As we start the semester, I would like to welcome you to the class. This course fulfills the basic speech requirement at the Northern Virginia Community College. It is an introductory class with a focus on interpersonal communication, public speaking and small group team work. It strives to fulfill the program requirements of the Speech Communication Program.

As we begin, it is also important to take stock of the unique nature of this course and to make the proper judgment that you do indeed want to commit yourself to this class. This is a Weekend College class. Over the course of the semester, we will meet only six times.

For significant periods of time, you will be working on your own, and be required to participate in a consistent and timely manner for the class discussions that are conducted electronically on our class bulletin board in Blackboard. The discussions are organized on a timeline and relate to the various chapters of our textbook that we will be using for each module of the class. The progression of topics and the deadlines for doing each of the discussions can be found on the class timeline. You can find a link to the timeline on our class portal.

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Northern Virginia Community College


Catalog Description for SPD 110

Summer Class Meetings

June 7 June 21 July 12 July 26 August 9

Step Two: Access Your VCCS Email Account

Throughout the semester, you should use an email address that is provided by the Virginia Community College System. This email address has been assigned to you for use in this and other courses that you take through NVCC or other colleges in the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). The VCCS requires that you use this email account for any course-related email communication so that we can insure your privacy as required by law.

Click on the button for Step Two for the directions you will need to follow to find your VCCS email address and password.

Step Four: Log on to VCCS Mail. After you have established your VCCS email acount, use the link for Step Four to logon to your email account and check for mail. Use the Step Four button throughout the semester to log onto your VCCS email.

If you need further help using the email account, read the Webmail Manual. A link for it is on this page. Please check your email regularly. That is how I will inform you about approaching due dates, or other private, course-related information. I will also reply to your emails at your VCCS account. Once this system is up and we all have full accesss to it I will not accept or respond to email sent by you from any account other than the one provided by the VCCS.

Step Five: Read the Syllabus and Timeline. Next, return to our class portal page where you will find the syllabus, which examines the course goals and provides information about course policies, including the grading for the class. I would also invite you to look at the timeline, which provides a week by week progression for doing the topic discussions. The site index provides an outline of the component parts of the course.

As you prepare yourself to take this class, consider if you are willing and able to:

Participate in a class that involves collaborative learning? In other words, you are not completely on your own. We will strive to create a community of learners. Throughout the semester you will be relating to others by way of our Blackboard site where you will participate in class discussions. Both of our oral assignments, the speech in Module Four and the group presentation in Module Five, will require that you work collaboratively with classmates. That will entail being in frequent contact with one another, mostly by way of discussions on a special group page to which you will be assigned for each module.

Attend face to face sessions of the class. These meetings will be held on the campus. Attendance for each meeting is mandatory. If you cannot make one of these meetings, please drop the class.

Set aside time at several points during each week to make postings to the class Discussion Board. Some students who have taken the course in the past have found it most useful to reserve a particular time each day. Others devoted a longer frame of time at three or four points during the week.

Adhere closely to a schedule. The course is organized around the class timeline, which outlines the progression of the five modules for the class. The timeline identifies the windows of time during which you are to make your postings to the Discussion Board. (You can find a link to the timeline on our class portal page.)

For maximum benefit to everyone as you interact in the Discussion Board, treat our discussions as having three phases. Phase One is to make an initial posting that addresses the questions raised for each of the topics. Phase Two is to make a reply to at least two of your colleagues in the class. Phase Three is to participate in follow-up discussion that responds to feedback others have made to you or to offer feedback to the reply comments made by others.

Participating in the Discussion Board is time sensitive. All postings for a given module must be done within the time frame of that module, as identified on the timeline. There are also particular dates for postings in Module Four as we prepare for our speeches. You may not go back to do postings to a module after we have moved on to another module.

In addition to these considerations, you might also judge whether this course offers the right learning situation for you. To make that assessment, do the survey entitled "Is Distance Education for Me?" .The questions on this survey help you identify your skill level for the extensive amount of reading and writing that are done as part of a distance class, the organizational and time management skills that are vital to your success, and yoiur ability and comfot level in using technology.

"Is Distance Ed for Me?"

Step Six: Overview the content for each of the Modules for our class. From our class portal page, you can click on the modules. This will enable you to see which chapters of our textbook we will be using for each module and the kinds of activities that we will be doing.

Step Seven: Send an Email Message to Me. I have included a link to my VCCS email address on the class portal page. In addition, you can find information for reaching me by phone or in my office by clicking on the button for Step Seven. Your initial email message to me will let me know that you have oriented yourself to the class. In your email message, please indicate which section of SPD 110 you have enrolled in for this semester, and any other concerns or questions you have about the class.

I hope this is the right course and the right learning situation for you. I look forward to a productive and enjoyable semester!

Dr. Doyle

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