The Nature of the Course	Computer Needs and Skills	The Operation of the Course
Student Profile Form	Do you really want to take an online course? Take this quiz to see if the online course is for you.

About the Nature of the Course: 

• Religion 304O is the online version of Religion 304 that is a survey of the New Testament.
• The course will be conducted over the internet enabling each student to work in a flexible schedule at home using a home computer connected to the internet through an internet service provider either national such as AOL, Earthlink etc. or a local service provider such as Shelby Net, BellSouth etc.
• The course requirements are similar to the onground classroom versions of Religion 101 (Day school version) and Religion 304 (GOAL version) including the Analysis Paper. The exception will be for the online aspects. The standard requirements for all three forms of the New Testament survey course can be examined through accessing my homepage Cranfordville at http://www.shelby.net/cranford. Once at Cranfordville, click on the GWU classes link by my photo, then in the list of courses click on R305 (Some of the details for the online version are still being determined, so check the page periodically for updates).
• The modified structure of the online version includes the following:
• The class will be divided into small groups to work closely together on a weekly basis using e-mail based forums and group chat rooms. The weekly grade given to each student for participation in the forums and chat rooms will take the place of the weekly quizzes given in the regular term onground classroom version of the course. Each group chat room will be structured by the group leader at a convenient time for each member of the group.
• Each group will report to the entire class the results of their weekly analysis via an e-mail based forum.
• The three major exams (including the final exam) of the course will be taken as proctored essay exams. These will be administered at the nearest extension campus site to the student's home address. The exam questions will be taken from the pool of "Take-Home Questions" (Exam 3 option in the Course Instruction page) that have been the basis of the forum and chat room learning activities. See the Assignment Schedule page for the dates of the exams.
• The Pre-Test will be taken at the time of the Orientation session; the Post-Test will be taken at the time of the final exam at the extension center.
• An mandatory Orientation session will be scheduled during the first week of the semester both at the GWU main campus and as needed at the GOAL extension centers. Those who register for the course will be notified of the times and places for the Orientation session.

About Computer Needs and Skills:

• The following represent minimum technology hardware needs for successfully completing the course:
• Personal Computer (at least a 486 level processor, but a Pentium based PC is far better) or a Mac Computer with OS8 or above system.
• A computer modem (the faster the better, preferably V90 56K level), connected to an internet service provider.
• Either Internet Explorer (5.0 or above) or Netscape Communicator (4.5 or above) software that can send and receive e-mail in both MIME and HTML formats. Earlier versions of either of these can be upgraded free over the internet. The Netscape Communicator is preferred.
• A sound card installed on the computer is highly desired, but not essential for certain aspects of the course.
• Microsoft Word, Lotus Word Pro, or Corel Word Perfect word processing software install on computer. The assignments will be done using this software and then sent in as an e-mail attachment.
• The Adobe Acrobat Reader needs to be installed on the computer. Many of the files in the course are formatted in the Adobe PDF form, rather than in HTML, because of formatting requirements and other reasons. This software can be downloaded free from Adobe's internet site. Click  in order to access the software for downloading.
• The following represent minimum computer skills needed for successfully completing the course:
• Knowledge of a computer beyond knowing where the on/off switch is located.
• Basic skills of creating and sending e-mail.
• Basic skills for creating documents using one of the above listed word processing software.
• A willingness to expand computer skills to new levels of expertise.

• The regular sections of the online course:
1. Determine the list of topics for your group from the Assignments Page for that week.
2. In the scheduled group chat room session, divide up the Study Questions (those identified by the  icon = Exam 3) to be answered for your group. The group chairperson is exempted from answered questions because of administrative responsibilies.
3. In the scheduled group chat room session, discuss issues not clear in the range of questions assigned to the group for that week.
4. Answer the questions that you have agreed to answer as a part of the group assignment. This should be completed by the middle of the week.
5. Send an e-mail containing both the questions and your answer to all the members of the group. This can be in the Text of the e-mail or as an e-mail attachment. If an attachment is used, then the file MUST be saved in Microsoft Word 7.0 file format for it to be accessible to everyone. To send the e-mail to the group, set up a Group listing in your browser Address Book and simply click it on when creating the e-mail message.
6. Read through everyone's questions and answers in the group to see whether you agree with the answers and understand them. If not, then create a Reply To All e-mail message with your observations and concerns and send it to the group.
7. By Sunday evening the Group Chairperson will bring together into a single e-mail (or document file) everyone's answers etc. to the assigned questions for the group for that week. She/He will then send this document file via e-mail to the members of the entire class.
8. The Group Chairperson will also compile a Participation Report on each member of the group and this will then be sent via e-mail to Dr. Cranford.
9. The three Major Exams will be completed in a traditional on-campus site (either the GWU campus, or the nearest extension campus). The exams will be comprised of a random selection of the Study Questions from the pool of questions covered since the previous major exam. See the Assignments Page for the exact range of topics for each major exam.
10. The various segments of the Analysis Paper assignment will come due during
11. The Pre-Test will be administered during the manditory Orientation session at the beginning of the semester; the Post-test will be taken at the same time as Exam 4 (=the Final Exam).
• The Independent Study section of the online course:
1. The individual study of the materials will follow the above guidelines, except for the chat room involvement.
2. The weekly Chat Room responsibility will be replaced by e-mail contact with Dr. Cranford.