Answers to Frequent Questions 
Welcome
and Introduction
Welcome to this course. You are on the "Answers" page.
Use the navigation links at the top to move throughout this
website. I'm Dr. Trey Martindale and I'll be your instructor for
this course. On my website you
will find my contact information and office hours. My email address
is: <emartndl@memphis.edu>.
How
the Course Works
This course meets for 15 weeks, once per week. We meet in the Advanced
Instructional Media Lab (the "AIM lab"), Ball Hall 307 on Wednesdays
from 5:30 to 8:30 P.M.
Weekly assignments and discussions represent a portion of your overall course grade. This is by design. Research on learning environments consistently shows that students who participate regularly learn more. I will both encourage and reward your participation.
To begin the course, read the Schedule, Syllabus, Resources, Assignments, and this Answers page. On the wiki you will find an agenda for each class meeting.
During this semester I will be working with many students and colleagues within and outside the university. To help me keep all this correspondence organized and to instruct you as best as possible, please read and follow the policies below related to this course.
Telephone
The telephone is a fantastic technology and communication medium.
Consequently almost everyone in the U.S. has one (or two or three).
I enjoy talking on the phone, and I enjoy talking with students.
I will be very glad to talk with you. If you ever think you have
misunderstood me, or I am unclear, or anything like that, call
me. A phone call is much clearer and richer than email or a web
discussion posting when it comes to explaining anything that
might be potentially misunderstood or confusing. I am not too
busy to talk to you on the phone. I prefer it.
Also if you want to talk to me about anything that requires several answers, or a long answer, or a discussion, call me or talk to me in person. Email is convenient for short quick answers, but is not effective for long involved answers. I can talk much faster than I can type. Sometimes in a course, a student will email me or post a short question that requires a long or complex answer that will need clarification along with the answer. In such a case I will reply to the student via email or I will post the message "call me". If you get such a message from me, it is because your question requires a lengthy and/or complex answer. If your question involves sensitive matters (such as grades), I will ask you to call me or talk to me in person.
You can call me any time between 9:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M. or other times if it is really important. If you don't get me on the phone, send me an email with your phone number and what your call is about. That way I have your phone number on file and don't have to write it down, just in case your message is not clear, or if I need to call your number more than once. This saves time for both of us and helps me give you the best answer possible.
Office: (901) 678-3451. If you don't reach me at my office, don't leave a message. Please call my mobile phone.
I am working Monday through Friday, from 8:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. (sometimes more). I do have meetings to attend throughout the day, and often I am away from my office. I'm either in the AIM lab or in a colleagues office, or in our department office, or in a conference room, or over at the FedEx Institute, or at the library, or at a school or corporate site. Sometimes I go outside to and read or write. Sometimes I work at home. Wherever I am, I can usually check email and get in touch with you.
Email
Your email messages are very important to me. Like you,
I get a large amount of email. Somewhere around 60 messages a day
is typical during a semester. So, it is important that our communication
is clear and to the point--particularly if you need a response.
Email is a very "thin" communication tool, compared to rich tools such as face to face conversations, phone calls, etc. Most of the contextual cues (body language, emotion, tone) are not present. Even letter writing with pen and paper is richer than email, because one can communicate style and emphasis more easily.
It is very easy to have a misunderstanding in email "conversations". Humor and sarcasm particularly do not translate well. So when we communicate in this course via email, I will always try to be very clear and very literal in my words, and I suggest you do the same. I love to laugh and tell jokes, yet email is not very effective in communicating humor.
Sometimes I have to communicate news that is not happy--for example, if a student assignment is not of great quality. Reading an email with bad news can be particularly tough, because the receiver has to make assumptions about the sender's demeanor and tone of voice. So generally, I will not send unpleasant information via email, but rather via phone or in person.
If you have a question that involves a long and detailed or conceptual answer, I prefer that you call me, or email me your phone number to call you, for clarity's sake. This is especially true if you have a question about a grade, or any sensitive matter. Again, it is very easy to "hear" an unintended tone via email, because email is such a sparse and stark medium. Generally, I would rather talk to you on the phone versus email for just about anything because it is more personally satisfying.
Don't worry if you get a short answer from me. I'm usually pretty concise in email messages, but I'm definitely not upset. You can assume I'm at peace all the time, which is pretty close to reality.
Email messages I send to the class members will come to your U of Memphis email address. This will be your official email account for this course. However, if you email me a question, I will reply to whatever account your message originates from.
In this course, follow these guidelines when using email:
- During this course you must check your UM email account every weekday.
- Always put the course number of your course in the subject line of every message you send to me or to students related to this course. I use a filter to send all my course mail to particular folders, and I suggest you do the same.
- I try very hard to respond to all email within 24 hours during the work week. I may not immediately have the answer to your question, but I will let you know I am looking for it. Saturday and Sunday I do not answer email unless it is an emergency.
- Follow my policy of responding to emails within 24 hours (unless it's a weekend).
- Do not write a lengthy message with a question "buried" within. In other words, make it easy for me or others to respond to your question. I receive a tremendous amount of email, and I answer every question, as long as I can find it.
- Use an informative subject line. Your subject line should indicate the message purpose and content.
- Do not have an unduly long signature at the end of your email.
- Do not use HTML markup in your email, such as stationery with images, etc.. Use plain text.
- Do not sent attachments unless absolutely necessary. We all have UMDrive space for handling file uploads and downloads.
- Be cordial, and professional in your correspondence. Address the merit of ideas, not personal traits.
- Use underscores for _emphasis_, or you can use *asterisks*
- Emotion-conveying icons (emoticons) are perfectly fine :)
- Do not send forwarded emails to me or to the class with any advertisements, virus warnings, pleas for cash, get rich quick schemes, urban legends, tales of woe, etc.
LISTSERV (Electronic
Mailing List)
A listserv is a software tool. It is similar to a newsletter that
you subscribe to, and any subscriber can publish news to the newsletter.
Any email message you send to the address of the listserv will
be sent to all the subscribers (all the students in the course
and me).
Often when a student asks me a question via email I will reply with an answer and send it via the listserv to the entire class. I do this if the question and the answer will apply to the whole class. This is analogous to being in a classroom and a student asks a question, and the teacher responds so all can benefit from the answer. I may edit your question so that it accurately reflects the situation. If you ask a question that is more private (such as regarding a grade) I will not send such an answer to the listserv.
The listserv is not to be used for the following:
- Individual messages to specific class members
- messages that should go only to me
- distribution of chain letters or other unsolicited messages
- forwarding of warnings of viruses, appeals for help for worthy causes, etc.
- advertisements, commercial stuff, hobbies
If you have any questions about course listserv use, please ask me. Do not send attachments to the listserv.
To help guard against isolation and to reap the benefits of cooperative learning we will often interact, communicate, and work in groups. You may be required to work in a Study Group during the course.
I designed group work to encourage your learning. The collaborative aspects of this course are quite intentional, and well-considered and planned (not busy work). Learning research has consistently shown that collaborative activities build community and shared understanding of concepts, which is directly correlated with effective learning. Believe me, if it wasn't important, I wouldn't have you do it.
There is also a growing body of research that shows that interaction is the primary factor in student satisfaction and motivation in effective learning environments. That's why we have multiple channels for interacting: student to student, student to teacher, student to content, student to learning environment, and student to self.
The Study Groups are for learning activities. These activities will be both formal and informal. Sometimes you will discuss course concepts in your groups. Sometimes you will contact your groups for clarification, commiseration, and moral support.
Most adult learners are agreeable to working in a group until someone in the group doesn't pull his or her own weight. This is a problem with group work and I'm very well aware of it. Note that you will not be graded or evaluated based on the performance of your group. The quality of your assignments, and your evaluation, begins and ends with you.
This policy takes the pressure off the group, so you can use the group to learn from each other and to share the wealth of experience that adult learners can draw from. It also gives you a chance to share some "hallway talk"--the part of education that comes from outside the bounds of formal instructional time. It's amazing what you can learn from and share with fellow "travelers" on this path.
In fact is my goal that you build some valuable personal and professional relationships through this and other courses throughout your time at UM. I want to see you do very well.
Study
Partners
In this course you may have a Study Partner for discussion and
collaborative learning. We will use these occasionally depending
on the course assignments.
Turning in Files
Save all word processed files that you will turn in as either
Microsoft Word, PDF, or Rich Text Format (.rtf) format. You can
select RTF from the File Type box below the Save As box where you
name your file. All files you turn in will have a particular name,
and I will tell you what to name your files. This helps me keep
track of the many files I receive.
If you have an assignment that I require you to post on the web, your document must be in HTML, not as PDF or Microsoft Word downloads, unless otherwise instructed. Images should be GIF, JPG, or PNG. You may not use Microsoft Word or Excel to create HTML documents. Microsoft programs such as Word and Excel add so much proprietary, non-standard code to the web documents that these documents often do not display correctly in web browsers.
Technical
(Computer Hardware and Software) Support
You may have computer questions or issues during this course. In
a perfect world I would also have unlimited time to help with computer
hardware and software matters as well. However this is not a perfect
world.
Your first option is to call the UM help desk at (901) 678-8888. This area is staffed during regular business hours and some evening hours, and they have seen and heard it all. They are very competent and thorough. Your second option is to call or visit our graduate assistants in the AIM Lab (678-1773).
Blogs
In this course you may have the opportunity to use a weblog (blog)
to post various assignments and activities to the web, and carry
on an extended discourse on content related to the course. Weblogs
are websites that are organized in such a manner as to be easily
updated, searched, and archived. Each log entry is time- and
date-stamped and given a URL that can be referenced. The entries
are catalogued via a built-in calendar, and you can create custom "topics" for
each entry. Readers can leave comments about your entries. To
see a blog, visit mine called Teachable
Moment.
RSS and Aggregators
RSS (really simple syndication) is a protocol that allows one to
"subscribe" to various news feeds and receive updated
news and information from a particular source. An aggregator
is a client program that handles RSS subscriptions and displays
the news feeds in a paned interface, not unlike an email client.
If none of this makes sense to you now, it will when you use
the tools. First read this article by Alan Levine, "Have
you Heard about RSS". To learn more and to find an aggregator,
read this
article from Lockergnome, or the RSS
Quickstart guide for
educators by Will Richardson. Here are more articles
on RSS and blogging.
If you want to use an aggregator, try a web-based one like Google Reader or Bloglines.
Software
Requirements
This is a computer-oriented course, and you need some basic software
to participate effectively. Here's a list of minimum requirements.
It is possible you may not use all of these programs, but I'm listing
everything possible to make sure you are informed and prepared:
- Internet Service Provider (ISP): you must have an account with an reliable ISP either at work or home--wherever you intend to work on course assignments.
- For the majority of the course, a dial-up modem connection (56K bps) is sufficient. However, there will be times when you will need a faster broadband connection (DSL, cable modem, or LAN). You will need this fast connection to download large files, such as free trial software packages, which can be up to 75 MB in size. If you do not have broadband at home or work (wherever you are doing your coursework), you will need to plan use a UM computer when large downloads are required. I do not require, but strongly recommend a broadband connection for students in IDT.
- Web browser: should be modern version. (ex. Firefox, Safari, Netscape Navigator, Mozilla, Opera, Camino, etc.). I suggest not using Internet Explorer, but rather using Firefox. This will decrease you chances of downloading malicious code (viruses, adware, etc.).
- Email client (ex. Outlook, Netscape Mail, Entourage, Mail, etc.) Should be full-featured with the ability to use rules or filters to manage a large volume of email.
- Word processor (ex. Microsoft Word, Pages, Google Docs, WordPerfect, Appleworks, etc.) Your word processor must be able to generate RTF (Rich Text Format) files.
- Spreadsheet (ex. Microsoft Excel, Google Spreadsheet, Quattro Pro, Appleworks, etc.)
- Presentation visuals program (ex. PowerPoint, Keynote, or comparable)
- HTML editing software (ex. Dreamweaver, FrontPage, Notepad, Composer, etc.)
- FTP client: you must be able to use FTP to upload documents or use your UM Drive.
- Image editing program (ex. Photoshop, Fireworks, Photoshop Elements, ImageReady, Paint Shop Pro, etc.)
- A drawing and flowcharting program. Free (30-day trial) software is available. I recommend SmartDraw or Inspiration for Windows, and Omnigraffle or Inspiration for Macintosh.
- An audio editing application. I recommend the free open-source program Audacity (Windows and Mac) if you don't have audio software.
- Database: You are not required have to have one for this class, but you should have one for your general use. I use and recommend Filemaker Pro.
In this course we may have the opportunity to use or experiment with a number of multimedia resources. These may be part of course communication, or may be sample sites from around the Internet. Consequently you need to have the most common media players, readers, and plug-ins installed on your computer. All these players are free. The companies that create these players often have "paid" versions which include more features. For this course the free versions will suffice.
You may already have some of these players or plug-ins installed on your computer. If not, download and install these free media players/readers/plug-ins. All these players are cross-platform, meaning they will work with Windows, Macintosh, Unix, Linux, and other computer platforms.
- QuckTime, from Apple. QuickTime will open audio, video, images, animations--it is the Swiss Army Knife of multimedia.
- Windows Media Player (Windows version) or (Macintosh version), from Microsoft. For viewing opening audio and video files.
- RealPlayer, from Real Networks. Make sure you get the free version, not the "free 14 day trial". This software plays audio and video files.
- Flash player, from Adobe (your browser most likely has this already). This allows you to view Flash files such as animations.
- Shockwave player, from Adobe. This allows you to view files created with Macromedia Director.
- Adobe Reader. Don't download a trial version of Acrobat. You just want the free Reader. You may already have this on your computer. The software is for viewing PDF (Portable Document Format) files.
Computer
and Hardware Requirements
You must use a reliable, robust computer, manufactured
no earlier than 2001, and preferably newer. You must have regular
and consistent access to this computer, and be able to customize
it and install software on it. You must also have permission to
run various networked software programs such as chat, threaded
discussions, and instant messaging. If you use a computer at work,
you are responsible to negotiate any business or school firewall
issues. Or use a computer elsewhere, such as at home.
Requirements if using a Windows-Intel computer:
- Operating system: at least Windows XP or Linux/Unix
- Processor: at least 2GHz (or equivalent)
- RAM: at least 512 megabytes
- Hard disk capacity: at least 20 gigabytes
- Network connection: (for on campus use or off campus broadband) 10/100 Ethernet card
- Modem : (for dial-up access) 56Kbps
- CD-ROM-recordable (CD-R) drive
- Sound card, speakers, and microphone
- (optional): wireless card
Requirements if using Macintosh computer
- Operating system: Mac OS X 10.4 or higher
- Processor: at least 1Ghz G4
- RAM: at least 512 megabytes
- Hard disk capacity: at least 20 gigabytes
- Network connection: (for on campus use or off campus broadband) 10/100 Ethernet card
- Modem (for dial-up access): 56Kbps
- CD-ROM-recordable (CD-R) drive
- Sound card, speakers, and microphone
- (optional): wireless card
You must have a USB "flash drive" or other large storage medium (zip disk, etc.) for transporting files. You will need occasional access to a scanner.
Computer
Skill Requirements
This is a computer-oriented course.
You must be very familiar with computer hardware and software,
and be able to operate a computer. Here are some broad guidelines
of things you must be able to do and skills you must
have to begin,
and successfully complete this course.
Using a computer
Word processing and Spreadsheets
Image Editing
|
World Wide Web
HTML and FTP
|
Time
Requirements
This course requires a significant time commitment
from you. When a graduate course is held on campus, it meets
for three hours of classroom time per week, with nine additional
hours of homework, readings, and other assignments, for a total
of twelve hours per week. For those
who do not read rapidly or are inexperienced in the use of computer
hardware and software, the time commitment will likely be more
than 12 hours per week.
Your time spent will be distributed throughout the week. I say this again for emphasis--successfully completing this graduate course will require a significant commitment of your time and energy. If you cannot make this time commitment, you should not take this course.
You may have some activities or assignments in which you meet at a certain time online to interact with me or with your fellow students. You will also spend time reading, and using various Web-based resources throughout the semester.
Gradebook
In this course I may use an online secure gradebook to post
your grades during and at the conclusion of the course. Visit
the Assignments page
to see the grading policies and grading scale.
