Some things to think about. Assignment 1 is at the end, but read the whole thing. Please!

Why don’t people do what you want them to do? People don’t do what you want them to do because, 1)They don’t want to!, 2)They don’t know how, but can learn, 3)They don’t know how, and will never be able to learn (me and quantum physics!), 4)They don’t even know you want them to, or, maybe, 5)There are other reasons. I want you to learn economics and I will do my best to show you how!! Some of it is up to you!

The way I have the course set up is to have a web site for the course and a SAKAI site for the course. I would turn on the internet twice, one for each of these sites. When you work on the course open both, one in each window. I will call the web site for the course the web and I will call the SAKAI site for the course SAKAI (This is easy, isn’t it?) If I were you I would always go to the web first to see if Parker made any updates. Go to SAKAI in order to communicate with Parker.

What browser should you use for the class? Mozilla Firefox seems to work best, particularly when off campus! You can download this free. Do a google on Firefox and you will see what to do. Should I use a wireless connection? It is probably okay when submitting homework, but on exams it has not always worked well in the past for some folks. I would NOT recommend using wireless. If you do work on exam with a wireless connection I suggest you also write down on a piece of paper your answer for each question incase you have difficulty (This is like buying insurance, sort of!).

If you want to send electronic messages to me about the course use the Messages function in SAKAI. Do NOT send me through the regular channels. I like to keep all my class stuff in the same general area. Can I, as a student, have someone else do any or all the work for me? This would be very, very bad. You should do your own work. On homework assignments you can work with others but must submit your own final answers. On exams you should do your own work with no help from anyone else (meaning parents, friends, classmates, members of the clergy or congress or any other person).

What is the Forums in SAKAI? In my classes that are online I use this function as a way for you to ask questions. I will put up a general area for each chapter. This would be similar to a situation where if you were in a face to face class and you raised your hand and asked a question. All could hear your question and my response. Plus, in the online class I will use this function as a “class participation” requirement as described on the syllabus. When you are using SAKAI and the forums section make sure when you read something that you click on all the section headings. I am under the impression that this lets me know you are reading the material. At times I will directly ask online students to give a response to one of my questions.

Using Sakai Most of time for you to earn points will require you to put responses in SAKAI under Tests & Quizzes. I will also usually post a Word file of an assignment. So, for most assignments I would do the following: Print the file, Answers the questions on the printed version, Go to SAKAI by the due date and put in the answers. I will give you an hour to post, so you should have enough time if you already completed the work. Exams will be under Tests & Quizzes and may include an attachment that you would want to open first. The first assignment (and maybe a few others) will require you to so to SAKAI under Assignments and answer the following. Assignment #1 - 5 points and due 7/7 at 11:55pm in SAKAI under Assignments a01 1 When do I have office hours? 2 What is my policy on late assignments? 3 What are the dates of the 3 exams and what is the point value of each? 4) Would I use a wireless connection for an exam?