Course Website FAQ

Here are FAQ about the course website.

• The 5 most recent posts are displayed on the main page.
• A permanent link list, "Res Perscribere", is always visible on the sidebar of the course website, containing direct links to crucial information.
• Also on the sidebar, always visible, is the "Tabulæ" displaying direct dated links to all posts on the course website.
• An "Older Posts" hotlink is always visible at the bottom of the main page which displays the next 5 most recent posts.

Course E-Mail Netiquette

Here are the points of e-mail protocol for our course :

1. E-mail (indeed, all communication) between Instructor and student is a formal and professional exchange. Accordingly, proper salutation and closing is essential.
2. Business e-mail is courteous but, of professional necessity, concise and direct. It rejects roundabout or ornate language, informal diction, and any appearance of what is termed in the vernacular, 'chat.'
3. Customary response time for student e-mail to the Course Instructror is two to three office days. E-mail on weekends will ordinarily be read the Monday following.
4. Use only your BCIT account for e-mail to the Course Instructor.

In general, Course e-mail is for matters of Course administration solely. All questions about understanding of lecture material, course reading, assignment criteria, and deadlines are reserved for Classes and Office Hour.

Missed classes and deadlines are not to be reported by e-mail: if a medical or bereavement exception is being claimed, the supporting documentation is handed in, along with the completed assignment, either in person or to the Instructor's mailbox outside the Department Office.

Stephen Ogden's Contact Information

Dr. Stephen A. Ogden
Instructor, Liberal Studies
BCIT, SW2, Room 108,
3700 Willingdon Ave.
Burnaby, B.C. V5G 3H2
stephen_ogden@bcit.ca

I began my IT career in 1979 as a Computer Operator: by 1986, Manager of Computer Operations, Western Region, for Geac Computers International, which was a wonderful Canadian corporate success story 'back in the day'—the company effectively created on-line banking technology. In 1987 I moved to SFU to take my Ph.D., working also full-time as an IT technician.

From 2003 to 2011 I was Lecturer in the Department of English at SFU, teaching and publishing in scholarly fields relating to Victorian literature, 20th C. British literature, and Japanese literature, classical & modern. I now teach here in Liberal Studies at BCIT: developing and teaching Courses in English, Humanities, Sociology, and Philosophy, framed in advantageous technical and professional contexts.

Two pertinent sample areas of practical and academic experience:

• Professional writing and Technical writing. From 1992 to 2002 Chairman of the Advisory Committe to the Professional Writing Program—"Print Futures"—at Douglas College.
• Online course incorporation, and development of pedagogy that advances individual independence as a necessary faculty for higher professional excellence. Developed online courses for international banking as early as 1981, and worked on Distance Education modules at SFU.

A REALLY Important reason to Spell Properly

This news report shows both (a.) the necessity of using the language properly and (b.) the lamentable reality that the billboard was intended to deny.

Revolution in Post-Secondary Learning

Here is a recent UBC study concluding the inefficacy of lecture as a means of communicating understanding.

In one of the initiative’s most visible studies, Dr. Wieman’s team reports that students in an introductory college physics course did especially well on an exam after attending experimental, collaborative classes during the 12th week of the course. By contrast, students taking the same course from another instructor — who did not use the experimental approach and continued with lectures as usual — scored much lower on the same exam.