Fire Drill
Schedule

• Fire Chief's Comments
• Firehouse Tasks
• Hot Topics This Week : Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)
• Drills
  • 1-Alarm Drill: Asynchronous and Synchronous CMC
  • 2-Alarm Drill: Research in IT
  • 3-Alarm Drill: Desktop Conferencing
• Chief's Inspection List
• Fire Marshal Badge Skills
• Future Drills

Welcome to your fourth week of firefighting at Firehouse 6316.

Things have been hopping this week. We had lots of interesting activities to keep us busy. By the end of next week everyone should be able to view their score on the quizzes as well as the correct answers. The checklist will only verify whether yours was completed.

Seems most are slowly getting comfortable with the format and layout of the course. I fully expect that the weeks will become routine to you as you adapt to this new learning environment but that there is still some excitement each week due to the new things you are learning and doing. I know there is a lot of information and I have tried to organize it around topics and assignments as much as possible. Just as you might at times feel overwhelmed with information in a face-to-face course there might be times when you feel the same in an online course. The nice thing is that you can chunk your intake according to your needs. If you only can handle one drill at a time then you can only do one drill at a time and access the other drills later so as not to overwhelm yourself. In addition, do not forget that everything that is due for a grade each week is listed in the chief's inspection list each week. There are no hidden assignments or instructions. It is all right there in the 3 pages you access each week.

This week I am issuing the following reminders:

As noted in the quizzes help sheet last week, your final score for quizzes is not available until I have hand graded all the short answer items. Please do not panic until after I have graded everything. I will begin grading once all quizzes are in. To reassure everyone I will send a note to the listserv to let you know when I have completed this and you can view your score and answers.

A few have asked how to access previous weeks of this course. If you go to the fire drills link (schedule page) you will see that each week is listed with the topics. The topic is a link that will take you to that week's lessons. This is also how you will be able to access future weeks in the course and work ahead if you choose.

If you happen to stumble upon a broken or errant link within the course, please let me know where it is. We try hard to have everything working but there is always something that needs updating so do let us know if you find one we have not caught.

This week's drills provide you with an overview and precursor to the next few weeks in this course as we begin a series of weeks where the projects will last across more than one week. We will explore synchronous communication tools as well as research in the field of IT.  Here is where those of you that have cameras and microphones will really get down and dirty with your computer (NOTE: Having these is NOT required but will enhance your experience).  This week, my intention for you is to simply review the many options available.  Next week we will begin working with your choice of tools given some guidance.  Some of you will experience frustration and learn many troubleshooting skills in the following weeks and will come out on the other end exhausted yet triumphant.

My goals for you during this week's and next week's drills are to:

• define computer-mediated communication
• differentiate between asynchronous and synchronous CMC tools/technologies
• contrast and compare different CMC tools for instructional purposes
• learn how to use one or more desktop videoconferencing software programs
• participate in a demo of a CMC tool
• determine an IT Leadership -related topic about which you want to learn more

Task #1:
Read Chapters 18, 35, 37 and 38 in your text.

• Check the FAQ Page to see if your question has already been answered.
• Email Chief Curda.
• Email EMT Kelly.
• Email the firehouse crew and see if another firefighter knows the answer.

Now let's see what the hot topic is this week!