Allow me to give you some information about distance learning in general and about this class in particular. Taking a class online is more difficult than taking a class in the classroom. It actually requires more time. Of course, you can arrange that time in very flexible ways, which makes the course ideal for someone with a full-time job, family responsibilities, or both.
Hardware: In terms of hardware, you need to have a pentium class computer at home with a minimum of 64 MB of RAM. You also need a connection to the Internet. Although a simple dial up connection will suffice, students with a faster connection (cable modem, DSL, or satellite) experience less "wait" time when accessing the course.
Software: For software, all you need is an Internet Browser (Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher or Netscape 4.5 or higher), a simple text editor (like Notepad), and WinZip (a file compression utility). Although students will be allowed to use an HTML editor during the later part of the class, you do not have to buy one since you can download a trial version which is suitable for the class. On your final project, you may want to use a graphics editing program, like Fireworks or Adobe Photoshop. But again, you do not need to buy this software since you can download an evaluation copy of Fireworks from the web. If you are interested in purchasing the software, you can get a substantially reduced price using your student ID. If you want more information, let me know.
Basic Computer Skills: To take a class online you need some "basic" computer skills. By that I mean, you need to be comfortable creating folders, copying files, moving files, using email, making attachments to email, and using WinZip compression software.
Course Activities: In the regular conduct of the class, you will be asked to log into a particular web site a minimum of three times a week. You will have a userID and a password that will gain you access to the course. Once in the course, you will check your email, read the postings to the bulletin board and respond accordingly. There will be a course syllabus on the web, that is very much like any course syllabus. There is also a course calendar, which contains the dates we will be covering each chapter, or Tutorial, in your textbook. There is also an assignments page, listing all the homework assignments and their due dates. Additionally, the lecture notes for each chapter are on the web.
About once a week, I will post a discussion question to the course bulletin board. This is usually something along the lines of "Go read this article (I'll give you a web site to visit) and return to the Bulletin board and tell us what you think about "x, y, and z". These questions are ususally more of an analysis and opinion. There is usually not a "right" or "wrong" answer. In addition to that, you are required to post a minimum of 5 times a week to the bulletin board. One of those can be your response to the Discussion Question. This activity (Discussion Questions and weekly bulletin board activity) is for participation points. If you miss a week and don't post anything, you CANNOT post 10 times next week to make up the points. [A week begins on Sunday morning and ends at mid-night on Saturday night.]
In addition to bulletin board activity, there are online quizzes which can be taken at any time during the course. There is a chat room available, which we may use as a class to discuss particularly difficult concepts, or which students may use at their discretion.
All of these activities make up an online course.
Some potential obstacles: The biggest obstacle in taking an online course, is not the assignments, or the bulletin board, or the online quizzes. The biggest challenge is whether or not a student is self-disciplined enough to take a course in this way. In a conventional course, you have some motivation to attend class. After all, the teacher will notice if you are not there. But in the online environment, you absence is not as noticeable. You have to be motivated enough to log in and do your work on your own.
Additionally, some students have difficulty taking a class in this manner because they need more direct interaction with the instructor. In an online class, if you get stuck on an assignment, you will need to call or email your instructor and wait maybe a whole day or two for a response instead of having the immediate feedback you can get in a classroom environment. Some students find this very frustrating.
Ultimately, you must decide if online learning is really your"cup of tea". There will be an orientation session, usually held on the Sunday afternoon before the first day of class. In the summer session, the orientation is held in the evening of the first day of class. It is very important that you attend that meeting. This is the only time we will meet as a class.