Dear Distant Learner,

Welcome to Visual BASIC as a Research Tool. Acquire and read both the Course Syllabus and the EVAL Assignment Specifications from http://www.coedu.usf.edu/vbart/ , then view the course Introductory Videotape. The tape is about an hour long. Copies will be available in the Media Resource center (http://www.lib.usf.edu/tampa/mr/), library, 6th floor, Tampa Campus, 813-974-4182.

Introducing you to VB and conducting the course orientation by videotape eliminates a trip to Tampa. The tape was produced in-house, during summer 1996, with no budget, so it has some quirks and outdated information in it. Wherever the tape disagrees with the course syllabus, FOLLOW THE SYLLABUS. The main differences are as follows:

1) We're up to VB Version 6 now. The "Working Model" software that comes with the course text is the "official" course version and is the best one to use for most students. Also, to keep things as portable as possible, please do all your course work in 800 X 600 resolution.

2) The Personal Resource Pack course product has been eliminated. Although you may wish to build such a document for your own purposes, you don't need to do it for my sake.

4)There are NO longer any COURSE MEETINGS at all. All your work should be submitted by email, including the course project.

5)There IS a comprehensive course final examination. See the syllabus for more details.

There are a number of other small differences that should be obvious, but don't hesitate to email any questions.

After you have accomplished all of the above, you should know how to proceed. Get your course text (if you haven't already), download and install VBART*.ZIP files from the WWW page, and get started on mastering the basics of VB. If any questions remain unanswered for you please let me know by email.

Let me ask you once again to evaluate the appropriateness of this course for you. This Distance Learning section is intended for students who are not beginners in the field of computer programming and, hence, it is much less supportive than the more traditional on-campus section. If you have never programmed before and have no idea how well you will take to the subject, or if you have any difficulty getting the syllabus, assignments, demo programs, sample solutions, or any other course materials from the WWW page, then I recommend that you take a traditional, classroom-based introduction to programming before taking this course.  (The most appropriate IT course would be Web Programming 1, which is taught on Wednesday evenings every Fall and Summer "C" session.)  If you have programmed before, you should be confident about your knowledge of and experience in using basic data structures (e.g. scalar and arrayed variables) and basic control structures (e.g. if, case, for, do.)

Students periodically take me to task for not having provided a higher level of interactivity and "community" in this distance learning course.  The simple, blunt truth is that the technologies currently available for trying to create this level of interaction on an anytime, anywhere basis over the Web are far too primitive to be practical at this time.  Some day they will be really useful, but not without a great deal of figurative blood and sweat having been shed over them.  We can't all be researchers on every new technology.  I choose to shed my scholarly blood over some different "cutting edges" (educational applications of programming languages, for example.)  If you think that you are going to place a high value on lecture, demonstration, and discussion while learning instructional and research applications of VB programming, then take a different class!

I hope that your course experience is a pleasant one and I look forward to 'seeing' you online.

Regards,