English Composition 1 Online
Welcome to English Composition 1 Online!
Hello! According to the class roster, you are enrolled in the fall 2009 session of ENG 1001-100 or ENG 1001-110, the online sections of English Composition 1 at Illinois Valley Community College. We do not have class meetings for this online course. Instead, our class is conducted via the Internet.
My name is Randy Rambo, and I am the instructor of English Composition 1 Online. I would like to welcome you to the class, and I look forward to working with you this semester.
You can find the course home page at http://www.ivcc.edu/eng1001. The home page includes a link to Blackboard, which we use for our interaction. You can also access the home page of English Composition 1 Online from my home page, at http://www.ivcc.edu/rambo. It may take you a little while to become familiar with the technology and with the setup of the course, but most students catch on quickly. You just need an Internet connection, a Web browser, and any word processor.
The course begins Monday, August 17, 2009, and the first assignments are due shortly after this time. Please wait until Monday, August 17, before accessing the class material and before logging in to the class Blackboard (as explained below). The course will not be updated for us until this date.
If you have questions or concerns about the course, please do not hesitate to contact me. The best way to contact me is through e-mail. My e-mail address is randy_rambo@ivcc.edu. My office phone number is (815) 224-0338, but I will not be in my office much this summer, so please e-mail me instead of calling if you have any questions or concerns.
Getting Started with Blackboard
We use the online course system called Blackboard. It is quite popular, so you might have used it before. Even if you have never used Blackboard, you should find it easy to get started with it.
There are links to Blackboard at the home page for ENG 1001 Online (at http://www.ivcc.edu/eng1001) and at the home page of Illinois Valley Community College (at http://www.ivcc.edu). After you click the link to Blackboard, you will see a "User Login" button. Clicking the "User Login" button will take you to a screen where you enter your username and password.
Blackboard Username and Password
Your Blackboard username is the first three letters of your last name and the last
four digits of your Social Security Number, and your password is
the first three digits of your Social Security Number.
Example
Student name: John Smith
Social Security Number: 123-45-6789
John's username is smi6789, and his password is 123.
Self-Enrolling in Blackboard for ENG 1001 Online
Many IVCC courses use Blackboard. For some courses, the instructor enrolls
students in Blackboard. For other courses, students must enroll themselves after logging
in to Blackboard. This is called "self-enrolling," and for English Composition 1 Online, students must self-enroll.
Self-enrolling is a simple process. Just follow the instructions below.
- Log in to Blackboard at http://ivcc.blackboard.com
- Click the "Courses" tab near the top of the screen
- Click "Fall 2009" under "Course Catalog" on the right side of the screen
- In the "Search Catalog" box, type ENG 1001 and click "Go"
- From the list of courses, find your class, which is either ENG 1001-100 or ENG 1001-110 (Please make sure to enroll in the correct class! Check your class schedule if you need to.)
- Click "Enroll" to the right of your class listing
- Click "Submit" at the next screen
That's it! After you complete the steps above, you will be able to join our class in Blackboard. But remember that you should wait until Monday, August 17, before self-enrolling in our class Blackboard.
Prerequisites
Placement
To take English Composition 1 at IVCC, students must be placed in
ENG 1001 based on IVCC’s English placement exam, or must have an ACT
English score of at least 22 with proper documentation submitted to
the college, or must successfully complete ENG 0900. In addition,
student are required to have a certain minimum score on IVCC's
Reading Placement Test to enroll in the course. Shortly after the
semester begins, I will receive notification of students who have
not met the requirements for enrolling in the course. Just contact
me if you have questions about the requirements.
Required Orientation
In addition, students must complete IVCC's
Distance Learning Orientation before beginning their first online course at IVCC. You can read about
the orientation at the Web page at
http://www.ivcc.edu/dl.aspx?id=2326. The orientation is required for IVCC
students,
but it can be completed online.
To Begin the Course
To begin the course, simply log in to Blackboard and self-enroll in the class (as explained above) on Monday, August 17. Then click "Course Information" and "Assignments" on the left side of the Blackboard screen to read about the class and to see our first set of assignments. Again, the class begins Monday, August 17, 2009. We follow the same semester timeline as courses on campus, so it is important that you join us as soon as the class starts.
Welcome to the class, and I look forward to an enjoyable semester with you!
Sincerely,
Randy Rambo
Illinois Valley Community College
815 N. Orlando Smith Ave.
Oglesby, IL 61348
Office: A-313
Telephone: 815-224-0338
E-mail: randy_rambo@ivcc.edu