Spanish 3 Online
Course Information

¡Bienvenidos!

  • If you are enrolled in or want to enroll in Spanish 3 Online, you are in the right place.
  • You and I will meet at the face-to-face orientation during the first week of classes, but before we meet, please read this page. (We will be going over other information at the in-person orientation.)
  • Be sure to read through all of the information on this page and follow the instructions at the end.

Course Description

  • Spanish 3 - Intermediate Spanish (4 units) is the third-semester Spanish course at Cabrillo. Students in Spanish 3 continue to develop their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, to expand vocabulary and grammar, and to study Hispanic cultures.
    The prerequisite for Spanish 3 is Spanish 2 or equivalent skills.
  • Spanish 53L - Spanish Language Laboratory (1 unit) is the corequisite lab class and must be taken concurrently with Spanish 3.

Face-to-face vs. Online
4 hours in class + 12 hours of study vs. 16 hours of study and computer work

  • The course content in the online and the face-to-face sections of Spanish 3 is basically the same. Assignments will vary, but we use the same textbook in all sections of Spanish 3.
  • As stated in the Cabrillo College Catalog, "A standard college unit of credit represents a minimum three hours of the student's time each week: one hour of scheduled classroom lecture or recitation and two hours in outside preparation." In a face-to-face Spanish 3 class, you will spend 4 hours a week in class and 12 hours a week studying outside of class. The online Spanish 3 class requires the same number of hours per week of your time, but you will be working on your own and you will spend a significant amount of time at the computer.
  • The corequisite lab, Spanish 53L, is the same online class whether you take Spanish 3 face-to-face or online. It represents an additional 3 hours per week of your time at the computer working on online activities designed to help you master the new material.
  • If you have taken a 3-unit online class before, be aware that Spanish 3 + Spanish 53L = 5 units and will require considerably more work than a 3-unit online class.
  • If your schedule allows it, I recommend taking an on-site class, as there is more oral/aural practice built in to the face-to-face class meetings.
  • If you are not sure whether an online class is for you, consider the first four questions of this online questionnaire from Raritan Valley Community College, Are You Ready to Take an Online Course?, or take the Student Readiness Survey on Cabrillo's website.

Registering for the class

  • To register, complete the procedures outlined on the Cabrillo College registration page.
  • If the class is full, get on the wait list.The instructor cannot add you to the wait list. You have to go through the registration process to be added to the wait list.
  • If the wait list is full, attend the face-to-face orientation during the first week of class and speak with the instructor to see if there is room to add. I never know how many no-shows there will be.
  • Please drop yourself from the class or the wait list if you decide not to enroll. Make room for other students who wish to add the class.

Course materials

  • conexiones textbookConexiones: Comunicación y cultura, 3rd edition (required)
  • Quia Book Key for Student Activities Manual to Accompany Conexiones (referred to as "OneKey" on the Cabrillo Bookstore site) (required)
  • Student Video CD-ROM to Accompany Conexiones (recommended, but not required)
  • A Spanish-English dictionary that includes sample sentences that illustrate meaning and usage (recommended)
  • Please note: Items sold bundled together at the Cabrillo Bookstore cannot be returned once they are opened.
  • It is the student's responsibility to obtain the materials and to complete course work on time. Even if you do not have the materials on the first day of classes, you can still access the course and complete the assignments on time and you will be expected to do so.
  • A copy of the textbook and a copy of the Video CD-ROM are available on reserve at the Cabrillo Library.
  • In Spanish 3 we cover Lección Preliminar through Lección 6 in Conexiones. To get an idea of the topics covered, check out the publisher's website for Conexiones and click on the numbers next to Select Chapter at the top of the page.

Blackboard

  • Our class uses the Blackboard course management system (formerly WebCT). You will access the course through Cabrillo's Blackboard site at https://online.cabrillo.edu
  • Click on "Look up your user name and create a password" the first time you log on. Be sure to write down your user name and password - you will need them every time you access Spanish 3 on Blackboard.
  • You will go to our course on the Blackboard site to:
    • Read the weekly lessons
    • Send email and receive email from the instructor
    • Participate in weekly discussions
    • Take quizzes
    • Submit completed assignments
    • Track your grades
    • Check due dates on the course calendar
  • There are some technical and logistical details to get in place before you start Spanish 3 Online. The Tips for Success page has links and information that will help you get acquainted with Blackboard and online courses in general.

Spanish 53L / Quia

  • The work for Spanish 53L is completed on the Quia site. Quia is a commercial website that hosts the online Student Activities Manual to Accompany Conexiones.
  • You will create an account on the Quia site at http://books.quia.com
  • You need a Book Key to do the work in the Student Activities Manual. The Book Key is sold in the bundle of materials at the Cabrillo Bookstore. You can also buy the Book Key with a credit card on the Quia website. For more detailed instructions, see the Quia handout (.pdf).
  • The Course Code you need to register in our course on Quia is TECD366. If you have your Book Key, you can sign on and begin working in Quia before the semester begins.
  • Spanish 53L has 110 points total: 7 chapters, each worth 10 points; additional activities in Blackboard worth 40 points.
  • To receive the full 10 points for a chapter in Quia, you need to do all the assigned activities with an average of 85%. To check your percentage on the first chapter click My Results, select Lección P (ALL), and click Go. Your percentage will be shown under Score.
  • The Quia Student Activities Manual divides each chapter (Lección) into two sections: Workbook and Lab Manual. Be careful to complete both the Workbook and the Lab Manual activities for each chapter in Quia.
  • Spanish 53L is a Pass/No Pass lab course.
    90 points = Credit
    less than 90 points = No Credit
  • You must complete the Quia chapters on time to receive credit. Quia chapters expire at midnight (Pacific Time) on the due date listed in the course calendar.

Accents on the computer

  • How you write diacritical marks for Spanish depends on your computer and its operating system.
  • You need to determine how to type accents and punctuation marks in Spanish by the first week of class. Please make this a priority before the semester begins.
  • I use the "Spanish International" keyboard on my computer. I can easily toggle between the Spanish and English keyboards and typing accents and punctuation marks in Spanish is easy. The letters are in the same place on both keyboards, but the punctuation marks are not. You can view an image of the Spanish International keyboard under Accents on my website; I keep a copy of the image next to the computer so I can easily find the punctuation marks when I am typing in Spanish. There is also a tutorial under Accents on my website showing how to add the Spanish International keyboard (on a computer running Windows XP).
  • What if you don't have Windows XP? Adding a keyboard is similar on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. You may also consult the links on my web page under Accents. The web sites listed have clear instructions on how to type accents on Macs and PCs with different operating systems.
  • How do you figure out what operating system you have? If you have a PC, right-click on My Computer, select Properties, and you will find the name of your operating system under General.

Spellcheck and Grammarcheck - Corrector/Verificador

  • You must spellcheck your written work, including discussion posts, BEFORE you submit the work.
  • Word 2003 for Windows and later versions have Spellcheck and Grammarcheck in Spanish.
  • If you do not have access to a word processing program with these tools for Spanish, you may use an online program to check your spelling. Free online spellcheck tools are listed under Web Links in the course:
    www.lenguaje.com
    www.orangoo.com
  • The Week 1 assignment "Verificar su trabajo" will explain how to use Spellcheck and Grammarcheck in Word.
  • If you are unsure of the spelling or the gender of a word, it is expected that you will use your dictionary or an online site like wordreference.com to ensure accuracy.

Mandatory in-person orientation with the instructor

  • Students enrolled in Spanish 3 Online and those who want to add the class must attend the following orientation:
    • Monday, Feb. 8, 2010
      4:00-5:30PM
      Cabrillo College, Aptos Campus
      Room 515
  • It is necessary to attend the full orientation. If you do not attend the in-person orientation, you may be dropped from the course. Please contact the instructor before Feb. 8 if you cannot attend the orientation listed above.

Class begins February 8

  • The course will begin on Monday, February 8, 2010.
  • Log on to our class on Blackboard by Sunday, Feb. 14 at the latest. Take some time to explore different areas of the course.
  • Introduce yourself in the discussion area of the course by Tues, Feb. 16.

¡Gracias por leer esta información! Now send me an email

  • Thanks for reading through all of this information! You will be quizzed once the course begins (no kidding - it's for extra credit).
  • Additional instructor contact information and office hours can be found under Contact on my website.

P.S. Wait listed students who want to add Spanish 3 Online

  • Be sure to attend the orientation and ...
  • Email the instructor by Feb. 8, 2010 with the following information:
    Subject line: "Add Spanish 3 - your name"
    In the body of the email write:
    Your full name
    Your Cabrillo student ID number or SS#
    A statement requesting to add Span 3, Sect. 66427 and Span 53L, Sect. 66844

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© 2010 Nancy Stucker