Required Hardware and Software
There are a number of different types of hardware and software which you will need to have and be somewhat familiar with for this class. The specifics are listed through on the Required Hardware and Software page. 

Course Web Pages
The course web pages follow each follow a similar format: they have a Women in Literature banner at the top and bottom; they have links to the other main course pages and links to my e-mail address at the bottom; they will have a title on the left under the top banner and a picture or graphic on the right under the top banner.  With the exceptions of the medieval society and nineteenth-century lectures, these graphics are "flavor text" or stylistic only.  Should these pages take too long loading, you may turn off your graphics viewer without having to worry that you are missing a "test-able" portion of the course. You will likely use your link to the Syllabus the most often. 

Link to WebBoard
For this course, again, you will need to use WebBoard. You may take this Enter WebBoard  link, or you may use the link on the bottom of each course web page.

For those of you who have not used WebBoard before, Mr. Rambo has a Using WebBoard link that is very helpful and very thorough, and you are welcome to use it. Note: Do Not Take the "Link to WebBoard" link from his page; that will take you to his class's discussion. Always take the link above this paragraph or the link at the bottom of any of the course web pages.  Two things Mr. Rambo, the IVCC expert, says are necessary to remember when using WebBoard are that 1) your browser must be set to accept cookies to use WebBoard and 2) if you type in the URL address to access the discussion rather than taking the links, then you must type the whole address, including the "http://" at its beginning.

Using TestPilot
For this course you will use TestPilot for your quizzes and exams. Mr. Rambo, the IVCC Online Teaching Guru, has designed several pages that explain that program. You may view them at http://www.ivcc.edu/eng1001/testpilot.htm . Please read the instructions there thoroughly. Unlike in Mr. Rambo's classes, your ID number will not be your complete social security number with no spaces, hyphens, or dashes. I will provide you with a unique code to use when taking the TestPilot quizzes and tests. The links to the quizzes and the exams on the tentative class schedule will be activated at the beginning of each week. That tentative schedule appears at the end of the Syllabus page.

Using Rich Text Format
For this class it is a good idea to submit all your papers and assignments in Rich Text Format.  Rich Text Format, or RTF, is a code that is nearly universal for all word-processing programs, and it will allow me to read your papers in my word-processing program even if you authored those pages using a different program.  For most word-processing programs this procedure is relatively painless.  When you go to save your document, select the "Save As" option rather than the general "Save." Then under file type choose RTF or Rich Text Format instead of the default, which should be the file type that corresponds to your program. Instead of saving your Word document as a ".doc" file or your WordPerfect as a ".wpd" file, in other words, it will be an ".rtf" file. You may send me assignments through your e-mail system or through the Class WebBoard. Sending them as attached files is generally safer than trying to send them directly as e-mails, but you may use that method if you experience problems with attachments. Should you have problems with either of these methods, you may fax me your work, too, as a last resort, making sure you have a cover page with my name on it explaining the number of total pages in your document. The fax number is (815) 224-3033. 

Note: If you ever have any problems with any of the course pages, links, or technologies for this course, then please let me know right away. I will be making changes to these pages periodically throughout the course, and it is of course possible--and probable--that I could make an error. Please let me know about anything that doesn't work right or well.  The more specific you are about how and/or where the technology--or my brain--is failing, the better, easier, and quicker it will be for me as I fix it.