BCC Oceanography 101 Online

Getting Started in Ocean 101

Read and print this page, even if you have taken other online classes at Bellevue College...

Welcome to the world of oceanography! Before you get started with the course, let me give you a short but important introduction to using the Ocean 101 Online course website.

What should you do first?

Read and print this Getting Started page and keep it handy.
Read and print the Syllabus -- It explains the "rules and regulations" for the class.
Look at the course Calendar, the Assignments & Lectures pages, and the Discussion Boards.
If this is your first online course, you will want also want to go through the Blackboard Tutorial right away. It is located on your "My Blackboard" page (the first page that comes up when you log in to Blackboard). In addition, there are often Blackboard Help Sessions on campus, and the Distance Education staff are very helpful. I recommend the college's Online FYE course, too: http://bellevuecollege.edu/distance/fye.asp

Because the Discussion Boards, Chat and Whiteboard, and Blackboard-Mail are our primary modes of communication, it is important to understand how to use them as soon as possible.

Always be courteous to your classmates and your instructor. I expect you to respect the opinions of your colleagues, even if you do not share their point of view.

Please note: I am not a computer maven... If you have any technical questions related to the course, please contact Bellevue College Distance Education (http://bellevuecollege.edu/distance). Please also sign up for the college's Online Student Listserv (send an email to lyris@list.bcc.ctc.edu, with Subject Line "SUBSCRIBE BCCONLINE" -- If you get a welcome message, you've successfully subscribed).

Overview

The information you will need for this class is located in two major places in this course's Blackboard site:

(1) On the Course HOMEPAGE and

(2) On the Course TOOLBAR.

Information on the Course HOMEPAGE:

The course Homepage consists of the image icons that show up on the screen when you first enter the site -- Getting Started, Syllabus, Assignments & Lectures, Discussion Boards, and Quizzes & Exams. You can always return to the Course Homepage by clicking the little "house" icon ("Course Content") in the upper left-hand corner of the webpage.

Getting Started -- Here you are! What hardware and software do you need?

Information about minimum requirements for your hardware and software are listed on the Bellevue College Distance Education website, at http://bellevuecollege.edu/distance/skills.asp - Read all the information there, and check your computer right away!
For this course, you will also need to have a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0+ (which can be downloaded free from http://www.adobe.com) and access to Microsoft Office (including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint). You may also have to meet the System Requirements for Virtual Courseware (http://www.sciencecourseware.com/eecindex.php). Access to a scanner may also be helpful on occasion.
If you don't have a personal copy of those programs, you will need to figure out how to access them at a college computer lab, a friend's house, or a nearby library or school. Your work must be posted to a Discussion Board, or submitted via an online form or Blackboard-mail directly to me, depending on the specific assignment instructions. (In case of a technical glitch, the emergency fax number is 425-564-4125. If you absolutely must use it, also send me a quick email to tell me, or else I won't know to ask the Science Division staff to check the fax machine.)

Syllabus -- The course Syllabus gives a detailed description of what is expected from you in this course. The syllabus is our "contract" for the class. Therefore, it is important that you read it extremely carefully! It should be the very next thing you read after Getting Started! Print it out and put it in a convenient place, so you can refer to it often.
Assignments & Lectures -- This area contains the bulk of the Oceanography 101 course. It is divided up into a Calendar and eleven Weeks.
- The Calendar is a monthly "laundry list" of all that's required in the class and when it is due -- Click on a date to see everything due that day (you can also add your own items to your Calendar).
- Each Week lists specifics about the work that is assigned that week, links to assignments, the due dates for each of those assignments, and additional information that will be helpful to you.
  - I don't grade assignments submitted to incorrect locations or submitted after the deadline, so please be sure to read all instructions very carefully!
  - Assignments for each week are due before midnight (i.e., the end of the day) on the days specified (generally Saturday of that week or Wednesday of the following week; any exceptions will be clearly noted; ask well in advance if you have any questions). As Bellevue College is in Washington State, all times are in Pacific Time.
  - Due dates are the final day/time that an assignment will be accepted. I highly recommend that you finish assignments earlier whenever possible! This is particularly important because it's much easier to work ahead than try to catch up, and because of the many technical issues that can arise.
  - The following information is listed under each weekly assignment:

Topics - This lists the topic or topics that you will be studying during the specified week.
Required Readings - There are three types of required readings for each week: (1) Textbook chapters, and (2) My PowerPoint lectures, and (3) Other readings. Information in all of these required readings are "fair game" for quizzes, exams, discussions, etc. For example, my PowerPoints do not simply follow the textbook, and most of the "other readings" are websites that put concepts into real-world perspective. If a link is broken, please do your own search to try to locate where it has moved, before contacting me (and then tell me and your classmates the new URL).
Lab Due - This links you to the information you will need to complete the weekly lab assignment(s). The background material and questions for your labs can be found in the Oceanography 101 Lab Manual (Online/Hybrid Edition). Many of the labs can be completed using just the manual, a few basic science/office supplies, and/or a few websites and images. Your answers to the labs will be submitted as online forms, linked to this area of the website. (NOTE: I am in the process of switching the Lab Submission Forms over to a Blackboard "assessment form" format. Please check the course site for updates.)
Quiz/Exam Due - This refers to the weekly quiz or exam. Actual links to your quizzes and exams -- also known in Blackboard as "Assessments" -- are located on the Course Homepage.
Other Assignments Due - This links you to the Weekly Q&A Discussion Assignment instructions and a few additional assignments due during the quarter. Most of these will be submitted via the specified discussion boards, and require that you reply to another student's post. Some may require that you also submit an attachment via the discussion boards or Blackboard-Mail.

Discussion Boards -- This is one of our most useful resources! The discussion boards are the main line of communication between me and the class as a whole, so check this section for new posts each time you log in (7 days a week), and use it to communicate with your classmates and me about most things.
- I have created several required discussion boards, listed under "Topics" on the main Discussion Board page. We will use the Main discussion board to post general messages and reminders about the course. Discussion boards for the Weekly Q&A's and for other assignments in which you must post your answers to specific discussion boards are here also. For example, part of your "biography" assignment (see Assignments & Lectures Week 1) must be posted to the Student Biography discussion board. Be sure to carefully read each assignment's posting instructions, and double-check that you post your answers to the correct discussion board!
- In addition, I have created several informal discussion boards, which you are encouraged to use in order to discuss course concepts, assignment instructions, study strategies, etc with your classmates and me.
Quizzes & Exams -- This area of the website contains all of the quizzes and exams ("Assessments") that you will be taking during the quarter. There is a quiz or exam due each week. Quizzes/exams will have strict time limits and will be submitted as an online Blackboard form before the posted deadline. They will be available for 3 days (any exceptions for holidays and/or the final exam will be noted in Assignments & Lectures and/or the Calendar). When I'm done grading everyone's quiz/exam, I will "release" the scores. Once a quiz/exam grade has been released, you can review it to see which questions you got correct/incorrect.

Information on the Course TOOLBAR:

The Course Toolbar is located on the left-hand side of the course webpage. The main links in the "Course Tools" section of it are called Calendar, Mail, Discussions, Assessments, Announcements, and Chat. The main links in the "My Tools" section of it are called My Grades, My Progress, and My Files. This toolbar will remain at the side of your screen no matter where you are in the course website, so you can always easily access these areas. (Click on the little triangles/arrowheads between the Course Toolbar and the main part of the course webpage to expand or collapse the Course Toolbar.) Here is information about most of the Toolbar links that were not already described above.

Calendar -- The course Calendar lists assignment due dates, holidays, extra-credit opportunities, office hours, etc. It's your responsibility to check due dates and instructions for all coursework -- but do ask if anything's unclear. Another nice feature is that you (the student) can add your own entries to your Blackboard calendar.
Blackboard Mail -- Class Blackboard-Mail is different than your regular internet email, because Blackboard-Mail is completely administered in Blackboard. Check this section each time you log in.

Use Blackboard-Mail as a private means of communication. In contrast, the discussion boards are intended for questions and comments you can share with the entire class. If you email me a question that I think your classmates would benefit from, I will ask you to post it to the appropriate discussion board.
You will be able to write to other class members and/or me in Blackboard-Mail, and this is where you will receive our messages. You might also be instructed to submit a few assignments to me this way -- If so, be sure your subject line tells me what the ASSIGNMENT is, and any attached files also include YOUR NAME as part of the filename (and within the file, of course).
If Blackboard is inaccessible for some reason, check with Bellevue College Distance Education / Blackboard Help. If Blackboard is down, you can also email me directly with any questions or concerns at gwjones@bellevuecollege.edu -- If so, be sure to include all of the following information in the subject line (so it doesn't get spam-filtered): YOUR NAME, and WHICH COURSE YOU'RE IN (Online Ocean 101), and WHY YOU'RE WRITING.
If you send me a message with an issue that you resolve before I reply, please "take back" your message by threading a new message to your original one and include words such as "recall" or "never mind" in the subject line as well. That way I won't waste time investigating an issue that has already been resolved.

My Grades -- Visit this section of the website regularly to check your grades. Some grades, such as quizzes, will be posted automatically once I "release" them. However, I have to grade many of the assignments manually and then enter the grades, so please be patient.

If you think that I've not given you credit for an assignment you submitted, send me a Blackboard-Mail message and tell me which assignment it was and also tell me the message number and date/time you submitted it.
Not sure why you earned a specific grade? First recheck the assignment instructions and due dates, to see if you can figure out why. If you cannot figure it out, Blackboard-Mail me.
"How to Calculate Your Current Course Grade": Find your grades in the Blackboard Gradebook. Take the number of points you have earned, and divide it by the maximum number of points possible for those assignments. Multiply by 100 to get a percentage. (Example: 100 x Your 35 pts / Max 50 pts = 70%.)

Chat -- This area includes chat rooms for live discussions. You may want to make arrangements via the discussion boards or Blackboard-Mail to meet with other students (and/or me) in a chat room. The chat rooms are for discussion of class materials only -- Please don't use them to discuss other topics. (Note: We will not be using the Whiteboard section of this area.) *PLEASE NOTE: I and some students have been having trouble accessing the Chat Rooms, so until further notice we will meet for "office hours" via MSN Instant Messenger instead of via the Blackboard Chat Rooms. You can sign up for it for FREE via http://www.microsoft.com/mac/default.aspx?pid=msnmessenger (for Macs) or http://messenger.msn.com/?client=1 (for Windows). I'm generally there as "Gwyneth", with my email address of gwjones@bellevuecollege.edu .

Spend some time the first day exploring the website and familiarizing yourself with the many areas and tools. Once you have the mechanics out of the way, we can start to explore some oceanography... the reason you are here in the first place!