If you are reading this page you have already MADE A DECISION to try part of your academic work on-line. The exciting part of the collegium or IDS courses is your partnership with your professor in researching current issues on a variety of subjects. That means, I (as your instructor) do not have to be an expert in an area, but together we explore issues as they relate to the liberal arts perspective. So you are thinking, "Great, she doesn't know what she is doing either." NOT SO. Our assignment is to explore the issues together, develop skills, and grow a little in the process.
In my case, I will sometimes bring the perspective of anthropology to the course to provoke your thoughts :), engage you in debate, or bore you to tears. L Throughout the semester we will bring information together, compare what we have found, debate or critique the issues, synthesize what we have found, and finally summarize our findings.
You are probably wondering how you will be doing this about now. There are several tools we will use to measure our success: learning the technology; creating a portfolio (or adding to one you have already started); designing self-learning goals; reading books and synthesizing what you have read; engaging in debates on the webboard; moderating the webboard; completing weekly assignments; interviewing, data collection, and writing interactive webpages regarding issues concerning conserving our resources.
Sound overwhelming at this point? Don't be discouraged. We don't do it all at once. I haven't lost a student yet. Since you won't have that three hours in the classroom a week, you will be using that time to find answers on your own. Yep! Creating self-learners--that's one of our goals. In the College of Arts and Sciences we want you to fulfill your greatest potential and give you marketable skills as a bonus.
"So just what is it I want you to accomplish?" I am glad you
asked. Click on this picture (path down piney woods) to enter the
world of goals, objectives, and assessments 
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After you have had a chance to read these goals, objectives,
and assessments for the course begin thinking about your own goals
for learning in this course. Think about the course goals. They
might fit well with skills and knowledge you would like to
acquire. You will be posting your own set of goals and such to
your electronic portfolio next week. Everyone will know them and
they can help you attain your objectives. For an outline of what
is expected to be written for your goals please click here. CLICK
ON Goals.
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