Dear Student:
I am pleased to welcome you to LOS611: Communication & Relationship Building, a blended course for the Fall Semester 2009. This graduate level course is designed to both familiarize you with major concepts in communication theory and give you exposure to a set of guidelines you can utilize in effective leadership practice.
The course requires three textbooks: Wood's Communication theories in action, Clampitt's Communicating for managerial effectiveness, and LeStorti's When you're asked to do the impossible. You may obtain these books by visiting USM Lewiston’s bookstore, calling 1-800-800-4876, or ordering them online at http://usm.maine.edu/books.
Because much of our work will be online, you will also need a computer with Internet access to e-mail and Blackboard. As we will get started with our work together right away, you must be prepared! You need to activate your e-mail account if you haven’t already. To access Blackboard, go to http://www.courses.maine.edu and, after clicking on the login button, enter your "@maine.edu" e-mail username and the password that you selected when you activated your (@maine.edu) e-mail account (or a more recent version if you have changed your e-mail password since.) This password is CASE-SENSITIVE! Be sure you have cookies enabled in your browser.
If you cannot remember your e-mail password, go to http://mail.maine.edu and click on Reset lost password to reset it. You will need your student identification number, username (the portion of your e-mail address to the left of the @ sign), and the answers to the questions you offered during the account activation process. For assistance with technical issues other than Blackboard, call University College Technical Support at 1-800-696-4357. Students at USM may contact the USM Help! Desk: 144-E Luther Boney, Portland campus, or call 780-4029, or email helpdesk@usm.maine.edu.
All email sent through Blackboard is automatically sent to your assigned "@maine.edu" address. If you need assistance accessing your "@maine.edu” mail, or would prefer to have course emails forwarded to another email address that you access regularly, you can get instructions for accessing and forwarding by going to http://mail.maine.edu. If you decide to forward your email, please do so before the course begins so you won’t miss any information. Remember that some free email services may treat mail forwarded from Blackboard as junk mail.
Other general information for students taking blended courses can be found by clicking here. Please feel free to contact me by email at tcoste@usm.maine.edu if you have any questions!
Tara
Tara Grey Coste, Ph.D.
Leadership & Organizational Studies
University of Southern Maine
207/753-6596 (work phone)
207/642-6864 (home phone)
207/415-4636 (cell phone)
207/753-6555 (fax)
