Bill Montgomery

William E. Montgomery, Ph.D

Professor Emeritus of History, Austin Community College

Welcome to my Austin Community College Web site. If you were enrolled in one of my Hist 1301 DIL courses during ACC's Fall 2011 semester, I hope you met your goals. And let me wish you a Happy Holiday season..

If you're enrolled in my Hist 1301 DIL course Synonym 45738 Section 018 or in my Hist 1302 DIL course Synonym 48760 Section 076 for the Spring 2012 semester, I hope you find them both fun and a valuable learning experience. Computer technology, especially the Internet, has greatly changed the way we study history. In my Distance Learning courses, we won't meet face to face in a traditional college classroom, but we'll interact using virtual reality. This is not like those correspondence courses back in the old days, where the professor stuck a book in a student's hands and sent exams through the mail. You'll have study sessions with me and your classmates on the Web. You'll be able to watch streaming videos (in Hist 1301 anyway) and lecture presentations. You may even do a little historical sleuthing. The amount of historical documents, including letters, diaries, newspaper stories, video clips, books, and articles available to you with just one or two mouse or touch-pad clicks is absolutely phenomenal. I believe you'll learn a lot and do so in exciting new ways. If you're new to online courses, don't worry. You're not alone, and you'll receive lots of support. Just because it's "Distance Learning" doesn't mean that you're stranded out there all by yourself.

My goals are for you to learn about early United States history and for you to complete this course by meeting your personal goals as well as those set by me, the History Department, and Austin Community College. To do that we will engage in a collaborative effort. For the next several weeks we'll be partners in what I think you'll find an exciting and rewarding adventure.

My Spring 2012 Hist 1301 DIL and Hist 1302 DIL syllabi are posted below.
 

My office location: Rio Grande Campus, Room Attache 103

1212 Rio Grande Street

Austin, TX 78701

My office hours for the Spring 2012 Semester

W 1-4 pm (Others by appointment online on Blackboard)

My ACC telephone mailbox: 512-223-1790 (enter 26371 to reach my mailbox to leave voice mail), BUT PLEASE NOTE that the best, quickest, and most reliable way to reach me is by email.

While you're here, check out the History Department Home Page for more information on history courses and faculty at Austin Community College as well as a lot of interesting and useful "history stuff."

COURSE SYLLABI

• HIST 1301 DIL (16-Week Session)
• HIST 1301 DIL (12-Week Session)
• HIST 1301 PCM (8-Week Session)
• HIST 1301 PCM (SUMMER SESSION)
• HIST 1302 DIL (12-Week Session)

 

UPDATE:

Check this Update spot periodically for information about the course you are taking or for about what's upcoming.

 

 

*********ACC STUDENT EMAIL ACCOUNT***********

All ACC students have ACC email accounts. It's free through G-mail and offers several services. That ACC email address is automatically registered on Blackboard, which means that all of the information emails that I send to students in my classes through Blackboard go to the ACC student email box. It is vital that you receive this information throughout the semester. To receive course-related emails, you must check your ACC student email mailboxes on a regular basis. For information about the ACC student email accounts and to set up your ACC student email account, click here .

ORIENTATION INFORMATION

For all students signed up for my Hist 1302 DIL course, Syn. 48760 Sec. 076 in the Spring 2012 semester, there will be a live, real time orientation. The orientation will be held in the WebConnect meeting room on Blackboard on Wednesday evening, February 8, from 8 to 9 pm. To navigate to the WebConnect meeting room, go to "External Links " on your Blackboard main page menu. Then choose "Orientation" from the next menu. After signing in using your first and last name, click on the "Enter" button to join the Orientation Session. There also is a non-interactive orientation presentation, also on Blackboard. It's available on an ongoing basis in Powerpoint format and is posted under "Course Information."

I strongly urge students to attend the live orientation, for it provides us an opportunity to get to know one another and to ask questions about the course. But if you cannot attend, you can read through a recording of the session. I will post the transcript on Blackboard, at the entry to the Virtual Classroom, after the live session ends. Blackboard will be available prior to the start of classes in the Fall.

TEXTBOOK AND STUDENT GUIDE

The required textbook for my Hist 1301 courses is William E. Montgomery and Andres Tijerina, Building a Democratic Nation: A History of the United States to 1877, Volume 1 (1st Edition). The accompanying Student Guide for Building a Democratic Nation, Volume 1 is very useful in helping you digest the textbook material and prepare for the exams. For Hist 1302, the textbook is William E. Montgomery and Andres Tijerina, Building a Democratic Nation, From 1877 to the Present, Volume 1, 1st ed. The accompanying student guide is Montgomery and Tijerina, A Student Guide to Accompany Building a Democratic Nartion, Volume 2, 1st ed. I also recommend that you purchase Andres Tijerina, How to Pass History when you buy the textbook.All of these books are available at the ACC Bookstore location on 12th Street in central Austin and at Bevo's ACC Bookstore on West Avenue. You also can buy your textbook from the ACC Bookstore online .

QUESTIONS?    

If you have any questions about the course, particularly about the C-level, B-level, and A-level requirements, please send an e-mail to me at bmontgom@austincc.edu. Also, remember that Blackboard's bulletin board will allow you to post questions and answers.

DOING RESEARCH ON THE INTERNET

FINDING SOURCES : An excellent guide to finding both primary and secondary sources on the Internet, prepared by Professor Roger A. Griffin at Austin

LINKS TO HISTORY SITES : A list of sites where you can find documents and historical information, maintained by the Organization of American Historians. It contains information on using the Center for American History library at the University

of Texas at Austin.

LRS : The Austin Community College Learning Resources Center Web page. You not only find LRS resources here, but from its links by subject you enter a fascinating world of pictures, original sources, and audios from American history.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS : Look through the locating tools of the Library of Congress for titles of books and journals. Also, catch the fabulous historical exhibits and the documents, paintings, and photographs that the Library of Congress has put on line.

NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL RESOURCES ON THE INTERNET : Marvel at the many diverse worlds of Native American cultures. The site presents current issues, activities, and cultural resources in numerous Native American communities.

RESOURCES FOR ARTS OF COLONIAL AMERICA : Architecture, music, painting. You can take a walking tour of Colonial Williamsburg, look at the architecture of historic Philadelphia and download samples of colonial American music.

 

PICKING A RESEARCH TOPIC

 

I have some suggestions for research topics . This is primarily for students who really don't know where to start on the research project. The list is rather short right now, but watch it grow.

Please feel free to contact me by e-mail at bmontgom@austincc.edu.

Last revised February 8, 2012