Welcome Message to Geography of Virginia Students

I'm glad you registered for the Geography of Virginia (GEOG380) class at George Mason University.

In this class, we will explore Virginia geography while sitting in front of a keyboard and TV set... but please don't be a couch potato. When you go about your normal routine, notice the places you're passing. On the Fairfax campus, notice the names of the dorms. You'll see those names in the political geography section, when we talk about governors. Notice the names of the roads too - you'll recognize them when we discuss the rivers and watersheds in our "virtual" classes.

New River Trail (Wythe County)

If you are taking this class from Colorado or other location outside Virginia, look at your local setting and compare it to what we're learning about Virginia. Once you develop your skills for getting the sense of one place, you can apply those skills to lots of other places. (Think the professionals who choose the locations for fast food restaurants, Wal*Marts, shopping malls, etc. focus on how people shop in just one state?)

The first quiz (using Blackboard) is due in the second week of the class. If you register too late to take that quiz - that's OK, because I drop the lowest 2 quiz grades anyway. The class schedule is online. To get started:

1. check PatriotWeb at https://patriotweb.gmu.edu to confirm you are officially registered for GEOG380. If the tuition check bounces and the GMU computers don't have you registered after the last date to add the class, I can not allow you to register late.
2. schedule enough time each week to study the required Geography of Virginia material, according to the class schedule. Arrange now for planned business trips/vacations, backup babysitters, and all the scheduling you would do if this class met at a specific time each week. You can't wait until a vacation break and try to catch up...
3. read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) for class logistics
4. send me an e-mail at to identify what you hope to learn during the semester (One of the first assignments will be to tell me what you want to get from the class, so I can incorporate that material into the class discussion. You're paying tuition - get your money's worth...)

The size of the class is limited to 35 students. In previous years, the class was larger - and it was hard for me to respond directly to every e-mail message. Much of the course material for the Geography of Virginia class is already posted on the website at www.virginiaplaces.org, but this is not a self-study course. Student-to-student and student-to-instructor interaction is a key part of the class experience, and getting personalized instruction is one reason for paying the GMU tuition.

This Internet class requires the same time commitment as those courses where you go to class in person ("meatspace" as opposed to "cyberspace"). Commit some time now to read and study 5 hours for each week of class. NOTE: If you added the class after the start of the semester, be sure to catch up on the material before the date when the first quiz is due. Quizzes are cumulative - you'll see material from the first weeks of the class appear on quizzes throughout the semester.

We will talk a lot via e-mail and Blackboard discussions. Some messages will share questions and comments from fellow classmates. Other messages will provide a focus for reading the Web pages that week, often by highlighting news articles that you should read. Those articles will be posted on Blackboard, and you will be able to refer to them when answering quiz and exam questiuons.

There is more material on the Web site than we will discuss this semester - be careful to read the assigned material. Feel free to wander off to examine other interesting links on the Internet, but understand that the quiz questions are based on the assigned material., including content in the messages that I share with the entire class.

You have only so much time in your semester. Don't try to read every one of the existing Geography of Virginia Web pages, or to follow every link to the end of the Internet. Regional geography offers lots of opportunities for tangents, and the richness of online information about Virginia is far more than we can cover in depth before the Final Exam is posted.

Also, expect new material to be added throughout the course - reading ahead is encouraged, but remember to check the online material for each week at the start of that week to ensure you're looking at the final version.

The GMU-TV broadcast schedule (with optional videos) has been synchronized with the syllabus. Each week, GMU-TV will broadcast (on various cable channels in Northern Virginia) the video segment(s) appropriate for the material we will cover that week. If you don't see the video for that class via GMU-TV, it may be broadcast later. Better yet, check out GMU-TV's streaming server.

After you review the Class Logistics and Frequently Asked Questions, feel free to contact me at for further assistance.