My Welcome Letter to the Class, Before Class Began

Dear Class,

I am Sister Tara Bowen, and I am delighted to work with you, pray for you, and cheer for you during this fall semester as your Foundations English 201 teacher. I love reading and writing, and I love helping students discover and develop their writing skills. This semester, a new version of our course is launching for all FD-ENG 201 students and teachers working online. This means I will literally be working right along with you, reading everything you read, and setting aside extra time to work a bit ahead of you so I can help you catch the vision of our course.

I have a testimony that this is the Lord's university, and that He cares about your learning and growth. He will help you make the most of the learning opportunities in our class as you strive for knowledge and seek inspiration.  

Now for some business items...

Access and Getting Started: If you have taken an online class before now, you know the basic drill: Log in to I-learn every day, and keep up with the lessons, paying close attention to deadlines.  The class is online, so you have a great deal of flexibility regarding what time of day (or night) you log on to do your work; however, this is not a "go-at-your-own-pace" course. In fact, it is a very fast-paced course. After the first week of class, you will have a lesson due every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Each lesson will take about 3-4 hours and will give you opportunities to read, write, and discuss with your peers.  The total time commitment each week will vary depending on the week--and the speed at which you read and write. But students who devote 9-12 hours every week to this course should get the most learning and enjoyment out of the experience. You only get out what you put in, right? When the class opens up this weekend, feel free to jump in to I-learn and start exploring. Class officially starts on Monday (September 16), and your first lesson is due on Saturday (September 21).  

Textbook Access: We will be using two electronic textbooks for this course. The Way of Wisdom is a collection of essays (an anthology) that is provided for you for free within I-Learn. The second textbook, Arguments, is a custom textbook published by Pearson, and you can find it in MyLab. To register for MyLab, enter our FD-ENG 201 course and scroll down to the last folder on the left side of the screen, called MyLab/Mastering. Click on “Registration Instructions” to get started. You’ll need our Course ID, which is bowen30248. (Finding your way around both I-Learn and MyLab may be a bit intimidating, so look for some videos on how to navigate the two early next week.)

Explorer, Chrome, Safari, or Firefox?: I have always encouraged students to use the Internet browser Mozilla Firefox, rather than Internet Explorer, in I-learn. Chrome is good as well. No matter what browser you opt to use, if you click on a menu item in I-learn and the page comes up blank, that content is being blocked and you are missing essential information; there are no blank pages in our classroom! This video shows how to view insecure content if you would like to stick with Firefox or Chrome (I still do not recommend Explorer): http://youtu.be/XCOP5asLr9g.

Communication: If you have a question or concern, please voice it! We have a weekly Q&A discussion board attached to my "Notes from Sister Bowen". This is a great place to post your questions and answer your peers' questions if you know the answers. I check our Q&A daily during the work week. I am also available to help on an individual basis via email, call, or text. You can reach me at bowent@byui.edu and #208-241-2889. Please note that I don't always work on Saturdays, and I never work on Sundays. This means that you may send me an email on Friday night that I won't read until Monday morning. For this reason, texting or calling me is probably preferable on Saturdays. Please don't ever hesitate to reach out. In fact, please respond to this letter to let me know:

1) your cell number (in case BYU-I email isn't working),

2) whether or not you receive texts, and

3) how you are feeling about taking this class.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Love,

Sister Bowen

p.s. You may post your responses to questions below, if you don't mind other students potentially seeing your answers.