Michele D. McCarren
MS Economics, Assistant Professor of Business
North Campus
1850 Davids Drive, Wilmington, Ohio 45177
937-382-6645 or 1-800-344-6058 ext 4670
Fax: 937-382-8431

                                                                  Dr. Callahan and I pose for Professor Nancy Wolford in her hats.                                                      McCarren working with students at North Campus.

!!!!!!!!For online course information scroll down the page!!!!!!!!

Howdy!   Send email to:  mmccarren@sscc.edu

Academic Credentials: Masters of Science, Social and Applied Economics, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio 1993 Bachelors of Arts, Economics and English, Wilmington College, Wilmington, Ohio 1992

Professional organizations:
Member American Economic Association
Member Omicron Delta Epsilon, National Economic Honor Society

Biographical info:

I attended Wilmington College and Wright State University.  I live on a farm raising Scotch Highland Cattle with my family.  Enjoy music such as Queen and Grateful Dead; Renaissance Art; and travel.  I studied Economics in Vienna, Austria.

Academic Interests:
I am an Assistant Professor at SSCC and I also act as the Tech Prep Coordinator.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding TECH PREP. Currently, I am working on Economic issues, specifically interested in Gender, Labor, & Environmental Economics.  I am very interested in legislation affecting civil rights, income, and family friendly/quality of life benefits.  I am a member of Women of the College which is a group of people interested in bringing speakers about Women’s issues to the college.  Annually we have an event during March to celebrate Women’s History Month.

Courses I typically teach:
Fall: Economics, Leadership, Marketing
Winter: Economics, Supervision
Spring:  Economics, Gender and Diversity, Human Resource Management

Course Specifics:
My Economics class subscribes to the Wall Street Journal as a supplementary text and uses the current economic activity to add substance to the course and enlighten theoretical implications.   Microeconomics has a Debate each quarter.  Students are put on teams and must plan strategy.  Topics include minimum wage and environmental regulation.  Also, in Micro students will present in class about a current Microeconomic topic.  Macroeconomics requires a research paper with presentation.  Most of the classes have research project/papers due.  Teamwork is a must!!

If you are interested in taking an online class in Business Administration, SSCC offers Micro Economics, Macro Economics, Supervision, and Human Resource Management.  You should read through the letter below to discover what will be required of you if you choose to take the course.  Online is a great convenience, but should not be regarded as necessarily an easier choice.  Good luck!!

 

Web links:
 Southern State Community College LRC

Economics Sites:
 Wall Street Journal

Web Sites for Gender and Diversity course:
 Feminist Majority
 Catalyst for Women

Music for your listening pleasure:  
 Queen Music from Jazz
 Queen Music from A Kind of Magic

  Options to obtain Textbooks:

Supervision Text:  Supervision 9th Edition, Raymond L Hilgert, Edwin c. Leonard, South Western College Publishing ISBN #0324178816

Microeconomics and Macroeconomics Text:  Economics 6th Edition, David C. Colander, McGraw-Hill Irwin Publishing ISBN #007297883x

Human Resources Text:  Managing Human Resources 14th Edition, Bohlander, Snell, Thomson Southwestern Publishing ISBN #0324422385

 

Southern State Community College Bookstore at all campuses sells books.

The following web sources also sell textbooks:

www.addall.com

www.amazon.com

www.half.com

www.textbook.com

 

Online Course Information:

Online Participants,

Welcome to Southern State Community College.  My name is Michele D. McCarren.  I look forward to working with you this quarter, and I am confident you will find taking online courses a challenging learning experience.

All students who enroll should sign into the course on the first day of the quarter.  At that point there will be instructions for the online orientation which you must complete by the 3rd day at midnight.  If you have questions send me an e-mail at mmccarren@sscc.edu or contact the Help Desk at 1-800-628-7722 ext. 2800.  You do not need to email me prior to class to tell me you are in the class only if you have a problem.  This orientation will include an overview of the course, syllabus, activity module for orientation and a quiz on the WebCT tutorial.  If you have a WebCT logon the tutorial should be an option for you to choose at your “myWebCT” page.  You can go ahead and complete the WebCT tutorial anytime between now and the first –third day of class; you may access the tutorial at http://webct.sscc.edu/webct/public/home.pl (if it does not show on your list) or by going to SSCC’s homepage http://www.sscc.edu/ clicking on current students and selecting online courses from the drop down menu.  Complete the tutorial so you can answer the quiz questions in the online orientation.  You will find your self on the WebCT entry page at the right hand side you may enter guest as your username and password; this will take you to the tutorial.  If you already have an online username and password you should use those current username and password.  Please note that if you took courses in the past the accounts are cleared each summer so you many need to create a new account.  For example if you took classes in Fall of 2004 you will need to create a new WebCT account in Winter 2006. 

 

All who register will receive a hard copy letter which is a copy of this web letter.  If you are reading this from hard copy you need to go to my website via the “Special Requirements” link on the online course page.  Anyone unable to complete the online orientation requirements will be dropped from the course on the 4th day,

SSCC uses an online course delivery system called WebCT.  In order for you to take a course online, you will need to set up a WebCT student account. You need to go to the WebCT link in Current Students on SSCC’s homepage and logon to course.  Instructions for setting up an account appear at the end of this letter.  Please note that you will be able to set up an account prior to orientation, but you will not be able to access the class until the first day. If you have problems please contact the Help Desk at 1-800-628-7722 ext. 2800. 

   

The required text for the online courses is listed above under Options for Textbooks.  The text is available at the SSCC Bookstore on North Campus and most other campuses. Several students from past courses may have used books to sell.   You must have your books at the start of the quarter.  You will be writing weekly.  You may subscribe to the Wall Street Journal and information regarding how to get a subscription will be provided in orientation.  If you do not have a library card you will need to request one from the LRC.

 

We will be using WebCT e-mail in the online course for class communications, you will need to forward attachments to me and we will use the course e-mail.  Please do not email outside of the course unless it is an emergency, I check your course for emails from you not my school account.  If you require a quick response to a question, add a word like “question” or “help” or “need info”. 

This course is delivered in an online distance format.  There are certain technology requirements, which include the following:

Hardware and Software:

Operating System        MAC OS 9 or 10, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000 or Windows XP UNIX

Computer Processor      Pentium 233 MHZ or higher compatible computer

Computer Memory       32 MB (megabytes) or RAM

Hard Disk Space 40 MB (megabytes) >>variable<<       

Modem                     28.8kbps or faster connection

Printer                 Compatible with your computer

Web Browser         *A web browser that is java-enabled, preferably Netscape 4.76 or 6.2X or Internet Explorer 5 or later.   Earlier version of Internet Explorer and Netscape do not support Java and JavaScript properly.  If you do not have an up to date version of Internet Explorer or Netscape you can download them from the following:

          Netscape:  http://www.netscape.com

          Internet Explorer:  http://www.microsoft.com

             Email                            Private e-mail account that allows for attachments.

 

             Adobe Acrobat Reader

            MSWord              Attachments sent through email should be in MS Word. 

            Access                                  **A reliable ISP (i.e. Dragon Internet, AOL)

                 

                  *Netscape 6+ is not compatible with the software that is used to

                  deliver this course. Versions of IE that include

                  Service Pack I are also not compatible. Netscape 4.7 is your best

                  bet.

                  **AOL users cannot work within their AOL browser. They must

                  minimize the AOL browser window and then

                  open a session in Netscape or Explorer.

I would like to encourage you to interact as much as possible with your classmates.  I believe this will help you feel a part of the college community in this course and it will be helpful to bond right away.  I encourage you to use e-mail and the chat rooms available in WebCT.  Your peers will share your experiences with technology frustration and content questions.  You should remember your classmates are also juggling schedules.  One of the motivators for taking a course via the internet is flexibility.  We are all very busy and this allows us to take courses at the time that fits our schedule.  Be aware though that you may have some activities where we will have to sign on synchronously, which means at the same time.  We will plan this in advance.  Schedules are tight people do not have lots of extra time, however this is a college course and you should be committed to spending at least 4-6 hours per week logged onto the course reading, communicating, learning.  This in addition to offline time such as reading the text, articles and doing assignments.

I look forward to meeting you virtually in class.  Please contact me with any questions you might have as they develop.  If you have any concerns or questions about the course I can be contacted at 937-382-6645 ext. 4670 or if calling within the state of Ohio, at 1-800-344-6058 you may e-mail me at mmccarren@sscc.edu . Also, if I am unavailable by phone please contact Anna Lehman at ext. 4520 or Judi Creeger at ext. 4630. Good luck!

Instructions for Accessing a WebCT Student Account and Adding a Course

  1. Go to the WebCT entry page at http://webct.sscc.edu/webct/public/home.pl

  1. Enter your username and password at the myWebCT access on the right of the page.  At this page, you will be asked to enter a college-assigned WebCT ID and

Password.  Your college-assigned WebCT ID is the first 4 letters of your last name, followed by the last 4 numbers out of your unique library card number; you do not use the final number. If your last name consists of fewer than four letters, use all of the letters of your last name. Your password will be the last 4 digits in your social security number then you will be asked to change it to a password only you know. Here are a couple of examples:

 Example #1: My name is Michele McCarren, and my social security number is 123-45-6789.     My library card number is 2-7722-12345678-1. So, my WebCT ID would be: mcca5678. (Use small letters and don’t leave spaces.)  My college assigned password would be 6789. 

 

 Example #2: My friend's name is Carrie Snow. Her social security number is 987-65-4321. Her library card number is 2-7722-12349876-1.  Her WebCT ID would be: snow9876. (Small letters and no spaces.) Her password would be 4321.

3.  You will arrive at your myWebCT home area and see a link to your online course.  Click on this link to access your online classroom.  You will not be able to access your myWebCT account and classroom until the first day of the quarter. If you have access or log on problems, contact the Help Desk immediately. Be sure to give the Help Desk your full name and the name of your online course.     When you return to your myWebCT homepage, the online course should appear under Courses.  Click on the course title.

4.  You're in!  In the future, whenever you want to access the course, go to the WebCT entry page, click on “Log on to myWebCT,” type in the WebCT ID and password you created for yourself and click on “Log In.” (Hint:  You may want to add the WebCT entry page url to your Bookmarks or Favorites folder.)

           

  Important: Be sure to write down and store the WebCT ID and Password you create for yourself. This is important! The id and password you create will be used to access your myWebCT homepage, and you can only get to the course website from your homepage. (I don’t have access to the id and password you create here.)

          

           As you explore the website, you will see that communications features such as Mail and Bulletin Board /Discussions are provided.  Access your WebCT mail account by clicking on the Mail link that appears on the course homepage. Next, see if you can post an introduction of yourself to the Bulletin Board/Discussions area of the website by following these instructions:

 Sincerely,

Michele D. McCarren

Assistant Professor

Southern State Community College