Thank you for registering for Economics 201, section OC1, Principles of Macroeconomics. As you are aware, this course begins on August 24 and ends on December 16 and will be delivered via the World Wide Web. This letter will address some of your questions about this online course.

Econ 201 introduces you to macroeconomics and to the aggregate economic issues facing our nation – unemployment, inflation, recession, fiscal policy, monetary policy, etc. Please note that Economics 201 online is not an independent study course; we will work through this course at an assigned pace. There are weekly assignments and discussions that will be conducted online. Additionally, the projects (papers) and exams will be available and submitted online.

The textbook we are using is: Roger Miller, Economics Today, the macro view, 14^th edition 2008, Pearson Addison-Wesley (publisher). It is available at Oakton’s bookstore. If you want to get a head start, you can begin reading chapters 1 and 2. (You may use the 13^th edition of the text if you can obtain a copy of it.) (Purchase of a new text is required in order to obtain the access code to MyEconLab. However, I do not assign homework from MyEconLab. Its use is strictly voluntary.)

You access the Econ 201 web site at: http://elearn.oakton.edu:8900

(You can also access the course from My Oakton by clicking on the course name listed under My Courses.)

Your WebCT ID consists of the first letter of the first name followed by the first seven letters of the last name (or your entire last name if it is 7 or fewer letters) followed by the last four digits of the Banner I.D. This ID can be found on both the bill and the course schedule you received from Oakton.

Your password is your birth date in 6-digit format (month month, day day, year year). For example August 1, 2009 would be entered as 080109.

You need to use the Internet Explorer browser (versions 5 & higher) to successfully access all parts of the Econ 201 course

Two other web sites that may be helpful to you are:

The Oakton student guide to WebCT (version 4.0): http://www.oakton.edu/online/4_0webctguide/index4_0.htm

The Oakton Online web site which discusses hardware specifications and additional online resources can be accessed at: http://www.oakton.edu/online

After you have read this letter, please e-mail me (jbremer@oakton.edu) with your personal e-mail address that I can use this semester in the event that I cannot reach you via WebCT e-mail. If at any time you have any questions or concerns, please contact me. I look forward to working with you this summer in what I expect to be a stimulating and rewarding learning experience.

Sincerely,

Joyce Bremer

Professor of Economics