8.0042 Latin for Credit Via the Net (1/90)

Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Mon, 30 May 1994 17:53:50 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 8, No. 0042. Monday, 30 May 1994.

Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 15:19:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: "James O'Donnell" <jod@ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
Subject: Latin for credit on the Net

Latin on the Net for Credit

I am happy to announce that arrangements have been completed to
offer an advanced Latin course in the fall of 1994 to individuals
who register for and take the course entirely through the
Internet. Such students will pay a combined tuition and general
fee of $759 to the University of Pennsylvania's College of
General Studies (our established arm for extension, summer, and
distance programs, which thus offers instruction at rates like
this far below that of the usual Penn tuition). In return they
will get individualized instruction, participation in the larger
network discussion that will accompany this course, and (on
successful completion of requirements) a grade and a transcript
from the University of Pennsylvania awarding four semester hours
of graduate-level credit. (N.B.: the seminar will also
emphatically be open to the Internet audience at no charge just
as was the Augustine course I offered in spring of 1994. The
tuition gets you personalized instruction, a grade on a paper,
and an official Penn transcript and credit.)

The course will be devoted to Boethius' *Consolation of
Philosophy*. The Latin text and some additional materials will
be made available over the network. Students registering for the
course for credit will be expected to participate in an on-line
conferencing discussion at least once a week (probably using MOO
software or something similar) in which they will be "called on"
to "recite", and they will each write a substantial term paper at
the end of the course.

I should emphasize that this will create a Boethius seminar with
three audiences: a classroom of students at Penn, a virtual
classroom of registered students across the country or around the
world, and a larger virtual common room of other interested
parties who sign up for the e-mail list discussion in connection
with the course. Students registered for the course will get
individualized instruction in the classroom or in the virtual
classroom, but they will also be actively encouraged to
participate in the discussion in the larger virtual common room
of the e-mail list as well.

This experiment follows the success of a similar undertaking I
conducted in the spring of 1994 on the work and thought of
Augustine. The novelty here is that students elsewhere may
register and get credit for the course. The course has been
constructed with a particular view to serving the needs of
secondary school Latin teachers, but all interested parties,
wheresoever on the globe located, with a good basic knowledge of
Latin are invited to apply. (The Latinless should not despair;
you are welcome to join the general discussion for this course,
and I hope to offer courses in coming terms over the net that
will not require specific linguistic background.)

Registration is limited to 20 students. Interested parties
should get in touch with the instructor (jod@ccat.sas.upenn.edu)
at their earliest convenience; when I have determined that you
have the minimum qualifications for the course, you will be sent
official university application forms, pay a nominal fee, and be
formally registered. That transaction plus the distribution (if
you request it) of a transcript afterwards should be the only
paper transaction in the whole exercise.

NOTE: To get full advantage of the course it is best to have
"full Internet connectivity", which is most readily available if
you have an account through an academic institution. If you
purchase Internet access from a private company, try to find one
that offers "gopher" and "World-Wide Web" access. The landscape
changes almost daily, but I believe "delphi.com" may be a
serviceable provider at the present moment.

For further information about the instructor and for a look at
the archive of the Augustine course from spring 1994, use the
World-Wide Web to the following address:

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/jod.html

PLEASE REPOST. I am particularly interested in hearing of ways
to get this notice to the secondary school teaching audience in a
timely way.

Professor James J. O'Donnell
Department of Classical Studies
720 Williams Hall
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305
Voice: 215-898-8734
FAX: 215-898-0933
Internet: jod@ccat.sas.upenn.edu
WWW: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/jod.html