web site. I will be assigning readings
and online review quizzes from the Norton Literature
Online
site this semester. Some exam questions
will come from this online material, so it is essential that you use your
registration code and complete the assignments on the Norton Literature
Online
site. These will be given on Reading
Assignments 1-6, along with reading assignments in your textbook. All reading assignments will be posted on the
Assignments link of ACConline.
To get started on the site, go to the web
address on the access code card or click this link and complete a very
quick and easy registration process; then you will be directed to the menu for
the site. You may also reach the menu at
http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/english/naal7/ . The menu shows all
the Norton literature textbooks. (Norton
publishes lots of different literature books, and there is material on this
site to support all these texts. But for
this course, you only need to click on the link to the Norton Anthology of American Literature.) The link for your textbook will take to
another page where you will click the link to your edition of the text. Then click on the seventh edition. You will finally reach the site for the seventh
edition, where you will see links to features of the site on the menu bar on
the left. You will also see the periods
of time into which American literature is divided at the top of the page. These periods of time correspond to the five
volumes of the Norton Anthology of
American Literature series. The text
presents the literary works in chronological order. The first two time periods “To 1800” and
“1820--1865” are the only ones covered in this course, since you are enrolled
in American Literature I. (The other
three time periods are covered in American Literature II courses.) The first time period, “To 1800,” contains
literary works written before 1800 and corresponds to Volume A of your
textbook; the second time period, “1820—1865,” corresponds to Volume B. If you click on a time period, you will be
directed to the material for the corresponding volume of your text. The site is now completely updated for the
seventh edition, and you can preview it at any time.
If you purchase a used copy of the
seventh edition of the textbook that does not contain the access code, this is
no problem. You can go to the Norton
Literature Online site, click on the Purchase
a Registration Code link there or here on this page, and pick up a code for
only $5.00--one of the last great bargains in the known world.
Course Prerequisite
Deadline: Monday, September 19
You have three
options for submitting the course prerequisite:
·
Scan
and email as an attachment to andreac@austincc.edu.
Your name and grades must be clear and legible, and you must use “2327
Prerequisite” as the subject of your email.
·
Send
via regular mail to Professor Andrea Clark, 1555 Cypress Creek Rd., Cedar Park,
TX 78613. Email to let me know to expect your
prerequisite proof in my campus mailbox.
·
Deliver
in person to my campus, CYP. If neither
I nor my administrative assistant is in the office, please take it to the
Campus Administrative Office in CYP 2000 (in the two-story building) and ask someone to put it in my mailbox.
·
Students
who are ACC employees also have the option of sending their prerequisite proof
to me via ACC campus mail.
If your name has
changed and the name on your prerequisite proof is not the same as the name
under which you are enrolled at ACC, you must print your name at the top of
your prerequisite proof.
Very important
policy: I
do not allow students to fax me their proof of having completed the
course prerequisite.
English 1301 and
English 1302 (or the equivalent six hours of English composition
courses) are the prerequisite courses for all sophomore literature
courses. ALL
students must submit proof of having completed the prerequisite—even students
who are seeking degrees at colleges and universities that do not require and
may not even offer English 1302.
Technical writing course do not satisfy the prerequisite and
cannot be substituted for one of the required composition courses. (For
example, The University of Texas at Austin does not always require students to
take two semesters of freshman English for their degree plans at UT. Nonetheless, UT students still must have completed
two semesters of freshman English in order to enroll in any literature course
at ACC. If you completed your freshman
English classes at UT, they will most likely be listed as English 306 and
English 309 or Rhetoric 306 and 309 on your UT records. There may also be a
letter after 309; I will accept the English 309 or Rhetoric 309 with or without
any letter that may follow it.) The
course prerequisite requirement is an official policy of the ACC English
Department; instructors may not make any exceptions to this rule. If you do not withdraw from the course by the
deadline posted on the official registration
calendar,
you will not receive a refund.
You must send me a
photocopy of a transcript, ACC grade printout, or grade report showing that you
have successfully completed English 1301 and 1302. If you are able to access and print your
unofficial transcript online, that will be fine if your name appears on your
transcript. However, your name will not
appear on the ACC transcript that you can access online. I will accept your online ACC transcript if
you print a copy and write your name at the top before mailing it to me. If
you completed the courses at another institution that displays your name on its
unofficial transcripts, I will be happy to accept them. Students who completed both English 1301 and
English 1302 at ACC may also send me a printout of their grades in these
classes obtained from any ACC Admissions and Records Office. These printouts are free, and it usually
takes only a few minutes to get one from the Admissions and Records Office at
any ACC campus. Unlike official
transcripts, however, the registrar’s office will not mail printouts to you or
to me or hand them over to anyone except you. Students must request and pick them up in
person, and they must show their driver’s licenses as proof of
identification. You must send me your prerequisite proof; it is
not my responsibility to research your student records to confirm that
you have completed the course prerequisite.
Important note for
students who completed their English composition courses at another college or
university: If you are not certain
whether a course you transferred to ACC counts as an English composition
course, please ask an ACC counselor or advisor.
That’s what I do when I evaluate the prerequisite proofs you send me and
I am not certain whether one of your courses transfers as freshman English at ACC.
Course Objectives
- To provide a working knowledge of the
characteristics of various literary genres.
- To develop analytical skills and
critical thinking through reading, discussion, and written assignments.
- To broaden a student's intercultural
reading experience.
- To deepen a student's awareness of the
universal human concerns that are the basis for
literary works.
- To stimulate a greater appreciation of
language as an artistic medium and of the aesthetic principles that shape
literary works.
- To understand literature as an
expression of human values within an historical and social context.
Course Requirements and
Grading Policy
Students will
complete an online orientation and six units of study covering reading
assignments found in their textbook and online as well as a mid-term and a
final exam. All assignments will be
posted on ACConline (Blackboard). The
final course grade will be the average of the mid-term and the final exam. (90-100=A, 80-89=B, 70-79=C, 60-69=D, and
below 60=F.) All due dates and deadlines
will be strictly enforced, and no extensions will be granted. Any student who misses the deadline for
completing an assignment or taking a test will either be withdrawn from the
class or receive a final course grade of “F,” at the instructor’s
discretion. Deadlines for completing all
assignments and taking the mid-term and final exam will be posted on the Due
Dates and Deadlines link of ACConline.
Online Orientation
and Quiz
The online
orientation and quiz will be posted on the Assignments link of ACConline. It
consists of approximately twenty-five questions over the syllabus you are now
reading and will be due by 6:00 p.m. on the due date. If you do not complete the online orientation
and email me the answers to the orientation quiz by the deadline, I will
withdraw you from the class. You will
not receive a grade on the quiz; it will either be accepted or returned to you
for corrections if any of your answers are incorrect.
Six
Six reading
assignments will also be posted on the Assignments link of ACConline. The
reading assignments will come primarily from The Norton Anthology of American Literature, but will also include
a few electronic handouts and online readings posted on ACConline.
Review questions will also be posted for each reading assignment. You are not required to answer these
questions, but they will provide a helpful guide to your reading assignments
and an excellent review for the exams. I
will also post links to online review quizzes that will not only enable you to
review some of the material tested on the objective section of the mid-term and
the final but also to earn a five bonus points on each of these exams. The
online quizzes are on the Norton
Literature Online site. I will post
an announcement that explains how to complete these well in advance of the
exams. Please wait until I have posted
this announcement and you have completed all the readings before you attempt to
take the online review quizzes.
Mid-Term Exam
Part I: One-third of your mid-term exam grade will be
your score on an objective (multiple-choice) test over Reading Assignments
1-3. You will take this section of the
test in any of the ACC testing centers except
those in
Part II: Two-thirds of your mid-term exam grade will
come from essay questions I will post on the Assignments link of ACConline. The
essay part of the exam will be open-book and will cover Reading Assignments
1-3. You will email your answers for
this part of the test to me. The deadline for completing the mid-term exam will
be posted on the Due Dates and Deadlines link of ACConline. You will have at least one week in which to
complete it. If you miss the deadline, I
will immediately withdraw you from the class.
No one will be allowed to take the test after the deadline or to retest
if he or she does not pass.
Final Exam
Part I: One-third of your final exam grade will be
your score on an objective (multiple-choice) test over Reading Assignments
4-6. You will take this section of the
test in any of the ACC testing centers except
those in
Part II: Two-thirds of your final exam grade will come
from a take-home essay test I will post on the Assignments link of ACConline. The
essay part of the exam will be open-book and will cover Reading Assignments
4--6. You will email your answers for
this part of the test to me. The
deadline for completing the final exam will be posted on the Due Dates and
Deadlines link of ACConline. You will
have at least one week in which to complete it.
If you miss the deadline, you will receive a grade of zero on the
test. No one will be allowed to take the
test after the deadline or to retest if he or she does not pass.
Bonus Points and
Final Grades
The only opportunity
you will have to earn bonus points for this course will be completing the online
quizzes on the Norton
Literature Online site. These
quizzes must be completed before you take the midterm and final exams so that I can add your bonus points to
your exam grade before I posted your grade in the Blackboard Grade Center. Students will not have the opportunity to
earn any additional bonus points whatsoever,
and all posted grades are final—even if your numerical
course average is only one point below the next letter grade (i.e., 69, 79, or
89). As I stated above, 90-100=A,
80-89=B, 70-79=C, 60-69=D, and below
60=F.
ACC Student ID Cards
All
students must have ACC photo ID cards to take tests in the ACC testing
centers. That means that unless you are
a VCT student (a student enrolled in this course through another college who is
taking his or her tests at that college instead of ACC), you must get a photo
ID. Please do this NOW. Click the following link to the web page that
gives more information about this ID and how to get one: http://www.austincc.edu/support/admissions/student_id.php . If you have any questions about the ID,
please contact an Admissions & Records Office at any
campus.
Course Delivery
This course will be
delivered via ACConline, which uses the Blackboard system of course
delivery. I use the terms “ACConline,” “Blackboard,” and its abbreviation “Bb” interchangeably
on this syllabus: they mean the same thing.
After reading this
orientation/syllabus but no sooner than the first day of class, students
will need to log on to our course site on ACConline.
Sometimes students are actually able to log on during the weekend before
classes begin. However, I cannot
guarantee you that I will have all your course information uploaded to the site
until the official first day of the semester.
Therefore, to avoid any possible confusion, please do not attempt to
log on to Blackboard until the first day of class. If you registered for the class during the
schedule changes (add and drop) period, you will not be able to log on until a
day or two after you added the class.
Your
user name for logging on to Blackboard is your ACCeID. Your ACCeID
consists of the first letter of your official first name followed by your 7-digit ID number.
Your 7-digit ID number can be found on one of the following:
- ACC ID Card
- Student Grade Mailer
- Fee Statement
For example, if Ralph Waldo Emerson were enrolled in this class
and his ID number were 0001234, his ACCeID would be as follows: r0001234.
Remember, it is your first
name—not your last name.
But even if you can figure out your ACCeID, you cannot log on to
Blackboard until you have activated your ACCeID and chosen your
password, so if have not done that yet, please read the following directions
carefully. If you have already activated
and used your ACCeID and know your password, you may go ahead on log on to
Blackboard. If you have already
activated your ACCeID at some time in the past, but you cannot remember your
password, please call the ACC Distance Learning Helpline at 512-223-8026 during
regular business hours.
The first time you attempt your ACConline (Blackboard) login, you may see
the following message on the login page:
Enter your ACCeID login information below. You must Activate Your ACCeID
before you can access Blackboard.
If you
have not already activated your ACCeID, click the Activate Your
ACCeID link on Blackboard or right here on this page. Read the directions carefully, then click
“NEXT” at the bottom of the screen, and these instructions will enable you to
activate your ACCeID and set up your password, which you will use for your
Blackboard login. Before you attempt to
activate your ACCeID, you must have BOTH your 7-digit ID number and your social
security number. If you don’t know your
7-digit ID number and you cannot find your ACC ID card or a student grade
mailer or fee statement, you must go to the Admissions and Records Office at
any ACC campus and ask for your 7-digit ID number. Due to privacy issues, they cannot provide
this information on the phone, and you will need to show them your driver’s
license when you go there in person to get your ID number.
If you still can’t log
on to ACConline after reading and
following these directions, please read the next section in this syllabus and
telephone the ACC Distance Learning Helpline at 512-223-8026 if you enrolled
in this class through ACC. If you
enrolled in it through the VCT, must contact the VCT office at your local
college for assistance; the ACC Helpline unfortunately can’t help you.
Getting Help with
Technical Issues or ACConline
If you have technical
problems with Blackboard, please contact the ACC
Distance Learning Helpline at 512-223-8026 during regular business hours
if you are an ACC student. If you are a
VCT student, you must contact the distance learning office at your local
college. I am always happy to do my
best to help you with any problem you are having with the course, but I can’t
help you with your login. (Please do NOT
contact the ACConline systems administrator.)
If you have already activated your ACCeID at some time in the past, but
you cannot remember your password, please call the helpline. I do not have access to your password.
ACCmail Accounts for
Students
ACC
has teamed up with Google Apps for Education to provide FREE personalized email
accounts to all ACC students. Gmail is
web-based, and you can send and receive messages anywhere you can get
online—even on your mobile phone. Your ACC gmail (Google email) address
will automatically be entered in Blackboard and on all ACC records as your
email address and will replace any other email address listed on ACC records
and systems, including Blackboard. All the messages I send to the entire class
via the Bb system will go to your new ACCmail address. Please go to the following
page and click on the links there to learn about ACCmail and how to use it.
This is
extremely important because you will not receive the very important
announcements I send to the entire class via Blackboard after unless you
check your ACCmail regularly. These will include information about
assignments, exam, and other matters critical to your success in this course.
I require you to use your ACCmail
account to send me all your assignments; . However, during the course of the semester,
you may occasionally find it necessary to send me an email from another
email account. If you do this, please put
your own name and English 2327 on the subject line of the message
so that I can immediately tell who has sent the message.
Internet Access and Recommended Software
- If you do not have Internet access at
home or work, you may still take online classes. ACC libraries and most ACC Learning Labs have
computers you may use free of charge to access the Internet, send and
receive emails, and complete your assignments. If you have your own laptop, ACC also
now provides Wi-Fi on all campuses.
You may also use printers in the computer centers of the ACC
Libraries and most ACC Learning Labs to print a limited number of free
copies. Ask the library or learning
lab of your choice for the details.
- Microsoft Word or Google Docs. (Google Docs has the great advantage of
begin absolutely FREE! I highly
recommend that you check out all the free Google Apps. You can access them from your Gmail page
by click on the “more” link.) I do not
have WordPerfect, so I cannot open and grade the documents you
email me containing your answers to the essay questions on the mid-term
and final exams if you use WordPerfect.)
You may also type your essays using any software you choose and
copy and paste them to the message section of an email. This works for
users of UNIX.
- Web Browser -- Mozilla Firefox (free download)
or Microsoft
Internet Explorer is recommended for pc’s using Windows; for Macintosh
computers, you may use either Safari (free download)
or Microsoft
Internet Explorer . (The AOL
browser does not work with the Blackboard system used on ACConline;
however, you can still use your AOL service to connect to the Internet and
then open up another browser to access ACConline.) If you have AOL, or even if you don’t
and you just want to update your web browser, please click the links to
download the latest versions. Older
versions of web browsers may not support the encryption necessary to view
secure sites such as ACConline.
- I strongly recommend that
you purchase and install an internet security and anti-virus program such
as Stopzilla,
Norton Internet
Security, or McAfee Internet
Security Suite, then update your protection
from the web every week with the free update. (Once you have
installed this software, you can have your computer automatically download
and install updates to your protection.)
Scholastic Dishonesty
Acts prohibited by
the College for which discipline may be administered include scholastic
dishonesty, e.g., cheating on an exam or quiz, plagiarizing, and unauthorized
collaboration with another in preparing outside work. Academic work submitted by students shall be
the result of their thought, research, or self-expression. Academic work is defined as, but not limited
to, tests and quizzes, whether taken electronically or on paper; projects,
either individual or group; classroom presentations; and homework. (ACC Student Handbook)
Freedom of Expression
Each student is strongly encouraged to
participate in class. In any classroom
situation that includes discussion and critical thinking, there are bound to be
many differing viewpoints. These
differences enhance the learning experience and create an atmosphere where
students and instructors alike will be encouraged to think and learn. On sensitive and volatile topics, students
may sometimes disagree not only with each other but also with the
instructor. It is expected that faculty
and students will respect the views of others when expressed in classroom
discussions. (Although the preceding
statement pertains primarily to on campus classes, we are required to include
it in all course syllabi.)
Students with Disabilities
Each ACC campus
offers support services for students with documented physical or psychological
disabilities. Students with disabilities
must request reasonable accommodations through the Office for Students with
Disabilities on the campus where they expect to take the majority of their
classes. Students are encouraged to do this three weeks before the start of the semester.
If you are a student
with a disability and do not already have your accommodations letter, please go
to an OSD office and get yours immediately.
All your instructors will need to see it. You may fax or mail yours to me. Please also email me during the first or
second week of class to let me know where you want to take your exams for the
class. Please tell me both the campus
and the name and telephone number of the person to whom I should send the
exams.
The Student’s Right to
Privacy of Information
All college employees
are prohibited by federal law (FERPA) from revealing any information whatsoever
about college students to other persons outside ACC. This includes your parents, spouses, other
relatives, and friends. Believe it or
not, every semester I get a phone call from the mother of at least one student,
inquiring about his or her progress (or feared lack of progress) in my
class. These mothers mean well, and I
certainly do not wish to be discourteous to them. I am, however, strictly prohibited from
telling them anything about my students.
Our Dean of Communications, Dr. Hazel Ward, explained this federal law
and the manner in which we are to comply with it to the faculty in our faculty
orientation this semester. She
instructed us to say, “I have no information to provide you about that
individual.” These ten exact words are
the only thing we are authorized to say to anyone who calls, emails, or
comes by our office with the hope of discussing a student. (It’s kind of like the old “name, rank, and
serial number” only policy for POW’s in the military.) So please discourage your friends and
relatives from contacting me. I will, on
the other hand, be happy to discuss your progress in the course with you
at any time.
Course Withdrawal
Deadline
The last date to
withdraw from this course is Thursday, November 17. (VCT students must familiarize themselves
with the withdrawal deadline for their local college and abide by it.) If you have not withdrawn from the course by
this date and subsequently do not complete the course, you will receive a final
course grade of “F.” I reserve the
right to withdraw any student from the course if he or she does not complete
the orientation and the mid-term exam by the deadline. However, it is actually your responsibility
to withdraw yourself; if I forget to withdraw you and you do not withdraw
yourself, you will unfortunately earn an “F” in the course. In order to withdraw from the course, you
must fill out the course withdrawal form in the Admissions and Records Office
at any ACC campus.
Students Who are Graduating
This Semester
If you are scheduled
to graduate from either ACC or another college or university this semester,
please tell me this at the beginning of the semester. I will need to submit your final grade early
via a special procedure. You are required
to pick up a “Report of Early Completion” form at an ACC Admissions and Records
Office and bring it to me in person at a time when I am in the office. I will enter your grade on the form, put it
in an official ACC envelope, seal the envelope and sign the back of it, then
give it back to you to deliver in person to the Admissions and Records Office. ACC will not allow me to pick up the form
and turn it in for students. You
must find out the deadline for you to turn in the “Report of Early Completion” for
your college or university. This is the only
way to get your grade early. If you
are graduating from ACC, click here
for further information about graduation.
If you are graduating from another college or university, you must bring
a letter from that institution certifying that you are graduating this semester
to show the ACC Admissions and Records Office in order to get the “Report of
Early Completion” form. You must also
ask the college or university from which you are graduating what their deadline
is for receiving your grade from ACC in order for you to graduate. If you plan to graduate this semester, do
this now, and plan ahead! You might
need to complete the final exam a little earlier than the scheduled deadline.
Getting Started on the
Course
Only this syllabus
(most likely an outdated version), the textbooks, and the first reading
assignment will be posted on my personal web site, www.austincc.edu/andreac. The online orientation will be posted only on
ACConline.
If you are not able
to log on to ACConline for any reason, including the inability to remember your
ACCeID password, contact the ACC Distance Learning
Helpline at 512-223-8026 during regular business hours. If you are a VCT student who is experiencing
difficulty with your login, please contact your VCT contact person in distance
learning office of your local college.
The person who can help you is probably the same individual who emailed
you the confirmation of your reservation for the course. Please do NOT contact the ACConline systems
administrator.
You must wait until
that time to start working on the orientation quiz. It consists of only a few questions and will
not take much time to complete. Besides,
I do not want anyone to email me the orientation quiz before the first day of
class because I will be on vacation and unable to confirm receipt of your quiz
until the summer session begins. In the
meantime, if you are anxious to begin doing the work for the course, you may
begin working on Reading Assignment 1. It is posted on my own web site; you will
find it on the list of links for your course.
All course assignments will be posted on ACConline. I highly recommend that during the first week
of class you take a few minutes to save all the reading assignments I
have posted on Blackboard on your own computer or a flash drive. You may also want to print all the
assignments and make yourself a folder for this class. This will make certain that you will not be
inconvenienced in the event that the Blackboard system is down at just the
moment you need to read an assignment.
However, don’t forget to still check our Blackboard course site at least
a couple of times a week for announcements and additional information.
A Final Word
Thanks for reading
all this! I realize that this is the
longest syllabus you have ever read, but I have tried to cover everything you
need to successfully get started in the class here. I have taught online courses for many, years,
and I have found that students really do appreciate a detailed syllabus that
spells out exactly what is required in a course and how to navigate it on the
web.
I love teaching this
class, and I think you are going to enjoy it too. Of all the courses I have ever taught at ACC,
I receive the most positive feedback from students about this one. I hope you enjoy it too, and please do not
hesitate to contact me at any time to let me know what I can do to help you and
to make this the very best, most enjoyable of all American Lit I classes. That’s my goal, and I need your help
to reach it.