Teaching and learning is a collaborative enterprise. All who participate in a learning environment have responsibility for its success. That responsibility demands that everyone bring their best efforts to the experience, engage fully by having prepared in advance and being ready to challenge and be challenged.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to move to a fundamentally different set of delivery modalities, e.g., HyFlex, hybrid, remote, synchronous, or not, or some combination of approaches to teaching and learning. We are increasingly working remotely in order to accomplish our work. That remote modality demands that we adjust our understanding of acceptable protocols for attendance and participation, whether a meeting or course attendance, engagement and participation.
While working together using a digital platform, e.g., Teams, Zoom, Slack, etc. it is important that you join the session with a live camera and muted mic. A live camera helps to create a sense of community and will help all of us to engage effectively during our discussions. If you only unmute your mic when speaking we can avoid feedback, unsolicited input from family, pets and others as well as any random noise. Please review the Protocols for Online Meetings and Classes for more information.
My approach to teaching and learning is certainly not unique. All of us who teach, I believe, seek to create challenging learning environments for our students, help them to better understand difficult subject matter, consider the ethical challenges raised by that subject matter and, finally, help them to evolve into productive citizens who contribute to their communities.
I am not an “easy” professor. I am a challenging teacher who, while maintaining rigorous standards, is also readily available to help students meet those challenges. I create, with your assistance, learning environments that will raise the bar on your performance expectations.
I invest a great deal of time developing methodologies that integrate both standard and cutting edge information technologies into my courses. I have migrated all of my courses to digital platforms that allow me to introduce alternative delivery methods for assignments, communication, teamwork and subject matter delivery. Since 2004, the digital platforms I have integrated include wikis, discussion boards, digital journals, videoconferencing, text messaging, eReaders and a variety of mobile platforms. This effort supports my commitment to integrating applied and experiential approaches with the theoretical.
Finally, I fully expect that we’ll have some laughs along the way.
meets for the first time. Teams is part of the Microsoft Office 365 Suite. If you are unfamiliar with Teams, it is an online platform that allows for text-based discussion, video conferencing and/or audio calls. Teams is associated with your SHU-issued account and authenticates via your SHU network credentials.
cursing, texting – style acronyms are inappropriate in any interactions in our course. Proper grammar and spelling must be used at all times. Please also use appropriate grammar in all communications and always specify the course and subject matter in the subject line, e.g., “BLAW2301 / Discussion Board #2” or “Smith vs. Jones”, not “yo!” or “hey prof”. For further information on Seton Hall University’s code of conduct, please refer to the 
would like to share with the class so that we can get to know you better.
Please read through the materials included in this site including your course syllabus, my Course Policies and the Plagiarism page. Once you have completed your review, post in the Learning Contract channel in Teams that you have reviewed and understand the Course Policies, including your course’s requirements and the plagiarism policy as well as the