The Basics


Before we embark together on this inquiry into social science, there are a number of conventions and understandings that we have to hold in common.  This has always been true of the classroom as well, but the force of habit and tradition have permitted a number of these agreements to go “unwritten” and “unspoken.”  For many of us, this will be the first entrance into a virtual classroom (remember how intimidated you felt in kindergarten?  Or, having graduated as a “big” eighth grader, you found yourself in the ninth grade being called an “ankle-biter”?  Hold onto those memories—they might give you hope here.)  Even those “old hands” among us will know that the virtual classroom is in such infancy that every professor does it differently; every time still feels like the very first time (to borrow a phrase).

 

Come back to this section as often as you need—frequently, I hope—to keep fresh in your memory the lay of the virtual land you are treading.  In a traditional classroom, we were always in each other’s faces, reminding each other of what we expected.  It is much easier to lose one’s moorings and wander away in virtual space.

 

In each of the units, I will use the convention of beginning with an introduction and then branching off into a number of “links.”  So, let’s begin here.  The Basic sections are:

·        Communication Protocols

·        Mining Data

·        Writing Conventions (particularly, “the Memo”)

·        Graphic Design Principles

·        Credit Requirements for URSI students

·        Assignments & Course Contract

 

 


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© 1996 A.J.Filipovitch
Revised 11 March 2005