English 2311 Online
English 2311 Online is a course designed for the distance learner who, for whatever reason, cannot or would prefer not to study college writing in a more conventional classroom setting. For the person on-the-go or someone who is located remotely from a college or university, this course provides a full introduction to the major patterns and style of business and technical writing and fulfills the requirements for many advanced composition courses.

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About Mountain View College and Staff
Mountain View College is one of seven campuses in the Dallas County Community College District in Dallas County, Texas. Opening in the fall of 1970, MVC is located in the southwest corner of the city of Dallas. 

The faculty and staff of Mountain View College are seasoned professionals, many with more than twenty-five years of teaching experience at Mountain View. Several have long been at the forefront of innovation in the facilitation of learning and frequently receive both national and international acclaim for their work on behalf of their students and the MVC college community.

Mountain View faculty have developed distance education materials and courseware for more than fifteen years. This is one of almost a dozen on-line courses created and facilitated by the  college instructors. Dr. Geoffrey Grimes, the creator of English 1301, 1302, 2311, 2326, 2327, 2328, and 2343 Online,  and other courses for the Internet, has taught college writing courses for more than thirty years and was recognized as one of the five most outstanding community college instructors in North America in 1991 by the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT). He is the former Chair of the Department of English at Mountain View College and an adjunct graduate professor at Amber University (Garland, Texas).

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Course Content
English 2311 Online is a course in technical writing. In this course, students will complete, among other exercises, short semi-formal reports and a user's manual.

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Course Enrollment
Institutional Qualifications for Enrollment
Credit students must have completed satisfactorily (with a grade of "C" or better) English 1301 or its equivalency at another accredited college or university. Students of the Dallas County Community College District are required to complete English 1302 as well.

Personal Qualifications for Enrollment
Online instruction and learning is not for everyone. While you may be a successful student in some other academic setting, effective learning and completion of academic coursework online is extremely demanding and requires, perhaps, more time and tenacity than learning in other modes of instruction.

If you have never completed a course of study in a distance-learning format, here are some factors that indicate you are likely to be successful in this course:

• You have completed successfully at least 15 credit hours in other college-level courses.
• You enjoy independent study.
• You are self-confident and a self-starter.
• You have at least eight hours per week free to devote to your assignments in this course.
• You are a competent reader.
• You are comfortable reading text materials at a computer monitor.
• You have the technical skills or access to technical support to help you with malfunctions of your computer.
• You have demonstrated successful college-level writing skills in other classes.
• You have access to a public library or some other institution of learning for conducting secondary research.

• At least a Pentium 1 PC
• Microsoft Word word processing software
• Access to Microsoft PowerPoint
• An internet service provider for access to the Internet
• E-mail capability
• Access to an inkjet or laser printer

Course Calendar and Dropping an Online Course
As a student enrolled in an online section of English 2311 at Mountain View College, you have sixteen weeks from the official date of your registration to complete the assignments for this course. It may be helpful at this point to review the Schedule of Assignments found in your syllabus. Note: It is your responsibility to know the date beyond which you may not drop this course with a "W." You may find out the drop date for your section by contacting the Mountain View College Registrar's Office. When you inquire, you must provide your name and social security number as well as the course and section number of your online class.

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Online Support for Composition
In addition to support included for assignments in each unit, you will find helpful many Internet resources prepared by faculty in universities around the country and throughout North America. Click here for a list service to Internet resources about technical writing on the World Wide Web. Note that this document will be updated from time to time for your additional enrichment. Your textbook authors, Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto have also included several websites at the end of each chapter in Technically Write! (latest edition).

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Submission of Assignments

You may send assignments to me in any of two ways:
• Conventional priority mail (not recommended for students outside the United States). Remember to include a stamped, self-addressed envelope (with sufficient postage!) if you wish your exercises to be returned.
• E-mail to gagrimes@dcccd.edu (Attach all assignments as Microsoft Word files  ONLY!


Read the following instructions carefully.  Failure to observe these instructions will result in wasted time for both you and me and possibly misplaced or even lost work!

IMPORTANT!!!
For college security reasons, I will delete any e-mail message that does not include 
1) your first and last name in the subject window, 
2) a statement in the message window stating the course/section number, and 
3) the name/number of the exercise attached.

How to Send Me E-Mail Messages and Attached Exercises

When you send me an e-mail message, include the following information exactly:

What to place in the "subject" window:
Place in the subject window the following information:
For a question to me: Question - (your first and last name)
For a comment to me: Comment - (your first and last name)
For an emergency message to me: Urgent! - (your first and last name)
For sending me an exercise: first name initial/last name/-/number of exercise.doc (see example below)

NOTE: I will open and respond to "Question," "Comment," and "Urgent!" messages on the day I receive them.  Do NOT attach assignments to "Question," "Comment," and "Urgent!" messages. I will not open them or even download them!

What to place in the "message" window:
Place in the message window the following information:
1) Using correct grammar and sentence form, state your message as briefly and as clearly as possible.
2) Indicate in the first line of the message what you are requesting of me.
3) Follow your request or main point with whatever supporting information you think I need to know.
4) Sign off each message with your first and last name as you are registered!
5) Below your name, give me your student ID number (your official Dallas County Community College District Student ID number--NOT your social security number; below that, enter the course and section number--this is critical information that will help me correctly file your records electronically).

How to attach an exercise to your e-mail message:
1) Save your exercise as a MS Word file  The college does not support other word-processing programs.  Note: Be sure your full name, course/section, and assignment number are posted at the top left corner of each exercise before you save it.

Save your exercises using the following identification:

First name initial/last name/(hyphen)/exercise number .doc

Example:
jsmith-Ex2.doc

Note: If you do not save and label your assignments using this format, I will return them to you unopened and ask you to re-label, re-save and re-send them!

2) Near each e-mail message window, you will find a button labeled something like "Attachment" or "Attach."  Place your cursor icon over that button and click once with  your left mouse button.  That action will open another window where you enter the name of the drive where your file is located on your hard drive or floppy drive and the name of the file (along with its extension).  You may also see a "Browse" button which you may click and then select the drive and the correct file.  By opening the directory where the file is located and clicking once or twice on the name of the file, the file name and path will be entered in the file name window.

3) Select "Okay" or "Send" or "Close"--whatever button indicates the submission of that file name.  The window will then close and return you to your e-mail message window.  Now, you should see posted in a visible place near your message window some notification that you have attached a document.

4) When you have finished composing your message, then click once on the "Send" button, and your message and attached document will be on its way!

How to Submit of Assignments

You are encouraged to submit your work in any one of the following three procedures ONLY:

Submitting Assignments Electronically
You must send all exercises as e-mail attachments in only Microsoft Word.  Follow the instructions posted above for submitting your exercises.  Do NOT fax any exercises.  I will mark the exercises electronically and return them as email attachments to his replies.

My email address is gagrimes@dcccd.edu.

Submitting Assignments by Regular Mail
If you do not have either software program, you should print out your work and mail it to:

Dr. Geoffrey Grimes
Department of English
Mountain View College
4849 West Illinois Avenue
Dallas, TX 75211

If you mail your assignments, you must included a stamped, self-addressed envelope with correct postage.  Assignments received without the stamped, self-addressed envelope will not be returned.

Submitting Assignments in Person
Please email all assignments.  Do NOT submit printed copies, because I must maintain all assignments for this course electronically.

Receipt and Return of Your Assignments
I am usually able to grade your assignments in a day or two, sometimes within the week that I receive them.  At peak periods at the beginning and ending of a course, it sometimes takes me about two weeks to return papers.

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Ordering Technically Write! the course textbook

To order your copy, write to:

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The "First Step"
Before you submit any assignments, you should checkout your electronic links to me. To do that, e-mail me the results of your learning style from the brief Mountain View College Cognitive Style Map. If you have technical problems with these two tests, then you will need to mail your assignments to me, allowing extra time in the schedule above for sending them to me and receiving my responses. If you live within the service area of the college, you can always drop off your assignments by my office (W273) or by the English Department Office (W254).

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This page was last modified on January 18, 2013,
and is maintained by Dr. Geoffrey Grimes.
.