Canada in the 21. Century Induction Session

Hello Everyone,

The end of the second term at Sprott-Shaw Degree College is upon us - and the beginning of the third term - and therefore, of our course - only a few weeks away. As promised, I'm back with additional information about the course and with details about what you need to do BEFORE the course starts, on July 9, 2009.

The most important date to note in your Agenda is that of Friday, June 26, at 12:30 pm. This is the date and time when the Course Induction Session will be held, in the Staff Computer Room of the SSDC Burnaby Campus. Attendance to this session is mandatory: in other words, you MUST attend if you wish to take this course. The session will be very brief - only 30 minutes, but critical to the entire course. During this Session, you will be introduced to the course books, blog, wicki, work schedule, assignments, and marking system. You will also find out the Readings you must complete before coming to the first class, on July 9, as well as the assignment you must complete by then. Please make sure you attend this very important Induction Session.

For those who want to get a head start, you can already find out what you can do now, before the course starts, by accessing the course Wicki and checking out the Announcements page, as well as the Week 1 Study Guides page and the Week 1 Assigments page. The easiest, but most important three things you can do right now is to join this Blog, join the Wiki and add me (Alex Olteanu) to your Facebook friends' list (after joining Facebeeok if you are not already a member). Please also check regularly the Course Calendar on the Wiki Homepage; in addition to the weekly lectures you will find marked there all assignments' deadlines, as well as indicative times when you should have finished various assigned homework during the week. Following the Calendar guidelines and doing a bit of work every day will make your life much easier and your mark much higher!

The Course Blog and Wiki will be very important study and communication tools throughout the course. Facebook will also be very important - I will post there on a regular basis links to various articles of interest I may wish you to read, and will keep in touch with you on a more informal basis if you have any questions or issues outside classroom time.

Well that's it for now - good luck with the upcoming exams and see you soon, at the Course Induction Session!

By the way - the two short clips at the beginning and the end of this blog are both.., commercials for a Canadian beer called, surprisingly enough, Canadian. The first ad became one of the most popular commercials in the history of Canada and unleashed an entirely uncharacteristic assertion of Canadian pride in their country and origins. Isn't it interesting that it was, of all things, a beer company and not, for example, the Federal Government, that came up with such an ad?