Welcome!

Dear MCC ENG102 Sections,

Welcome to ENG102 Online! I look forward to getting to know you over the next five weeks. This is a writing intensive course with specific deadlines you will have to meet. I suggest you get started as soon as possible.

• The course website is a blog at Blogger.com : http://mcc-eng102-sm07.blogspot.com/
• The course handbook/syllabus is located at : http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhkdmmdx_117dmvtmn

The course website/blog is where all the announcements will be made. To get started, I'd print and carefully read the course handbook/syllabus...but of course, finish reading this email first!

You will be responsible for obtain the following materials (there are more listed in the syllabus):

• Kirszner, Laurie G., & Mandell, Stephen R. (2005). The concise Wadsworth handbook. Boston: MA: Thomson Higher Education. ISBN: 1-4130-1030-X
• Please notice “concise,” not “brief.” There is a “Brief Wadsworth Handbook” as well, that is NOT our textbook!

• Access to the American Psychological Association style guide:

• http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c09_o.html
• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

• Access to a computer with an internet connection (preferably high-speed)
• MyMCC Account: http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/mymcc/
• A Gmail Account: http://mail.google.com/ —I would use this email while you set up all your accounts
• Blog account at Blogger: https://beta.blogger.com/start —user your Gmail email to set up
• Bookmarking account at delicious: http://del.icio.us/
• Student account at Turnitin: http://turnitin.com/

• Session 1: Course name: mcc-eng102-sm1-07 (Course ID: 1906377; Course password: eng102)

• MS Word or other word processor that can export to RTF (rich text file):

• Open Office: http://www.filehippo.com/download_openoffice/
• Google Docs: http://docs.google.com
• Zoho Writer: http://www.zohowriter.com/jsp/home.jsp
• Think Free: http://www.thinkfree.com/

For those of you with AOL accounts, sometimes AOL does not work well with these programs. If you do not already use Internet Explorer as your browser, you may want to download a copy of Firefox to use your web browser (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/). Firefox is a relatively small, and fast download.

You will also need the following browser players/readers to get started:

• Adobe Acrobat Reader: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
• Flash: http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/alternates/#fp
• Shockwave: http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/alternates/#sp
• Java: http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

If you have not used either delicious, Blogger, or Turnitin before, I suggest that you play around in all the environments. By play, I mean taking the time to hit every button to get a feel for what the programs can do. I also suggest you wander and hit every button in the course website. Do not wait until an hour before a deadline to figure out how everything works.

If you have any questions or concerns about the course, please feel free to email me shelley.rodrigo@gmail.com and/or call me on me cell (email me for the cell number). If you email me, please be sure to include the course and course line number you are enrolled in. I am teaching multiple sections of different courses. I do not keep copies of the rosters near my computer, so you need to clue me in who you are when you email me.

Again, I look forward to working with you all,

Shelley