Connected Learning Community

The course will create a Connected Learning Community-- utilizing new technological tools-- to explore issues currently impacting upon the American government. The course seeks to enhance your knowledge of the essential technological skills that any UTC graduate entering the 21st century workforce must master!

E-Mail

As requested by the Executive Council, all UTC students have been given e-mail addresses and accounts, and should have received information about them in the mail, along with their UTCID. The UTCID is used for new students moccasun accounts and it will be used to access additional technology services to students coming
in the next year.

See http://gemweb.utc.edu/phonebook/ for a directory of student addresses. (From the UTC home web page, click Current Students, then look under Campus Life for the "student email directory" link.)

The student's GEM address is an alias that points to a "real" e-mail account. Student GEM e-mail addresses all end with "@gem.utc.edu". Both the GEM and "real" address are displayed in the student email directory. Faculty are advised to use the GEM address when communicating with students, so please keep the GEM email address pointing at the "real" e-mail account you are actually using.

Students cannot change their GEM address, but they may change the "real" e-mailbox account that actually receives the e-mail messages (example, a home/work aol or hotmail email account). The "real" target e-mail account can be changed by the student using the online registration program .

This is all explained and other questions answered at-- http://itd.utc.edu/forms/stu_emailrequest.shtml --which is one page from the web information about campus technology services available to students at http://itd.utc.edu/students (From UTC home page, click on Technology, then on the ITD, then click on Students.)

NOTE: You may read your UTC email from any computer with a web browser (Netscape or Microsoft Explorer) by going to: http://webmail.utc.edu/ Type in your UTCID, password and make sure you scroll to the server: moccasun .utc.edu and then click on login.

Blackboard Web Courses
Your user name for Login on Blackboard [http://utconline.utc.edu/]will be the same as your UTCID (a mixture of letters and numbers). Your initial password is the last four digits of your social security number. After you log on the first time, please change your password.

1) From the Tools menu, select PERSONAL INFORMATION.
2) Then select Change Password and enter a new password.
3) Changing your password in the Blackboard system DOES NOT change your password for your campus e-mail account or for your campus network access.

If you forget your password, the system will e-mail it to you if you select the FORGOT YOUR PASSWORD from the log on screen. NOTE: The system will e-mail you at the e-mail address listed in the Blackboard system. Click here for more information on Blackboard and DO's and DON'Ts on slecting a password. You may access Blackboard in the Library, University Center's student computer labs, Political Science Lab or other campus computer labs, as well as from your home or dorm room.

Don't know your UTCID? Call the Student Help Desk at 755-4000 on weekdays from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM (Fridays until 5:00 PM) for assistance with computer questions, including access to Blackboard, the Internet, and e-mail. For more information, visit the Student Technology Support Center in the basement of the University Center or http://itd.utc.edu/students.

Discussion Board (Click to use with assigned ID & Password)
Students may use the campus Discussion Board Forum software for asynchronous threaded small group discussions of contemporary issues. Check the course web home page for the Discussion Forum hot link. I will assign you an identification and password to participate in these closed discussions.

From the Blackboard home page, first click on Course Schedule and provide your USERNAME and PASSWORD. Click on Poltiical Science and then select American Government (POLS101003) Instructor Dr. Swansbrough. Next, click on box on left titled Course Materials. Then, click on Syllabus link to course main page. You will later need to use Blackboard's left box titled Discussion Board for team discussion forums.

E-Mail Listserves

Dr. Swansbrough will communicate to class members and teams via a class and teams' email listserves additional information (e.g. issue debate/discussion topics), focus attention for classroom discussion of current news events (especially newspaper stories, presidential addresses, or public opinion polls available through the course's web page links), and reiterate homework assignment deadlines. Students will be able to communicate questions directly to Dr. Swansbrough from their homes/offices.

You must assume the responsibility of checking your e-mail everyday.

Many e-mail addresses don't clearly identify the name of the sender, so sign your messages with your full name. Also, since I receive e-mail from other classes, the subject line should include the course name or number and the topic of the message, Subject: PolSci 101 Bush on Missile Defense.

Use the team e-mail listserve for most communications concerning meetings, assignments, reminders, and other general housekeeping matters. Employ the Discussion Board Forum for substantive posting of ideas, Member Profiles, information on debate topics and outlines of the presentations.

Before the midterm and final exams, I will ask each team to submit to me some possible essay exam questions (post and modify on your discussion forum). I'd also suggest using your teammates to help you understand topics in the book or lectures when preparing for the exams. The team may become a study group to dissect the questions you pose for the exams. Of course, I'm glad to directly repond to such querries in my office or via e-mail.

REMEMBER TO USE PROPER AND COURTEOUS NETIQUETTE. Check this Wabash College link for seven core rules of netiquette--with explanations. It's quite good. I particularly like Rule 3: Remember the Human. This means that when you communicate in cyberspace by e-mail, listserve or on the course discussion forum, you should follow the Golden Rule so that you don't unwittingly hurt other people's feelings. Ask yourself, "Would I say this to the person's face?" If the answer is no, rewrite and reread.

Team Rules

As stated in the course goals--and rewarded by the class grading system--teamwork has become an important component of the 21st century workforce. In an excellent article, "Decisions, Decisions" (Psychology Today, November l971), Jay Hall shared some of his observations on how team (small group) decision-making can be most effective. His findings revealed that the synergy of group decisions proved more "correct" in experiments than the approach of any one team member. I'd like to share Hall's guidelines on how to achieve consensus decisions to help you in the formulation of your Democratic and Republican teams' rules and organization for the Discussion Forum collaboration and class presentations.

l. Avoid arguing for your own viewpoints. Listen to how others repond to your ideas and suggestions.

2. Do not assume someone must win and someone must lose (political scientists call this zero-sum games) when discussion reaches a stalemate. Look for the next most acceptable alternative.

3. Do not change your mind simply to avoid conflict and to reach agreement and harmony. (We will later discuss Irving Janus' idea of "groupthink" and its hazards.) Yield only to positions with objective and logical foundations.

4. Avoid confict-reducing techniques such as majority vote, averages, coin-flips and bargaining.

5. Differences of opinion are natural and expected. Disagreements help team decision-making because they provide a wide range of information and opinions.

At the end of the course, you will complete a Post-Team Survey that asks you to evaluate your experience as a member of your assigned team.