A note for late arrivals.

This is an experimental class that began early last summer. Our objective was to determine how we can better teach the Bible using all the tools at our disposal in the information age. The Internet is revolutionizing the way we learn and communicate. I taught the Old Testament for years in the classroom, but that option isn’t available to me now, and it is limiting in ways the Internet is not.

Our objective in the class was to read the entire Old Testament in a year and to briefly discuss the salient points. As we went along, we realized that when the class is finished, all the work will still be valuable to students coming along later. So we have made provision for new students to join the class at any point and proceed with us to the conclusion. You can then go back to the start and finish the course at your own speed. When messages are removed from the board, they are archived, and you can use the "find" function to search the archives for comments made previously.

There are four of us leading this class. They are:

1. Ronald Dart, instructor.
2. Mike Linacre, instructor.
3. Pam Dewey, Internet resources.

Some advice:

Don’t take things personally. It is easy to sound harsh in the brief communications we have in E-mails and posts. Consider everything you read that is posted here to be posted with a big smile. At the same time, realize that this is not a public forum. It is a class. And as any faculty member, I will expect students to work and deliver.

No pseudonyms are allowed in class registration. We require your real name and correct E-mail address.

You will receive regular reading assignments, and they will be somewhat demanding.

If you haven’t read the assignment, don’t ask questions or comment.

If you don’t participate in two successive class periods, we may assume you died or just lost interest and drop you from the class. A class period is the time between reading assignments.

The class is a little larger than optimum, so you aren’t required to answer every question or comment on every issue. But feel free to speak up about what’s on your mind.

Bring your sense of humor and don’t take yourself too seriously.

We require all the civility and mutual respect of a classroom environment.

If you need help in using the class bulletin board software, you can ask Jim Ross by E-mail or ask on the bulletin board.

Don’t use all caps for emphasis or in the subject line. You can use simple html codes in your posts for emphasis or clarity, but I recommend doing that sparingly. The only html codes permitted are those for italics, bold or block quotes.

The class will be conducted using our forum software which presents as a bulletin board. Think of the bulletin board as a tree that must be pruned from time to time to bear the best fruit. Don’t fret or ask why your post or thread was deleted.

We will be creating an archive of the threads we develop in the class. The archives can be searched. We have yet to determine how long posts will be left on the board before being archived.

The use of all caps in the subject line is reserved for instructors’ announcements.

This is a private class. If you want to forward a message from the forum to someone else or post it elsewhere, it is common courtesy to get the permission of the original poster first. At the same time, everyone should realize that nothing is really private any longer and you should not put anything in print that you don't want the world to read.

If you receive unwanted or offensive E-mail from another member of the class, please notify one of the instructors. In general, make your comments in class, not in private E-mails.

Helpful hints on participation:

The blue bar at the top of the message list is important. Try everything on the bar to become familiar. You can’t hurt anything.

Overview: This is useful for seeing what’s up. You can quickly scan the main message headers and decide what you want to look into in more detail

Tags: These must not be used in the subject line, but can be used in the message to convey smiles, etc.

Page 1: The box on the left of the blue bar that says, “Page 1" may be the most useful feature of the forum. If you click in the box, it will give you a drop down menu where you can select either the page you want or the posts in the past 3, 6, 12, or 24 hours. A response to a week old thread will pop up here if it was made in the time frame you select. There is also a selection for the posts since your last visit, but this is tricky. Be careful to log on before you select this. Unless it has been more than one day since you logged on, it is better to use the “today’s” or the hours feature.

New Post: If you do not select a category, your post will go on the main page. If you click on the category box, you can select “Coffee House” to post there. “Byways” is where we put digressions from the discussion at hand. You can select one of the faces (smile, frown, etc.) to express your mood as you write. Use the question mark if you are asking a question. Thumbs up shows your agreement or disagreement with the preceding post, and is usually used only in replying. Try to make the topic line germane to your message.

Links: Link URL is where you can place a link to a web page. If you cite an article from the web, you should include the link here. If you wish to include an image or picture from somewhere on the web, you can put the URL in the Image box and it will appear with your message.

Good housekeeping: If you are impatient and click on the post button twice, you may find your post is on the board two or more times. You can delete and edit your own posts, so be sure and clean up your mess. Open your post, click on edit (an option in blue on the left), change anything you want, or page down and click on delete. Try to do this before anyone replies to you.

Coffee House: This is where students can post conversations about almost anything. Humor, politics, entertainment, all these things are open discussions in the coffee house. Relax and enjoy getting to know one another.

Chat: This feature is enabled, and chats may be scheduled from time to time. If you want to schedule one on your own, you can try to do so in the Coffee House.

Reply: There is a “Post reply” button at the top and bottom of every message. You can leave the topic box the same or change it. Please change it if the emphasis of your reply calls for it.

Tests and quiz’s: There will likely be no test, per se, but we will have frequent, self graded, pop quiz’s so you can test your comprehension in reading. The quiz will automatically give you your grade, and we will publish an average for each quiz so you can see how you are doing. The quiz is required for continued participation in the class.

View All: This is one of the really neat features of the board. If you come in late on a thread, open the top message and then click on “view all” at the bottom. The program will then line up the messages in order so you can simple read down them. This is also a convenient way to save an entire thread on your computer. Just click on “file” on your browser and then click on “save as.” You can give the thread a name and tell your computer where to save it for future reference.

If you have questions about the software, just ask. The easiest way is just to post your question in the coffee house.

Note that you must register one time before you can read or post. The link to register is on the blue bar. When you have registered, please fill in all the profile information you feel comfortable giving. Phone numbers and address should not be entered. We would like to know where you live. You can also upload a picture of yourself if you wish. Click here to go to class and then bookmark the page for quick access.

Study hard and have fun.