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Hi everybody.
Welcome to CIS 110, Introduction to Computers.
My name is Robert Vasile,
and I’ll be your instructor for this wonderful course.
I just wanted to take a few minutes
to give you a quick overview of our course
and point out some things within our course platform
that I think will help you better navigate
and get a better understanding
of the general flow of this course.
First of all, when you log in to the class,
you’ll see the announcement section,
and the announcement section is used to communicate
important information with the entire class.
So please make sure that you pay attention
to this section every time you log in.
Here you have some instructions on how to get started,
a little welcome from me,
and also some instructions
for setting up your tracking file.
We’ll talk more about the tracking file in just a second.
But you do have some videos here
that will help you set up those files
and then some instructions for submitting assignments
and also some software for this class
and other technical support information
that you may need.
So, again, I’ll post announcements
every week in this area;
and also, when I post an announcement,
those are emailed to you,
so you know that I posted an announcement.
You can read it in your email or here.
You navigate through our class
using the left-hand sign navigation menu.
So the Announcement section we’ve talked about.
Faculty Info--
that’s some information about myself,
along with my mug shot right there.
You have my office hours,
my contact information in here.
In the Course Information, you’ll find some...
the course syllabus, the course document,
and general course documents
is some interesting reading materials for you to peruse.
The other interesting part here
is the schedule of assignments.
This is just an overview.
These are not links.
They’re not . . . you can’t really figure out
what these assignments are about.
It’s just this helps you plan your activities
for this class in advance.
So if you want to enter these dates into your calendar
or however you want to track
your participation in the course,
this is, again, will help you do that.
As a general rule,
all our assignments in this course
are due on a Tuesday.
So by Tuesday, midnight,
this is when you have to turn in.
But you have the specific dates here
for all our modules.
Our course is broken down into modules,
so sections.
You can think of them that way.
And each section, again, is due on a Tuesday.
Under Course Resources,
we have some other interesting information here.
We have a computer lab that’s open for you;
the open lab in Carr Hall, Room 234,
and it’s open Monday through Thursday,
8 to 10, and then Friday 8 to 3.
So you can take advantage of that lab
if you’re on campus
and you want to work from here,
and you also have some information about sending emails,
some frequently asked questions on tracking file,
and hopefully we’ll get to this tracking file in just a second.
The most important part of this course
is here under Assignments.
This is actually the meat and potatoes of our class.
This is where everything is.
So notice the schedule of assignments
is the same one that I pointed out
before in Course Information, also listed here,
just again, as a general overview.
And then, instructions for submitting assignments
in the tracking file.
So this is how you’ll be setting up your tracking file.
The tracking file is something we use
to track the work that you do in this class.
Not all work,
but most of your work will be done
using the CDs that came with your book.
And as you do that work,
the results are saved to what we call a tracking file.
So we need to set up that tracking file
as early in the course as possible;
and again, the instructions are listed here.
You also have a tutorial on submitting assignments
and how to view the data that’s saved on your tracking file.
So again, when you use . . .
when you do the assignments,
when you do the assignments from both books,
and those assignments are tracking file assignments,
the results will be saved to a file
and then you’ll be sending those results to me
using the software, that again,
that came with the book that’s on that CD.
But again, more information.
I encourage you to watch these videos.
They’ll take you through the step-by-step procedure
to set up the tracking file.
Let’s go back to Assignments.
And here’s the first actual module,
the Getting Started module, which is due January 21.
So if I click on that link,
notice that there's actually just one item
that you need to complete here,
is the Getting Started quiz,
and this is a very important quiz to take.
It’s very simple.
But this is how we establish attendance
in this course for the first week.
If you do not take this quiz by January 21,
you will be listed as a “no show” for the class.
So it’s really critical that you do this.
The information . . . and you can take it multiple times.
The information from that quiz
comes from the Announcements,
Course Information, and Course Resources area.
So again, this is very, very important.
And then, we start with the actual assignments
for the class in Module 1,
which is due January 28.
So again, to see the assignments,
I click on the module name.
And notice that we will be doing some assignments
from the Practical PC book.
Notice, you have two books in this course.
One is the Practical PC.
The other one is called Practical Office.
Make sure that you use the correct book
as you work through these assignments.
So for this Module 1, we’re using Practical PC.
And what specifically do we need to do?
Well, it’s listed here.
From Chapter 1,
you have to do the Quick Check A, Quick Check B,
and again, once you get into that book,
and once you open the CD,
you’ll see these assignments listed in there.
You can take these however many times you want
until you get a perfect score.
So it’s really, really helpful that way.
So again, take them until you get a perfect score,
as long as you do that by the due date, of course.
Same thing for Chapter 2.
We have Quick Check A, Quick Check B, and a Get It.
Again, these are listed in the Practical PC book
and the same thing for Chapter 3.
So again, the tracking assignments can be done
as many times as you want
until you get a perfect score.
So if you misspell, maybe a word
or maybe you click in the wrong area,
no worries.
Just take the assignment again,
and I only look at your highest grade.
So you can do these as many times as you want.
I only pull the highest grades
for those tracking assignments.
If you want to check your grades . . .
speaking of grades,
I post your grades usually within 24 hours
after the end of a module.
So, for instance, Getting Started,
or for Module 1, let’s say January 28 they’re due.
Usually by January 29, you have those grades posted.
And I post an announcement and email everybody,
and at that point you can come and check your grades
by clicking on “My Grades” here.
Also, in terms of email response time,
I try to respond to all emails within 24 hours,
except on weekends when it may be 48 hours
or a little longer.
But you should be hearing from me promptly.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me
if you need help or have questions.
I’m here to do everything in my power
to help you be successful in this course.
I hope this overview was helpful to you;
and again, I look forward to a great semester.
Thank you, everybody.